Christmas Morning Magic

Bleary eyed from getting up way to early.

Some of us more than others.

The sun was barely up when we opened up our stockings.

Avinash is always upset because his turned out to be much smaller than the others.  Nandini and Lakshman's are huge.  She very sweetly offered to share stockings with him this year and he then offered to share his Christmas presents.  It was a very touching brother and sister moment.

Also, evidence of all the planning they do together, and sometimes scheming.

The kids had some big presents under next to the tree this year.  Santa kept one of the big boxes out, and yeah, they loved that too. 

This baby was so excited to find Elmo!  Santa and Nani both got him one this year.  Heehee.

He found one of the Elmos on Christmas Eve.  He came running into my room to wake me up, shouting "Elmo there! Elmo there!" He was jumping up and down with excitement.  It makes me laugh just to think about it.

He had his surprise but it was just a day early is all.

An indoor basketball arcade game.  

I'd say there were at least five kids in the house who loved it.  All four boys and Nandini too. 

More Elmo!  This Elmo spoon and fork have been a major help with feeding time too.

He was thrilled with his new big pack of Crayons.  He had asked Santa for a 120 pack but only found a 64 pack under the tree.  He didn't even mention it, thankfully.

He wanted to find every single new color that he had and very carefully checked each one.  Every time he found one he would get so excited.

Special present from Bappi.  Disney Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom Trading Card Game, with a real lightning card inside! 

Avinash and I made Nandini some Elsa buttons.  She didn't find the Hispter Disney Princess ones I made at Halloween as funny as I did.  Especially since Ariel was wearing glasses! Ha.

Colorful books to go in her new doll house book shelf.  

When they sat down and started reading together my heart burst in a million pieces.  

I got probably the best Christmas present ever.  A brand new lens!  Probably why some of these pictures look much much better than others. 

She may have cried when she came downstairs because we didn't let her help wrap the presents, but she was pretty happy by the end.  They took their time opening gifts and seemed to play with each one for a little bit before opening the next.  I hope they make a lot of projects with all the art kits they got!  It was magical and wonderful and so much fun.





I have a few other projects going and will not get back to my December Daily until the new year.  I wanted to at least record some memories here while they are fresh.  I hope you all have a great New Year!

Cocoa Daisy Scrapbook Layouts | January Kit Notebook

The Sweet Life indeed.  A new month and year almost upon us and a new Cocoa Daisy Kit along with it.  I'm excited to start a new year with them and have really enjoyed the journey so far.  

This kit is very bright and cheery.  It has so many new releases in it that it was really exciting to work with. 

Merry & Bright | Almost as soon as Christmas was over I scrapped this picture of Lakshman.  What?  It was so cute.  Had to be done. I love this bright confetti paper from the main kit.  It paired beautifully with the gold foil thickers.  I splashed some hexagon stickers across the top and bottom as well. 

Sweet Life | Another sweet Lakshman page.  I paired one neutral with  a large design and one pink patterned paper with a small design for the background.  It's one way to get two different patterns to work with each other.  I layered these die cut tags under the photo.  I also cut one of my favorite journaling cards up and made it into a tag as well.  I love this embellishment set, it is glittery and adds tons of dimension to the page.  

We Love Picnics | I had a lot of fun with hand cut letters here.  Again I was looking for a little bit of extra dimension to make them really pop off the page. I  used mini glue dots and I think they really helped.  Putting the letters on top of textured white cardstock also helped too. Mixing patterns is so easy with the main kit.  There is no way to go wrong.  I cut the No. 1 from a journaling card as well.   I cut the page in half with patterned paper.  Not a usual design strategy for me as I tend to work in thirds but I love the focus and attention it draws to my photo. 

Lakshman and Nandini | Taking a pocket page outside of the pocket, and I love it!  I love playing around with grids on layouts and this is just the latest installment of that.  I checkerboarded journaling cards across the page. I added a little embellishment to every blank space, leaving space for stamping and journaling. I included a lot of little stories about these two and their relationship.  

Afterwards I added a few small 2x2 black and white photos of the two of them jumping on the bed together.  I love their sweet relationship and seeing it deepen. 

There are so many fun goodies this month.  Don't forget to stock up for the Build Your Own Add-on before things sell out. Go to Cocoa Daisy to check out the fun goodies and shop now! 

Christmas Jammies and Books | Christmas Eve

Lighting all the lights around the house.  I got out the votives and tea lights too.  Lakshman was fascinated with this marquee star I put out. 

Finishing up our lego Advent calendar and pulling out all the pieces to play with all together.

 Wrapping up Christmas Jammies to put under the tree for bedtime. I got them big comfy fleece ones from Gap this year.  Lakshman got bear feet booties.

Opening up a special Christmas Eve book from Mommy and Daddy. This year we got them "The Day the Crayons Quit".  

Santa brought them the sequel, "The Day the Crayons Came Home" the next morning.  Along with a big pack of Crayons of course. 

Everytime we go to the store they love reading this together with me.  I was thrilled to find it on Amazon for almost half the price!  

The best part of reading this book together is that it always inspires them to get out their big fun packs of crayons and make something!  And usually with a story to go along with it. 

This is magic to me. 

Getting the baby all dressed up in his Santa Suit and ready to deliver presents.

 Making cookies with Ryan, chocolate gingerbread for Santa.  They are trying to convince to let them sleep downstairs so they can see Santa coming down the chimney. I love how excited they get.