Christmas

How can there be more to write about December???

But I need to at least write about Giving Day.  It is my favorite Christmas tradition to help each of my kids make each family member a special gift.  And I have to write about shopping dates, because it is going to be a new tradition.

Because of the Mexico project, our Christmas budget was small this year.  We decided to just spend $20 to fill each person's stocking.  I had the older kids help play Santa for each other.  I took each of them on a special date out to eat and shopping for their sibling.  It was the perfect way to shop for Christmas, by giving my kids what they really want: time with me.  We had a wonderful time and were surprised at how far we made that $20 go.  The younger kids didn't buy sibling gifts because I knew it would be hard to keep a secret, but they still got a date and bought their cousin gift with me.
It was so much better than in years past when I'm doing all of the shopping by myself and trying to keep it all straight and make sure everyone has equal gifts and sometimes just buying stuff to even the score.  This was joyful and meaningful, and so much fun in so many ways!  The kids loved filling the stockings on Christmas Eve, and they loved the joy of watching their siblings open the specially chosen gifts. 

Even though Giving Day was squeezed in between packing up for Mexico and our Idaho trip, and we knew we had to leave the next day, it was wonderful.  We woke up and ate breakfast and started the game.  We drew names and everyone got to share their special gifts.  I was helping Ruby finish one of her gifts while we sat there, but it was finished just in time!
Who gave what:
Dad:  Dallin miraculously came up with 8 incredible poems that perfectly matched each member of the family.  I had to dry my eyes more than once as he read these individualized poems that he was able to pen so quickly.  He started in October, but only had 3 of them done by mid-December.  There were some late nights and serious editing sessions, but he did it and they made up some of his very best work.
Sarah:  What a blessing that I made microwavable "corn bags" for each of my kids at the Sisters' retreat in the fall.  I tried to pick out fabrics that matched each kid.  They love them and are still loving them as I write this (in March).  They stay warm in your bed all night long.
Nathan: It had to be snowball cookies.  It was so sad that he was making dozens and dozens of cookies all December but they weren't for the kids to taste!  He made up for it as each person got their own little baggie of them.
Brandon:  This year Brandon did the ultimate gift.  I got a coupon for some breakfasts in bed.  Dallin and Nathan got some cool paracord keychains that he made.  The other 5 kids got homemade hobby horses with a pvc pipe stall!  It was such a fun project to get out the fake fur that I've collected at various yard sales over the years and realize how perfectly that particular color would match each person's style.  We had scraps of PVC for the poles, and bought a little more to make the stall.  We even had old tights in just the right colors to cover the pipes and give them a nice finished look.  Each one has its own removable halter made from various spools of trim found in my stash.  Sullivan got a blue-grey named Dobbin with a duck halter.  Sarajoy got a white unicorn with a pink horn and fancy pink halter named Princess, of course.  Daisy got a bright red horse with a white star on its forehead and a white rickrack halter: Red Velvet.  Ruby got a white horse with a brown patch down its nose and I can't remember its name.  Simon got a dark blue horse with a silver diamond on its nose named Blaze.  He had them all in their stall with nametags and covered it with a blanket.  It was so great to have the kids hop on their horses and ride them around and around the kitchen island. 
Ruby: She made Nathan an awesome reusable sack lunch bag out of old corduroy pants with velcro and a snap to make different sizes.  Brandon got a Kindle case out of the same great material.  It had pants pockets just the right sizes for his earbuds and cord and book. Dallin got a new chapstick/nailclipper holder that looks like a cute little sweater.  It keeps his chapstick from rolling around in his pocket and rolling itself up into the lid.  Daisy got a sweet little fleece blanket for the lifelike doll she got for her birthday.  Sarajoy got a needlepoint bear and candy cane ornament and Sullivan got a nursery rhyme piggie ornament.  Simon has this goofy looking little doll that he wanted so he could have matching clothes with it like the girls have American Dolls.  It was one of those Ebay purchases that just doesn't come looking like you imagined it.  But he loved it, and had been making stapled together outfits for it.  Ruby and I made it the cutest little Santa suit, and it finally didn't look so weird.  It was made to wear that Santa suit, and Simon absolutely loved it!  Ruby made me a pillow that she had embroidered with a picture of a temple and "Families Are Forever" on it.  I was so impressed with what a great job she did on a project she did without help!
Daisy: She just really really loves making chocolate-dipped pretzels for us!  It is fun and easy, and it made a great snack for our trip to Idaho.
Simon:  This was another really great project.  Simon invented a toy recently that was pretty ingenious.  He took a toilet paper roll and made it look like a grasshopper and showed me how if you press on one end, it actually hops!  We saved toilet paper tubes, and he made a reindeer, a cheetah, a cat, a bunny, a monster, a bear, a frog, and a dog.  He was a little sad that I knew what he was making so I told him he could make mine by himself and I would be surprised.  I almost cried a little when I opened my gift and saw he had made me the cutest elephant (my favorite animal) that I've ever seen!
Sarajoy:  I knew I was going to have her help me with the photo ornaments I do each Christmas, but I didn't know what I would do.  You do photo ornaments for a few years and you start running out of ideas!  I ventured over to Pinterest for my first time, and saw some really cute cookie-cutter ornaments.  I suddenly remembered that I had bought a box of silver cookie cutters 2 years ago after Christmas and forgotten about them!  She helped me glue the pictures and put glitter on them and wrap them up.
Sullivan helped me make and hand out snack bags to take on our trip.

When we got up to Idaho, I had a great time helping my mom with final food preparations and helping her finish up a few sewing projects.  She was very generous and bought each of the grandkids a miniature pillow pet.  She purchased so many of them it was really hard to choose which ones my kids would like best!!  And she surprised my kids by having a few "Santa" gifts under the tree that they were not expecting.  Nice shirts for the boys, a Karaoke machine and a Hairstyling head for the girls.  Play dishes for Sarajoy.  A mini soccer ball for Sullivan. A fun little playmobil set for several of them.  Nerf guns and a toolbox for Simon that he can lock up with the locks and keys he got for his birthday.  I got them a rubberband bracelet loom and the game Spot It which both have been a lot of fun.  We are so grateful that she was willing to make the day extra special that way.  We always love Christmas breakfast Souffle, and we had our Porter Party on the very day since it was the day we could all be together.  A lot of really great talents were shared and we had a fun gift exchange where I got to reveal to the Stingers the menu plan/shopping list system that I use and customized for their family.  I also got them each a treat they enjoy.  My mom blessed us with a really neat family history binder with the stories about many of my ancestors.  She also got us some of our special wishes and surprised me with my own little playmobil set of Santa's workshop.  Never too old to get toys for Christmas, I say!  I love watching what everybody gives at the gift exchange for adults.  We were blessed to get the "grinch bag" for the first time.  It usually contains some kind of gag gift.  It had a Grinch shirt for Dallin and an Uncle Si Chia pet.  That lovely thing graced our counter for weeks in its green-bearded splendor!

There will always be things I forget, but it was a very memorable Christmas!

How Do You Put December in a Nutshell?

I just know I'll leave so much out, but I have to at least try.

December was a season of peace and joy.

It was incredibly stressful, busy, crazy, but we were blessed with a spirit of peace.

I am so glad it is over, but I am so glad I got to live it.

First of all, it came way too early this year!  Those late Thanksgivings make it surprise you.
I got decorations up the Monday after Thanksgiving and it made me feel already behind because it was December 2nd.  We even got some lights up on the outside of the house, which was fun for a change.

That weekend was already pretty busy.  I had a practice for a special number in Choralais on Friday night.  Saturday morning was the ward breakfast, but Brandon and I missed it because we were at a  Speech and Debate tournament in Ogden.  There was a huge winter storm warning.  I stayed up late watching the weather and finally decided to just go for it.  I knew if we had to we could stay at Kim's.  The way there the roads were pretty clear.  My friend Elisa came with us, so that was really fun.  I love having someone to talk to while I drive.  We got to do some judging together and just had a nice time visiting.  The kids all did really well, with a few in our group being really surprised that they placed.

There were a few inches of snow on the car when we left.  They cancelled the last round of the tournament so we could get on the road before dark.  I drove slowly, and it wasn't too bad, but there were a few patches where people were sliding all over the freeway.  It was a miracle we didn't see an accident.  I am not someone who has ever liked to drive, so by the time we got home late that evening, I was pretty exhausted.

The next night was my Choralais concert.  It went really well.  It is so much fun to sing for the Lord.  I just love Christmas music.  Dallin brought the kids in time to hear my special number.  We didn't know that he was supposed to say the closing prayer.  When they announced it, he wasn't there and I didn't know if he was coming for sure.  It had been a crazy busy day with church responsibilities, etc.  Someone who knew us saw him come stand in the foyer and gave him the message.  He thought it was a practical joke, but eventually was convinced and walked up and gave a prayer in his street clothes and winter coat!  I was really impressed with the support the choir members gave to Nathan's Eagle project.  I'm impressed with their commitment.  They are great ladies who love to sing, even if it doesn't sound the best.

During that next week, my visiting teaching companion who is our bishop's wife and our neighbor asked me to help her finish up her daughter's wedding dress.  I was excited and honored to be able to help.  She has been sending this dress back and forth to Hawaii where her daughter attends college.  It has been a pretty stressful project for her because the dress is really fitted, so she wanted me to be there for the trying on.  I went over late in the evening that her daughter and fiancee got into town.  It was pretty special to be there with the family in such a festive mood.  Unfortunately the dress didn't fit.  We had to take quite a bit of the lace off and take out some seams.  It got past the point that we could help so we left it with her.  When I checked back in the following evening, there was still a lot of lace to be sewn back on.  The lining was not attached and there were a couple of other small things that needed to be done.  It was all hand sewing so I brought it home and watched Little Women with Dallin while I finished it.  I was glad to do it.  It was the only Christmas movie I got to watch this year.  I felt pretty special that I got to be a part of it that way.  I took it back over to them at like 2:00am.  They were still up and Melissa tried it on and it was beautiful!  I was so glad that they could go to bed because they needed to be at the temple early that morning.  This all happened after Nate's choir concert which was really nice.  Ruby was kind enough to babysit so Dallin and Brandon and I could go.

Friday was a big push to get the fundraiser finished.  We knew Nathan had to finish it the next day and we weren't going to be there so we did as much as we could on Friday.  We attended the wedding reception that night and got to see the dress and all the fun decorations.  It was the first time a lot of my kids have ever been to a reception and they loved it.  The people in charge of the Mexico trip just happened to be closely related to our Bishop, so they were at the wedding and Dallin talked to them for a LONG time.  I finally took the kids home and went back for him because they were so done!

The next day, Choralais was singing at the Joseph Smith Memorial building in Salt Lake.  Since it was on the same day as the Mo Tab concert, we decided to see if we could get in.  We brought Ruby with us as a reward for all of her awesome babysitting.  We got to take her out to lunch before we got there.  After I sang, we went down to the Lion House and got there just in time to beat the rush.  We ordered our food and put it in to-go containers and headed over to the stand-by line.  It had already begun to form and it was only 5:00.  The concert wasn't to start until 8:00.  Dallin hid our food in the snow under some bushes because we weren't sure what they would have us do with it.  Once we got in and were seated at around 6:30, they let us come and go as needed.  I stayed and held our seats while Dallin and Ruby went and explored temple square.  When they came back, I took a walk and enjoyed the wonderful light display.  We made it in to the concert and were seated just as it began.  It was amazing!  They told the story of Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol.  They just really know how to do Christmas.  I love it more than any other Christmas thing.

We went to the Oakridge pageant where the handicapped kids do a Christmas play.  I always have a neat feeling at that, and I am glad our kids get to see it.  I always feel such a special place for the families that care for those children.

The rest was a blur of preparing for 3 major events, making millions of cookies, and finding ourselves at Christmas.  But Christmas is its own story.

A Story About Mexico

Way back in August, I was driving down into Loafer Canyon when I began to think about the money Dallin was getting for his summer paycheck.  I had the thought that we needed to save $1000 because somebody would need it at Christmas. 

Near the same time, I began thinking about Christmas and if we might want to change things up a bit by going to a hotel in Salt Lake and just enjoying some family time instead of lots of presents.  I absolutely love buying presents for my family.  It is just hard to make it all work out with such a large family.  I sometimes find myself buying stuff we don't really need just to make things come out even, etc.  It can get overwhelming.  Dallin and I talked about some different ideas.  We also tucked that $1000 away where we knew we wouldn't spend it. 

Then Dallin went on a hike with our dentist.  He heard him talking about a humanitarian trip that their family had done in Mexico.  Dallin got more information and found out the first meeting was that Sunday.  So we met up with Builders Without Borders and learned about what they do.  For $300 per person plus any and all donations you can come up with, you can go with their group to Mexico and build homes and do other humanitarian projects for the week following Christmas.  It sounded wonderful, and right in our budget.  Originally the plan was for Dallin and I to go with Nathan and Brandon.  That meant we had a couple hundred more than our thousand to come up with.  We scrimped and moved some things about and worked it out. 

The meeting the boys went to got them super excited.  Nathan decided to to his Eagle project there and we payed our participation fee.  That weekend was my time to wean Sullivan to make it possible for us to go.  I really really wanted to go, but I was getting nervous about leaving my 5 younger kids with my mom during a pretty busy time of year.  I learned that my brother's family would be staying at her house for most of that time and I was beginning to have some reservations about it.  Still, I really wanted to go and didn't know if I'd get another chance and I had my passport ready, so I planned a date to start the weaning process. 

The day came, and that morning I was addressing some photo cards we sent out for Thanksgiving.  When I got to Dallin's sister's card, an idea came to me.  I realized that she might be having Christmas alone this year as she is divorced and her husband lives a few states away from her.  I had the thought that I wanted to be sure she had something to ease her loneliness, and I felt sad that we were going to be gone for the whole break.  Then I thought that if I had to stay for some reason that she might like to go. 

Weaning was a disaster.  Sullivan had been growing increasingly insecure leading up to the day, probably because I had tried to talk to him about it and prep him for it.  When it actually came time to tell him I couldn't nurse him, he cried and cried.  He would sleep for a short time and then cry and cry.  Finally I brought him in to my bed to see if  he'd just snuggle down, but he went completely ballistic.  He was writhing around like an animal and could not calm down, even when I got desperate and offered to nurse him.  The whole situation felt so wrong and horrible that I just knew it wasn't going to happen.  I didn't want my sweet little boy to have that kind of anxiety and I didn't want his wonderful personality to change.  I told Dallin I didn't think I should go to Mexico and that I thought maybe Milee would like to go.  He agreed, and what a relief I felt.  By this time we were down in the kitchen because he was making so much noise.  I finally put him in his time out chair and told him he needed to calm down and come tell mommy what he needed.  He finally got down and found me and asked for milk.  That decision was made.  And I was so happy to find out that Milee was excited about the idea and she began making plans to update her passport, etc.  Everybody loved having her along on the trip!

Nathan did a big fundraiser selling CD's of me singing and his specialty snowball cookies.  It did amazingly well, raising over 3 times the amount of money he thought he would need.  His plan was to gather supplies to take and print and frame family portraits for the people down in Mexico.  A similar project had been done a couple of years ago and had been really successful, with some people getting their first ever photo taken.  The whole thing was a lot of work for all of us, but I am proud of how much he took charge and made sure it happened.  One of his biggest days was a day Dallin and I were in Salt Lake all day, but he managed to work things out really well.  At the very last minute, the printer that had been donated did not work, so we had to head out to find a printer that he could take down.  There were a few upsets like that, but there was just a feeling that everything would work out so we didn't get ruffled.  And all of this was going on during the Christmas season!  I look back and feel extremely grateful for the gift of peace that I had.

Somehow we got to the week before Christmas.  Somehow they got all of their stuff packed and loaded into the trailers that were going to Mexico.  Somehow we got all of our Christmas stuff packed and ready to go to Idaho.  The day after Christmas they were gone.  I got a phone call when they were about to cross the border.  I didn't talk to them or hear from them at all until 7 days later when they crossed back into the United States.  But it was a fabulous experience.  So many great learning experiences in getting along with people, in building things, in appreciating what we have here, in seeing how other people live. 

By the time Christmas came, I was wondering if this was a good idea.  I love Christmas so much that I was really sad to be missing my other half and my big boys for the holiday.  I was sad they missed out on being with grandparents and cousins.  I was sad that the Mexico trip added stress to a time of  year I try so hard to make special.  And I was sad that it was hard for Dallin to really be present even on Christmas eve and Christmas day because he was making last minute preparations.  I thought that the timing was just wrong. 

But now I've heard the stories and seen the pictures and felt the love and friendships that developed between the people involved and I think it might just need to happen again. 

2013 Book List

• Gathering Christmas
• The Mansion
• Christmas Jars
• The Christmas Box
• A Pilgrim's Progress
• The Gabriel Method
• I Am A Mother
• Unfinished With Dallin: One Thousand Gifts
• To Brandon: String, Straitedge, and Shadow
• To Kids: Farmer Boy
• To Boys: Carry On Mr. Bowditch
• To kids: Pollyanna
• With Dallin: Unbroken
• A Banner Is Unfurled vol 1-5
• Read again: Visions of Glory
• Reading to Daisy: The Secret Garden
• The Eden Antidote (by my Uncle Murr Brown!)
• 50 Signs of the Times and the Second Coming
• Whom The Lord Loveth
• To Si and SJ: The House At Pooh Corner
• To Simon and Sarajoy: Winnie The Pooh
• These Is My Words
• Unbroken
• With Dallin: Same Kind of Different As Me
• Increase In Learning
• with Dallin: Visions of Glory
• The Second Comforter
• Reading with Brandon: 55 Fathers
• With Brandon: The Freedom Factor
• with Dallin: It's Good To Be Alive
• Reading Now: Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers
• Unfinished To Kids: Swiss Family Robinson abriged
• with Dallin: The Magesty of Calmness
• Raising Your Spirited Child
• Reading to kids: Tom's Midnight Garden
• Reading With Brandon: The Landing of the Pilgrims
• Lark Rise To Candleford
• Reading Now: Easy Homeschooling Techniques
• Reading with Nathan: Do Hard Things
• Nephi's Isaiah (unfinished)
• To kids: The Phantom Tollbooth (unfinished)
• Intuitive Eating (still reading)
• To kids: Anne of Green Gables (still reading)