Christmas came early this year, really early

Santa did in fact make it to our house this year, even though the kids were sketchy at best in December. AJ was so naughty one day that I wrote a letter to Santa telling him not to bring presents. But he managed a come-back before I sent it.

And speaking of naughty, AJ woke up at 4:00 on Christmas morning, making it our earliest Christmas ever. But instead of waking up Mom and Dad, he just woke up the girls, and they started opening presents. We had no idea until half an hour later (still earliest Christmas ever) when Natalie ran up to tell us Santa brought her a pink scooter. We made them stop and go back to bed. Which turned out to be a great idea, because then they all slept until after 7:30. They only opened a few presents each, but I'm still frustrated that I didn't get to see their initial surprise reaction to Santa's coming. That's my favorite part!

We told the kids flat out that they were not going to get everything on their wish list this year, partly because we couldn't afford it, and partly because there were things we didn't want them to have. But we talked a lot about being grateful and not complaining. This strategy worked very well until AJ opened his Sunday clothes from his mom and saw a purple shirt. He exclaimed, "Oh, you gotta be kidding me!" He stopped himself right there and wouldn't say anything else about it. I asked him later, and he said, "Mom, it's just that I HATE purple. I don't like it even a little bit!" So we'll be returning the trendy purple for another color :)











We had Christmas Eve dinner at Liz and Nathan's house this year. It was Italian de-lish!! So good! We all ate way too much and enjoyed doing it.
We escaped the post-unwrapping apocalypse at our house Christmas morning by heading over to Grandma Johnson's house for fabulous prime rib dinner and more presents.

The holidays were very good to us, and I just want to say how grateful I am for the incredible gift of my Savior's life. I know He lives! I am blessed every day by His love. We love all of you and wish you a Happy New Year!!