The past four days the boys and I have been doing some big reorganization projects. The introduction of the organ to our household has necessitated quite a lot of shifting in order to make it fit into the limited space of our house. You know those sliding puzzles with the little numbered square pieces that can slide up or over in the frame-- there is one blank square in the frame, and somehow with that blank square, you have to move the pieces around in order to get the pieces in order? I feel like that's been our house this last week! In order to fit the organ into our bedroom, we had to move the big dresser. In order to move the dresser, I had to remove all the contents of the drawers and put them in the other dresser. In order to do that, I had to remove the contents of *that* dresser (the boys' clothes), and put them in dressers in their rooms. In order to do that, we had to move Mosey's big white dresser up into his room, the big dresser from our room into Brigham's room, the two smaller dressers (which had to be unloaded--they were filled with my photography backdrops and such-- onto another set of shelves of which we in turn had to consolidate the contents onto some other existing shelves) from Brigham's room into Joseph's room. In order to do *that,* we had to move the desk in Joseph's room down to our room. In order to do that, I had to move the game shelf from one side of our room to the other. Then, in order to put up the new bookshelves into our living room, we had to unload the old bookshelves, and move those now-empty shelves up into Joseph's and Brigham's rooms, and then, of course, assemble the new bookshelves, a project which took several hours due to my limited mobility.
Anyway, you get the picture. I *think* we're all done now. The boys clothes I believe are now all upstairs in their own dressers. They are all now going to be responsible for their own laundry! We'll see how that turns out. The big boys are big enough to do it on their own now-- they can reach down into the washer to transfer into the dryer. Mosey may still need some help.
It's taking a big leap of faith for me, and a big relinquishment of my OCD tendencies (the boys folding their own clothes?! What if they don't do it right?!). But it will be a huge burden off my shoulders if they can take care of their own laundry.
Of course, the problem with reorganization, is that it serves to highlight how *much* more there is in our house in need of organization! I don't go upstairs much, but I've been up there a few times over the last several days. The bookshelves and DVD shelves in Brigham's room are in a state that is going to give me hives if I think about it too much. The food storage in Joseph's closet is going to give me nightmares. It's just all piled in there! Our camping gear is randomly stacked up along the wall in Brigham's room. It needs a home! This is one of those times when my M.S. really, really annoys me. I'm itching to go up there and get it all in order, but I just cannot do it.
Still, it's pretty fun to get everything moved around and (hopefully) working well in our home. I always think if I can get well-enough organized, my life will suddenly run like a well-oiled machine. I'll have time to take care of all the unfinished projects in my life, AND sleep. It probably won't work exactly like that, but it can't hurt, right?
Here is our card from this year. My boys (all of them!) were so helpful and cooperative in helping me put this together. This year's was a little complicated because I had to digitally combine the separate pictures of each of us, with the pictures of the JOY blocks (which are 4-6 inches tall in reality). Lots of Photoshop work. But I am happy with how it turned out.
Here is the front:
And this is the back.
As I was working on the card on the computer, Mosey came and tapped me on the shoulder and wanted me to take a picture of *his* Christmas card that he designed. These are all his Webkinz. I thought he was very creative! So I printed out several of these and included them in the cards I sent to grandparents and cousins. Maybe Mosey will design our card next year!
And here is the letter we included:
Click to see it bigger in case you don't have microscopic vision!
Our Christmas Eve and Christmas were sweet and simple.
Last week the boys and I made and delivered 19 loaves of the Christmas braided bread I make every year (and I still have 5 more I need to make and deliver!), and I got all of our Christmas cards addressed, stamped, and mailed off, so I was pretty busy. Ben and I finished up our Christmas shopping on Tuesday night. Christmas Eve morning I took Mosey to a couple of stores to finish up his shopping for his brothers, and Ben took Brigham and Joseph on a hunt for the perfect present for Mosey. It took them 3 stores and about 2 hours, but they got it!
I made my last 5 loaves of bread, and we all went to deliver them, and then to HEB for our annual shepherds dinner shopping. I love doing this! It had been raining all afternoon and got pretty cold, so it was feeling very wintry and festive.
At home, Ben made dinner and I helped the boys get all of their presents wrapped. Ben made chicken caesar salad and warmed up rolls and we drank egg nog and Martinellis, and then we began our Christmas program.
The boys all played a couple of Christmas songs on the piano, and I played a few on my violin.
Mosey played "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" which he'd been working on all month.
Joseph played "Gesu Bambino" (his recital song), and "Stars Were Gleaming" from the Children's song book.
Brigham played "Go Tell it On the Mountain" (his recital song), and "Picture a Christmas" from the Children's song book.
Ben played a medley of carols from the hymn book.
Brigham and Mosey listened very reverently, as you can see.
At least Mister was attentive.
I played "O Come, O Come Immanuel," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," and "O Holy Night."
Then it was time for our Nativity pageant. We have not done this in the past. I've read the Christmas story from the bible, we've done a little play using figures from our nativity scene, and even done a puppet show. But I really wanted to act it out in a real pageant like I did when I was a kid. I didn't think the boys would go for it, but I decided to do it anyway. I even bought a couple of extra bathrobes so we'd have the right costumes.
I was so surprised and really happy about how it went. The boys were so excited to get dressed up and act in the scenes. I played Mary, Ben was Joseph, and the boys were shepherds, an angel, and the wisemen in different scenes. The boys were reverent and serious, and when it was over, they wanted to do it again! Joseph told me he wanted to do more plays like this. I was so pleased. I didn't want to interrupt the flow of the play by taking pictures, so I only got pictures at the end, when the boys were dressed up as wise men. Next year I'll have to take pictures of them in their shepherds costumes, too. They looked great!
Me and Ben as Mary and Joseph. I'm sure Joseph wore robes just like that. :-)
Mary and the three wise men carrying their gifts. We discovered that using belts to keep the turbans on, as well as the shepherds' head coverings worked great.
Brigham the wise man.
Then the boys donned their PJ's, and we had our dance party! (You know, just to wire them up a little *more* before bed...)
This is the same song that I posted a video for last year. We did listen to other songs, but it's fun to watch this one, and then the one from last year.
Finally, bed time came. We thought they could all sleep in the same room, which they frequently do anyway, and which I always did growing up. I have many fond memories of whispering excitedly with my sisters late into the night, being unable to sleep for anticipation, and then waking up well before dawn, and counting down the hours (it seemed!) until my dad would come and get us out of our room. However, the boys' evening was not so idyllic. They hadn't been in their room for 5 minutes before fighting broke out. I don't even know what it was about. Someone wouldn't lay still, or was making weird noises, or something like that. We talked to them and tried to work it out, but soon it became clear that they could not stay in the same room. I was pretty annoyed. Could they not get along for ONE night, on Christmas Eve?? Apparently not. So they separated rooms, and then all was quiet. They were instructed not to make a sound or come out of their room until 8:00. Then they could start singing Christmas songs and we'd get up.
Then Ben and I began the massive present-wrapping project. Again, I thought that one of the big reasons parents may want to encourage Santa belief, is that it gets them out of wrapping lots of presents! :-) I did the majority of my shopping via Amazon this year, so I had a gigantic pile of boxes and packaging stacked up against the wall in my room by the time we were done.
I also discovered a very effective method of torture for perfectionists like myself. Force me to watch Ben wrap presents, and very soon I'll be begging for mercy. Is is agonizing to watch. Ben's parents did an absolutely wonderful job in raising Ben in so many ways, but boy did they ever fail in leaving Ben with any kind of present-wrapping skills at all. :-) I'll leave the details to your imagination, but I will say that he used *at least* twice as much paper as he needed to for each present, and he used up an *entire* roll of tape for about 4 presents. I kept wondering if he was doing it on purpose, but he really wasn't! I finally told him it was too painful for me, and I needed to finish the present-wrapping myself. :-)
We finished everything up around 2:00 AM, and then went to sleep.
8:00 came very soon, and we heard a rousing rendition of "Jingle Bells" coming from upstairs. We made the boys wait even long while we got dressed. This year, we set out the presents in the play room to keep our living room a little less cluttered, and also so the boys couldn't peek over the balcony and see everything (not that there was too much to see since almost everything was wrapped). Before we gave them the go-ahead to come down, Ben started off the morning excitement by playing several Christmas carols on our biggest Christmas surprise:
An organ!! Ben found this absolutely wonderful organ on Craigslist for an incredible steal. Like, much less than 1/10 of what it would have cost to buy a similar used organ from a dealer.
We let the boys open a couple of presents each before eating breakfast (one of my braided breads and the sugar-cereal of the kids' choice-- Brigham got Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Joseph got Chocolate Pocketinis, and Mosey got Fruity Pebbles).
Then it was time for present-opening in earnest. Here were some of the highlights:
Joseph and Mosey both got new bikes (Brigham already had a new one).
Mosey got a leopard gecko! This was the present Brigham and Joseph shopped for on Christmas Eve with Ben. It turns out that Spots (the one we already had) is a girl! So the boys decided they wanted to get a male to keep her company. He's a good looking little dude, which the boys named T-rex.
Brigham got new blocks (yes, more). They are architectural blocks with columns and arches and things.
Joseph and Brigham got the Power of Three Warriors series, and Joseph finished the first book in 2 days.
Mosey got his remote control tarantula, which I was tempted not to buy after his shenanigans at Target, but I did anyway, and he loves it.
My mom got us a set of handbells, and I gave each of the boys a recorder, so along with the organ, we've had lots of music (or at least noise) in our house recently.
All 3 boys got a new Nerf Marauders sword. We've already had an injury and near-fist-fight because of them. Ahh, the peaceful life of boys.
Binoculars! We got them each a pair of really nice binoculars. They're really nice and they better not break them.
Joseph got Brigham a matchbox car and a giant sparkly bouncy ball. He got Mosey the gecko as well as 2 cool matchbox cars. He got me lotion.
Brigham got Joseph a blue sea dragon that will go well with their other knights and dragons, and went in with Joseph for the gecko. He got me a new calendar.
Mosey got Joseph a Hexbug remote control inchworm, which Joseph has really had fun with and which I really, really hope does not break, and got Brigham a giant box of Junior Mints, a set of mechanical pencils, and white-out. He got me 2 toothbrushes.
The boys got Ben new cologne and a canister filled with dried fruit and nuts that he can take to work for snacks.
There were lots of other really nice things, as well. The boys have lots of thank you notes to write now. :-)
Joseph sitting amidst the Christmas chaos.
After present-opening, Ben went to take a nap, and the boys got started building their giant Christmas tree city.
When Ben woke up, he joined in the fun.
Mosey played with his Tarantula, harnessing it to pull a train with soldiers around the "city."
Chrissy hid behind the Christmas tree, a little confused at all the activity.
Finally, it was time to get our shepherds dinner ready. We turned off all the lights, except for a few Christmas twinkle lights, candles, and the fire in our fireplace. We had our usual dried fruit, nuts, cheese, flat bread, roasted lamb (did shepherds eat lamb??), and fruit juices. I made a pear tart for dessert, although Joseph protested that real shepherds did not eat pear tarts. I figured they were a lot more likely to eat pear tart than the dried papaya in our fruit bowl. :-)
Brigham donned his shepherd's costume to really get into the spirit.
Mosey and Joseph were total pyromaniacs. Ben and I had to keep yelling at them to keep the burning sticks *in* the fireplace, and not to carry them around. Joseph made an incredible mess playing with candle wax. He got melted candle wax all over the table, which, when it dried, was really hard to get off! (Thanks for getting it all off, Ben!)
And finally, it was time for bed. Another Christmas, over!!
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And the angle came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with the: blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God.
And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. For with God nothing shall be impossible.
And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call has name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins.
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David); To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, 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 Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasured, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
So I accidentally elbowed Mosey while he was holding one of our tall glasses (thankfully empty). I knocked it out of his hands and it shattered on the floor. Another cup bites the dust. :-)
So that is our 3rd thing to fall and break in 2 days. That means we should be clear for a while, right?
So here are the pictures I took the other night. It got hard to take good pictures toward the end because it was so dark and my zoom lens is pretty cheap (anyone want to give me a 30-300 mm lens for Christmas? It's only $2,500... :-)). I guess sometimes the moon turns red during an eclipse. I didn't notice any tint here, but it was still cool.
Eclipse progression, full to just about gone (click to see bigger)
You're supposed to look at this one zig-zag--L-R on the top, R-L in the middle and L-R again on the bottom.
Mosey laying on the front walkway with his blanket and pillow. Gotta love these balmy Texas nights. It was probably 65 degrees.
The boys stayed up to watch the lunar eclipse last night. I made the mistake and told them about it before hand. I should have just made them go to bed and then woken them up when it started. Lesson learned! They went to bed at 9:00, but then they couldn't fall asleep because of the excitement (I had no idea a lunar eclipse would elicit the kind of anticipation that it did...). *I* fell asleep, but at midnight the boys came down and woke me up. So we watched it until it was fully dark, and then everyone went to bed. It was going to be another 2 hours until it was visible, and clouds were passing by overhead, so there was no guarantee it would still be visible by the time the shadow moved off the moon.
So they didn't get to bed until after 2:00. I'm either the coolest mom for letting them do this, or the worst mom for letting them do this. I'm not sure which. They just *better* remember it for the rest of their lives! :-)
They slept in until about 9:30 which is 2 hours past normal, but still not nearly enough sleep for them. It showed, too.
Brigham was washing dishes, and had just finished with my nice frying pan and lid. He asked me where it goes, and swung around with the pan and the lid on top of it. As he swung around, the glass lid flew off the pan, landed on our tile floor and shattered into a million pieces. I just sat there in shock for a second and then said, "Back carefully out of the kitchen, Brigham, and then get me the broom." He looked pretty appalled. After it got all cleaned up I said, "I'm not mad Brigham, as long as you can tell me what you learned from this." He said, "I learned to be careful and to hold the pan and the lid separately." OK, very good. Poor kid.
Just a few minutes later, Joseph was feeding the crickets (which we keep to feed Spots, our leopard gecko). "Somehow," without warning and for absolutely no reason, according to Joseph, the lid, containing the 4 cylinders where the crickets spend most of their time, the lid just "popped off" the cage, and landed on the floor, scattering crickets everywhere.
Sigh...
Crickets are a lot harder to clean up than broken glass, although a whole lot cheaper than that lid will end up costing (I think I'll have to buy a whole new pan). Most of the damage was done in the playroom, which is currently covered in legos and blocks, so I couldn't even get in there and help (legos and blocks and wheelchair wheels don't mix). I think most of the crickets were somehow rounded up, but I'm expecting to see a few hopping around for the next few days.
Anyway, they're all in bed now and I'm hoping they'll sleep in a bit again tomorrow morning.
The eclipse *was* cool (especially since it was on the night of winter solstice--the first time this has happened since 1638--how cool is that?!), and I took a lot of pictures. Haven't uploaded them yet, though. I'm still recovering from the late night. At least the next total lunar eclipse visible in North America won't be until 2014.
My talk in church is done! Now I can enjoy Christmas. :-) Just kidding, I have been enjoying it all month long, but it is a big relief to have it done.
I am all better now, too, which is a bigger relief! After a miserable day on Thursday, I finally started feeling more human on Friday, and risked eating solid food yesterday, and I think I'm back to normal today.
One side benefit to having a stomach virus all week (hey, you have to look on the bright side, right?) is that the pesky 4 lbs I've been fighting with for a couple of months is finally gone. Now to keep it off during the season of Christmas calories. :-)
I think my talk went well. I really wrestled with it this week. My brain was sluggish and I was feeling distinctly uninspired. I wrote about 6 different opening paragraphs, discarding all of them, before finally settling on the framework of my talk, and then it finally flowed. I used Mr. Krueger's Christmas (which is here in full-length, although not full-resolution). There are always things I wish I had done differently after the fact, but all-in-all I think I am satisfied, and I think Ben and I are off the hook for speaking on holidays for a while, now. I spoke on Easter a couple of years ago (with the Stake Presidency there, yikes!), then Ben spoke on Thanksgiving Sunday 2 years ago, and then me again today for our Christmas program. I put the talk on my Google documents if anyone wants to read it. I think it came across better than it reads, but maybe I'm delusional. :-)
OK, that's more than enough egotistical navel-gazing for a while.
Other big news from the week: Mosey lost one of his two front teeth! He looks sooo cute. Although I kind of hate it, too, because it means he'll be getting his grown-up teeth in, and as soon as that happens, he won't look like a little kid anymore... :-( Yes, I'm one of those selfish mommies that would love to keep her kids little forever. Well, maybe not forever, but I really wish I could just transport myself back in time whenever I wanted to, and hold my little babies again. But since this is not a possibility, I guess I just have to wish they never would grow up. :-) See, since they're not grown yet, I don't know what I'm missing. But I do remember them little, and boy do I ever miss those little squirts...
He's just so cute! Here he is ready for church this morning, dressed up in his Christmas church outfit. He can't resist sticking his tongue through that hole! I just know I'm going to look back at these pictures a few years from now and wish like anything I could go back and squeeze those cute little cheeks of his and scoop him up on my lap and tickle him until he squeals. So let's just stop time right here, shall we?
He wasn't that much of a cutie yesterday, though. I took him and Joseph to Target to buy a birthday present for a friend, and he was a PILL! :-) There is a certain toy he really wants (a remote control tarantula, of all things, a toy I worry might get played with a few times and then forgotten about, but then again Mosey does a pretty darn good job of playing with *all* his toys, and it has been on his list for quite a long time, ever since he saw it in a Sky Mall magazine on some flight or other) and he was bound and determined to buy it for himself yesterday. Well, Christmas is a week away, and his birthday is only a couple of weeks after that, and it's just not the right time for him to be buying *himself* toys! I tried to explain this to him, and you'd *think* he'd get the hint, right? I mean, what kid wants to spend his hard-earned money to buy himself something there's a good chance he's going to get as a present in only a few days?! But never underestimate Mosey's desire for immediate gratification... I did make him put it back, and then he spent the next 20 minutes running away from me in Target. Little snickerdoodle. Worse than a snickerdoodle, really. Do you know how hard it is to capture a 6 year old in Target who doesn't want to be caught? Especially when you're on a stupid ride-on-cart that can only go about 3 miles an hour, and has a really wide turning radius, and you're chasing a little imp who scurries hither and thither up and down aisles and among clothing racks? Well, it's really, really hard. I even had Joseph with me running around trying to chase him. I thought I could use Joseph to flush Mosey out where I could head him off, but there are just way too many places for a kid to run in Target. I finally got fed up and went to the check-out line. Joseph was able to get near enough to Mosey to say loudly enough for him to hear that we were leaving now, no matter if he came or not. I guess Mosey decided we were a little too far from home for him to want to try to walk, so he followed us out of the store. Little scoundrel. So now I'm not sure what I should do about that stupid tarantula. I don't want to get it for him after pulling that trick! I'll have to think about it...
I know there was other important stuff that happened this last week, but I was too self-absorbed in being sick to remember anything else at the moment, so that's it for tonight.
I can't seem to kick this stupid stomach bug. I got sick on Monday, and I still feel completely rotten. :-( I thought I had finally gotten over it last night. I felt well enough to go with Ben to a work party where I ate the first real food I've had all week (and I didn't eat very much!). That was a mistake because today I've felt the worst so far. I had the boys go into HEB for me to get some gatorade so I could at least attempt to re-hydrate. Unfortunately it's reminding me a little too much of the aftermath of chemo from my bone marrow transplant.
There is nothing quite like the misery of unremitting nausea. I guess this is what happens when you have no immunity to anything...
I have to speak in church on Sunday and I'm not sure whether to hope it goes away by then, or hangs around! :-) (I'm seriously kidding. Please give me a Sacrament meeting talk every month if it keeps the stomach bug away...)
You know you have a great dentist when your son, the only one NOT to have a procedure done says, on the way out of the office, "I wish I had a cavity!" (Mosey had a cavity filled, Brigham had sealants put on, and the dentist had *just* replenished his generous treasure box. Joseph was jealous as he left, empty-handed. No good deed goes unpunished, I suppose.)
The day may not be a great one when it starts out with your six-year-old flinging a bowl of milk (with the remnants of his frosted mini wheat cereal) on the head and face of his brother... And it wasn't a super-great day, either. I had some kind of a mild stomach bug and felt queasy and icky all day long. My fuse was about 2 millimeters long today, as the boys will attest.
The day improves, however, when this same six-year-old son pulls a stool up to the refrigerator and gets out the mayonnaise and turkey breast and muenster cheese and makes you a sandwich "in case you get hungry" as you're laying on the couch actually trying not to think about food, but then not minding it so much with the sweetness and thoughtfulness of it all.
The two big boys had their Christmas recital on Saturday. They both did great! I did not video the performance, but I will make them play their pieces one last time here at home so I can record it for posterity. But first Brigham has to clean up the playroom (where the piano is) which is an incredible disaster right now with approximately 700 blocks and 800 plastic soldiers and 57 stuffed animals and innumerable Schleich castle parts and knights and dragons all over the floor. And I won't have *that* recorded for posterity! (Not to mention the fact that I can't even get into the room with my wheelchair...)
I've been playing the Pandora Christmas radio stations over the past couple of weeks. It is fun to note the boys' mishearings of the lyrics (did you know there's a word for this? It is "mondegreen" although I have no idea where that comes from). Brigham asked me tonight about the "tithings of comfort and joy." There have been several of these-- I need to write them down!
A week or so ago I was talking with a couple of homeschooling moms in our art co-op, and they mentioned the live "Main Street Bethlehem" up in Burnet the first two weekends in December. I've been wanting some more meaningful annual Christmas traditions, and this seemed to fit the bill. We invited some friends and on Friday night we headed up to Burnet, about 45 minutes away.
We got off to a later start than we planned, so by the time we got up there everyone was hungry. We decided to eat before rather than after, and that may have been a mistake. Main Street Bethlehem stayed open from 6-9 (well, they cut the line off at 9:00-- everyone in line by that time will get to go through), and by the time we were done eating, it was already almost 8:00. So we parked, and then went to get in line. We found the line and started walking toward the end. And walking, and walking, and walking. The line extended all the way out of the church parking lot (it is held on the grounds of a Baptist church), down a whole block, then over and down another whole block, where we finally found the end. A very looooooong line. But I had been told the line moves fairly quickly, and we were already all the way up there, so we decided to stick it out.
We were there with 2 other adults and a total of 8 boys 9 and under between us. Lots of boys. :-) Joseph and Mosey in particular were not happy about standing in that long line, and the expected whining ensued. Some of the other boys decided to entertain themselves and got a little wild. OK, maybe very wild. :-) Joseph was particularly distressed by this. Ben finally started a game of 20 questions, which was a genius move, and kept all the boys distracted for the last half of the hour that we stood in line. But Mosey was still a pill, complaining incessantly that he wanted to go home. I was worried he would spoil the whole experience for himself.
I needn't have worried. The minute we walked through the "gates" of the city, Mosey, and all of the boys were enthralled. It really is an incredible place. The church built the place around 20 years ago. It really does look like what I can easily imagine Bethlehem might have looked like 2,000 years ago. The "city" is surrounded by a high wall. Just inside, there were tents sheltering people coming to the city to pay taxes. They were cooking over fires in front of the tents as we walked up the dusty dirt road. There were stone buildings housing candle-makers, basket weavers, cloth-makers, leather-workers, all complete with people dressed in costume, completely in character, actually making candles, weaving baskets, etc. There was an outdoor market with fruits and vegetables and grain, and geese and ducks in wooden cages. There were camels and sheep and donkeys. There was even a blacksmith shop with a blacksmith pounding red-hot iron on an anvil. There were people in character walking around the city-- shepherds telling of the good news of Christ's birth. A lame beggar asking for alms. A drunken man paying his taxes at the tax collector station. There were Roman guards patrolling the streets. There was a synagogue with a rabbi singing prayers and training his scribe.
Toward the end, we came to an inn, which was of course full. The inn-keeper came out and stopped to speak to Mosey. He said, "Yesterday a young man and woman came by looking for a place to stay. The woman looked as though she was about ready toa have a baby. My inn was full, but I told them they could stay in my stable out back where there is a manger. I've been very busy since then, and I haven't had a chance to go back there and see if they are there, or if the baby has been born yet. Will you go and see if they are there, and then come back and tell me?"
Mosey was utterly entranced. He looked up at that innkeeper, turned around when he pointed to the stable and the big star rising over it. We walked through a gate, approaching the "stable" which was actually a sort of cave in a hillside. Mosey ran quickly up ahead to look in the stable, and then ran back and said excitedly, "Mom, I looked in the stable, and Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus are there! I have to go back and tell the innkeeper!" And off he dashed back to find the innkeeper and tell him the good news. It was the sweetest thing I have seen in a long time.
The contrast between his whiny, complaining, rotten attitude before we got to "Bethlehem," and the awe-struck wonder once he got inside was just startling. It was so real to him. It was amazing to see what a change the Spirit caused in my little boy as he walked through the streets of Bethlehem. It was 100% worth the hour long wait in line, the shenanigans of 8 bored little boys, the hour and a half on the road, the whining and complaining, to see the look on Mosey's face as he looked into the stable to see if baby Jesus had been born yet.
This, this is what Christmas is about. This event made the nativity a reality for Mosey. From now on, every time he reads or hears of the account of our Savior's birth, he will have real memories of those noisy, dusty roads. He spoke to the innkeeper, saw the star in the sky, and was a personal witness of the Christchild, held in the arms of his mother Mary in that dirty, lowly stable. The moment of transformation that I saw in my boy is one every Christian should strive for in these busy, bustling, stressful weeks of Christmastime. Jesus Christ, our savior, was born. He was here. He is real. Do we feel it? Are we carried away by the wonder of it every December? I hope so. I definitely was on Friday night.
The icing on the cake was the cookies and hot chocolate they had waiting for everybody at the end. :-)
Needless to say, I was completely blown away. The people who put this on (it used to be only the Baptist church, but I believe several local churches now join forces) did a phenomenal job. All the "Jewish" men had even grown out their beards! We'll definitely go back every year, although we'll probably try to get there a little earlier next time to minimize the wait in line.
I kept thinking about the incredible missionary opportunity if our church put on something like this. The Baptist church gave out brochures telling about the story of "Bethlehem," and then going on to speak about Christ's birth, life, and ministry. At the end, there were signs directing people with questions to a nearby building where church representatives would be waiting to talk to them. Our ward building has a very large field adjacent to the parking lot, which is used for nothing right now. It's the perfect place for a Bethlehem! I'm not sure we could, or should, try to compete with the Burnet Bethlehem, but there are many other places in the country where something like this would be possible and such an amazing opportunity for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints-- not just for missionary work, but for all the members who would be involved every year in putting it on. But here in Texas, anyway, we've just found our newest Christmas tradition.
The boys with the Roman soldiers who were HUGE, and very serious. I wasn't sure at first if they would even acknowledge my request for a picture! Note Mosey's flip-flops. It was cool that night, but not cold. Just perfect weather, actually. Clear, maybe 65 degrees. Beautiful night. Last night got really cold, so I'm very glad we went when we did.
Mosey peering out the window inside the candle-maker's shop. His eyes were this big the whole evening.
The innkeeper pointing out the star over the stable behind his inn. Look at Joseph's and Mosey's faces!
I don't have much to write tonight. I'm just too tired by the time I have a minute to sit at the computer to think coherently. I'm looking forward to Christmas vacation. I'm giving the boys the same number of vacation days that the public school kids get, and I'm hoping to get a lot done. A lot of my own stuff done. :-) Like all the photos I took from our vacation in August and from our trip to Florida a month ago. Here are three that I took at a park near our old house. The "rock climbing" park as we used to call it. I took pictures of Brigham and Joseph against a white fence there-- the same fence where I took their 4-year-old portraits, so I could compare them side-by-side, 5 years later. But these are outtakes-- the promised silly shots if they would give me some smiles.
Had a not-so-proud mommy moment when Mosey freaked out about something or other and refused to ride anymore. He got off the horse, and when Joseph came up to get the helmet from him to take his turn, Mosey THREW the helmet at him, hitting him in the head. Joseph picked up the helmet and THREW it back at Mosey, hitting him in the head. The teacher called Joseph out on that, and he turned around and ran around the barn to the car and wouldn't ride at all. Brigham got an extra-long lesson that day, and I was pretty embarrassed. I went back to the car and gave Joseph a lecture on being mature and not retaliating.
Saturday:
Went to the Temple, left the boys with a babysitter. Actually a "kid-stayer," according to the insistence of the boys. :-)
Took a wrong turn, barely missed our session, but did sealings instead which I loved. Although, weirdly, kneeling actually takes a bit of leg strength! Hamstrings and glutes. I can figure out exactly which muscles do what, by how mine *don't* work...
Got home 3 hours late (because of going to lunch and absurd traffic). Thank goodness for nice, understanding babysitter. I tried to compensate her accordingly. :-)
Decorated the house for Christmas while listening to The Polar Express (it's our tradition to ring in Christmas by having a Polar Express dance party before decorating).
Sunday:
Church.
More Christmas decorating.
Took pictures for our Christmas card. The boys are getting so grown up and cooperative with this picture-taking business, it's ridiculous! They helped lug down my backdrop stand and get things set up in the backyard. Thanks, guys!
Monday:
Back to school again...
Happy this Monday went better than last Monday. Last Monday (I don't think I blogged about this) Joseph had a rotten morning, refusing to do his work. I called Ben and he came home and got Joseph, bringing him back to his office. Joseph sat in Ben's office the rest of the day and did nothing but math. He got a lot of math done, but the punishment backfired a little, because it turns out he really enjoyed hanging out at Dad's office, and asked if he could do the same thing the next day. :-)
We're learning about earthquakes in science, and the boys had a contest to see who could build the most earthquake proof block structure. Joseph and Mosey decided we should build all structures out of Duplos. They're totally earthquake-proof! I remembered how much I hate earthquakes when we watched a bunch of YouTube videos. I'm very happy living in the seismically-boring state of Texas.
Family Home Evening was watching the Christmas Devotional from Salt Lake and drinking peppermint hot chocolate.
Tuesday:
School. I had decently cooperative students today, yay!
Scouts. Joseph and Brigham left for Scouts, which left Mosey and me home by ourselves. We spent an hour working on his gigantic 6 level K'nex Rollercoaster set which has been sitting on our kitchen table in various stages of construction for the past 6 days. Someday maybe we'll get our table back, but we're still only on page 16 out of 49 in the instruction book. Yikes!
Spent way, waaaay too long looking through the scanned images posted online from the 4,893 slides we submitted to get scanned and digitized a couple of months ago. Pictures from 1971 on. There are so many pictures in there I've never seen before-- I feel like I just relived the first 11 years of my life (I forced myself to stop at 1988).
We went to our friend's funeral today. It was memorable, to say the least. The entire Stake Center was filled, front to back--even the chairs set up on the stage were filled (which Ben and the boys helped to set up last night). The boys and I got there a few minutes early, but the parking lot had obviously been full for a long time, and the overflow parking was blocks away. I did manage to park due to a kind and understanding policeman who let me park in the VIP area. And wow, were there some VIP's there. Justice Clarence Thomas spoke along with Judge Edith Jones, chief judge of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Senator Cornyn was there. I'm sure there were other noteworthies that I was not aware of. I've never seen Secret Service men at an LDS church building before, and I'm not sure I will again. I'm quite sure I'll never see a Supreme Court Justice in a church building again (let alone hear one speak in one). Ben and I tried to impress upon the boys what a unique experience this was-- for them to see Justice Thomas if for no other reason.
I just really hated that this was the occasion.
It was a wonderful service. The irony is that the better the service was, the worse I'm sure everyone felt. The whole thing just feels so dreadfully wrong to me, and I think to everyone there. Not that death ever feels right, I know.
Ben and I debated bringing the boys. Well, I debated, anyway. Ben was sure they should go. The only funeral I attended as a child was my brother's, and I obviously wish that funeral had never happened. I actually have not been to many funerals at all. And I've only been to two for people who died after long, good lives. The last few funerals I have been to were for a friend's son who committed suicide, a young mother leaving 3 kids and a husband after a long battle with cancer, and now this good man leaving behind his wife and sons and a career in which he still had so much truly influential good to offer to his clients and to this country. There has been nothing remotely joyful, or even particularly hopeful (except for in the extremely broad scheme of things) in any of these funerals. And so I worried about bringing the boys. But I'm glad I did. I think it was really good for the boys to spend an hour hearing a good man being praised for all the right reasons. Also good for them to get a small sense of the fragility of life.
The hammer of mortality falls on whom it will, without regard for its victims or the wake of its aftermath. Some people might see the inscrutable design of God in these hammer-blows, but I, for one, do not. I sometimes wish I could-- it might be comforting. On the other hand, I see many people turn against God when they feel he has "willed" this or that event. The only way for me to resolve the theodicy question is to believe that he does not will tragedy. God is many things but I don't believe he is capricious. God is the great Arbiter, but he is not arbitrary. There is just too much caprice in these sorts of disasters that fall upon good, undeserving people for me to accept them as God's specific design. But there is a trade off for this philosophy. Tragedy is (to me) more tragic when there is no reason. The senselessness increases the sheer sadness of the situation, and I cannot stop thinking about my friend and her boys. It does not seem possible that this has really happened, and several times a day I feel my heart stop for a second as I contemplate their new reality. Thinking of her coming back home and seeing her husband's socks on the floor, his half-filled laundry basket in the closet. Getting the mail and having to open letters addressed to him. Going into the bathroom and finding his shaving cream and cologne sitting there on the countertop. Walking past his car parked in the driveway or garage with his favorite radio stations programmed in the stereo, the empty drink in the cup holder. Opening the freezer to see the partly-eaten carton of his favorite ice cream. The hugeness of her loss is something I can't wrap my arms around, and I suspect she can't at this point either. But imagining the small details, the minutiae of a life plucked up mid-stream is what cuts me to the quick. How does one survive those uncountable individual wounds? I just don't know. And I'm only thinking of the loss of her husband. Her mother died, too, but I just can't think about that.
I have no point in all this rambling. Just as I see no point at all in the awfulness of Greg's death.
I am a Christian, a wife, mother, homeschool teacher, perfectionist, night-owl, reader, conservative, photographer, and a lot more.
I have 3 boys-- 11 year old twins named Joseph and Brigham, and a 9-year-old named Moses.
I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2005. I went from a 30-mile-a-week runner to being mostly wheelchair-bound in 2 years. In 2008 I was accepted into the HALT-MS study-- a clinical trial in which I underwent an autologous stem cell transplant (bone marrow transplant) in an attempt to put the disease into remission. So far, I have remained stable for more than four years!
I am grateful every day for the new lease on life that God (and modern medicine and awesome doctors, but mostly God :-)) has granted to me, and the chance I have to teach and raise my boys, love my husband, and experience the joy, frustration, happiness, and heartache that life brings.
