The Best Gifts...

This year my favorite gifts didn't come from a store... or in big, pretty packages. 

This year my favorite gifts looked like this....

and this....

and this....

Little gifts, made by little hands, with so much love, tucked quietly under our tree weeks ago...

waiting ever so patiently to be opened at Christmas. 

 

This was the first year Liam and Ainsley wanted to give gifts to the others in our family. 

It was so precious to see how they thought out each one,

and made sure it was perfect for the person receiving it. 

 

For Kallan... Ainsley made a green (his favorite color)

 three car garage (out of toilet paper tubes) for all his cars.

(Because we all know that is all he plays with!) 

This one she couldn't wait to give him... so he opened it a few days early.

Then we also found a little matchbox car for him to open on Christmas... He loved it!

 

For Liam... Ainsley made a whole bunch of pictures for him (that he also got "early"),

and then she wrapped up a pack of his favorite kind of gum for him to open that morning.

For Mama and Papa... Ainsley made a scroll (complete with a paper clip lock on it!) that we opened up to discover a picture of our family, a Christmas tree, flowers, and a present. 

We could see the time and work she put into it, and it was so precious!

Liam worked super hard on his gifts... thinking each one through and wrapping them himself.

 

For Kallan... Liam drew a picture of a car transporter (his favorite vehicle) and then framed it (with a green background of course!)  Kallan loved it and found a special place in his room for it.

(Setting on top of a little basket... just at his eye level!)  Too cute!

 

For Ainsley... Liam made a necklace and two bracelets.  He worked an entire afternoon on these making sure the patterns and colors were perfect for her.  So sweet and so special!

For Mama... Liam wrote a book about why he loves me.  It had a picture for each page and a sentence describing a reason for his love.  Yes... I was crying by the end of it!

And for Papa... Liam drew and framed a picture of a Royals game and his favorite player, Billy Buttler, hitting a home run.  What was special about this picture was that it was the game Tim and Liam went to this summer... and Liam had even included the score of the game after the run was hit.  (Tim ended up looking it up to see if he was right on the score.... and of course he was!) 

It has now found a new home in Tim's office at Gallup. 

These were by far the best gifts we opened this Christmas. 

So thoughtful, so precious, and more special than anything they could have bought for each other. 

It was the perfect way to begin our Christmas morning!