Christmas Celebrations

We were all so happy to be with our families this year for Christmas. As the kids get older, they have more and more fun in the big, crazy family atmosphere. And as the kids get older, we can relax more and actually talk to the people we are related to ... at least a little bit.

We spent Christmas Eve, as we always do, with my extended family at my cousin Brenda's house. We started it out with the cousin sledding trip and then went back to B's for dinner, playtime, and presents. The kids quickly disappeared upstairs to the playroom with Otto and the four of them had a great time. They played near each other and had very few (if any) arguments over toys. We made them take a pause for dinner and then they headed right back up until it was present time. 

Johnson cousins: Part II

After presents, we got them all dressed up in their Christmas pjs and forced them to take a picture together. It's no small feat to try to get five small people to cooperate. And Hux is not really one for group pictures (yet. He'll learn to just cooperate so it ends sooner. That's what mine do now. Or he'll eat a baseball like Declan did.). By 8:00 or so, the kids were getting tired, so we packed up to head back to Gma and Gpa's. We still needed to scatter our reindeer food, leave cookies for Santa, and read The Night Before Christmas. They feel asleep pretty quickly and Mike and I snuggled on the couch, watching A Christmas Story until bed. Because it's not really Christmas without a pink bunny suit and some Fa Ra Ra Ra Ras. 

Johnson cousins:
The originals

On Christmas morning, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and then opened presents with my parents and sister. Dec was thrilled with his new umbrella (or "ba-brella") from Santa. I opened it for him and he walked around the living room singing "I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain ..." which was both the cutest thing and a proud parenting moment! He was also quite excited about his new marble run from Auntie and his big Hot Wheels track. Fiona was especially thrilled about her new Barbie camper and her vet cart. And Quinn was beyond thrilled about her Legos birthday set from Liv and her Sweet Pickles books.

Once we all got ready for the day, we went to Mike's sister's house to hang with her family and Mike's dad. Mike's mom and Bill didn't make it over because of the weather and we missed them very much. But since Mike had to scrap a quarter inch of ice off our car for the very short drive to Tracey's, we totally understood! We had a great day eating too much, playing with Kyle's new VR googles, building with Nate and Ben's old train sets, putting Q's new Lego set together, and just being together. I'm also officially way shorter than Ben now and I feel like for Christmas, he could have hunched himself up a bit for his aunt. Just nine months ago, I had him by almost an inch. That is how fast that boy is growing!

Vanneste cousins 

Christmas night, after the kids passed out from all the fun, we played games with my family and Mike had the Yahtzee game of his life. Five yahtzees for a total of 715 points. Not bad for a guy who had to use his Chance on his first turn! 

We had a pretty relaxing day on Monday - just letting the kids enjoy their new stuff and sending Mike and Gpa off on an ice fishing adventure. That night, we went out with the family for pizza at Sammy's to celebrate Grandma's 65th birthday (a couple days early). So fun to celebrate such an amazing person with the whole Johnson clan. Then we ended the big celebration by testing out Q's new Pie Face game - and vacuum-sealing Auntie's keys to make sure the new sealer worked. If that doesn't scream giggles and family fun, then nothing does!

He's singing ... and dancing ... in the rain