Giving gifts

It was time to give gifts...

My precious granddaughter, Thalia, and I were ready...
Everyone was finding a place to sit...all 19 of us!
Saddie had her spot...
We took a break to take a shot of the original Johnston part of the JohnstonChronicles clan...
My guy added a little humor to the photo...of course!
GRITS and Erica were happy to be hanging out together...
Emily had her camcorder ready...
My guy and Patti grabbed a chair, while Sami sat down on the floor to be close to the action!
Emerson had no problem ripping the paper off of his gifts...
He was curious as to what could be hidden under all this wrapping...
Benjamin didn't have a problem unwrapping his gifts either!
Peter, who was new to the JohnstonChronicles household, was enjoying himself along with Grammy...
Uncle John and Aunt Becky had surprised everyone, except for my guy and I, by flying in from Colorado to spend Christmas with us...
Emerson was loving his new toys...
Cousins...they played well together, well, most of the time...We did have what Donnie termed the "Christmas Dogfight"....

Thalia was showing Emerson how to play with one of his baseball toys...
Benjamin wanted to call someone...he didn't tell us who...
It seemed to be a pretty serious conversation...
Emerson tackled his Papa...he tried to close his mouth so the corny jokes would stop! (It didn't work!)
Thalia, of course, had no problem opening her gifts...
Ok, well, maybe her Papa helped with some of the tape!

She plays airsofting with her youth group...so her Mama and Dad bought her her own airsoft gun!
The little guys were great to share their toys with each other...except for the Christmas Dogfight incident...
Emily was trying to capture a lot of it on video...
Peter thought all these antics with the little men were amusing...
Thalia...she's just not a little girl anymore...what a sweetheart!
Oh my...what is Erica unwrapping???
Do we see 'NIKON'?
Yep, sure enough...my picture-snapping daughter-in-law now has her own Nikon D5000! Erica is definitely a Johnston with her love of taking pictures...perfect gift for her...from my baby boy!
Emerson was borrowing his cousin's new telephone to make a phone call...
That reminded GRITS to check her phone, too!
My baby boy, Joshua, was trying to figure out how to attach the strap to Erica's new D5000...
Emily was enjoying watching her baby boy and his cousins, Benjamin and Thalia...along with the rest of the family...
Poor Lindsey! My baby girl was trying to call someone on ... well, it was Benjamin's TOY phone!
Uncle John tried not to laugh at his niece, Lindsey, trying to use the toy phone...
Ahhh...my sweet daughter-in-law and my baby-baby boy!




Donnie brought his sweet wife, my baby girl, a pretty large box to open...
Uh-oh...do we see another NIKON D5000?

The answer: Yes

Lindsey also is an avid picture taker...another perfect gift for her!

My little lady...my sweet baby Thalia!
Saddie was soaking up all the memories...
Benjamin...
Donnie and Lindsey...
Oops! Sorry Emerson...
Benjamin...so serious on the phone...
Lindsey was already starting to read about her D5000...
Donnie wanted to read it with her...
Emerson hanging out on the couch with his mama and Daddy...
Erica was also reading about her D5000...
Emerson...I absolutely love these two pics of him!

Uncle John, famous for his questioning techniques, was drilling Emily on...well, he didn't tell us...
I was showing Erica a few things I knew about the Nikon...
Benjamin wanted to hang out with his Uncle Gabe and Auntie Emily...Uncle John was listening in...
Peter got a new robe...
and then Joshua got...
a new robe!
Benjamin didn't like the radio station on his new radio...
All this had happened on Christmas Eve...
Joshua had suggested having the boys open some of their gifts Christmas Eve so we could all enjoy watching them play with them...before people started taking off for home...

Once they were all in bed...'all snug in their beds'...then, 'the stockings were hung by the chimney with care...' Actually, the stockings were hung by the chimney and on various door knobs...19 stockings can't all be on the chimney at the same time!
Christmas morning... Emerson wanted to check his 'google' with his Daddy before everyone woke up...
Patti and GRITS came over...

"Came over" is because some of our group of 19 stayed at our Marvin's house...Marvin's house sold, but escrow hasn't closed...so my 'brothers' - Marvin's sons - let us use the house for sleeping! It was a huge gift! There's one house inbetween ours and Marvin's...so when they woke up, they could come on over!
Benjamin fed himself a bowl of oatmeal before the Christmas morning festivities began...
Benjamin's feet...
We had a big Christmas morning breakfast...eggs, bacon, biscuits, and gravy...
Gabe checked on his work situation...along with his assistant!
Emerson :)
Gabe? I wonder if the biscuits were taking too long?
Lindsey and Erica had both charged the batteries of their new D5000s...Donnie was taking some test pictures!
Lindsey enjoyed a cup of tea while her little man finished his oatmeal...
Emerson was also eating a bit...
Grammy was framing her face for me:)
Emerson was patiently waiting for the biscuits and gravy...
Benjamin thought he should check his 'google' since he had watched Emerson check his...

After breakfast...we all gathered in the living room to listen to the Christmas story from Luke 2.
"...So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David....He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.

...When they (shepherds) had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child...

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."

It's important to me to not forget what Christmas is all about...
In Matthew, the Magi brought gifts to Jesus...

Our tradition is to give gifts to each other...
One of our gifts that we treasured, was the surprise of Uncle John, Aunt Becky, and Sami...
Sami and Thalia...
Joshua...

Remember all those stockings that were hung by the chimney with care? Well, after we read about the birth of Christ, everyone left to go find their stocking...
Grammy said this was her first stocking in over 40 years!
Joshua was asking about his wood chisels...
Thalia was digging deep...
Becky was excited about See's suckers and Trader Joe caramels...
Sami and GRITS each had two stockings...their mamas had made them one and Santa (aka, me) had also made them one...
Grammy was still pulling things out...
Patti...
GRITS...(FYI, GRITS is not this sweethearts given name. Her name is Emily...but I've called her GRITS for...12-13 years? She came out to visit one time and wore a baseball cap with GRITS on it. GRITS stands for Girls Raised In The South.
Joshua and Peter both were excited about the chocolate...
Joshua was seeing if there were any more caramels down in the toe...
"Thanks, Santa..." my baby brother told me...
Erica was still recording...inbetween taking some photos with her D5000...
Saddie was excited to peel her tangerine...her Little Cutie. She has memories of her stockings always having a tangerine inside when she was younger...
Sami was excited - not about one, but two stockings!
Emerson's mama and daddy helped him discover all that was in his stocking...
a tape measure, a 12' tape measure from Home Depot...
Benjamin was excited about his little red flashlight...
I love this picture of Benjamin holding his flashlight...
Emerson's daddy was demonstrating how to play a kazoo...
hanging out after stockings...
Papa opened his first work-out shirt...
GRITS was opening...
a Jack's hoodie...
Thalia was happy with...
her black jacket...
She loved it!
Emerson showed us his 'Emerson' placemat...
Erica wasn't sure which camera to look at while pictures were being taken of her with her new earrings...
"OH boy! Look Mom! I got Wii Resort!"
Saddie and Grammy were excited about their 2011 calendar. It is full of photos of their 3 great-grandchildren!
Saddie crocheted all 3 of her great grandchildren a blanket...the boys were both blue and Thalia's is orange. She also made one for Sami, but she didn't quite finish it...seeing as she fractured her wrist!
Thalia and her orange blanket...

Papa and Donnie both got a Milwaukee drill. Benjamin posed on his red airplane between them...

Both the boys got red Radio Flyer airplanes...

Aunt Patti gave each of the boys a T-Ball set...
I was so happy to have my mom here...
The boys are adorable...they were the subject of many photos...
19 month old little people...
their personalities evolving...
starting to interact with others...
everything something new...every new thing an adventure...



It was definitely a very Merry Christmas!