Christmas Eve — The Johnson Family

Chris ran an errand to Target with Luke, and Ryan picked up some rolls from Kneaders while the rest of us got ready for our Christmas Eve Brunch at the Jacksons house. We brought fruit and fruit dip.

The breakfast was great! French toast, Hot Chocolate and Wassail, fruit and fruit dip, yogurt and granola. Fun to be with friends who are like family. It was the Egberts, Hales, Theurers, Jacksons and us. We sat around the table for hours talking.

After the breakfast we ran home to put the meat in the crockpot and grab sweatshirts and blankets and head to the movie theater. We had reserved 8 reclining seats for MARY POPPINGS RETURNS. We really enjoyed it – very nostalgic. Love having recliner seats!

Back at home we worked together to get dinner ready. Roast, Potatoes and Gravy, Creamed Corn, Rolls, and Pretzel Jell-o. I had told the kids to set the table with big red plates and small plaid plates but when I went in there the plaid plates had been taken away. What is going on here!’ I said a little frustrated. (My migraine was really getting bad). Then Chris told me to sit down, and I found wrapped presents sitting at my chair. I knew immediately they were new Pottery Barn candy cane plates. I opened them up and we immediately washed and used them for Christmas Eve Dinner. Love my husband.

I barely made it through dinner, while trying to apply pressure to my head. I excused myself as soon as I had finished eating and went straight to bed while Chris and the kids cleaned up. I tried sleeping but wasn’t able to. Then I tried a bath. I got dressed and came downstairs again to see what the kids were doing. I just didn’t want to miss out on anything – but I was still in so much pain that I ended up crying to Chris and he sent me back to bed. This time I was finally able to sleep.

At 8:15 he came to check on me and my migraine had finally settled down. Chris and the kids had been playing ping pong, and pool down in the basement. We gathered in the dimly lit living room and watched a few '#Lightmyworld videos which made me cry and talked about ways we could #lightyourtestimony this week and throughout the year. Then we Read from Luke 2 and then watched several nativity videos which were really great.

We took Christmas Eve Pajama pictures, got Santa’s plate ready, ate a few chocolate covered Joe-Joe’s and Squamish Bars.

Especially fun to have the whole family together again. Ryan back home after his mission and Katie here before her mission. Love my kids so much!

Then we bundled up for a spontaneous trip through the neighborhood to go see Christmas lights. We stopped in front of one for quite a while watching the lights flicker to the different Christmas songs coming through the Radio. It was perfect.

The kids decided to all sleep in Emily’s room so they pulled Megan/Katie’s mattress and Matt’s mattress and squished together. Chris successfully ‘locked’ them in their room AND hyped them up so they would couldn’t possibly sleep. Ryan had been looking forward to all of our Christmas traditions but really didn’t want to miss this one.

Chris and I stayed up to get a few more things wrapped and ready and then headed to bed. Love doing everything with him. I couldn’t sleep for awhile – I guess because of my earlier nap and just the excitement of Christmas. : )