Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!! We hope that you had wonderful Christmas gatherings with your families. We had a Christmas full of family and friends.

We kicked off the holidays with dinner with our friends (and two of Thomas's godparents) the Yosts. Thomas and Lydia are old friends by now and he is even somewhat saying her name (La-la). I somehow never got a picture with Lydia's face in it! I think they were having too much fun running around being silly...as you can see from the picture below. Jessica (Lydia's mom) is heading into the hospital tomorrow, to have baby #2. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, during this exciting time. We can't wait to meet baby Yost!

Christmas Eve was a great evening with Grandma and Grandpa Hogberg. Besides the looming doom and gloom from the weather forecasters, it turned out to be a lovely night. Don't get me wrong, there was surely lots of snow, but..it was manageable. Charlie was scheduled to work 6a-2p on Christmas Eve, but then mid-way through his shift was told that he had to stay until 10p. Rats! Luckily, he was able to find someone to come in at 6pm for him, so he could enjoy the majority of the evening with us. Grandma, Grandpa, Thomas and I headed to church at 4pm and then by the time we got to their house for supper, Charlie was pulling in the driveway. We feasted on our traditional meal of Swedish potatis korv (potato sausage), Swedish meatballs (handmade by grandma), Swedish rye bread (also handmade by grandma and grandpa), ham, potatoes, etc....oh yes and Swedish rice pudding for dessert. Sensing a theme here? :) It was all very delicious. Thomas got a bit antsy, so he was able to open a present early. Tonka trucks! He loves these little trucks and has developed quite a collection of them now.


After supper Thomas had to check out the trains, in grandpa's basement. He loves the trains and as soon as we walk into the house, he says, "choo choo." He's getting very good at sliding down the stairs on his belly. Grandma has Santa Bears on the stairs and Thomas just bulldozed right on over all of them. Grandpa helped with the clean up there.




We all then headed over to our house for the remainder of the evening. We invited Grandma and Grandpa over for a Christmas Eve sleepover..their first time staying at our house. The weather men were predicting major snowfall that evening, so we thought it would be fun to have them come to our house, then they would for sure be here for Christmas stockings in the morning. It was very fun having them here. My sister and her family were in Texas this year for Christmas, visiting William's family. We sure missed them, but understand that it's always good to share. :) Thomas and I look forward to seeing them in February, when we travel out to see them in Chicago.

Thomas got a sandbox from Charlie and me for Christmas. We set it up in the living room (sans sand), with all of his toys in it. He thought it was very fun. In fact, it is still sitting in the living room and has become his new play place. We are thinking that it will move to the basement for the remainder of the winter, but it has yet to be moved. It's pretty fun.


Charlie worked Christmas Day until 2pm, then we headed up to Grove City, to be with the Johnson side. It was a very fun day, with all of Thomas's aunts, uncles and cousins. We had a great supper and then opened up the mounds of presents. Below is Thomas trying to figure out the puppet from Grandma Johnson. He liked it, then he didn't, then he liked it and then he wasn't sure. It was pretty fun watching his reaction to it.

The next day, we headed over to Great Grandma Johnson's house for a gathering with the great aunts and uncles and more cousins. It was very fun to gather with everyone. Thomas got some new tractors, which he loves (thanks Greg and Diane) and a great Jack in the Box. They are still a great toy!!

Once we got home, Thomas decided to test out all of his toys. He got this great racetrack from his Aunt Michelle, Uncle Matt and Morgan. He has also discovered that balls can roll down it just as well. He seems to be convinced that it would be ok for him to slide down it as well, but so far...we have stopped that one from happening.

New Adventures since last time:

• Singing E-I-E-I-O is very fun. We have an Old MacDonald (yes..it's the Scottish version) book that Aunt Karin gave him. We were singing/reading through it the other day and Thomas started singing E-I-E-I-O. It was great.
• Thomas got a stool for Christmas. This is going to be interesting. I think that all kinds of adventures lie ahead for this little man. He sure enjoys climbing up on it and just standing there. He mostly just giggles, once he gets up there.
• He has now started saying "hello." He used to only say "hi," but now it's the whole word. He holds up phones, remotes, toys, etc. to his ear and says, "leh-lo."
• We are just amazed at the many words and attempted words coming out of his mouth these days. He tries to say everything that you say and he's getting so good at it. It's just incredible to see his development.
• His ears are all clear!! We had his post-op for his tubes yesterday. The doctor said that he has two perfect ears. We will go back in six months to get them checked out again. So far..all is well.

Happy New Year to you!! We wish you many blessings in the New Year!