Journeys with the Johnsons: Christmas 2009

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas! We sure did and enjoyed spending time with many family members. Tyler thoroughly enjoyed all of our Christmas festivities. Ben was off all last week (except Monday) and only worked Tuesday and Wednesday of this week so Tyler and I are loving all of our time with Daddy!

This is how we celebrated Christmas this year:

Lucinda and her boyfriend, Trey, came over to see us on Saturday the 19th before she flew out to spend Christmas in Phoenix. Tyler just loves his Aunt Lulu!! He really enjoys spending time with Lulu and sometimes "calls" her on his play phone when she isn't here ;-). Tyler even gave Trey a goodbye kiss all on his own as they walked out the door!

One of my best friends, Heather, was in town visiting her parents so we got together a couple of times. We met for dinner and a movie one evening and Heather came over to our house another afternoon so she could spend some time with Erin too. Erin & Bo stayed with us on the 22nd & 23rd. For those of you who don't know, Heather introduced Ben & I our freshman year at Clemson. Heather and Erin were close childhood friends, living in the same neighborhood and being only one grade apart in school. I lived next door to Heather in our freshman dorms and one day she introduced me to Ben - isn't it amazing how God's plans are so perfect!

As I previously mentioned, Erin & Bo stayed with us on my birthday and the 23rd. We enjoyed their company and had lots of good conversation. We ordered in Japanese food for my birthday because I was feeling a little tired and didn't care to go out for dinner. Bo retired early since he had gotten up quite early that morning and Ben, Erin, and I made white chocolate covered peanut butter balls until 11 pm that evening. Heather came over on the 23rd and spent several hours with us. Then, we went to church for our Christmas Eve service. It was a nice service and we were glad that Erin & Bo were there with us.

On Christmas Eve, we went to Greenville for the annual Gaines Family Christmas party. We all met at Ashli's house this year. We had some yummy food, exchanged gifts, and visited with everyone. We came home that evening and got all the Santa stuff ready and prepped for Christmas day!

Tyler woke up around 8 am on Christmas morning. We had all his Santa stuff set up in the family room by the fireplace so he could play with all those toys before delving into the wrapped gifts under the tree in the dining room. Tyler played with his Santa stuff all morning. After his nap we started with the wrapped gifts and we finally finished unwrapping around 6:30 pm. We had to space the gifts apart so he wouldn't get overwhelmed. We decided to stay home this Christmas and loved being able to relax and go at our own pace. For dinner I made a ham, homemade mac & cheese, glazed carrots, sugar snap peas, cranberry bread, several desserts and appetizers. Tyler played basketball all day and was exhausted by bedtime.

We went to Greenwood on Saturday the 26th to visit with my parents and Trent, Shauna, & Kaleb. Mom had planned to make a nice family dinner, but she developed pink eye, what seemed like overnight, so we all went to Outback instead....which is always good with us! After an early dinner, we all exchanged gifts and watched the boys play together with all their new toys. Enjoy the pictures!

Here's a peak at Tyler's unwrapping skills....he's a pro now