Between Celebrations: A Random Follow Up

Snowed in SIL and four kiddos popped in last night about 9 to trade cousins gifts and to visit for just a minute. It sounded like it was better for her to do this Christmas in two parts as well. We did miss them, but with her hubby overseas in the military this year, she is probably right. She is such a good example. Even if she wasn't thrilled to see the whole fam damily on Christmas day, she flipped it and last night was in fine spirits. This SIL is amazing!

I got Christmas down, boxed up and cleaned. I even got my kitchen and dining area swept and mopped--just a minute before The Boy and Genius Golfer came in with wet, dirty snow gear and tried to traipse through. Why did I want my house clean again? Can anyone tell me my reasoning for this?

The kids and I are headed to see Sister and her boys on the 31st for part of the day. For their Christmas gift, they want to take The Boy and The Girl to an indoor surf place. I haven't seen this before, and while I am sure it is fun, I am not looking forward to it. This is the first meeting in person since her court date a week or two ago where I found out she has been essentially lying to me about her motivations and personal plans. I think I dread the surf event, not because of the boys and their attitude (which is as up and down as a teeter totter, depending on their moods) but because I am afraid I will tell her what I am really thinking of her choices and behavior. That would ruin the fun for everyone. Luckily, it is just a couple of hours and we will be coming back home. But I am not sure I can filter my 'thoughts to words' gracefully enough to behave myself.

And one more thing. The Diet Coke fountain at my favorite Gas'n Sip was out of order yesterday. And it really upset me. I hope it is fixed today. Diet Dr. Pepper just doesn't cut it and Caffeine Free Diet Coke is really, rather useless.

Mom, Start Your Vacuum!

Let the clean up begin!

Funny how it always works out this way...Genius Golfer and The Boy went to Sundance to ski and snowboard again today. The Girl is sleeping way-in today (must be a teenager for sure!) and I get left with the clean up. Figures.

We celebrated and opened gifts here at the house in the morning yesterday, and the middle of the day was lazy and laid back. Then we joined some extended family at SIL's place in Provo. One SIL and her four kiddos couldn't make it as they were snowed in and were without power further north. We had fun, but missed the other cousins. The newlywed pairs showed up and ate with us, opened gifts and one set were off again. It was nice to be together.

So, my plan today is to begin to take down Christmas and maybe get my house cleaned up. This is a long term goal, however, and may take a full week to really get it done. Especially since it appears to be a solo job.

Merry Christmas!

"Mary Did You Know"

[Originally written by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene]

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy

would one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy

would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your Baby Boy

has come to make you new?

This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy

will give sight to a blind man?

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy

will calm the storm with His hand?

Did you know that your Baby Boy

has walked where angels trod?

When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?

Mary did you know?

The blind will see.

The deaf will hear.

The dead will live again.

The lame will leap.

The dumb will speak the praises of The Lamb.

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy is Lord of all creation?

Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy would one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your Baby Boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?

The sleeping Child you're holding is the Great, I Am.

I think Mary knew...maybe not all the particulars, but she knew her Baby Boy was the Son of God, the promised Messiah, Savior and King. I haven't had angels come to tell me that, but I know it is true. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, lived a perfect life in Judea, made an infinite and everlasting atonement for all mankind, was crucified and then resurrected. He lives today. Yes, Mary knew. And I know too.

12th Day of Christmas...12 Options, plus some

Throughout the scriptures we are told that there is just one prescribed method of returning to Heavenly Father..."and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God..." (2 Nephi 31:21).

I have a framed print hanging in my front room during Christmas that reminds me of this, yet provides many options to look for. This is what it says:

And His name shall be called:
Wonderful, Counsellor, Lord of Life, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, Messiah, Governor, Jehovah, Christ, Redeemer, Word of Life, the Firstborn, the Good Shepherd, the Light and Morning Star, the Only Begotten of the Father, the Savior, the Lamb, Stone of Israel, Horn of Salvation, Eternal King, Emmanuel, Alpha and Omega, the Resurrection, Beloved Son, our Lord and God, JESUS.

No matter what you call Him, it is His birth we celebrate in the morning. It is His life we rejoice in knowing. It is His atoning sacrifice that causes us to kneel before Him and adore Him.

God bless us, everyone! Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

11th Day of Christmas...11 Dinner Guests, I Wish

Yesterday I randomly thought about who I would love to sit down with at dinner--having already died--and have the opportunity to to really pick their brains with all sorts of questions. I challenged myself by keeping this a Ladies Only Imaginary Dinner Party. Here are the invitees, if I had my way.

• Eve, as in the first woman on the earth. Boy, I bet she has some rare insight into the man-woman dynamic, huh? Plus she was a mom without a grandmother to call when she had questions, or when her kids were being ornery--and you know they were. I have lots of questions for Eve.
• Mary, and her sister,
  
• Martha--you know the sisters of Lazarus, who were friends of Jesus. First they "get" the sisterly connection that I don't always understand. They are the girls that showed us the difference between taking care of needful things and choosing the better part. I need some direction in this dichotomy, and who else would know better?
• Mary, the mother of Christ. She kept things and pondered them in her heart...I bet she knew better than to shoot her mouth off when she thought something that may not be completely appropriate. I would love to hear of her experiences as she raised and then followed the Savior.
• Whichever of the Mothers of the Stripling Warriors could make it. These unnamed ladies raised amazing sons. I just have one son, but I sure would like him to grow up like their boys. Faithful, prayerful, strong in stature and spirit, obedient...the list goes on and on. Who wouldn't like to pick the brains of the mothers who raised those kinds of boys?!
  
• The Wife of Nephi, daughter in law to Lehi and Sariah. Here's a girl that lived in some element of comfort in Jerusalem with her father Ishmael, but then married some studly dude she got set up with and trekked across the wilderness, then the ocean, and into a promised land where things were not always good. Plus her hubby was a prophet, and had some major dysfunction with his own brothers. Man! I know she has some ideas for dealing with family weirdness that I might be able to use.
• Just so you don't think this was a completely religious gathering, I would love to invite Abigail Adams too. Wife of John and mother to John Quincy, among other children, she was a very bright woman with a mind of her own. She ran the farm, dealt with separation from her husband by time and distance, had faith that what he was working for would bring a better nation, chose to inoculate her children with small pox when that was certainly not the standard choice. Oh, I have a lot of questions for her--plus much admiration that I would love to express.
• Mrs. Lincoln, mother to Abraham. Here is a lady who was very young when she died and yet made such an influence on her son that even as an adult he honored her as the prominent reason for his success in life. That is serious mothering, in a good way.
• Mrs. Samuel Clements (AKA Mrs. Mark Twain) would be a fun guest. She dealt with issues of poverty through part of their marriage, death of children, his traveling, the worry that he will make your family into the national laughing stock--or in the least, be the source of his comic fodder. I bet she was a pretty funny gal in her own right, just to keep pace with him.
• Miss Jane Austen, of course. She is perhaps my favorite literary heroine who created some of my very favorite characters--and that says a lot, as I have many favorites. How did she come up with this wicked sense of humor and everyday observation? Did she base any of her characters on real people in her life? Did she have an idea the influence her writing would have on a 21st century mother of two living on Celestial Circle? Wait, I am giving away my questions for Miss Austen. I'll fill you all in after this dinner party.
• My grandmother, Nettie. She was my last remaining grandparent. She lived until I was pregnant with The Girl. She lived with us as I grew up--from the time I was about 7 or 8 years old. She spent the last 18 years of her life in a nursing home. Now, I regret that I didn't spend more time with her. I could have asked her so many questions. I have many more for her now that I have children. I wish I would have appreciated her more when she was alive, when she lived with me, when I lived in the same town she did. She had stories to tell, but I didn't listen very often. She had lesson to teach me that I didn't want to hear. But I do now. I know she had wisdom to share with me. I miss her and would love to give her the guest of honor place at this imaginary dinner party. I'd ask her to forgive me for all the time I could have spent with her that I didn't, and all the things I should have asked her about, but didn't. I look forward to the day when I will see her again and have the time to sit with her and hold her hand and ask her everything I can think of about her life and her family. It will come. I hope she will have time for me then.
  

10th Day of Christmas...10 Nativities

I didn't realize I collected nativities, but I guess I do. Here are the ten I have on display in our front room this year. I have a couple others that don't get to come out each year as I don't have enough shelf space. Maybe someday...

This is a porcelain set that Grandmama made for us. It is from the mold Genius Golfer's own grandmother used. They are lovely and oh, so breakable.

This is a "Little People" set that I love because, as opposed to the first, the kids could play with this one. The kids are too old to play much with it now, but I loved this when they were small.

Here is another kid-friendly nativity. It is a partial Avon Nativity given to me by a dear friend. Sadly, Avon apparently doesn't make or sell these anymore and consequently they are too expensive buy when you do find them on Ebay.

This was a super inexpensive set that I bought when The Girl was very small. They are made of resin, so they won't break, and this one was small enough that The Girl could put it in her room. She would always rearrange the figures to end up in a circle around Baby Jesus. Every time.

This one I bought a few years ago. It is a PlayMobile brand and is very much like Lego people. It makes me smile when I pass it and I see Joseph holding the lantern over the Baby.

This may be my favorite set. It is a hand painted wooden set from Germany. We were given this in 2003 as a company Christmas gift. I had never heard of these before, though they must be very famous as people travel to the town when these are made from all over the world. It is like a Christmas Village destination, year round. They are beautiful and very charming.

OK. This was homemade set: a la some Super Saturday when I was an Enrichment lady. They are three wooden balls sitting on 3 very tiny clay pots and a few bits of felt and paint. I still like them, as silly as they look as compared to the others, because they are so simple. I think Mary and Joseph in real life would have felt very accessible in their time, and Jesus still feels personally accessible to me.

I am pretty sure I was given this one. I just can't remember from whom. It is a wood carving, in one piece. It is just lovely and serene.

This one Sister gave me this year. It is very tiny but the Holy family still fits inside the little creche. Mary's face got washed out a bit by the flash, but this one is very sweet.

This set was certainly from when I had no money and just wanted something in my apartment. In college I would go home for the shortest time possible at Christmas, then hurry back to work between semesters. This must have been a Dollar Store item, so something equally cheap. Regardless of the price, it still represents a priceless gift to us all.

Maybe that is why I love these little Nativity Sets. They range in price and quality, to be sure. But they each depict a scene that is matchless in its meaning and application to all humankind. The one simple and humble birth in a town far away heralded by choirs of angels and the promised star makes all the difference to me, every day. Not just what that baby means, but more importantly WHO that baby was, makes every difference.

9th Day of Christmas...9 Random Thoughts

I don't have a good unified theme for NINE today. But I have a lot of random thoughts; so like Miss Bates in Jane Austen's Emma, I will try to limit myself...to just nine.

1--My feelings about The Boy's teacher this year are making my permanant transition to Junior High next year easier and easier. I worried that my heart will always be tied to the Elementary school--my kids went there, I served 9 years of PTA there, I have many many friends there. All that is still true, but I am looking forward to his shift to the Jr. High, without regrets.

2--John Denver and the Muppets' Christmas album is highly under-rated.

3--Cracking finger tips and cuticles are the bane of winter existence for me. I hope I get the time today to soak my hand in some tea and at least make them feel better. Gloves and band-aids only go so far.

4--I think I do better when I am baking Christmas treats for others than when I am receiving treats from neighbors and friends. When I bake them myself, I know they are going somewhere else and so I don't eat them but when they are given to me, I can inhale them like nobody's business. Dang it.

5--I don't watch enough "I Love Lucy" reruns. I stayed with my friend Tammy yesterday for a little while while her husband was finishing Christmas shopping with their girls (and we were doing some sneaky on-line Santa business) and she had a I Love Lucy marathon on. Lucy really was pretty funny. Silly, but funny.

6--As much as I love my little zippy, natural gas car, I really LOVE my Durango in the snow and slush and ice. The little car feels like I am driving a hockey puck on the winter streets. The Durango is more like a Zamboni.

7--Even something as easy to make as french toast always tastes better when someone else makes it.

8--You really can't please everyone. I think I will quit trying.

9--It is still very tempting to go shopping, even when you are really, really done with Christmas stuff, just because of the great deals. Great deals are very tantilizing.