We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!! We sure did!! It was our very first Christmas in our own place. It was supposed to be the year of being with Mike's parents, but as they are serving in the Dominican Republic we didn't quite make it there. But it was so nice to be in our own home! We were also grateful that Curtis and Kristi were close by to invite us to Christmas dinner.
Lydia really enjoyed Christmas. She liked it for all the candy she got in her stocking - and in our stockings for that matter. Speaking of stockings... I made ours this year!! I was so proud of myself!! Look at me being all domestic and such! These are the first things I've ever really sewed since 7th grade Home-Ec, so it's a good thing you can't see them too closely. Lydia also really enjoys her new little table. She'll sit at it sometimes, but she mostly likes pushing the chairs around the house. We also got her a cute cleaning set with a little broom and mop and scrub brushes, etc and she loves them! She's so funny!Lydia looked so cute in her new pajamas! Thanks Oma and Opa! And for the first little while she couldn't walk in her new slippers without looking at them. I got all sorts of great cake decorating stuff from Mike, plus a fabulous Williams Sonoma glass cake stand. Ooh! I gave Mike an air compressor that he's been wanting for a while and I surprised him with some peg board for the garage! I was so excited about the pegboard, I even painted it! What a dorky wife he has. And thank you to everyone for their gifts, cards, and well wishes! We had such a great Christmas!

The church Christmas party that topped all other Christmas parties! Ever! Our branch had a Bethlehem themed Christmas party this year and it as awesome! Everybody decked out in their bathrobes and other various Bethlehemian attire. It was so much fun! Here's Mike in his almost authentic Nazarene terry-cloth bathrobe. And how often do you get to see the EQP as a Roman centurian? Was this not a cool party or what?
The food was amazing! Just turkey and cheese, bread, and fruit. That's it! No casseroles or Jello salads or 28 layer dips. It was so basic and wonderful!!! I was in heaven! And Lydia really dug the oranges! The primary put on a really beautiful nativity program and what was especially cool was Mike and I got to be Joseph and Mary. Lydia stayed in the audience with some of my seminary kids, but when she saw us on stage she got really excited. She stood up and pointed and shouted to let everyone know she knew us. It was hard to not make goofy faces and wave back at her. She's so cute! Here's me putting baby Jesus in the manger. What a great Christmas party! There was an amazing spirit there and was unlike any Christmas activity I'd ever been to before. Two thumbs up.

Lydia turned 18 months yesterday! How weird, I feel like we've had her forever! She's getting so big and so cute! Here are some pictures of her 18 month old self!

Great hair Lydia! When she woke up I thought it was static, but no, it was very much bed head! Nice!

Here's Lydia trying to open our Johnson Christmas book (it's a really cute idea, a little Christmas story for everyday of December. We're actually doing really well this year. Some years we don't get around to starting it till midway through and have to catch way up). See that pigtail? It only lasted about 3 more minutes.
And no terrain is too arduos for Lydia's cart pusher whatever-it-is. She's everywhere with that thing! And it's always fun to see what new things end up in her cart. Like shoes or kitchen towels. I swear it gets harder and harder to find things in our house nowadays!

It's time for Christmas! This is the picture we meant to put on the last post, but we were having problems with getting more pictures up. But this is our tree! I think that Lydia looks like a little elf with her ear sticking out like that. Isn't she cute?