Christmas Morning on the Harbor

Christmas morning! A delightful blur of happy faces, blonde hair, plaid pajama pants, and the cutest NY shirts ever. So many thanks to our mastermind, Alesia!

Plus, Christmas is always better with an adorably dressed pup!  (Poor Zion likely had less fun on his own in Salt Lake.)

On the menu? Overnight baked french toast. Always a tasty win!

I can't tell you how delightful it was to have our Brooklyn home this Christmas!  All four kids together is a special treat that I'll never take for granted again.

Chances are high that this cutie will be on a mission next Christmas, so we have to enjoy her company every moment that we can.

Better watch out Wilhoits--your cute girl is growing up so quickly as well!

Looks like Santa made it all the way to Northport! Anders was excited about his stocking.

Here we are opening gifts with the Wells family. From left to right there's Jeanette, Katelyn, and Greg.

After so many happy Christmas memories together, it felt so delightful to gather together as a giant extended family once more.

Generations of blonde sisters. :)

But hey, there's definitely evidence that Gregory might be the favorite. Check out the size of his Nutella copared with Katelyn and Jeanette!

Alesia says, where's mine?!

Turns out that Alesia has a remarkable talent for thoughtful gift-giving, as does the rest of her family. They certainly nailed Papa Kay!

Tic Tac Time!

Talia once told Alesia how in elementary school she had wanted to win a high-heel tape dispenser so badly that she picked up trash every recess so that she would get more raffle entries. It took a dozen years, but she finally got her reward!

I was delighted by my brimmed winter running hat.  Thank you, Wells Family!

Check out this comfy pug.

Eli 3D printed miniature models of Woodbine Avenue for the entire family. Janet got the one in best condition. (Some of the others have some structural concerns with their columns.) So cool, Eli!

It will be fun to see what amazing things Eli creates in the future with the fancy new filaments that he got for Christmas. He's ecstatic!

The Wells family knows Jason so well. Not only did he get a great game, he got some fruit roll-ups and juice boxes to go with it!

Every gift nailed it, but Annika's was particularly unique. How many girls would be ecstatic to get a spider enclosure? Annie certainly was. I'm just grateful that the spider wasn't included. In full disclosure, however, she had a jumping spider in a mason jar waiting back in Salt Lake. The day before we left she made me go to the pet store so that I could purchase some fruit flies for it!

It's so fun to get to the age where watching is as fun as opening.

Alesia handmade some special ornaments--this cricut ornament for NomiAnn captures her recent passions perfectly!

This quilted ornament is stunning as well.

And for Brooklyn? The Wells family followed her mission e-mails so lovingly that they knew "gozo" was her mission theme. And truly, JOY is what we felt this Christmas morn. We were blown away by all the love and all the personalized thought that went into every gift. We love you ever so much and are grateful for each special Christmas memory over the years with you.