Growing Up Johnson: Peace Out 2016!

I'm finally getting around to blogging about our Christmas. We are currently enjoying the last day of our 17 day break from school and work. It has been very relaxing and it's surprising how quickly I forgot about all the luxuries included in staying at home. Such as, completing all of our laundry in one day and getting all the beds made in the morning! Woohoo! It's been glorious. I really have been able to get the house organized and attend to a lot of other nuisance chores during the break, which sounds boring but overall eases my sanity. The sane version of myself is much more pleasant, for everyone. And I have so much enjoyed all the extra snuggle time with my babies in the morning. We have spent many days just lounging around the house, any boredom easily cured by a tickle fight. We ventured to the movie theater and spent time with friends, including a play date with one of Lyla's favorite classmates. We also enjoyed our annual Gingerbread House tradition with Charli & Hali. Oh, and Max put in some hours (um 1/2 hour) at his new job. Hehe! I'll have to elaborate on that in a separate post.

I feel like our routine with school has kept us so busy over the last few months, this break has given us the chance to slow down and just enjoy each other. I think that's exactly what the holidays are all about for most of us, anyway. However, as Christmas neared closer and closer, I felt myself pushing away this undeniable feeling of sadness. I adore my little family so much and I'm truly grateful for the time we have been able to spend together, but the quiet holidays always make me miss everyone in Idaho a whole bunch. I miss the experience of BIG family gatherings. I honestly love bouncing around on Christmas to various family members houses. I keep reminding myself that life always comes back around full circle and I know eventually we will enjoy a Christmas in Idaho again... I just have to be patient. And patience is not my strong suit. Ha. In the meantime, I have been trying to appreciate all the aspects of small and quiet holidays. I think it's important to soak up every season of life we experience, or at least give it a good effort. Haha! It's tough for me sometimes, but life could always be tougher.

Okay. Anyway, I wanted to share our Christmas morning. Christmas day could possibly be my most favorite day of the year to be a parent. As cliche as it sounds, it is seriously magical. The best day ever. I freaking love being Santa Claus. Max woke first and was not in the most pleasant mood. Keep in mind, he is only three so a lot of this Christmas business doesn't click for him quite yet. He mostly follows Lyla's lead and/or level of enthusiasm. As always, he made his way into our bed by morning and I exclaimed, "Max, it's Christmas!" His grumpy response, "No it's not. It didn't even snow." I giggled to myself, then reminded him about Santa and finally he remembered. I got out of bed to grab Max some fresh clothes, because of course, Christmas morning he had to pee himself. As I was rushing to his room, he made it clear that he wanted to wake up Lyla. "Don't wake her up Mom. I'm going to do it." We got him all situated in dry clothes and then he bolted out of my room. So much for cute Christmas jammies on Christmas morning, right? Oh well. I watched as he ran into the living room to check their stockings, he gasped, then immediately ran to Lyla's room. I could hear him say, "Lyla Lyla, It's Christmastime. Your dolly!!!" They both darted out into the living room faster than you could imagine. Kirk set up the iPad to record their entrance, but the house was still so dark you can't see the image very well. However, you can definitely hear the little pitter patter of their feet running across the house and I loved that just as well.

We opened presents and by the time we finished the living room was complete madness. I'm always slightly disgusted by how spoiled our entire family is between all the gifts that get shipped from our loved ones in Idaho. But we are lucky they love us so much! We remained busy the rest of the day, playing with new toys and games. Lyla's main gift from Santa was an American Girl doll. And Max asked for a Batman Transformer. Apparently Lyla also asked for a black kitten, but Santa didn't get that memo --- and I'm not so sure he would have fulfilled that request anyhow. Ha! Regardless, the kiddos were very pleased with all their new treasures and we had such a fun morning. We enjoyed french toast for breakfast and set up our new Alexa speaker from Grandma Paula. I only mention this gift because I was cracking up when Lyla asked Alexa to get her a glass of water. She was so impressed with all of Alexa's other abilities, I guess she figured a glass of water shouldn't be too difficult for her to manage. Spoiler: Alexa was unable to fulfill Lyla's request, but luckily Lyla was born with these amazing things called legs.

Later in the afternoon we headed over to Charli & Jeremy's for a delicious meal and more gift opening chaos. Hali received a new trampoline for Christmas and the kids are obsessed with it. I felt tired just watching them. However, it really did the trick to drain their batteries, particularly Max. That boy is an energizer bunny all day long. We had a fun day and I'm grateful to Charli & Jeremy for always inviting us over for Christmas. I think it's obvious I am very devoted to my role as Santa, so my enthusiasm for cooking on Christmas has really been lacking the past few years. Sooo if it weren't for the awesome Stout family, we most likely would have ate..........boxed mac and cheese. Phew! I'm glad we dodged that bullet and were treated to amazing-melt-in-your-mouth ham instead. Plus, I can always count on them for one Christmas Day adventure, and being at their house helps with that irritating "lack of togetherness on Christmas" feeling that's been floating around for me this season. I know, you're sick of me whining. Perhaps I should call the waaaambulance. Is that joke still cool? Idk.

SO! TOMORROW is my baby girl's birthday. Did I mention she is going to be FIVE??!?! Someone pinch me. I know I'm going to be blogging about all that, so I returned to Slackerville to get this Christmas post wrapped up. As for wrapping it up, I don't have many complaints about 2016. It was decent. We are all still here, breathing and whatnot. I am feeling even more hopeful and optimistic about what's to come for 2017. I can still remember a time when I thought the year 2017 seemed so far out of reach, yet here we are. It is the future! I'm looking forward to more adventure, laughter, and LOVE.

Please enjoy these photos that I sloppily attached to this post............................you can mail your complaints to Slackerville, USA.