Johnson Family Christmas

The Johnson Family Christmas took us out to the country, where TJ instinctively reverted to his wild ways. It's so funny: he always prefers the city sidewalks in Stillwater (even off leash), but he becomes absolutely crazy at the Johnson farm, and only at the Johnson farm. It's got to be something in the water - or all those delectable rabbit poops!

The Johnsons have provided acres of habitat for the birds and wildlife surrounding their property, including tree shelters, fields of corn and switchgrass, and - most recently - a highly visited pond. It's wonderful to watch the changes through the seasons, and we are so fortunate to see deer and pheasants, woodpeckers and rabbits and raccoons, and so many more. More elusive animals - foxes and owls and possums and badgers - leave their tracks, but I'm not outdoorsy enough to find them. And anyway, I most enjoy the prairie grasses and South Dakota sunlight.

TJ always needs a good recovery after his country walks. 

It wouldn't be Christmas without a 1000 piece puzzle of holiday scenes all in the same color family.

Merry Christmas! I wore my holiday socks for the occasion.

Howdy, Tucker! You look so fashion-forward.

TJ acts like he's so happy to see me, but he's only trying to figure out how to eat that scarf around my neck. It looks much too similar to a stuffed animal for him to ignore.

Tux finds a home with Travis, his best buddy.

Every year, Janice cross-stitches a holiday ornament for each couple. We've got quite the growing collection, and it's something creative and homemade that we always look forward to receiving.

And on the topic of creative and homemade, Mark and MiKayla's gift to the family was a rustic wooden bench - constructed entirely out of an old fallen cedar from the property - so that we could all have a place to rest on our walks through the fields. Sort of puts the rest of us to shame, especially since our gift was a bottle of vanilla extract and a bag of bird seed. ;-) Time to start plotting for next year!

Happy dog, sleepy dog.

After the gifts and before the lunch, we tried out a new, old-fashioned game of floating ball skills. Some of us were better than others, but all had fun.

We celebrated with a generally festive but low-key Christmas this year, which was needed and much appreciated. After a crazy few months, it was nice to take our bottles of Crown and our little blue bear and prepare for the new year.

Barondeau Family Christmas

Christmas at the Barondeau home centered on kids, crayons, food, and drink this year, not unlike most years actually. Our nieces are getting SO BIG! They will be two years old just around the corner, in January, and specialize in funny faces and sharing. (And by "sharing", I mean that each girl must have the exact same item, article, and/or activity that her sister has, although they do enjoy being in each other's constant company.) Here are a few highlights:

Making/eating cookies with the grandparents.

The Barondeaus like to liven things up with wine and spirits and all things caffeinated, so holidays usually look like this...

...but sometimes we are tired and then holidays look like this.

Regardless, the newest batch of Barondeaus is well on track to continue our holiday traditions.

(FYI, the girls were uber-supervised and drinking - mostly - water, so it's not as dangerous as it looks here.)

  

So good! Until you take their drinks away.

OK, quick preface for this series: One of the girls had a brief cough, so her sister lovingly patted her on the back. The immediate attention she received from an adoring audience was enough to convince the other sister that she, too, had a cough that required a helpful pat on the back. And before you knew it, both sisters were (fake) coughing and simultaneously (fake) patting each other on the back. This went on for some time, and I can still hardly stand how ridiculously cute it was.

We're both fake coughing here.

 I love how this photo captures the chaos of Christmas, and this scene really wasn't too bad yet.

Yummm...coffee beans for grandpa!

And a decorated oven mitt for grandma.

TJ decided to skip all the festivities and catch a nap behind the chair.

The first gift of Crown, South Dakota's official beverage.

And I got my little blue bear, a gift from Tyler and Courtney in Colorado.

This scene is probably getting closer to the real chaos of Christmas. 

That squeaky toy is not going to last long.

The girls made it though a looong day of Christmas and survived to take a few box pictures. (They both climbed into the leftover box, unprompted.) But you can see it in their eyes - it's time for bed.