Christmas 2012

We had an awesome Christmas this year. Poor Cole got stuck at work until Christmas Eve, but we were really excited that he made it home for the big day. 

The Sunday before Christmas we had the annual Johnson family party with a cousin gift exchange. 

And of course we made more gingerbread houses. Based on the success of this house Tukk will never be an architect. In all fairness to him, though, he learned his Uncle Kory's trick: if you leave the roof off you can fill the inside with candy. Tukk took it to the next level by overloading the walls with icing so they caved in on the candy stash, effectively hiding it from any would-be candy thieves. Because really, who's going to dig through rubble like that to find some treats?

 Kolby and Jess were able to come down for Christmas this year, so we got lots of cousin time in.

We took some pics of the cousins who were here (and really missed the ones who weren't). This one is my favorite. The sun was Caulder's nemesis... he could NOT keep his eyes open. The pirate facing was epic. And Klive, who is always the happiest, most easy going kid on the planet, was not having any of this picture taking crap.

We spent Christmas Eve with the Bott side of the family. We've outgrown Grandma Donna's house, so we partied at a church instead this year. It wasn't quite the same, but at least no one had a claustrophobia attack from being crammed in such close quarters together.

Twist was excited to wreak mayhem with his Ironman blaster.

That night we left bacon wrapped little smokies, magic bars, and Cheetohs out for Santa. And of course we didn't want to forget about the reindeer, so we grabbed a couple of old carrots out of the bottom of the produce drawer and left them out, too. Next year I should probably be more reindeer prepared.

This was the first Christmas we haven't had to wake our kids up to go see if Santa came. Just before 8 I could hear them in their room whispering to each other: "Do you think Santa came?" "Should we go see?" "Do you think he brought us any presents?" It was so stinking cute. Then I heard the patter of little footsteps heading down the hall toward the living room, so I had to go intercept them to make sure we had the camera ready. Tukk barely had his eyes open, but he kept trying to use his massive girth to barrel past me and go see if Santa came. He was like a juggernaut. A tiny, 27 pound, I-can-pick-you-up-and-throw-you-over-my-shoulder-with-two-fingers juggernaut.

This is what happened when we finally stopped torturing them and let them sprint into the living room. I would do pretty much anything to see their faces light up like this.

 Tukk couldn't believe Santa brought him a present that was bigger than he was.

Twist was excited about the Iron Man fan and To-Do List notebooks in his stocking. Santa must have known how much he loves fans and lists. He was also super stoked about the fancy journal we got him. He spent hours snuggled in the new sleeping bag my parents bought him and writing in his journal. This kid cracks me up.

And below is the proof that Santa's Christmas magic is real, because Caulder decided about two weeks ago that he really wanted a pair of sunglasses with a "fancy case." Do you know how hard it is to find sunglasses with a fancy case in December in Utah? Luckily we put the big guy on that one and Santa came through for us.

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Farrel came up halfway through the present opening to watch the kiddos open their gifts. They brought these sweet shark blankets that my boys love. They're super soft and snuggly, but they're still boy-approved because they have teeth. And a fin. Genius.

And even Muggzy got a present from Santa. I was sure she'd be on the naughty list, but I guess Santa has a soft spot for rotten, oaf-ish puppies.

The Christmas aftermath...

We went to my mom and dad's for our traditional Christmas breakfast. The kids (especially the big ones) were pretty wiped out.

But the highlight of Christmas? Watching this kid open the 4 pounds of bacon that Santa brought him. He could not believe Santa would actually bring him bacon. It was the best thing under the tree. 

Such a good Christmas. We're so blessed.