Special Gifts

Now that Daniel and Anabella are older, I wanted them to play an active role in their gift giving this Christmas.  Since they love to paint, I thought they might enjoy painting pictures for their Daddy and grandparents.

They were all about it!

They each picked two colors and got right to work!  Anabella chose pink and purple. Said they were her "favorite." Daniel chose green and brown.  Said he was going to make Christmas trees!

Our little Picaso! 

That's a good Christmas tree, Daniel!
(All good artists get a little paint on their face every now and then!)

Anabella was very diligent about her work.
She made sure to cover every inch of paper and would not move on to another page until each one was covered exactly as she wanted it! She painted....and painted....and painted.....

Daniel made a few strokes with each color
(he, too, was diligent, just in a different way)
and was ready for a new piece of paper.
(Every good artist gets a little paint in his hair every once in a while, too.)  

"TaDa!"
(she really did say this!) 

Admiring their work....

I ordered magnets and decided to put the magnets in with the paintings in case anyone wanted to display them on the fridge.

While I didn't get any pictures of the recipients opening their gifts, as you might imagine, they were well received!

They also made homemade gifts at Daytime Playtime.  I framed the originals for Chip to take to work for his office, and I ordered magnets from the school for both sets of grandparents.

I was wrapping one day when the kids got up from their naps, so I had them "personalize" Daddy's package by signing it.  They also helped pick the paper and chose bows.

Love Always, Dan Credle

Placing his bow on just right

Love From Anabella

That should do it!
(several holes in the paper later)

Later that day, Chip got home from school, and we decided to let the kids open their presents from us.

Anabella paraded around in her princess slippers!

Daniel couldn't wait to throw his Steelers football!

Now...what happened next melted my heart.

Really.  Melted my heart.

Anabella beamed, "Daddy open his present?" and looked at me expectantly.  This wasn't part of the plan, but look at her face in this picture- how could I say no?!

A picture is worth a thousand words, and since I happened to capture this event on camera (how, I do not know), I will let the next set of pictures speak for themselves.

It is truly better to give than to receive!!

On Christmas, the kids gave us another special gift they had made at school.  This one came home wrapped in tissue paper and placed in their backpacks.  Daniel wanted me to open it at school when I arrived to pick him up (he's always so excited to show me what's in his backpack), but he seemed to understand that we needed to wait for Christmas and when we got home I hid it well under the tree, and I think they both forgot about it until Christmas morning.

Anabella thought they should go on the fridge. :)

These special gifts, created by the littlest of hands and biggest of hearts, warms my soul and melts my heart! Makes me forever grateful for them, my very special gifts!!  

James 1:17 

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.