Christmas

It's Tuesday afternoon.  The house is quiet.  Will went with a friend to shoot hoops at the community centre.  Lizzy is spending the night with cousin.  Kelli is outside taking in some sunshine and building a snowman.  Del is at work.  I'm here.  Did I mention the house is quiet?  The crock pot is filled with chicken.  The family room is waiting to be cleaned but it can wait.  I'm sipping a cup of gingerbread spice tea and it's very good.  Peace on earth, at least my little corner of it, has apparently really happened.  The weekend was busy and loud.  Christmas Day - Ron's house.  Boxing Day - Allen and Sandy's house.  Yesterday - Debbie's house and then a place called Jethro's for BBQ.  It was fun, it's not over, but right now there is peace.

Here are some pictures of Christmas.

 This was Kelli, wearing her new Christmas earrings, heading out to take pictures of her new car.  She got a car!  She got a car!  Elizabeth doesn't have to ride the bus anymore!  Elizabeth doesn't have to ride the bus!  I think those are the words I heard when Kelli opened her package of wrapped license plates and keys that were under the tree.  We brought the car home from church Christmas Eve.  We told the kids that Del had to stay at church and help Gary with something and that Gary was going to bring him home later.  They had absolutely no idea that he brought home Kelli's new car.  The look on her face, the sound of her voice, the sight of her jumping up and down, the feel of the freezing morning air on us as we ran outside in our pajamas to look at her car, are all things I will cherish.

Here it is. The car! The car! The car!

 Can you see Lizzy in the car?  She's practicing riding to school.  Practice makes perfect.  She'll have lots of time to practice.  That's not happening, at least not yet.

Don't you think they look so cute together?  Kelli and the car.  Yes, that's a sunroof.  So cute.

So the car was definitely the high point of the Johnston Family Farm Christmas, but they were other great things.

Lizzy's new chair to accompany the rocker girl purple paint on her bedroom walls.

She loves it.  She sits on it and looks at her new Taylor Swift calendar.

She looks at her new Taylor Swift calendar while listening to her new Taylor Swift CD (no picture included).

Will got a 'Snap Circuits Jr.' set, which he can use to learn all about electronics.  Del and I weren't sure what he'd think of it but he has been spending hours with it.  

Farmer Boy got a blender and he was thrilled.  Yep, a blender.  Yep, he was thrilled.  He is the smoothie king.  He loves smoothies.  He will buy a smoothie whenever he sees one. He tried to make his own smoothies with our cheapo blender but it didn't work. It lead to pain and frustration for all of us.  Now he has a super duper blender that's supposed to last. The kids and I got it at a kitchen shop downtown and they assured us that the blender I was buying had a bigger motor than the kind you can get at the box stores.  I believed them and handed over my money.  Del ripped open the paper, yelled "yahoo!" looked it over and said, "finally".  He's finally got his blender.  He's already made a blueberry smoothie and some orange julius.  He has made a list of ingredients he needs for more smoothies and attached it to the fridge so I don't miss it. He's ready.  Finally.

Oops! Wrong picture.  

Try these instead.

My Christmas was wonderful.  I got a little notebook and a book from my children.  I got a GPS device for the van from Del.  I also got some wonderful kitchen gadgets that Del and the kids purchased from the same kitchen store downtown.  I got to watch the faces of my children as they opened up their gifts.  I got to feed them cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning.  I got to tuck them in that night and ask them if they had a good day.  I got hugs from each one of them before they went to bed.  I got to snuggle in next to Del when the day was over.  It was the best Christmas ever.