Christmas was really wonderful this year because my 10-month old niece was home with us. It’s so hard having her grow up in Colorado and I crave these times to see her and watch my brother as a daddy! It was also a BLAST watching my parents as grandparents. They itch to spoil her and cuddle her and rain kisses down on her.

Because Danny and Shannon were here the week leading up to Christmas, I kinda worked a modified week in order to spend time with them. They left on Christmas day, Shannon and Grey up to Santa Cruz, and Danny back home to work the following day. During the week, we hung out, had a girls dinner, had an open house at my mom and dad’s, a family dinner at my house, then the big Johnson family hoopla at mom and dad’s on Christmas Eve. All 10 of my grandparent’s great grandchildren were there and Santa even made an appearance. : ) On Christmas morning, we all slept in a little, then tore into a million gifts. It was sad seeing them leave. We also visited my mom’s mom that evening. It makes me terribly sad to see her all alone (she’s a recluse) and I don’t understand why a person chooses to live that way…

My and my pretty sissy
Okay, how freaking cute is she?
Grey-bug eating sweet potatoes. It was a crack up to watch!
Our big Christmas gifts were plane tix to Hawaii this summer. Grey got a new Hawaiian outfit and some stylin sunglasses!
How Miss Kitty celebrated Christmas…snuggled in my bed, snoozin away! This made me laugh!

A couple years ago (gosh, I can’t believe it’s been that long), my clever coworkers Wendy and Krissy-pooh made me a card for Santa Lucia Day…I used it for an invitation and called it “Sammy Lucia Day” as that was the name of my cat back then. I found it again today in order to shoot it off to a couple of family members in honor of the Swedish holiday!

Santa Lucia Day is the beginning of the Swedish Christmas season when the oldest girl in the household dresses up in a white gown with a red sash about her waist and wears a wreath of candles. Naturally, I never wore real candles as I’ve always been bald-ish…no, my mother made me wear battery-operated candles – safety (and hair) first!

Any way, here’s the fabulous pick. I still love it as much as I did then. Sooooo creepy, yet sooooo cool!

On Saturday night, my company had its annual holiday party. It was AWESOME! We rented out a yacht in Newport and had a big shindig. Of course the moment I got there people started asking me if I’d brought a date, so I naturally gave a few people the finger. Anywhooo, the moment we walked onto the boat, we were handed a glass of champagne and were escorted up the stairs to where the dinner was held. There was a full open bar, a DJ, and downstairs there were casino tables. Some people got tanked and even planned it because they hired drivers for the night – no joke! I was alone, so I tapered off pretty early in the evening. So, after dinner, which was scrumptious, the gambling began. I’m not much of a gambler, but after a quick trip to the restroom, a bunch of the dealers taught me to play blackjack. Pretty soon, the table had filled up and it got rowdy – name calling and all. : ) Each chip earned got you a raffle ticket and by the end of the night, I had won Laker tickets! I’m excited to go because I’ve actually never been to a basketball game. Finally, the dancing began and I’m telling you, there are some dancing machines in my company! It was a blast!!! When we arrived back at the dock, all employees were given freaking iPods!!! Not a bad way to celebrate! Too bad it was freezing and rainy that night, but even though it was, I didn’t feel like I’d missed out on anything.