Welcome 2012

We are not big New Year's Eve celebrators/party goers.  Over the years we have gone and celebrated with friends and it's been great, but we kind of like the quiet stay-at-home sending out of the year and welcoming the new one.

All the kids were out this year at dances or parties.  All of a sudden Duff and I realized we were by ourselves.  We shared a chuckle about that.  I get nervous about drunk drivers out on the road and stayed up until everyone got home and the door was locked.

Tomorrow is church and Duff is speaking in sacrament meeting.

2011 has been good and bad for us.  Probably most people.  We have had many blessings and we acknowledge those.  However, the economy has hit us hard.  I have to say though, that a few years ago we decided to really take a prophet's counsel to heart.  It has been the thing that has saved us, literally.  We have no debt (except for our house here) and built a substantial savings.  That has been a huge blessing for us in the current economic times.  Things we learned with respect to that:  The decision to do that had to be a deliberate and conscious one.  We re-examined what truly were needs and wants.  It is enlightening to put that under a microscope.  New clothes?  outfits? shoes? trips to Target and Costco? (haha--it is hard to get out of those places without it all of a sudden adding up when you get to the register!) eating out? 

2012 sounds nice.  Don't you think?  I like even numbers.  Deep breath.  It's finally here!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

The End of the Storage Unit :(

It is Friday night.  The last two days we've been finishing up the storage unit move.  The decisions to keep or get rid of things is becoming easier.  This has been so much more work than I anticipated in one sense.  It seems every day means another trip over there, loading up, throwing away boxes and broken and old things and some not so old things.  We also have a donate pile.

In another sense, it feels good.  To be done with that $350 a month bill.  To have all our things in one place.  And more tidy and organized.  Every day I have this internal dialogue with myself about what we really need.  What is necessary.  And how in the world did I end up with so many decorations???  Haha!  I have parted with a lot of the older more worn and 80's-90's, 00's ones.  But with that means parting with sentimental things that evoke emotions and memories.  We got this when...I made this when...So and so made this for me/us....Remember when...So and so gave this to me/us when....  THAT is a process.

Now the shredding begins.  Boxes and boxes of it.  That is why we originally got a storage unit.  To house all the documents from Duff's past businesses that needed to be saved for a certain amount of time legally.  And office furniture.  The chairs have come to the house office/bonus room, the refrigerator to Josh and Meredith, etc.  But little by little over the years we would begin to say, "Oh, let's just take that to the storage unit."  And sure enough over time it not only housed the business 'stuff' but our personal 'stuff' as well. 

By the time we get home, we are tired.  Physically, mentally, and emotionally.  And then combine the holidays with it too.  Geesh.  I just like to sit with all the twinkly mini lights on at night and process the day.  We are just about there.  Tomorrow will be the last trip and we take the lock and leave the door up.  If I'm being honest, it feels like we've 'sold' a house or something.  C117 Shady Canyon has been like part of our family for more years than we realized.  Almost 10.

But.  Time to move forward.

Christine flew home tonight from Phoenix.  We took Gidget with us to get her.  She fell asleep on my lap and then I fell asleep too!  It is good to get her home.  She had a lot of fun with her new camera taking so many pictures of John.  Next week she gets her braces off.  Yippee.  We can close that chapter.  Seems like our life book is doing a lot of that lately.  Closing and opening.  New pages being written.

Boyce Avenue

Boyce Avenue is my new favorite band.  They are an american acoustic rock band.  Their sound is awesome.  I could listen to them all day long.  I especially love their cover songs.  (A cover song is a remake/performance of a previously recorded song.)  They even clean up all the lyrics. It is 3 brothers from Florida.

Go to youtube or their facebook or homepage.  You can google any of them and search for boyce avenue.
Enjoy.  I'll bet you become a fan too! YOU NEED TO SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE BLOG AND TURN OFF ANY MUSIC FIRST.

I Think We Can All Relate!

I got these two articles in my email this morning.  I think they are GREAT so I'm going to post them not only to print in my blurb book later on, but so you can enjoy as well.  I think we can all relate.

No. You Didn't Fail Christmas.

--By:  Susan Elzey

Warning: This writer has no problem celebrating Christmas as both a deeply spiritual experience and a celebration of cookies, presents, decorations and jolly old Saint Nicholas. I usually can accomplish the first better than the latter, but I try to use perspective with the latter. So it is for this cause I have come to my computer—to give you stressed-out, exhausted-by-the-Christmas-season guidelines to feel better about how you handled the whole process.

A little bit of history is in order: I tried to combine sacred and secular Christmas activities a couple of years of ago as ward activities director. We would have a moving, poignant, touching (and other appropriate synonyms) pageant in the chapel and then move to the gym to stuff ourselves with Christmas goodies and exchange cheap gifts. My four-month-old grandson was Baby Jesus. The only problem was we had forgotten to ask his permission.

By the time the shepherds marched reluctantly down the aisle from watching their flocks by night, we had a screaming Baby Jesus in a green Rudolph fleece suit sitting up in his Dad’s arms whose Joseph bathrobe was gapping and revealing an Old Navy T-shirt. The shepherds came in after the Three Wise Men, by the way, because the scheduled pianist was 45 minutes late and we had to call on a substitute who didn’t know the order of the songs. The head angel directing all this (that would be me) was an ocean of nervous perspiration by the time the whole Far Side Gallery version of the Nativity was over. After that, I vowed we would never again try to combine both aspects of Christmas at the same time.
Moving right along with those guidelines: Over the years I have learned a little through my experiences with seven kids and Christmas how to deal with the Christmas rush and wind up feeling good about it. Tuck these suggestions away for next year, and forgive yourself for whatever, probably imagined, inadequacies you feel about the Christmas just past.

First of all, choose a tree with a straight trunk, or take out Crooked Tree Trunk Insurance. Putting a Christmas tree up was such a simple project when I was growing up. You bought it, you waited until Daddy put the lights on it and you decorated it. I don’t remember the drama spelled t-r-a-u-m-a that went on behind the scenes.

One year I had a son go get the tree stand from the garage while the rest of us dragged the seven-foot tree in. He handled the job admirably, singing “Here Comes Peter Cottontail,” as we prepared to screw that sucker into the stand.

He stood it up. It fell down, nearly crushing his little sister. We stood it back up. It fell down. We finally realized the trunk was crooked. This shouldn’t have been a problem since I had told the Christmas tree salesman that I had been a victim of crooked tree trunk syndrome for several years, and I was ready to quit cold turkey. He assured me I had.

So with the girls under the tree and the guys barking orders, we got the tree standing straight and tall. The kids jumped up and down. The windows and ceiling fans shook, but the tree stood. We decided to go to the mall and decorate it when we returned.

I always put my tree in the picture window so we can see it when we round the bend in the road. We rounded; it wasn’t there. Where was it? Well, it was lying in the middle of the living room floor.
After a good laugh, we considered the possibilities. Decorate it as a Christmas hedge? Drill a hole in the floor and pour cement? Tie a fishing line to the curtain rod? (Whoops, tried that the day my daughter got married and forgot key and had to break in and broke window entry latch. Still broken.)
I don’t remember how we solved the problem that particular year. But that might have been the year I drove my Chevy to the levee and filled sandbags to put around the tree stand. The important thing, however, is to remember to buy a tree with a straight trunk.

My second idea is to either produce or hire a teenaged girl. They love to decorate, they love to bake and they love to wrap presents. When my oldest daughter left for college, my youngest daughter took over, but then she left too. It had been a good run. She loved to wrap the first 50 or so presents, then I did the rest. She loved to decorate the tree too, although that enthusiasm eventually dwindled. She made cookie dough if I baked it. And, of course, she loved to Christmas shop. The boys? They loved to unwrap the presents, look at the tree and eat the cookies. They hated the shopping, but they love dragging the dead tree across the living room floor and leaving a million needles in the carpet. All must fill the measure of their creation.

My third idea also helps self-esteem. Do not let anyone take any pictures or videos of you on Christmas morning. Ever notice how on Christmas videos—at least mine—I, the mother, the Christmas shopper, planner, wrapper, cook, decorator and sugar cookie queen sits limp and pale on the couch moaning, “I’m so tired. I don’t know why I’m so tired.”

No one ever seemed to care enough, though, to wave a piece of fudge under my nose to revive my flagging energy or even remove the silver icicles clinging to my hair. No one ever brought me my slippers, or even found them. Everyone had worn them—out to the mailbox in the mud, on the dew-soaked trampoline, even the dog in the Christmas parade. No one ever let me take a nap on Christmas afternoon. Why couldn’t they just let me sleep while the kids put all 3,000 Legos in the box, separated the presents and took them to their rooms and put all the batteries in the toys pointing the right way. Do that, then fix Christmas dinner and I wouldn’t have asked for anything else.

If they couldn’t do that, then couldn’t they just have gotten that camera out of my face and leave me, a forgotten shell of a Christmas elf, alone to moan through another Christmas morning?

Enough self-pity—on to another idea. Teach your children the purpose of black trash bags. Now everyone uses black trash bags to stuff all the shredded wrapping paper in. One year we had filled three trash bags with wrapping paper, squashed boxes and, I’m sure, a few instruction manuals we would later need. Then we fed 23 people a Christmas buffet and scraped all the plates into two trash bags. Add to that the two trash bags of garbage we had before Christmas morning began. All bags were lined up on the carport waiting to go to the Dumpster the next morning.

THEN my youngest son said, “Has anyone seen my Christmas presents? I had them all in a black trash bag out here in the living room.”

Donning rubber gloves and wading through trash does not a fun Christmas evening make.
I’ll leave you with one more idea if you still think the Christmas you created was inadequate in any way.

As soon as the Christmas letdown moves in, our minds take over burnishing everything with a rosy glow of reminiscence which leaves the good parts of a memory but erases the unpleasant ones. My sister and I discovered this one year when remembering with our parents the Christmas of 1963, the first Christmas my father was stationed in Germany with the Army.

Paulette and I listed our Norman Rockwell memories—the snowy landscape and an icy castle high up in the mountains, colorful bath oil beds we bought for everyone, the discovery of Dickens’ “Christmas Carol” and the carol “Silver Bells” and the mysterious excitement of putting our shoes out German-style on December 6 and going back to find them filled with candy.

My parents match us memory for memory. They remember it as the year my Daddy’s brother brought a friend who slept on the couch in front of our Christmas tree and later drank alcoholic beverages all day out of a three-gallon German beer stein, eventually getting sick under the Christmas tree. (This was our pre-LDS days.) It was also the week we moved from temporary housing to permanent housing on their anniversary and got into a terrible argument because Daddy got mad at a stuck coat hanger and yanked the whole closet rod down.

We prefer our version.

But the lesson learned is that by Jan. 15 most of the memories of Christmas are pleasant ones and by Labor Day when the Christmas decorations are up in the malls, the excitement starts to build again on its own. And whatever you do or don’t get done by Christmas morning (except the spiritual part, of course) is okay. It’s o-kay.

That's A Wrap!

--By:  Margaret Anderson

I feel like vacuuming the living room floor, clapping my hands together briskly and declaring, "Okay everybody, that's a wrap!"

It's a 30 day holiday, you know. A full 30 days of eating too much, buying too much, and sleeping too little. (Did anybody else's kids wake up at 4am on Christmas morning, unable to sleep a minute longer, as if they knew their parents had gone to bed only two hours before then?)

For 30 days we caroled and baked and wrapped. We spread Christmas cheer, pored over our itemized lists to the North Pole and then agonized whether they'd make it in time. (Good thing I found Santa's email.) We left goodies on doorsteps, subbed for Santa and even managed to get a family picture taken in coordinating outfits! We baked gingerbread houses, decorated gingerbread houses and then watched them slowly disappear, nibble by covert nibble...

Then there's all the "magic" my husband and I created whilst the little ones dreamed of sugar plums. For 30 mornings they woke up to our Elf on the Shelf, Ernie, in one predicament or another. One morning Ernie found himself backed into a corner fighting off carnivorous dinosaurs from the back of his trusty woolly mammoth with nothing but a Lego sword and his cunning for protection. Another morning they found Ernie hiding from his Naughty List adversaries stashed in the poinsettias while Darth Vader and his gang of toy cronies stood all around the pot, weapons cocked, searching for the tattling elf in vain like the Naughty List Gestapo. 30 mornings of this high adrenaline lifestyle was about all Ernie could take. Whew!

I'll admit, there was a point when I found myself tapping my toe, wondering if the 30 days would ever be up. How long can one holiday possibly last? I was so wrapped up in my to-do lists, turning my home into a cottage industry and magic making, I found it difficult to ponder that silent night for more than the duration of a very brief nativity play.

This is why I was so glad Christmas fell on a Sunday this year. Putting on our Sunday best and singing along to sacred Christmas hymns was just what I needed to wash down all the cookies the kids had put out for Santa. For a whole glorious hour, I felt as though I were one of the angels singing in that heavenly host over 2,000 years ago. We were like happy little whos down in whoville, with Christmas bells ringing, standing hand in hand and sing, sing, sing, singing!

And like the Grinch, I couldn't help but think, "It came! It came just the same. It came despite all the ribbons, despite all the tags. It came despite all the packages, boxes and bags!" And even though emotion choked out my attempts at harmonizing, the voices in that chapel sounded divine. O holy night.

Even though the trimmings, trappings and wrappings are all wrapped up for another year (thank goodness), I hope this feeling will last for another 30 days. At least. Hopefully longer.

It Was Good and We Enjoyed It.

Christmas was good.  We enjoyed it.  I took only 3 pictures.  Adrianne took the rest so I will get them from her and post them together.  John was so much fun.  He would run through the house calling,  "Gamma, Gamma!".  The waiting for Baby Girl is almost done.  She will be born before we realize the next few weeks have passed us by.  The expression is true:  Grandkids are the BEST.

Christine drove back with the Newell's to AZ for a few days.  She will come home at the end of the week.  I have been picking up and cleaning.  What is it about the days following a holiday that bring out the nesting in me?  I got all the wrapping paper boxes and drawers tidied up.  They have been needing that all year.  Now I have to work on a good way to do that with all the ribbon and tulle.  Any ideas?  Please share.

I am sick of food.  That being said, it was a holiday of great meals.  The prime rib, ham, and twice baked potatoes turned out the best ever.  We think we have finally figured it out!  Haha!

Mike and Adrianne are sick, sick. They only came out of their bedroom to have some soup for dinner tonight.  Shaun has been out with friends and the house is quiet.  With Christmas behind them, Josh and Meredith are getting everything ready for the baby to come.  Baby shower invitations have gone out and they are getting her room ready.  She has picked out some paint for the walls and is refinishing my grandmother's old dresser.  That has made the rounds!  Natalie and Christine used it and it was in the downstairs bedroom for years.  Now it will serve the next generation. 

For Unto Us A Child Is Born

Born in a stable, cradled in a manger, He came forth from heaven to live on earth as mortal man and to establish the kingdom of God. During His earthly ministry, He taught men the higher law. His glorious gospel reshaped the thinking of the world. He blessed the sick. He caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear. He even raised the dead to life. To us He has said, “Come, follow me.”

--Thomas S. Monson

~MERRY CHRISTMAS 2011~

Wise Men

Wise men journeyed from the East to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. … When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when … they saw the young child with Mary his mother, [they] fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”

-- (Matt. 2:2, 10–11.)

they came with haste, cont.

Nats, Rob, and John got here about 9:30.  They 'came with haste' and the new car worked well.  It was nice to have a little more room.  John quickly adjusted to everything and everyone and Papa Duff made him some chocolate milk and he was ecstatic.  He has changed a lot in the last 8 weeks since we saw him. Taller, and jabbering sentences.  His vocabulary has exploded.

Christine and Erik went to see the new Mission Impossible movie.  Mike and Adrianne headed to Costco.  Josh got a call to play Santa at a family party for some friends so he donned the suit and headed out.  The guys helped him get ready and we all had high spirits--aka 'humor'--during the process.  I'll post pictures later.

It was a late night for all of us, but so much fun.

One Smart Cookie!

We are baking today.  Sugar cookie dough is chilling and ready to roll out.  We made cream cheese brownies, lemon bars, and magic cookie bars this year.  Martha had these tips on her show the other day and she presented them in a cute way.  Any way, they are good ones to go by, so I thought I would post them.

1--For best results, start with your ingredients at room temperature.  (this is true.)

2--Over mixing dough results in tough cookies. (this is also a good one to know.  Knock yourself out creaming the butter and sugars, but when you add the dry ingredients mix until just combined.)

3--Make and scoop dough in advance and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or flash freeze on parchment lined cookie sheet and put in freezer bags. (I do this all the time.  It is great when you need to make cookies at the last minute for something.  Like a school activity or fireside and you find out 30 minutes before...)

4--Instead of buttering your cookie sheets, use parchment paper or non-stick silpat baking mats.  (I love parchment paper and would love to have some silpats one day.)

5--To ensure even baking, rotate cookie sheets 1/2 way through the baking time. (If you have a convection oven this kind of takes care of that for you.  My top oven is convection and I LOVE it.  The builder put it in by accident and we were the only house with one.  We were so glad when they told us we could keep it.)

They Came With Haste

"Did these shepherds, personally invited to undertake a search for the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, concern themselves with the security of their possessions? Did they procrastinate their search for Christ? The record affirms that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem. … And they came with haste”.

--Thomas S. Monson

A few errands.  Stray things.  It wasn't too crazy out there.  And it was nice to take my time and not feel pressured.  I went with Christine to finish her gift for Josh.  She has his name this year.  Got the neighbor gifts put together.  They look pretty all lined up on the table.  We had Gidget for the evening while Josh and Meredith went to the temple with the youth for baptisms.  Adrianne did her wrapping.  The wind has been blowing like crazy.  It knocked over the tree in the pot on our front porch, again.

A Season For Angels

"Christmas is a season for angels.  As they ministered to the Savior and others in the 'meridian of time', may we as angels of mercy minister...to those in need in the 'fullness of times'...."

--Merrill J. Bateman

Happy Dance

I'm dancing.  The wrapping is DONE. Yippee.  My back is doing much better.  Thank you heating pad and Aleeve.  Duff and Mike went to Costco and Pavillions and so now we have the bulk of our Christmas feast and I just need to finish it at the market.  Things are coming together.  I have 2 gifts I must sneak away tomorrow to get and then baking starts tomorrow night!

Christine had a lacrosse Christmas party last night.  Swim party.  In December.  The pool was heated and wonderful.  Shaun is battling a sore throat.  Tis the season.

And Duff informed me that we have 48 hours till John arrives.

Giving.

"Christmas means giving.  The Father gave His son, and the Son gave His life.  Without giving there is no true Christmas, and without sacrifice there is no true worship."

--Gordon B. Hinckley

Wrapping and Roscoe

I wrapped and wrapped today.  I'm on the downhill side of that now.  Did you know that I used to not do any wrapping until Christmas Eve?  At night, after all the festivities.  But it was the way my mom did it and so I thought that was how it was done.  I only realized that about 5 years ago. No more of the staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning to wrap.  It is sooooo much nicer to have it all done before hand.

I finished another baby blanket.  I think this one is my favorite of the ones I've been doing so far.  That can be tricky though since each one I complete becomes my favorite until I do the next one.  Haha!

We got some VERY SAD news:  Roscoe was hit by a car and died this evening.  Roscoe the cute brown Dachshund of Meredith's family.  Ah, he was a naughty boy most of the time, but if you are a dog lover there is just something about him that one has to love.  Ros was kinda old, but still.  He was out for a walk with Erik and Tyler and slipped out of his collar and ran into the street.  Terrible, terrible.  Meredith went with her dad to tend to him.  A very kind woman brought the boys home and contacted Patti who went home to tend to them.  I shed some tears as well.  Roscoe liked me and I felt a little connection to him because he reminded me so much of one of my dogs growing up.  Her name was Gretchen.  Gretchen Tina Marie Boucher Davis was her pedigree name.  Loved that doggie so much.  I found her dead one early morning in the kitchen in her bed under the desk on my way to seminary.  She had lived a long life.  Pets teach us soooo much.

Christmas Star and It's Light

"We remember at Christmastime not only the light that announced the birth of Christ into the world but also the light that comes from Him."

--Henry B. Eyring

Follow Up On Christine's Surgery

*I'm doing laundry and wrapping and crocheting.
*Christine and I had some lazy hours watching Veronica Mars.
She headed down to the hospital to see Jillian.  Ran into some friends and after their visit went to grab some dinner with them at the mall food court.  She said it was a 'mad house'.  The doctors are hoping to release Jillian tomorrow, but still can't pin down definitely what is triggering the seizures.  Now she can't drive for 6 months.  Good thing Chrissy's 1 year license anniversary is coming up in 2 weeks, so she can drive her around.
*Speaking of things in the new few weeks:  The braces are coming off on January 3rd!  Hip, hip hooray!
* And for a follow up on that:  We did pursue getting our money back from the first orthodontist, and we finally settled on paying for the months he saw her and nothing more.  We got quite a bit back.  That being said, it was a fight to get it.  Meredith's dad--who is a PI attorney--told us it would be because the dental community are very loyal to each other.  They may tell you something in their office, but almost never will testify in court against a fellow dental professional.  Unlike the medical community who will openly stand by their diagnosis.

Worst timing ever.  I had just got off a plane in Phoenix and was waiting for my bags when the call came from Dr. Z.  Is this a good time?  he asked.  No, I had just landed and got in the car with my sister and daughter and grandson for my dad's 80th birthday party weekend.  Would it be a long conversation?  He said No.  Well it ended up being a long, stinky one where he was yelling at me again.  I remained very calm.  He called me and Christine liars.  He kept yelling that he had done n o t h i n g   w r o n g.  He kept emphasising those words. 

I told him I didn't necessarily think he was a bad orthodontist for straightforward orthodontics, but in our situation he should have recognized something wasn't right from her models and after almost 2 years when things weren't working and figured it out.  Clearly he was frustrated with her lack of progress. Perhaps it was a matter of training to look for skeletal issues that cause orthodontia issues. He accused us of not seeing a speech therapist for the bilateral tongue thrust.  I let him know I would contact my bank and get copies of the checks and get the speech therapists records for him to look at.  That in fact it was she who finally said--I think something else is the cause because Christine is doing everything right and it is still not correcting.

He said he had spoken with our new orthodontist and oral surgeon (which I had given him the contact information for and expected him to call them) and claimed they said the surgery was not necessary and we elected to have it.  After a lot of back and forth, I finally I told him I would arrange for a sit down meeting with both of them and us and the speech therapist and him at our expense, and would discuss it.  Would he be willing?  That I would also contact other patients of his that left his care for the very same reasons we did (lack of professionalism and bedside manner) and have them attend the meeting as well.

Then the conversation all changed.  Uh, no.  How about this much $$ back?  I countered.  He countered.  I countered back.  He agreed.  And it was decided.  In the car on the 51 freeway in Arizona.  My sister and Natalie couldn't believe how calm and straightforward I was and how I didn't back down. And what a jerk he was being.  Clearly not professional.  And I couldn't believe that I stuck to my guns when he was so intimidating and that we got our money back.  The last words he said to me were:  I did   n o t h i n g   w r o n g.  And I said, well sir, you did.

Interesting fact:  he isn't even at the practice I orginally took Christine to.  He got out of that after 1 year and went to another place.  When I talked with Maxine--the front office gal who is the nicest person in the world--she kept apologizing for his behavior and was glad we had it finally resolved financially and physically.  The check was sent to that office and we had to go in and sign a document that stated we would not come after Dr. Z. for any other damages.

Glad to have that over with.

Sandaled Feet

"If we are to have the very best Christmas ever, we must listen for the sound of sandaled feet.  We must reach out for the Carpenter's hand.  With every step we take in His footsteps, we abandon a doubt and gain a truth."

--Thomas S. Monson, December 2008 Ensign

The Sunday Before Christmas

Great talks in church today.  And some great lessons too.  I came away uplifted and peaceful.

My back is giving me some trouble.  Oh PLEASE, don't go out the week of Christmas!  I am trying to be very careful.

Christine headed off after church to meet up with some friends from school and do some service.  They took lunch to one friend who needed some support and then she has been there for a good friend who keeps having seizures.  Poor Jillian!  She had them as a 'little' girl, but nothing since she was five and now 3 pretty significant ones in a month.  Two were last night and she ended up in the hospital twice.  She can't drive now and can't swim.  Those things are scary!  The doctors are really trying to figure out why these are happening now after so many years.

As soon as she got home, she went and picked up Amanda J. to come and spend the rest of the afternoon and evening with us.  We had pork tenderloin for dinner with peas and carrot coins and mushroom gravy with your choice of either potato or rice.  Salad and rolls.  I didn't get to the market yesterday and only had a few potatoes which I ended up having to peel by hand with a paring knife because our potato peeler BROKE.  Guess it was about time since it is probably 25 years old.  But it was the best peeler EVER.  Always sharp and fit in your hand well.  So after that, I put a pot of rice on!

Duff and I headed down to the Koelliker's to see the new baby.  It is winter-time and you can't be too careful about bringing germs into a home with a new baby.  We didn't go over until invited.   We lathered up with anti-bacterial gel.  She is a teeny drink of water, and perfect in every way.  Lots of dark hair with petite features.  Christina and Alex did good.  The birthing story is always fun to hear and Christina had a pretty straightforward easy one for a first baby!  Cute new family.

Chris and Amanda had made pizookie's while we were gone.  And then I crocheted some more on the blankets and we watched some Veronica Mars.

The lights and candles are glowing and things are peaceful and festive.  4 1/2 days till John gets here.  Duff wakes up every morning and tells me how many more days.

History Fact

"The greatest and most momentous fact which the history of the world records is the fact of Christ's birth."

--Charles H. Spurgeon

Our Saturday Before Christmas

Oh, Target.  I love you.  I especially love you when your things are on sale.  Like storage bins.

Duff and I headed out early.  He dropped me off at Target to acquire clear containers for our on-going get rid of the storage unit project (yes, during Christmas time no less....), and he went to Lowe's for one of those stupid new fangled light bulbs for the downstairs bathroom ceiling light and the other shelving unit.  I was waiting on the sidewalk when he pulled up to the curb.

Home to put it together and get that done.  Our first month's rent will be a wash because of having to get the organizational things to bring it home, but better than all of it willy-nilly all over the place.

Dusting and vacuuming.  Polished my silver salmon tray that I keep on the living room coffee table.  Gosh it cleans up well.  I should keep it up more often.

Adrianne finished all her remaining sewing projects for Christmas. 

Christine and Sammie went to the sample sale at Wet Seal at 5:30am.  She got a whole bag of clothes and her grand total was $29!  Christmas came early for her.  Haha. 

She had her Best Buddy holiday party tonight.  It was a dress up occasion.  She looked really pretty.  Her Best Buddy is Laura, a disabled high school girl with more challenges in life than you even want to hear about.  She is very guarded because of them and it has taken months for Chris to break the ice with her.  Laura misses her previous BB who graduated last year.  Slowly but surely Christine has made progress with her.  She gave her a best friends necklace and her favorite candy and Laura was very happy.  She chose to wear the 'friends' part and gave Chris the 'best' side.  It is satisfying to watch Christine in this role.  Watching her befriend and care for Laura and win her over and protect her and include her in things she does in and out of school has made me see her in a new light.  She will always be my little girl, but she is also on the threshold of young adulthood and she is gracefully making the transition. She really takes this seriously and cares about this girl outside of the school setting.  She had to take a pasta dish for the party potluck so I whipped up some mostaccioli and out the door she went.

Duff was at the ward cmas party cooking up all the burgers and dogs with his HP guys for the 50's themed occasion and I never made it.  Got several phone calls and then getting Chris out the door, the party was almost over before I looked at the clock again.

Eight days until Christmas.  5 days until Nats, Rob, and JOHN get here.  It's going to be so fun to have a little one on Christmas this year!  And I am missing Darla like crazy.  She loved Christmas.  Somehow she knew. She knew it was special.  She loved the mini lights, the candles, the fireplace.  She liked to lay down by the tree.  She could sniff out her presents under the tree, but never ripped them open until we gave them to her on Christmas morning where she danced all over in delight.  She loved the music.  I know it sounds crazy, but it's true.  I believe even animals--who are His creations--know the Savior.  I swear that dog was more human than dog.

Local HERO!

(This is a kid from our ward. He is a good young man and it goes to show you -- you just never know what will happen in a day!  Way to go Brandon!)

At first, Brandon Neilson thought a couple of kids were horsing around at the pool at Santa Margarita Catholic High.

Then came the scream for help.

Brandon, 16, dashed onto the deck of the school's aquatic center. Floating on the water was a backpack and a cap. Kneeling over the pool was a maintenance worker who couldn't swim, futilely reaching into the water and imploring his sunken co-worker to grab his hand.

It all happened so fast in Brandon's mind, but what he saw was unmistakable.

"I looked down and saw a guy at the bottom of the pool, and I thought he was dead," Brandon said Tuesday, the day after the Dec. 12 incident. "I thought he was gone."

The best estimate is that he had been underwater for about 90 seconds. It would have been longer if not for Brandon.

The Mission Viejo High junior—who was on campus Monday night to pick up his sister, Ali, from volleyball practice—threw off his jacket, kicked off his shoes and dove into 7 feet of water.
A competitive swimmer and water polo player at school, the Rancho Santa Margarita resident pulled the limp body to the surface and pushed it onto the deck while others pulled.

The victim, Jose Luis Mendoza, had apparently been putting a pool cover on the pool when he slipped and fell; neither he nor his colleague could swim.  After the rescue, a third maintenance worker, Sam Medina, administered chest compressions before Brandon—an Eagle Scout who has his lifesaving and first aid merit badges—began assisting with that too.

Mendoza, 38, began foaming at the nose and mouth, the water coming up from his lungs. Orange County Fire Authority emergency personnel arrived shortly thereafter.

On Tuesday, Brandon received a phone call from the OCFA as well as Lu Dominguez, Santa Margarita's vice president of administration. Brandon said he was thanked by the school and informed Mendoza was going to be OK.

That was great news for Brandon, who lives in the Rancho Cielo community with his parents, Alan and Jamie Neilson. Sister Ali, 13, is an eighth-grader at Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate who was practicing at the high school with her club volleyball team.

Brandon said there was an odd occurrence leading up to the 8:30 p.m. heroics.  Although familiar with the school, when he parked in the lot and started to go to the gym to get his sister, Brandon said he couldn't remember where to go.

"If I hadn't drawn a blank, I could have passed the pool sooner and I would have missed the whole thing," he said. "I think it was divine intervention. There's no other explanation. I feel like I was put there for a reason. If it wasn't for me, it could have affected that family tragically."

The whole experience left him changed too. He said he felt different after the result of his actions and what it meant to those involved finally hit him.

"I was totally thinking about that afterward; if I had been a minute later or earlier, he could be dead," Brandon said. "I know the school pretty well, I practice water polo there all the time, but when I got there, I had to remember where the gym was to pick up my sister. It was weird, because I was there at the right place at the time time."

And he was the right guy.

Take A Break From The Hustle and Bustle

"For many of us, sadly, the spirit of Christmas is 'hurry'.  And yet, eventually the hour comes when the rushing ends and the race against the calendar mercifully comes to a close.  It is only now perhaps that we truly recognize the spirit of Christmas.(...)  With all it's temporal confusion, it may just help us to see that by contrast, Christmas itself is eternal."

--Burton Hillis

A 'Sampling'

The wind has started up again in earnest tonight.  Whipping around and down the sides of the house.  My rose bushes look so funny stripped of all their leaves and yet somehow the roses on the ends of those stems have hung on for dear life!

My visiting teacher came by today.  Brought me a beautiful poinsettia.  She is the best.  She is 80 and I love her friendship.  She is so wise and such a lovely person.  She is teaching RS this week.  What a good example that you never outgrow serving in the church.  I hope I can be like that when I am 80!

I got all the kitchen rugs washed today.  Finished edging another blanket for the baby. This afternoon I just couldn't get in the groove.  I lost my momentum and had a hard time getting it back.  Had tilapia for dinner.  It was really delicious.  Christine had practice tonight and then went to Sammie's and then they both came back here and we played Clue and watched Christmas with the Kranks and laughed our hearts out.  Today and tomorrow is the sample sale at Wet Seal.  Adrianne works there and brought home her bi-annual large black trash bag FULL.  Jewelry, clothes, jackets, hats, scarves, shoes (!)--oh the shoes.  She got tickets for Christine to go in the morning bright and early at 6am.  Adrianne gets all her stuff for FREE because she is an employee and just takes her turn working a checkout shift.

Christmas Clock

"Christmas is the day that holds all time together."

--Alexander Smith

Storm and Blessings.

Holy Moly it has been chilly.  And then all of a sudden this afternoon it got even colder and then started raining hard.  I was folding some laundry in the family room and catching up on a couple of dvrd shows of mine and I heard what I thought was some scrapping next door.  It sounded like the large garbage cans being dragged roughly across the sideyard.  Then I remembered that they keep their garbage cans on the other side of the house by their gate.  I dismissed it.

A few minutes later--kaboom!  Yep.  It was thunder and lightening.  That was the loud dragging sound I had heard before.  I was waiting for them to cancel lacrosse practice, but never got the call.  So Chrissy went and came back in an hour because, yes, it was dancing all over the field and canyon and the coach sent them home.  Can you just imagine lacrosse sticks in the air during a thunder storm.  No, don't actually.  Bad images.

I got the kitchen and family room all clean, dusted, vacuumed, and mopped.  That always feels so good.  Duff and Mike and I made another trip over to the storage unit.  We brought back a load of boxed things and got them on the shelves.  Got rid of a few more things.  When I sat down later tonight and was crocheting on the baby blankets, I thought about how stressful getting ready for Christmas and shutting all that down and going through things in there is.  There is a lot of emotion tied up with some things in those boxes.  Each a memory of some part of our lives.  Some are easier to part with than others. Yet, I don't feel a lot of pressure like I normally would.  I concluded that I am being blessed.  I felt grateful.  Maybe some of it is my getting older and hopefully a bit wiser, but it feels like more than that.  And maybe because it's Christmastime my perspective is more Christ focused so it is more recognizable.

Visible is Bound To Invisible at Christmas

The message of Christmas is that the visible material world is bound to the invisible spiritual world.

  ~Author Unknown


Busy, Busy

**Oh my.  Busy days are upon us.
**Why oh why is it that the kitchen never seems to stay clean?  It is a pet peeve of mine.
**I got a much needed hair cut and partial weave.  Interesting thing.  I was born a towheaded child.  It stayed with me for a long time and then darkened as I grew older into my teenage years.  But still blondish.  I 'frosted' with a home kit for years during college.  You remember those?!  Anyway.  My hair stylist has an assistant who she is training for the holidays to get some experience and some extra cash.  While Felina was getting my color mixed up in the back, Nicola came out with this cardboarded strip of  labeled hair wound up on it.  I asked what in the world that was!
It is a 'wand' of different colored hair to determine what natural color hair a person has.  She was holding it up to my roots and guess what?  I am still considered a blonde.  And not even the darkest blonde.  And to date, still am not considered grayish.  A few here and there but not a lot.  Wow.  Guess I have my mom's genes on that one.  But even both she and my dad didn't start graying until very late in their life and my dad's is quite nice looking. Very silvery and shiny, not coarse.
It felt so good to have everything trimmed up and looking good.
**Duff and I went after dinner for a Target run.  Needed some gift tags and light bulbs and I needed a new bag for Primary stuff.  There was one there that I've had my eye on and it was on sale.  Yay!  We also were getting a gift for Christine to take to her friend's birthday tomorrow.  It was fun to be together just the two of us.

Christmas Bells Are Ringing

"Christmas bells are ringing,

Hear what they say to you:

Jesus is born

in Bethlehem!"



Chicken Soup With Rice

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, poached and shredded
12 cups chicken broth or stock
1 onion diced
5 carrots diced
2 celery stalks diced
3-6 garlic cloves, diced
1/2 cup rice
1/4 barley
salt and pepper to taste
fresh diced parsley or 1 tsp. dried parsley

Bring water to a boil in a large pot and poach chicken for 20 minutes, or until cooked through.  Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool.  Shred.

In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil and all the vegetables.  Saute to soften just a little.  This will give a little more flavor to the broth.  Add broth and bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.  Then add rice and barley and stir well.  Reduce heat and simmer partially covered for about 25-30 minutes or until rice and barley are tender.  Add chicken, seasonings, and parsley and simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes. 

Serve hot.

(Original recipe from Sweet Caroline's Cooking.  This is a girl Shaun went to high school with.  She has some good recipes.)

Shaun has lost 75 pounds this year.

After his hernia surgery the end of January he patiently waited out his recovery time and started in with a healthy diet and exercise the end of February.  The good old fashioned stuff.  He is SO committed.

He found this soup recipe that is healthy and delicious.  He can make a whole pot of it for pennies compared to what the canned varieties cost in the market.  He found it from his friend's cooking blog,  Sweet Caroline's Cooking.  It has some great recipes and some great pictures.



The Message of Christmas

"I am not alone at all, I thought.  I was never alone at all.  And that of course is the message of Christmas.  We are never alone.  Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent."

--Taylor Caldwell

Good Stuff

It is raining and cold.  I am up to my eyeballs in laundry because I was so busy last week that I didn't keep up on the wash.

I showered, donned sweats, pulled my hair back in a ponytail, and hunkered down for my day with all things laundry--dirty and clean.  Duff ran to the grocery store for some things,  Christine went to the varsity soccer game in the rain, Shaun made peanut butter cup hot chocolate.  You must try it.  From Stephen's.  Good stuff.  I listened to Christmas music pretty much all day.  It kept the Monday blues away!  Another good stuff! Haha.

Christmas Gifts

"It is not the gift, but the thought that counts."

--Henry Van Dyke

How Was Your Sunday?

How are your Sunday mornings?
Here is a sample of ours today:
Everyone wants and feels entitled to their 'own' lazy morning.  So breakfast is one right after the other which leaves a pile of dishes in the sink.  I try and get dinner in before we leave.  Then there are six of us who need to shower in the hour or two before church.  And everyone has their own timeline, so sometimes--even though we have a HUGE water heater--we run out of hot water, or it goes to lukewarm, and no one feels they should get the lukewarm one.  Some try to sneak in--and not so subtly--a football game or video game.  And sometimes the top 20 videos countdown dvrd from the day before.  I want church music on.  Then I try and get the kitchen cleaned up because nothing is worse to me than coming home from our meetings and being greeted by a mess. And then we also have electrical issues.  When our house was built they did something that results in not being able to blow dry your hair or have curling irons or curlers on in multiple bathrooms.  They've told us it has to do with some kind of protection of outlets.  But it is SO annoying when you have multiple females trying to get ready to go to something at the same time.  It trips the switch at the breaker and you hear yelling from 3 different bathrooms all at the same time and then someone has to go to the garage and flip it back and then we break out extension cords and decide who can use the bathroom or who has to move into their bedrooms to finish.  Haha!

This scenario results in making me late.  I don't like it, but it ticks Duff off even more. There aren't too many things that push his buttons, but any of us being late for church is a BIG one. I've decided that this will be one of my New Year's resolutions.  Not to be late to church.  Hopefully it will help that we have the 1-4pm block in 2012 (hahaha) . 

But I'm also thinking of making a shower time chart and chore chart for Sunday mornings.  It was much easier when the kids were little children.  It seems harder because we are all adults and a teenager now and everyone has their own timeline interpretation. 

And then Duff and I both have early morning meetings.  Him pretty much every week and me once a month or so.

That issue aside:  the rain is heading our way and you could feel it coming.  Every thing about the weather changed from dry santa ana conditions to wet, cloudy, heavy air and damp cold.  The kind where it's hard to get warm.  We had a roast beef in the oven and I put some rolls together quickly.  The boxes of Lion House rolls and a Kitchen Aid mixer are so nice for that.  Add your yeast and liquids and you are good to go.  It practically does it all by itself.  Then we went to tithing settlement, came home and ate.

Oh and I taught Primary today.  The darlingist Sunbeams/CTR4's.  I heard all about Christmas trees and lights and wanting snacks and babies and cars from grandparents and what they had for breakfast and who had to go potty and Jesus and hands and ears and mouths and eyes.  Our lesson was on how we can use those when we come to church.  Fold them in our lap, listen, speak reverently, read scriptures, observe the priesthood and so on.  Before we know it those little ones will be youth. (Only two were left when I took the picture.) And a really good sharing time.  Jamie sat in a chair on the children's level, turned out the lights and taught them about the ten virgins and having oil in your lamp using a camping lantern.  The children were spell bound and it was very effective.

Prepare for Christmas

"Christmas.

We cannot prepare for an observance.

We must prepare for an experience."

--Handel H. Brown

Holiday Mood

Adrianne and I headed over to Target early.  I had a few things to cross off my shopping list.  Don't you just LOVE to put that line through those things on a list?!  Adrianne needed to exchange a shirt.  She is making the cutest pillow cases out of XXL tshirts for her nieces and nephews for Christmas.  Since we were on the early side, it wasn't crowded at all, and we got done what we needed to AND some fun browsing and looking and a few extra things made it into our cart.  Haha!  It was festive and exciting and it seemed that everyone was in a holiday mood.  People were wishing each other Merry Christmas on each aisle.  We loved it.

Best find of the day:  A dancing santa sock monkey that sings Jingle Bells!  Complete with a monkey screech.  It generated the best belly endorphin laugh in both of us and a lot of other customers.  One gal put one in her cart too and is giving it tonight for the white elephant/gag gift at a party she is going to.

Busy, busy house today.  Boxes in and out of the garage.  Josh and Gidget came by while Meredith and her mom went to register at Babies R Us.  Then they stopped over and picked up Christine for a trip to the mall.  Phone kept ringing.  BYU basketball game played.  I got a new bag for church and transferred all my things over.  Now I need a new one for Primary stuff.  There is a lot of it and I need to have a separate one for those things.  Did a little wrapping.  And just finished preparing the primary lesson I'm doing for a teacher who is out of town tomorrow.

I like the quiet of the night and just sat for a while in the living room amidst all the decorations and lights and candles.  It's the best relaxer-thingy that I like to do this time of year.  Some soft carols going on the ipod dock....some simple thinking.  It keeps the perspective.

Peace On Earth

"Peace on earth will come to stay,

When we live Christmas every day."

--Helen Steiner Rice

2011 Neighborhood Christmas Party

Got a little shopping done for the stockings this afternoon. And then went visiting teaching. The message this month was a good one not only for me to hear but for me to give.  When you teach you learn more somehow.  Ahh. Lightbulb moment.  Guess that's the wisdom in being a visiting teacher and also being visit taught.

This evening was our 17th annual neighborhood Christmas party.  We had good food, good company, good games, good laughs, and good gift exchange.  Lots of stealing this year!  It was nice to talk and reflect on this past year.  It was almost one year ago to the day that our street was evacuated and flooded with mud, debris, and water.  The families at the bottom of the street for the most part are rebuilt and back into their homes.  One is still in progress.  It has been quite the year and we reflected on the blessings it has brought after that terrible early morning.

There were about 30 of us last night.  We come from different professions, family circumstances, religions, but have a genuine affection and respect for each other.  Good people and nice to celebrate the season with them.

White Christmas

"Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it 'white'."

--Bing Crosby

It's Begining To Look A Lot Like Christmas

The mantle is hung.  The carolers are up.  The banister is festooned.  And the girls and I decorated the tree to the serenading of Amy Grant Christmas music.  Christine kept singing out,  "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!"  And it really is.

I've been crocheting like a mad woman.  Gotta get these blankets done.  Baby Girl is coming soon!

Got some sad news from my cousin today.  Hard times.  Makes me angry, mad, sad all in one.  It was in my heart all night.  I have to mention though that by the time I turned off the christmas music I had a feeling of comfort and peace for them.  Christmas music is centered around Christ--even the fun secular songs remind us of the reason we celebrate.  Everything will eventually be okay.

Now I just have to tie up the loose ends of Christmas.  Hoping to do that by Monday.

Nighty night~~

Christmas Spirit

"I wish we could put up some of the Christmas Spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month!"

--Harlan Miller

--Brett came by to look at a project he is going to be helping me with.  We measured and he gave me some good pointers when I go to buy the wood.  He will cut everything and make pilot holes.

--The wind has finally settled down, but it is still cold.  I have forgotten to mention that it was so fierce last week that it shredded our awning over the bonus room window!  Really.  I have to call the company to have them come and remove the fabric and make a new one.  I need to take a picture, but it looks like the sails of a pirate ship.

--The parties are starting!  Christine and Adrianne each had their respective YW Christmas parties tonight.  Dinner, service project, and gift exchanges made for a festive night.  Christine liked the gift she was giving so much, she chose it discreetly from the pile, hoping no one would steal it in the game and she could have it for her own.  No.  Everyone wanted the thick, black crocheted headband with the bedazzled flower on it. Tomorrow she wants to go back to the store and get one for her own! haha!  She gave silly putty for the white elephant and she got a duct taped picture of Ryan Gosling for hers!  Too funny.

--Clam Chowder for dinner. Christmas preps continue to move ahead.  I have Christmas music playing non-stop these days.  It's hard to feel stress or be grumpy with that on.  Love, love, love this time of year!

--Christine needed a santa hat to wear to school in the morning and cookies baked for a special lunch with her Best Buddy.  Fortunately over the weekend we had leftover cookie dough and I rolled it all into balls and froze them.  It was nice at 10pm to just be able to pull those out and bake them up.  But I was still up too late.  I got a second wind about that time and decided to empty the dishwasher and do some crocheting.

Maybe Christmas...

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.  Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more."

--Dr. Suess

Keeper/Protector

Today Duff and I went to Lowe's and purchased some shelving for our garage storage.  We just got one for now and will see how it works.  I bet we will need a second one and will probably back it up to the first one.  That will give us 12 feet of horizontal storage times 8 shelves over 6 feet high on both sides.  That should do it.  We managed to put it together without a single argument or potty word, which is good.  I like to do those kind of handyman things.  Duff not so much.  It is industrial strength and holds up to 2000 lbs. each shelf.

We went through ALL the boxes of christmas lights.  Tested them ALL.  Pitched the ones that didn't work and separated the ones that did by category:  icicles, green wire, white wire, colored lights for the trees, net lights for the bushes.  Much better now.

Also went through all the kids college boxes.  We have 3 extra blenders, 2 toasters, sheets, towels, rugs (which I tossed because the backings were completely gross), 2 sets of pots and pans, dishes, glasses, kitchen tools, dust pans, trash cans, bathroom accessories, and so on and so on 3 times.  It is now much more organized  and we consolidated and got rid of items and it's nice to know Christine is pretty much set when she goes to college.  I hadn't realized all the things the kids had accumulated over their college years and what good shape they are in.

Tonight was our RS Christmas Activity.  We held it at the Courtyard which is right outside the gates for me in the little community center area.  A family in our ward owns this event center and are very generous with letting the ward use it for some of our activities.  It is charming and quaint and full of ambiance.  Mike and Adrianne had their wedding reception there.

We ate dinner in the enclosed stage area with all the twinkly lights.  They brought in all the heaters because it is open on the front side and it was pretty comfortable.  The news predicts that our temperature tonight will be around 31 degrees and with the humidity that makes it cold.

There was a nice program.  Mark Hobbins was the featured speaker.  The theme for the evening was Wise Men Still Seek Him.  It wasn't the usual feel good Christmas message.  He touched on some important things we women have running through our heads and hearts.  Not thin enough, not enough money, all the things we want and want to be and want to create and can't, focusing on all the things we don't do well.  Luke, Cheri's son, played a guitar solo of O Holy Night.  It was very nicely done, but did have a few mistakes.  Small ones, but you could tell.  He never stopped though and kept going.  Mark used him as an example of how most of us would not focus on the 5000 chords, strums, and notes done right--we would focus on the 1/2 dozen we played wrong and go over and over them.  Where is the sense in that?  And yet we do it, don't we.

He had some sisters come up and read different scriptures and asked questions about them.  Towards the end he asked if I would come up.  Okay?  He told everyone how Christine plays lacrosse.  Then asked me questions about what position she plays--goalie.  Her gear--helmet, face guard, mouth guard, throat guard, chest pads, protective pants, gloves, shinguards with hinged knee guards.  Do the other players wear this gear?  No. Why?  Because she is the one directly shot on with that little hard ball going 50+miles per hour!  What does her position do?  She protects the goal so the opposing team can't score. What is another name for her position?  Keeper.

He finished by using the analogy of her position as the lacrosse goalie to us as women.  It is our position to find Christ and when we do to 'keep' and 'protect' ourselves and our families from letting the opposing team--Satan--from scoring.  This is what 'wise-women' do.  We seek Christ, put on our gear and protect and keep.  We get shot on.  It stings.  It hurts.  We have bruises, some small some large and knotted.  They will heal (atonement) and we protect the 'net' again.  Time after time.  We don't quit until the game is over and the referee blows his whistle.  Sometime Satan will score.  But the keeper has to get her head back in the game and can't spend time dwelling on it except to learn and be smarter and wiser the next time.  Earth life is more than a game.  It is a BATTLE.  A real one. A war of eternal proportions.

So I guess, it was a feel good Christmas message after all.  I left feeling empowered.  I left feeling understood as a woman, mother, wife and 'goalie'!  I left feeling it's okay if I didn't get that one extra gift or if my house isn't quite as perfect as I wish, or if I don't get Christmas cards out for the 2nd year in a row.  (haha)  I am the keeper, the protector of the spirit and atmosphere and those fiery darts.  I am a 'wise-woman' seeking after the Christ just as was done so many years ago.

I visited with so many dear friends and sisters.  And to think I almost didn't go.  I was tired and it was cold and the lure of staying bundled up in my house sounded so much better at the time.

Christmas Hearts

"Christmas is the time to let your heart do the thinking."

--Patricia Clafford

I got so much done today. 
--All the Monday laundry is done with no carryovers to tomorrow.
--Christmas music played all day.  I've been singing through the house.
--Dinner made.
--Christmas gifts assessed.  Did an exchange.
--Poinsettias are gathered and placed around the house.
--Wreaths on the doors.
--Santa's boot at the bottom of the stairs.
--Little trees done in the dining room.
--Almost finished with Baby Girl's first receiving blanket.  I am doing 10.  4 Crochet edge, 1 chenille edge, 1 white blessing crochet edged, and 4 self-binding. I guess I need to do one a week since Meredith only has 8-9 weeks to go.  Where did that time fly to?  And the next few weeks will go by in a blink with Christmas, New Year's, and then baby showers and then she's here the first week of February.  These next weeks will also be tricky.  Mere begins twice a week appointments and then the small window of 12-15 hours to be off the blood thinner meds for delivery.  She may be looking at a c-section if they can't narrow down her labor between that time frame.  Dr. B is good and knows what he is doing.  I'm confident they will make the right decision.
--First day of lacrosse tryouts for Christine.  Always a little anxiety.

Books For Christmas

"Do give books --religious or otherwise-- for Christmas.

They're never fattening, seldom sinful, and permanently personal."

--Lenore Hershey

A Good Sunday

I got a call at 10:15am to sub in Primary today.  Another teacher was out and had a sub too so we combined the classes and tag-teamed it.  Melanie taught the lesson and I kept the 15 junior primary-ers in line, in their chairs, to the restroom--3 at a time--and got supplies from the library.  Little ones at that age have so many things to ask and share.  Oh to be like a little child!  I admired Melanie's teaching skills.  A few weeks ago she taught in Relief Society.  It was well done.  Now she was teaching primary with ease and I thought,  "what a gift to be able to do that.  Switch from one audience to another."

We had snacks when we got home and then Christine's family birthday dinner.  She asked for stuffed flank steak.  No cake this year.  Banana cream pie!  A good choice.

(Photo by Jamie Neilson)

In between all of that, we got the Christmas tree up--not decorated, but up. The Koelliker's all came by for a visit.  Christina is 9 days away from her baby coming.  She and Alex are excited for little McKay to make her debut.  Then we headed over to Follow The Star: The Living Nativity, that our stake puts on for the community every year.  The performance we attended was the 250th!  So they stopped before and had a little recognition of the cast and some remarks.  It was bitterly cold.  40 degrees with the Santa Ana winds blowing and clear.  People were bundled up and most had blankets.  When you live this close to the ocean 40 degrees in these kinds of conditions is bitterly cold, expecially for an outdoor venue.  As soon as you sat down on the metal chair your bum knew it!   Baby Jesus is always a baby from the stake.  If you have had a baby in September or October or early November they usually have the honor of being cast.  So lots of wee ones are rotated on the different days for the performances.  Little Desi K. was tonight at 8:30 and Carson D. was at 9pm.  So precious!

Christmas Trees

"Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree.

In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall."

--Larry Wilde

Sharing Can Bring Out The Worst In A Person

Today was a long and full Saturday.
--Autumn's baby shower in La Mirada.
--Stake Baptism.
--Dinner.
--Football game.
--Grocery shopping.  But not such a bad thing when you go late at night and you are the only one in the store.  It is quiet and I had the luxury of not feeling rushed by this time of the day! 

I acted badly.  Duff and I are sharing the Sequoia these days.  I fill the tank when it gets to 1/2 way down.  He leaves it until the last possible mile can be fumed from it.  In my logical mind, I can not understand this.  On your way home from where you've been is the least stressful time, so stop and fill up with gas.  It is always more pressure when you are leaving the house to go somewhere to have to stop at a station.  Especially if you don't know there is no gas in the car.  And you don't have the extra 10-15 minutes to do it.  Such was the case this morning.  And I was less than gracious about it.  We'll just leave it at:  I acted BADLY.

Snowflakes

"Like snowflakes,  my Christmas memories gather and dance--each beautiful and unique, and gone too soon."

--Deborah Whipp

The Most Glorious Mess

"One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day.

Don't clean it up too quickly!"

--Andy Rooney

Figuring out the Storage Unit

We have decided to get rid of our storage unit.  It doesn't fit in the current budget right now and after talking about it,  Duff and I realized we probably don't need or use on a regular basis what is in it.  Decorations, floral stuff from the kids weddings, and boxes of old business paperwork that can now finally be shredded.

We went over this morning to go through things and make a plan.  Part of me was a little ornery--I've liked not having so much of it in our garages.  But once we got on a roll, it kind of became a fun game to figure out what to keep or not and how to keep it.  Once we got home, we walked through the garages and cupboards and figured out how to rearrange and realized we'd been hanging on to some things there that we just didn't need to also.

IT FELT GOOD!

Side note:  I couldn't figure out what this black thing was under one of the banks of cabinets.  I kicked it out with my foot.  To my horror, it was a large rectangle sticky trap.  We live across the street from the Cleveland National Forest, so we are accustomed to 'critters'.  There were four dead mice on it.  They were SO dead, that 3 of them were completely decomposed with nothing left but their skeletons with the 4th one almost all the way 'gone'.  GROSS doesn't even describe it.  I will admit though that I was fascinated by how intricate their bones and skull were.  I thought why did Heavenly Father put so much thought into such a disgusting creature?  I am not reptile or rodent friendly, can you tell?!

I had a great presidency meeting tonight.  I admire the women I serve with.  They are amazing.  We are all very different and are at different stages in our lives, and bring different things to the calling.  The drive home tends to be me marveling at how it all comes together.  We like each other and respect each other.  Our high councilor is a good man.  He helps and supports us and I trust and appreciate his input and counsel.  We are preparing for our stake leadership meeting the end of January.  I feel it is going in the right direction and will be good.