Christmas 2014 (plus 5 billion photos)

The lead up to Christmas was especially wonderful this year.  I enjoyed being home with the boys to partake in all the holiday happenings and things seemed a little less chaotic than they normally do around this time of year.  On top of everything, Grady and Christmas was a magical combination.  He was pretty excited by all things Christmas including the smallest sweetest things like the bell on our front door,  the wonder of snow globes, and daddy's special tree with lights in the front yard. He was mostly good about leaving the decorations alone, but we did have a few decoration fatalities this year.  Overall, Christmastime was a huge success and a simply magical time in our household. 

The season started with the hunt for the perfect tree.  Grady walked around emulating Chris as he searched for the perfect tree.  It was at the tree lot that Grady discovered that he LOVES his pockets, it is the little things that make this kid happy.

Cutest Christmas side kick.  This was before it was even December, he looks so little.

Jumping with excitement that we got to take the tree the home!

We enjoyed an afternoon with the Whitfields playing together and watching the boys be hysterical building gingerbread houses, slamming frosting down their throats like they'd never be given food again while sweet Sophie tended to carefully building her gingerbread house.

These boys together are pure trouble and pure joy wrapped up in one awesome cousin package.

Grandma and Papa came for a quick pre-Christmas visit to celebrate the season and Eric's retirement. It was a short but wonderful visit!  A huge congrats to you Papa for ending your years of service to your profession and to our country as a colonel in the Air Force.  You make us so proud.  We know new adventures await you including many fun times with these kids!

An elf on the shelf named Quincy joined our family this year.  Whenever Grady was acting like a good boy, he would run up to Quincy and exclaim "tell Santa that I am a good boy because . . . ".   If I ever reminded him that Santa was watching, he quickly correct me and say "no no the elf it watching me honey". He seemed to get the concept of Santa and was excited by his appearance in books, commercials, and street signs.  

Well, Santa looks better on paper than he does in real life.  Grady was pretty terrified of Santa and it is a miracle that we even got a picture with him at all.  Of course after the picture, Grady high fived Santa and seemed to warm up to him a bit.  On the way home from seeing Santa Grady sat in his car seat looking tired and a little sad, I asked him what was up and he told me (and Grandma and Papa) that he was "just a little bit sad because he didn't say I love you to Santa," my heart melted.  Papa had a good idea to drive through the neighborhood where a Santa sat on a balcony of one of the houses.  We rolled Grady's window down and he yelled out his window "I love you Santa!" and all was right in the world again.  Grady now likes to ask people, "do you like Santa?  I didn't want to sit on his lap just stand on the chair next to him."  Perhaps next year he'll warm up to the big guy.

While Grady ran around in tears, Santa snuggled with sweet  baby Graham.  I love this picture of the two of them.

Grady was a little less terrified of "Santa Paws" on our visit with Bella, but even then was not too thrilled.  Bella is also pretty afraid of the Santa Paws so I joined her for her picture.  

The only picture I have of me with the boys at Christmas.

We bundled up the boys for the first annual Johnson Tour de Lights.

Storytime with Mrs. Clause and one of my favorite picture of the Christmas season.  Grady was mesmerized by the huge ornaments on the tree by Mrs. Clause.  He was not mesmerized by Mrs. Clause and not surprisingly had an aversion to her as well. :)

Grady's new favorite treat - a waffle pop!

Having a little baby to cuddle through the Christmas season is pretty special.  Nighttime feedings were so much more enjoyable when lit by the lights on the Christmas tree.  Attending church on Christmas Eve and hearing the story of the birth of Jesus while holding my own sweet baby was pretty wonderful.  Christmas always fills my heart with joy, but Christmas with a baby was especially sweet and wonderful. 

These were Grady's first Christmas jammies.  G2 seems to have no problem fitting in them. 

Every once in a while Grady asks to hold Graham.  It usually lasts less than a minute, but is pretty cute nonetheless. 

In his Christmas fancies.  Thanks Garbers -We've enjoyed Mr. Johnson circa 2012 and 2014!

My new favorite family tradition was the watching of Polar Express under the Christmas tree.   Chris's family slept under the tree growing up, but we cannot keep Grady in a normal bed to save our lives so we settled on movie night under the tree.  Grady actually sat still long enough to watch the movie (his first movie ever) and would only leave Chris's side to walk up to the TV to show Chris certain things in the movie "Daddy that is Santa, he has a white beard, lemme (let me) just show you it."  It was my idea of a perfect evening and I will never forget it.

When Christmas actually arrived, the magic continued.  Grady was on a sugar high and a sleep low for about three days.   Chris and I took Graham to chuch on Christmas Even and left Grady behind to enjoy some time with Amma Gramma.  It  was absolutely pouring rain on our way to church and in between my whining about rain on Christmas, I was reminiscing with  Chris how the best Christmas was one where it started snowing during the service and we came out to a "white Christmas".   After our candle lit Silent Night at church, Chris headed out with Graham while I stayed behind to make sure we'd collected everything.  When I finally made my way out, Chris just looked at me and told me to look outside with the widest grin.   To my delight snow was coming down in huge flakes and the streets were blanketed.  I was shocked and unbelievably happy. It was a white Christmas after all.

We ended Christmas Eve with our traditional King crab dinner with my mom and opening gifts with her.  Grady discovered that he loves King crab.  Good thing it is right up there with hot dogs in terms of cost.  Once Grady had been excused, he kept opening our back door and shouting "SNOW" at the top of his lungs.  It is hard to discipline a kid who shares my excitement over a white Christmas in such a genuine and sweet way.

It was a wonderful Christmas eve topped up with cookies and milk for Santa, which Grady insisted on tasting to make sure that they were good enough.  He still tells me, "member when Santa drank the milk and cookies allllll gone."

Christmas morning was perfect.  Grady was thrilled with the caterpillar tractor train (a train and a tractor combo!- perfect for him) that Santa brought and some new Peppa pig toys.  We unpacked stockings and enjoyed breakfast as a family of three while Graham chose to sleep until 10:30 that morning.  There was one crisis moment when Grady lost one of the two-inch toy guns in his stocking, no presents could be opened until it was found.  Funny how the littlest gifts are sometimes the most special.  We found the gun and Christmas could commence at last, thank goodness!  It was a morning filled with torn paper and toys carpeting the ground, lots of smiles and too much excitement to contain.  It was just how Christmas should be.

The infamous gun.

Jumping for joy in his new slippers.

This little guy joined the party at some point and sat and watched all the chaos with a little grin on his face.

We continued the holiday funk,j' with a few days up in McCall starting on Christmas day.  Chris got some skiing in, Grady got a lot of snow play in and time with Grandma and Gramdpa, Bella enjoyed her best friend, and Graham had a lot of cabin cuddly time indoors.

He'd stay out in the snow all day if we'd let him.

Snowcastle stomping!

Snowblowers are pretty awesome when you are two.

This kid never takes the easy way up.

Jumping bean + snow = good times.

Grady's first time on skis - in the front of the cabin.  It lasted 1.5 minutes.

Warming up!

Little bear.

We didn't do matching Christmas jammies, but we did do matching cabin jammies :), thanks in part to Graham's ability to fit into 6-12 month jammies!

This is Grady's newfound "cheese", the jury is still out on whether it is better than not looking at the camera.

We went to a celebration called Light the Night at Brundage ski resort and saw some skiers descend from the mountain led by torchilight only in a huge snowstorm.  When they got to the bottom Santa was leading the way and a huge round of fireworks went off (also Grady's first).  It was magical standing there while the snow came down under a sky filled with fireworks.  Lots of magical moments.

It really was a snow storm!

A not so magical moment was the tantrum that followed painting ornaments!  I'll just let the pictures make it look like this was a bunch more Christmas magic.

Grady doesn't do particularly well with change.  He nearly had a meltdown when we took the tree out of his room.  He walked around the house the days after Christmas sweetly asking "Where did Christmas go?"  He waived to our Christmas tree in the street where it waited for the garbage truck and would say "bye Christmas tree, I love you" in the saddest little voice.  He has done his daddy proud with his Christmas spirit.  Looking forward to many more magical Christmases to come with our boys.