HELP

OK, what with this box that's showing up in my blogs? The Look who's popular thing... and the sides and decorative parts are gone, apparently the place I got it from is gone out of business but I have NO IDEA how to fix it and get a new one. Any helpers out there willing to give me some insight on how to deal with this technology stuff??? :)

Time for Jingle Bells and Gingerbread Smells

Take a deep breath, mmmmmm, can you smell it? That wonderful Christmas aroma of pine tree and gingerbread! Yup, you're in the Johnson home at Christmas time! You gotta love it! Our Christmas Eve was our typical tradition, including a yummy meal and our special family program. This year our Christmas Story play was blessed to have the addition of our 5 new elders who just arrived two days before. They were real troopers...I mean...wise men and shepherds!

Also new to the line up this year was an Irish Christmas tune I was asked to play on my new Celtic tin whistle. I got it for my birthday and learned an Irish tune for the program. (It's so fun to have and learn to play!)

We had the fun Christmas singing around the piano, the dancing and singing by the girls,

and ended the evening reading the Christmas story from Luke and then delivered HUGE stockings to the Elders. We just wanted to be sure that even though they thought nobody knew them yet, they were not forgotten.


Christmas morning we had a lovely tri-ward Sacrament Meeting and all agreed it was the best way to start a Christmas morning. Then home to gather around the tree where Santa/Larry handed out the gifts one at a time.

The girls love to watch as people open the gifts from them. Now, giving new Pez dispensers to Allen and Rachel is a big deal b/c they always bring them to church and all the girls need to go is give Allen that little puppy dog face and out comes the Pez!!

My Christmas present this year was the super duper package of Wedgits!! The greatest toy ever made. Matthew, Sienna and I took a good bit of time to build the giant 4-Wing X Fighter. It was quite the challenge but why not start with the tough one...and we did it!!

(they don't interlock by the way, it's all done in wedging the right piece in the right place with the right pressure and angle... pretty tricky and tons o fun!)

Sienna has fun landing her remote controlled helicopter onto Pop Pops hand, pretty tricky I'd say!

And then...after all the gifts are opened and the fist time...I have to play with this right now...was over, the gingerbread house came down and the digging began...

YUM....

YUM...

YUM!!!!!

We had a lovely Christmas day and a wonderful holiday season. It was a fun filled month and a half from early Thanksgiving visits from Alisa and Maggie and Kinsey, through to the end of Christmas day.

And now, in a way that only he can.... Larry aka Santa aka Rapunzell aka Tiny Tim wishes you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

What I'm Thankful For Is...

When it's time to count my blessings I am thankful for...

A housefull of my whole family coming together to laugh and share and love and enjoy being together.

Storytime with Pop Pop in the teepee

Little Lila being so proud of herself holding her new cousin Maggie (who looks terrified!)

Ballet lessons taught by Miya, to a very attentive class

An indina teepee filled with the cutest little indian girls and their homemade dresses and necklaces

I'm thankful for a fun trip to EdVenture where everyone had fun!

For Miya's joy in doing the grocery shopping...

For little girls having so much fun taking care of their "pets" in the Pet Clinic...

And for my big boy Scott having fun building with blocks...

I'm thankful for fun filled trips to the zoo where you never know who may poop on you...

or amaze you...

or find out that you CAN ride a REAL pony after all for the very first time!!

I'm thankful for children and their spouses who travel to come back every now and then, and allow us to enjoy being together. For a happy home and family fun...all possible through striving to live gospel principles and put the gospel into action in our lives.

We had a wonderful time together. There's a good spirit in our home when we're all here. All the adults were able to go to the temple and do family file sealings together. And that is just about as close to heaven as you can get.