All Caught Up!

It's January 1, 2011 and I just spent a week updating five months of the blog. I know the entries aren't as detailed as they could be, but my new year resolution is to stay on top of things this year!

Christmas Eve was on Friday this year, so both John and I had the day off. Keeping with our new tradition, we took all the change we saved from the year and went to Nickel City (formerly Nickelcade). And I guess because it was Friday, everyone else decided to go as well. It was crowded and noisy, but we had nearly 3,000 tickets at the end of the day and the kids had a good time, which is all that matters. I got to wrapping, deciding I didn't want to wait until night, and was done and had the house clean and was in bed by 9. Of course, I couldn't sleep so I was up until about 4. Just two hours until the kids would open the door!

Christmas was wonderful. Griffin had wanted an assortment of Nerf guns (I know, no Star Wars toys) and I had purposely saved those until last. He was gracious with every gift, but you could see the disappointment building in his eyes. And then, with no presents left, I directed his attention to the bags behind the chairs and his face lit up. It was totally worth it. Although smaller than usual, the best part was talking with Ian. He was supposed to call between 9 and 10 a.m., but jumped online to tell me that he would be a couple hours late. And so we got to "chat" online for about 90 minutes before he was able to call. And then we talked for 90 minutes, so we got nearly three hours of visiting!

He sounds great. His cadence is a little different, but there's no accent. He didn't trip over his english or spanish. He is struggling a bit with some companion issues, but is on the right path to taking care of them appropriately.

That afternoon, we went to the Elliotts to enjoy wings and other good food. Griffin and Liam both got Nerf guns, so they had a battle. I stayed in comfy clothes all day and didn't cook. I saved the Butter Chicken for the next day, holding firm to my not cooking on Christmas Day tradition.

John and I celebrated our 21st anniversary by doing nothing. We'll be saving our dinner for tomorrow night, but have already purchased the steak and other delicious food with the Costco gift card. In fact, that day we "enjoyed" quite the snowstorm/blizard and didn't go ANYWHERE!

The girls and I spent December 28/29 "like-ing" the Wal-Mart Fighting for Hunger campaign. Wal-Mart would donate $1 million to the food bank of the city with the most support. And this is one determined state! I can't even guess how many entries we did and how many we liked, but as of yesterday at 5 pm, it looks like SLC won by nearly 1 million votes! The final winner will be announced January 5.

For New Year's Eve, we went to Kim's, something we haven't been able to do for a couple of years. Since the rest of the kids had other plans, it was just our family and Kim. We went and saw "Tangled" in 3D and then, well, ate and ate and ate. We tooted our horns at 10 when the ball fell in New York, and John went to bed. We also watched "Inception," a movie I can't wait for Ian to see, and ate some more. She sent us home with enough food to last a week and I spent the rest of the evening catching up!

And now, I consider myself caught up! Happy New Year! Farewell 2010. Here's hoping 2011 is the best year yet.

December 9, 2010: 4H Parent Night and Christmas is in the House

This is probably the busiest week of the season. As earlier mentioned, Maggie and Ellie both had performances, there were tryouts, the 4-H parent night and prepping for the ward party (which required set-up the night before and a tree that represented the Laurels).

We enjoyed the performances of club members, saw Griffin the in the video for cup stacking and chowed down on cookies and punch. Afterwards, it was time to work on the tree for the Laurels. It didn't work out quite as we had planned, but I thought it looked nice just the same. Griffin loved having two trees next to each other in the living room, so I took some pictures so I could remember how great it makes me feel when the room is decorated for Christmas.

November 29, 2010: Prizes and Tradition

On a Monday afternoon, I was at the local health food store with Cherise while she picked up a gift for her mother's birthday. My phone rings, and it's my friend, Kristen Preston, telling me I had just one $100 from APX Alarm because of my response to their question, "What is the best present you ever received?" (We put Snowflake.) I stood there, in the bulk room, screaming! I couldn't believe it! When I got home, I jumped on to see another person congratulating me for my win. I was able to choose a $100 gift card to anywhere that had them online (so my favorite spa was out). After much deliberation, we chose Costco so we could buy good steaks for our anniversary, along with toilet paper and other necessities.

And with the busyness of the season, we thought we'd tackle one of our traditions a bit earlier than usual. I think one of the kids' favorite things to do is go to the dollar store. We each buy a present for the others in the family. We usually do this the first Monday of December, but I knew what was coming up and thought it would be great to get a jump on things. It also helps to get me in the holiday spirit. And this year, we were okay with Griffin going "on his own" which made it even better because it would be a total surprise rather than knowing what he got for everyone. Unfortunately, he still told me everything he got because he just knew I would love it. Gotta love him.

The Best Christmas Present Ever

A few months ago, while we were visiting Pennsylvania, we got word that one of Griffin's classmates--Samantha "Sammy" Kuester, died from complications of H1N1. She was a sweet little girl and it was a devastating loss to the family.

Yesterday, this was the scene at their house.

I dreamt all night about what I could do to help. By 7:45, I was in the car with the little ones and we were at the school. I met with the principal and kind of became the liaison for the school and community with the family. I spent my day making and fielding phone calls, organizing groups, helping spread information, and just kind of making sure the right people got in touch with the right groups.

By this evening, multiple offers of housing have been made--some offering available homes or apartments, others offering to pay months worth of rent. Food has been purchased and delivered. Clothing donations are being sent from across the country (thanks to Facebook and great friends I have from high school). Money and gift cards are being freely given. And Christmas has been saved multiple times over. A group from Ogden is bringing down supplies next week. A family in Salt Lake wants to bring down homemade crocheted afghans to replace the ones the mother made for the children for Christmas. Furniture, electronics, etc. I can't tell you how many times I've cried today, astounded by the generosity of complete strangers.

At one point, I needed to go to Willard to pick up a gift for Ellie. With my cell phone ringing constantly and the need to write things down, my friend said she would drive so I could be free to continue organizing the relief efforts. She sacrificed 3.5 hours of her time. Others have sacrificed money. None have sacrificed their love and compassion for this family. She commented that she had never seen me so happy, that I was just aglow as I talked to every person and helped arrange things. It felt good.

Now this isn't a declaration that I'm leaving my job for something else. Unfortunately, I can't afford to do that. But as I've seen what total strangers are doing, it has become the greatest Christmas. With the economy as it is, Christmas was going to be scaled back anyway. In fact, I don't even think I will be getting anything more than our dollar gifts that we do for each other. Who cares? I feel great inside. I'm exhausted for a good cause. I have very little voice left. I gave it up today for everyone else who wanted to know what was happening and how they could help. It was worth it. I did my visiting teaching with texts and calls still coming in, but the sisters didn't mind. In fact, I left with more than I came.

As I took some time tonight to ponder the fact that I'm supposed to be teaching the Christmas lesson to the Laurels on Sunday and haven't prepared anything, it occurred to me that I've been learning and living the best Christmas present of all: love thy neighbor as thyself.

The Ward Christmas Party

The annual Ward Christmas party was yesterday morning. With a breakfast of casseroles, pancakes and peaches, we ate and visited with friends and family. Ian and Maggie performed, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" with their cousins, Ben and Sydney Roden. The Primary children sang and I played "O Holy Night" to help accompany some of the youth on their violins. It was a nice break from the shoveling we've been doing for the past four days!

Merry Christmas to All

I still remember waking up at 4 in the morning, sleeping in the same room with Pat and Chris, and wondering if we could go downstairs yet. I don't even know if my parents had gone to bed yet. This morning, I was awake by 6. (I couldn't go to sleep though, so I crept downstairs and was awake until about 3:30 and then up a couple of hours later.) I finally went upstairs around 7:30 to see if any creatures were stirring. I saw Mags and Ellie approaching my room, but Griffin and Ian were still asleep. I woke up everyone else and we had a quiet start, reading part of Helaman and then Luke 2. We got to talk about how times are a-changin' and what would happen if during the night someone had come into the house and taken all the presents. (I'm sure Griffin was quietly freaking out inside.) We talked about how good it was to help others at this time of year and how if that had happened we would still be fine because we had a house and food and clothes and warmth and each other. I think it set a great tone and really appreciated John's quiet and thoughtful start.

We went into the living room and spent the first few minutes, as is tradition, looking at the stocking stuff. And then the opening of presents began. The kids were a bit nervous that I didn't have much to open, but I continually reassured them that my gift was ongoing. You see, last week, the floors were replaced in both of our bathrooms. Yes, the carpeted bathroom is gone! The smell is gone! I have beautiful travertine (sp?) floors that John got for a steal three years ago (I had no idea they are usually so expensive--we paid $1 a square foot for them.) And mid-January the shower tile is being replaced! John has also, as I have mentioned before, been making a concerted effort to get everything up and going in the kitchen. It's the best gift of all to have a comfortable house. He has been working really hard and it was truly appreciated. His sister, Gigi, knitted us an amazing blanket for our front room that matches perfectly. It's so beautiful! (Later on she brought more fun presents for the kids.)

**Note: This is a list of their gifts mostly to be included in my blog publication for journal keeping. If you don't care what they got, skip to the next paragraph.**Griffin got a bunch of Star Wars Legos (and unbelievably he spent almost the entire day building them by himself), some books, and other stuff. Ellie got a bunch of Littlest Pet Shop toys and boots and a coat. Maggie got make-up, a My Sims DS game, a coat, and we made up for her counterfeit $100 bill with a real one to buy some clothes. Ian got a tripod and car stereo. John got a car stereo as well and for the family we got the entire collection of Calvin and Hobbes. As things were wrapping up, I ran back to the room telling them I forgot something and then haphazardly gave them each a box saying, "I don't know which goes to each person, so just open them up." They were thrilled with their engraved iPod nanos, and spent the rest of the day on the computers setting them up. Of course there were other little things here and there (including our annual haul of DVDs), but they seemed to feel it a successful year.

I was thrilled to find the missing Guitar Hero 3 game and spent an hour playing while the others were occupied. I took advantage of the additional down time to do some laundry and start cooking for our family gathering at the Roden home. We enjoyed another full feast and lots of laughs. The snow has been falling off and on through the day.

Gigi and Carl showed up a little before 5 and helped with the final food touches before we took off down the hill carrying egg nog (yes, we love it!), bruschetta, sweet potatoes, profiterole, and seven layer dip. Liisa had made everything for sandwiches, Gigi brought zucchini brownies, and Kirsti brought apple beer and more trifle! As usual, we ate and ate until we were nearly doubled over, and played another great game. By 8, it was time to head back home (although Griffin had left with Maggie about an hour before because he wanted to work more on his Legos and watch Mister Magorium's Wonder Emporium.) It was another fun evening and now I'm off to bed!

Check out John's dollar store "bling!"

Bah, Humbug!

Last night John and I went to the local movie theater to watch the live simulcast of Glenn Beck's Christmas show based on his new novel, "The Christmas Sweater." I was glad that he put it in theaters as well since the live show was so expensive and although this, too, wasn't cheap, it was a lot less money and easier than driving to Salt Lake.

I wanted so badly for this to put me in the Christmas spirit. I've not really felt it this year and kind of feel like I'm just holding on for dear life before my house and obligations swallow me up. On his daily radio show, so many people have called in to say how much this book has changed their lives, how phenomenal the stage show was. I was so looking for that to happen to me, too. I wanted to wait on hold for nearly two hours to say to him on the radio, "This was just what I needed." Instead, as the show ended and I watched on the screen as faux snow fell onto the audience, all I could think was, "You know, someone's going to have to clean that up." The point was obviously lost on me.

Every year I think, "This year will be different." I want that "Leave it to Beaver"-type episode where I spend the day in the kitchen cooking marvelous things to deliver to friends and family, where the ingredients are a prop and the cost didn't come out of my own pocket, and where the stage crew magically cleans up the mess that it leaves behind. Instead, my fingers are sore from tying over a hundred rubber bands around hot chocolate cones and I'm off to buy more mini marshmallows because they are Griffin's favorite treat and keep disappearing by the handfulls before I can get them into the cones. I'm rushed thinking I have to put tags on these and all the other gifts that need to be delivered by tomorrow because it's the last day of school before Christmas break. There is mutual tonight (an International Dinner for the elderly in our ward) where we have to prepare two desserts (one from Argentina and one from France) for we don't know how many and do a "heart attack" for one of our inactive girls. The snow is falling (pretty, but not fun to deliver Julie's presents to realtors in), my days are scheduled to the minute, and again, all I can think of is "Who's going to clean up the mess?"

Even my Beehive challenge of reading the Book of Mormon in 40 days has become a chore. Once you get 40 chapters behind, it's hard to find that much time to catch up. What had brought me peace just a month ago is now stressful.

And yet, just two days ago, someone arrived at my doorstep holding two dozen homemade rolls. You see, several years ago around Thanksgiving I purchased a whole bunch of fleece to make blankets to donate to whomever needed them. They have sat unfinished in my living room cabinet until last month when I thought it a perfect opportunity for the young women to finish so I could finally get rid of them. The cafeteria supervisor at Westmore let people know that she was part of a project that would be distributing blankets, coats, hats, etc. to people in need. I thought this a perfect place for the blankets to go and so I delivered them to her last Friday. She told me this about the family that received them. There was a young mother with a newborn there and she had mentioned that she had no way to keep this baby and her other children warm this year. They received all of our blankets and she broke down in tears knowing now that her baby would be warm. As a thank you, Linda made some of her fantastic rolls (that she bakes from scratch at least twice a week for the little elementary school kids' lunches!) for our family. I stood there dumbfounded thinking, "I don't need the rolls. You should take them to this family or other families who I'm sure need so much more than I do."

I know the true spirit of Christmas is in serving and giving to others. I knew at that moment that there could be no gift greater than knowing that we had helped not only her but other families in need through Sub for Santas. What a slug, I am. I have everything I need. My family has a roof over their heads, two working furnaces, HD on one of the TVs, two parents that love each other, and more food than we can store in our own house. What more could we want or need?

I think what's so hard is getting through the rest of it. I think the greatest gift of all would be everybody cancelling all the parties, concerts, sing-a-longs, and just freeing up time to be at home, with your family. Well, that and a maid to clean up afterwards.

PS: Don't be surprised if our Christmas cards show up around Valentine's Day!