Christmas Morning

began with reading the Christmas story and Thanking God for His Amazing Gift of Salvation.







then of course we had to open presents.



















Daddy made us a yummy breakfast.









Then Audrey initiated a kissing session.











Which was followed by lots of playing, hugging, laughing and praising God for a wonderful family and the opportunity and means to spoil them with too many gifts.

Joy! Joy! Joy!

The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10 and 11

Joy does not come from having a holiday celebration with family that resembles a hallmark tv special.


I should know, my Christmas Eve was nothing like I pictured it. Audrey kept me awake from midnight to five am, and then Kristen was roaring to go at 7 am. A stupid misunderstanding with my husband that led to an hour-long argument put me in a bad mood. A tantruming three year old tested me and Phil throughout the day. Target DID NOT have any cameras in my price range left, so we had to use a 5-year-old camera that shoots really grainy pictures. (Our good camera sort of got, um, dropped a few days ago and has not yet been replaced.) And even with our old camera, I did not get the perfect family picture. Kristen didn't want to cooperate at first... even with the promise of gummy bears, and then when Kristen was ready to pose for the camera, Audrey was tired and cranky. Drool, milk and who knows what else was spilled, wiped and dropped on my sweater (and yes, I CAN see it in the pictures, and I can see the dark circles under my eyes from the lack of sleep, too.)


But in spite of the less than perfect day, my family and I were filled with joy. Because joy does not come from perfect days or perfect pictures. And joy can not be taken from us no matter how bad the circumstances.


The joy that is for all people comes from the fact that our God became flesh and dwelled among us. Joy comes from the Savior! I am loved unconditionally by the Creator of the universe. He is what brings me true joy. Thank you God for saving me from my selfishness, bad attitude, thoughtlessness, impatience, and unforgiveness. Thank you for not counting these sins I committed today, or any others,against me. Thank you for taking on my punishment at Calvary. Thank you for joy, love and peace that cannot be taken away. That is the reason we celebrate this Christmas. Not Santa, parties, presents or even family and friends. We celebrate that Holy Night when our God and Savior left His place in Heaven and came to earth as a baby to allow us a way to have a relationship with Him again. JOY! JOY! JOY!




Oh and we did get a couple of pictures that weren't terrible. Some were kind of cute.





And our Christmas day was much, much better:)

O'Neal PACK Christmas

Cecilia and I have really enjoyed this Christmas season. I hope to elaborate at a later date on some of the rich spiritual experiences. For now while I have a couple minutes (all 3 girls are sleeping! or at least quiet;), I would like to share just a few photo and video highlights of our Christmas so far. We enjoyed a quality worship service last night and opened a few presents. This morning we had a relaxing and meaningful morning together. Throughout the reading of the Christmas story, the breakfast together, and the opening of presents, there were many highlights, including the MILESTONE EVENT seen in this video!...


I CALLED IT a month ago!...I predicted that she would walk by Christmas...and just a few minutes before the video I reminded Audrey that there were only a few hours left for her to come through for me...and she listened!!:)


Of course we had a family play time in the snow... (a short one cuz it's so darn cold and windy!)









We have lots more photos and hopefully we'll post more later. But that's it for now cuz I have some snow shoveling to do!

It's gotta be the shades!

Hey, it's Audrey here and I just have to say that I really like my stylin shades...



...AND my bead necklace!



Here's lookin at you, kid!



Are you watching, Mommy?



(Daddy just told yet another hilarious joke!)



How's this pose?



Hey, Kristen, I heard that and I'm comin after you!



I have many adorable smiles, but here's one of my best! Too bad I partially blocked it with my hand!



Hey, Dad, why did you comb my hair all towards the front? I think it gives the appearance that I have a receding hairline, which is SO not true! We all know that's you and Papa and Uncle Ben that have that problem!



Yeah, that's right, Uncle Ben, I'm talkin about you. How bout you come over here and TRY to do somethin about it??



Haha, that smacktalk was fun, but everyone knows I'm really just a fun-loving little cutie with lots of love for everyone!!



People say that sometimes I do things that remind them of my cutie big sis. So let's have a little deja vu moment...



It's been fun chattin with you today. Adios, amigos!