The Johnston Family Christmas Breakfast

After we opened up our Christmas presents from Santa at home, we loaded up the four-wheel drive sleigh for a trip to Angela's house. The Johnston Family (my mom's side) has an annual Christmas breakfast where everyone gets together, eats delicious breakfast foods, and the kids get to tell everyone what Santa brought. I can't even begin to tell about the food that was there... so much to eat! There were so many delicious things that we ate and ate and ate. Some of our favorites were... I love my Aunt Judy's little breakfast sandwiches, Saunders loved the breakfast pizza (not sure who brought that) and Andy's freshly cooked eggs, and Katie Anne inhaled 5 of Randy's sausage links!

When I was young, everyone used to exchange gifts. As the family got larger (my mom's one of four siblings, and there's twins and triplets in the grandkids), it went to just grandkids and great-grandkids under 18 getting gifts, and we kept that routine for a while. Last year, we started drawing names for an adult gift exchange, and it is now my favorite part of our Christmas breakfast! Before Thanksgiving, we answer a questionnaire to give the person who drew our name ideas, and reading the answers to the questions is really interesting, too. I think all the adults look forward to finding out who everyone drew and seeing what each person gets. We open gifts round robin style, where you present the gift you brought after you've opened yours, and it makes it really fun to see everything.

Then, of course, pandemonium insues as all the little people open their presents. Katie Anne had been waiting very patiently to open her presents while the adults exchanged, so she was super excited when we told her it was her turn! Katie Anne got a baby doll with care supplies (bib, bowl, spoon, pacifier, etc) from Mamaw and Randy, and she totally loves it. She got kitchen utensils and supplies (spoons, spatulas, whisks, colander, bowls, etc) from Papaw and Granny Nelle, and she loves it, too... but I love it even more because it TOTALLY matches her kitchen! I couldn't have found a better set myself- and believe me, because I searched for a pink and gray set! She got a neat electronic puzzle from my Aunt Janet and her family that plays Mary had a Little Lamb, and she's been playing with it all morning.

We had such a good time at the breakfast! Here's a Smilebox slideshow of the fun.

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