Merry Christmas!

Each Christmas seems to get a little bit more exciting as the kids get older and have come to anticipate it more. The chains made from red and green construction paper were made and the countdown was on (and not forgotten as in years past). They finally made it to the last link of the chain!! Here are some pictures from our morning together.

We have the kids go on a hunt for their stockings, so this picture is before the hunt.

Samuel was the first to find his stocking this year!

After the hunt, ready to open!

After gift giving, breakfast, and playing with this and that, we packed the van and headed for Grandma and Pappy's house!

Emily made a few of her gifts this year and was so excited for Grandma to open it up!

The Garvin Cousins

After church the next day Dad and Janet opened their home to all 22 of us on the Martin side (Tim, Anna, and Marisol were visiting Tim's family) I failed to get a picture of all of us together.

The classic eating picture

Joel...this one's for you..top o' the mornin to ya.

The older kids were having fun playing games, while the younger siblings were in the next room dumping out all the rest of the games. Thanks goes to Uncle Nate for cleaning and sorting all those pieces!!

It was wonderful to be able to spend time with family. God has blessed us so richly through them!