Christmas with Thalia...and Joshua & Erica, of course!

Thalia... what a sweetheart she is! I absolutely love this picture...
Daisy... this was part of her Christmas present from her parents....

Um? You may wonder what a Daisy is? I was uninformed before our journey to southern California... Thalia got the 'Daisy' a bit early...
For the 'Daisy', you need, well, you should wear a helmet...
Ah! Here it is... the Daisy is a little motor scooter... a pink motor scooter... a scooter that goes 15 miles per hour... a perfect speed...
Thalia showed her Mimi how to ride...
She was demonstrating turns, flips, and wheelies... just kidding, no flips or wheelies!
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......... well, zooming at 15 mph anyways...
After my lesson, Thalia brought the Daisy for her Mimi to try...
Yee-Haw... this was fun!
I was going so fast, my hair was blowing in the breeze...
I do believe I was at full-throttle...

Once back inside, Thalia showed me how to take care of the Daisy... you have to plug it in to charge it. Blu jumped into the picture...
Isn't it cute?
What nice wheels!
Her Papa is very proud of his Daisy-riding granddaughter!

After our riding excursion, we were just hanging out...visiting, talking about cameras. Erica got out her Canon and then Joshua started taking photos of his sweet bride...

He was uninterested when his bride got ready to take photos of him... Donnie noted one time that Joshua doesn't smile much for the camera... true.
Blu was happy to smile...with a little help from Joshua...

Joshua, Erica, and Thalia are in a waiting game for their new house. They were SUPPOSE TO be able to move last Friday... 'Suppose to' are the key words here...didn't happen. However, their current house is all packed up...the Christmas tree was up, but it came down when they thought they'd be moved before Christmas.

We're flexible here at the Johnston Chronicles, so we improvised with wrapping paper, trimmings, and the festivities....
Some gifts were wrapped in wrapping paper, some in newspaper, some were inside stockings, and some were already being ridden. (The Daisy!)
We had a wonderful time anyway! Christmas usually includes gift-giving, but that's not what it's all about. Remembering the gift of Jesus is first and foremost... and then we love to be with our family...

Thalia was ready...

"Hey, nice sweatshirt, Thalia!"
She was good at ripping the paper off... no matter what kind of paper it was...
Oops... looks like this photographing Mimi forgot to take a photo of what was in the box for Thalia!
Mimi was in desperate need of some new earphones for her iPod...
Golf clubs? We found these in southern Cal...but I'm not sure if I'll keep these, or get the Prince Clubs from Costco. I just need a beginners set, but I want to get the best beginners set!
My baby boy... one of my baby boys!
Joshua had a great tool for his Pops...

Ron is a gadget-man ....
Another gift for Thalia... a beautiful cross from her parents!
Joshua was talking to his Pops about the tool he had given him... the more he talked, the more Joshua was thinking he should have also gotten one for himself!
Erica, a true Johnston if I ever saw one, was busy taking pictures... Remember she also drove 800+ miles in one day... add that to her picture taking = a true Johnston.
Notice Thalia's nails? Another early Christmas gift from her Mama...
Joshua was excited to see what was in his stocking. His Pops had some input to what went in it this year. Joshua needs tools...and gadgets... for all the projects he'll have on his "Pop's List" in his new house.

There was no "Pop's List" this trip... since moving into the new house didn't happen while we were there. We were truly disappointed... it would have been fun to mark off the list.
This tool is called a 'Stud Finder'... and Joshua showed us that THE STUD had been found (him!) We already knew that.
Erica started digging into her stocking...

Thalia dug into her stocking, too!

Erica started to open her beautifully wrapped package...
Ahhh, glasses... glasses for the new house...
Thalia was excited to open this strange-shaped, beautifully wrapped gift...
We all laughed, Thalia included. There's a story behind this...
We had gone to Costco a couple of days before and bought 2 jars packed together. Well, this is NOT one of those jars. Later, when my guy opened the trunk, the jars tumbled out, hit the cement, and... well, you can picture the scene. Thalia, seeing these laying on the cement, was crushed, telling us she LOVES pepperoncinis... so we went back to Costco, buying more, and wrapped one up for her.

A joke...
It took Erica a while to finish unwrapping her glasses. Or... maybe I put them on this blog out of order? Your choice...
Joshua was happy with his new level...another tool for his new project list...
Um? What else does Erica have? At least this one is in true Christmas paper!
Some new silverware!
The last present was larger in size... and it was for Thalia...
She is always playing our piano when she's here...and she is incredibly talented with music in general! So... a keyboard was a gift!
Joshua was equally excited about 4 rolls of duct tape... but unfortunately, when my guy asked me to wrap them, I had no idea that he wanted me to wrap one roll... the other three were for Gabe, Donnie, and him... oh well, Joshua got a kick out of it and tossed the other rolls back to his Pops.
I hope Donnie sees this photo of a smiling Joshua! Donnie is a project kind of guy, so he'll understand why Joshua is smiling...he's thinking of all the projects this duct tape will come in handy for...
Hey, a propane torch kit! Just what every project-oriented man needs!
Not wanting Blu to feel blue... Joshua wrapped up some treats for him...
He woofed them down...

and Christmas with Joshua, Erica, and Thalia was a great memory... a great time!