Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Goodwins! We had so much fun today! In fact I am still in my pajamas (note the time of this email), and we didn't take a single posed family pic because we were having so much fun playing (we might remedy that by a Christmas Day fake out picture tomorrow before we take the tree down!).

Our morning started out at a totally reasonable hour, 6am. The boys, as they did last year, asked to sleep in the big bed together. Gabriel and I woke up to big fat snow flakes coming down, and although it didn't last I still count that as a white Christmas. Gabriel woke Judah while Andy and I readied the coffee and the cameras (we had to clear some space on my phone first, and they were super patient). The boys joyfully opened all of their stocking gifts, which in turn gave us so much joy. The Adidas zip pants were a big hit this year! After stockings, we moved to the tree gifts, three each to represent the three gifts Jesus received from the wise men. The boys each received a Star Wars lego set, a new Under Armor backpack, and the most-anticipated gift this year: Lebron/Nike basketball shoes! The exuberance was infectious. The boys wore them around the apartment all morning. We feel so lucky to be able to give the boys these gifts, and love watching them enjoy them. Andy and I also really enjoyed the gifts the boys both thoughtfully picked out for each of us, with excited and giving hearts.

It was really cold and windy today, so we didn't get out to play as much as we typically do on a Christmas day (the boys and Andy went out after Christmas breakfast to play with their new Clemson football, wearing their new basketball shoes and Adidas pants, while I stayed inside with Aunt Steph to get a new play set ready for assembly). When they came back in, we played the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, building the Rokenbok construction set, playing an arcade basketball game, flying their little drones, and building "reptangle" configurations. The SF Warriors were playing the Cavs at 3p, so we put the game on while Aunt Steph and I prepared for Christmas dinner. The Warriors won! We enjoyed a lovely dinner and dessert together to round out our Christmas day. We even got an Elf quote from Judah ("I like to whisper too").

Today was low key and uneventful but yet a very memorable Christmas. I love spending down time playing with the boys, which is made even richer without the stress of school and work (we're off together all week!). We are very blessed by these boys and feel honored that God chose us to care for and raise them. It's an honor we're often not worthy of. It's clear that we've left *really* little boyhood in the rear-view, and 6 and 8 is a super fun age to engage with them both and learn and observe. And I hope the boys are both old enough to remember this Christmas really well! We have so many great memories and fun times ahead of us, it's just the beginning! Glory to God in the highest! Merry Christmas!