Cup of Christmas Cheer

Mark and I spent Christmas this year with my family (The Johnson's).  It was the first time that my entire family was together for Christmas in nearly 3 years.  We had such a delightful time!  Mark and I got my parents sling shots that look like little wolves along with a big bag of large fluffy marshmallows.  Everyone took their turn at sling shot.  Those slinger-dingers were the hit of the Christmas gathering.  

My dad aiming at my mom, pegged her right in the eye (she didn't get hurt) it was hilarious!

My mom aiming back at my dad, her face of determination cracks me up!

All of us kiddies surprised my parents with a family Christmas picture.  We prearranged the color coordination and made sure my parents had the right colors to wear for the picture.  The girls wore purple and the boys wore black or white.  We just took them ourselves, nothing professional or fancy.  It was the first time we've taken family pictures since I was a little girl.  We were well overdue!! My parents were very much surprised and I could tell it meant a lot to them.  That was the best part of Christmas for me.  To see the look of joy on their faces, something so simple can bring so much joy.

We had to take some silly pictures along with the serious ones, because that's apart of who we are.

Mark and I started a new tradition for ourselves and will carry it out with our future family one day.  I said one day, don't get any crazy idea's, no kiddies yet!  Each year we will have a theme present that we will open on Christmas eve.  This year to start us off for the years to come, we chose PJ's.  So I took it upon myself to get the PJ's this year, you know me though....go big or go home!  I decided on silly Footy jammies this year.  I found this fabulous website pajamacity.com, and it has all sorts of awesome Footy pajamas.  I had to get us silly matching Footies or it just wouldn't be as exciting.  Mark was a great sport about it.  We have had some hard laughs this Christmas while wearing them.  In fact...as I am sitting here typing I'm snuggled up in my awesome ducky Footy.  I am excited to put these on again next Christmas as we continue our new tradition.

I hope y'all had a delightful Christmas!  I hope that the Spirit of Christ and the remembrance of His birth echoed throughout your homes.  How grateful I am for my Savior, for His life, His example of righteousness and His Atonement.  I look forward to that day, upon my worthiness, when I will be able to return to Him and be graciously embraced and be welcomed to live forever in the presence of my Father in Heaven and my Savior, Jesus Christ.