Last day

It's the end of the year, and amid tonight's bingeing on store brand Doritos, cheese puffs, and sour cream dip, I'll be thinking about the past year. Just for a lark, I decided to look at my first post of 2009, and whaddyaknow, I had made some resolutions. Hmmm. I don't remember doing that.

Might as well check to see if I actually completed any of them.

from my first post of the year:

Therefore, I, Shoebox Princess resolve to:

1. Buy a new pair of pretty pretty walkaround shoes this spring (maybe even two pairs!). My old sneaks are disintegrating after severe bullying and multiple piledriving by the teegage boys' muscular tennis shoe-boats.

Why did I not remember making this a resolution? I love shoes! I actually did buy a new pair of walkaround shoes but not until November. And I threw out the pairs that were destroyed by the boys' shoes.

2. Restrict the use of pizza delivery to once a week, unless I really need a break from making dinner.

Hey! I did really well with this one and I didn't even know it! I feel pretty good because not only have we restricted the pizza buying to once a week, but I can't remember the last time that I called Jim in a panic and asked him to bring home a bag of fast food burritos. After 21 years, I think I might be getting the hang of making dinner for the family.

3. Keep on blogging nearly daily. I might take a day off here and there, but for the most part, I'll keep pace as usual. Look forward to a first blogging anniversary post March 9th (somewhere around there anyway).

That was a ringer resolution if I ever saw one. Of course I'd blog regularly. It's either blog or do housework. DUH.

4. Do my Saturday chores. I've been slacking, especially when it's my turn to vacuum the basement. Although, if I really just don't have the motivation to do my job, then I am allowed to bribe one of the kids to do it for me.

I might have to carry this one over to next year. (face of shame)

5. Hoard food. My favorite food item to hoard is spaghetti sauce and mayonnaise. Sadly, I won't be hoarding these two items in the girls' room any more and will never over hear a friend of my daughter ask "Why do you have several jars of mayonnaise in your closet?" and I will nevermore be able to answer for my daughter, "I collect mayonnaise!" And I will never see that friend scooch a few inches away and avoid my gaze.

Anyone need a couple dozen boxes of jello? Or several pounds of dried pinto beans? I need to manage better. I have a lot of some stuff, but I found that I ran out of certain items during crucial baking periods (brown sugar, I'm looking at you).

6. Sew something. Maybe that bathrobe that my mother purchased material for me for my 40th birthday over a year ago. Or at least fix a hem. Or perforate paper in a straight line with an unthreaded sewing machine.

Hmmm. Another carryover resolution. But I have two weeks off babysitting and it is one of my goals while not watching fake child to SEW THAT BATHROBE.

7. Practice my Wii power-bowling. Jimmy broke my record and I must practice and get better at it. The record stands at 538 (Paul and Jimmy tied). My best is 512.

Ummm. How about I practiced piano instead?

8. Prune the techny arborvitae. I'm only putting this on the list because a concerned citizen arborist told me I had to.

Oooo, I did this one! But I pruned it only up to as far as I could reach. It's still bushy on top. Another resolution: get Jim to finish what I started.

9. Not ever use the word "threnody" correctly in a spoken sentence or written passage.

It was tough, but I did it! It is SO hard not to insert correct usage of threnody into every sentence out of my mouth!

10. Not make a 10th resolution.

I believe I am most proud of this accomplishment.

Tune in tomorrow to read what I set myself up to fail at or at least forget about for 2010!

Nomrom

We've decided that Nomrom is a family version of a linger-longer to celebrate the cultural aspects of being a Latter-day Saint. Or it's a larger Family Home Evening--one that includes dinner.

Our Nomrom feast had:

A cream of mushroom soup based casserole topped with cheese (in this case Chicken Divan)
funeral potatoes (also with cheese)green jello with mysterious fruit chunks

a pop-and-sherbet-based punch
all eaten on golden plates.
Except the punch, of course. That we drank out of paper cups scrounged from our food storage. Before we ate, though, we had to sing a Nomrom carol, "Popcorn Popping" complete with actions.
Then the feasting began. We all sat around a large table with the extra leaf put in to symbolize large families and our "extra" children.
Next year, I hope to add a recitation of family history and a talent show for the showing off of new skills gained from Personal Progress, Duty to God, or Faith in God programs.

We were lucky enough to celebrate Nomrom with the Smiths this year. They slept over Sunday to Monday and had a very nice time with them, although Travis was miserable. Sorry about the cat dander, Travis! Poor guy. The kids and Travis all went to the Mollica Merica (what Matt once called the Mall of America) on Monday and hung out with each other. Jen and I stayed at home and knitted things and watched "Fawlty Towers." OH--after our Nomrom celebration on Sunday night, we watched "Twilight" with Rifftrax and laughed for nearly two hours. My sides hurt.

Before the Smiths left for Monday Night Football at Jake's (frowny face for both them leaving and for the actual game) we took some pictures:

Pretty nieces all in a row
and height check for the boys using Aunt Jenni as a yardstick. The last time we did this, Paul was much shorter than Jenni and Jimmy had maybe a half inch on her. Matt still has a ways to go.
And in other pictures, my amaryllis flower has a fifth blossom in this cluster! It's a midget blossom, but still it's there! I LOVE amaryllises! They remind me of Gary, who used to give us one every year for Christmas. We miss you, Grandpa Gary!
One last picture: Gnorman the Gnome. He arrived on Christmas Eve, ready to set up housekeeping (or actually, gardenkeeping) in my miniature garden. Alas, the mini garden is covered with a foot of snow at the moment, but the minute everything thaws out, he'll be out there to tend to the thyme and tiny shrubbery. For now he guards my amaryllis.

A little more of Christmas day

Christmas afternoon and evening brought cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles to our house for a very informal (I hadn't showered until people had started showing up, and nor had I done anything for food except heated up the punch and I certainly hadn't cleaned anything or done the least bit of housework) buffet dinner.

Here we are. And dangit, I forgot to get a picture of us siblings and our spouses. Oh well. Sorry, Steph, Travis, and Jim. Anyway, here am I with two of my siblings, Jake and Jen, and my dad and stepmom, Sharon. I'm glad you all came to my house so I didn't have to drive anywhere. Sorry if my house was a mess. Actually, I'm not all that sorry. My house is what it is and we are happy here.
Next up are some of the grandkids with their grandparents. Names in alphabetical order (aside from grandparents): Dylan, Hayley, (Other) Jim, Maddie, Matt, Maya, Morgan, Paul, and Rozzie. The children are not sitting in alphabetical order so if you don't know my nieces and nephews and children by name, uh, you're out of luck?
The other news of the day is that Matt finished his big Star Wars Lego kit in one day. This was 1,408 pieces of Lego blocks, two booklets of instructions, and a lower age limit of 14. Matt had no trouble with it, except for several minutes of looking for one "lost" piece that turned out to have been overlooked, not lost. Matt is very proud of his Tantive IV spaceship.
And it looks like I have a new interactive sculpture for the living room. OJ set up his disc golf hole and has been PLAYING disc golf in the house. Nothing has been broken yet, knock on wood, but it's just a matter of time.
Jake joked that we could strip the chains and basket off the golf hole and we'd have a Festivus pole for next Dec. 23! I'll have to start paying attention to the ways others have disappointed me and find some grievances over the next year to air at the Festivus dinner.

But first, Jen and fam are coming over tomorrow again to celebrate Nomrom. I'll be breaking out some golden plates (paper ones to eat off of) and we'll be eating green jello, funeral potatoes, and chicken casserole. We'll be singing Nomrom carols like "The Primary Colors" "Book of Mormon Stories" and "Give Said the Little Stream." I was going to bake bread to represent the food storage aspect of Mormon culture, but alas, I didn't get around to it today. We would have eaten the bread with honey, which would represent Deseret. Cheeky, I know, but we'll do anything for a few laughs with family.

The other reason for Christmas: family time

I don't want to give short shrift to my other post of today so if you haven't seen it or don't know that it existed, go here. Please don't think I am tootin' my own horn here and saying that you should read this post because it's really good; I'm just saying that it's a little slice of what I believe to be the real reason for celebrating Christmas. The stuff I am posting now is a return to my self-centered writing exercises and my desire to show off my children to their grandparents and aunts and uncles and friends, etc.

I wish I had remembered to bring my camera to my mother's house so I could get video footage of the drumming. Step-brother-in-law Todd (drummer for an 80s hair band that was big here in the Twin Cities and all around great guy) brought some percussional instruments, and Owen and Maya (nephew and niece respectively) had a mind-blowingly good time thumping them pagan skins (obscure Beatles reference. Name the context for 12 points and a leftover Christmas cookie).

Another musical act was "the basement band." I forced Paul to bring home his french horn for the winter break from school and bought him a Christmas music book that matched the one for clarinet that Hayley had and the strings one that the Smith girls had. 'Nother cousin Sophie held the book and chose the songs for the basement band to play (called the basement because that's where they practiced for 15 minutes before their gig) out of the songbook. There was as much giggling as there was musicking (Morgan thought Paul was playing the wrong notes, but it turned out that SHE was, and that required a full five minutes of laughter. It's fun to get Morgan to laugh!) but in the end, they got it together enough to make the songs recognizable. We all crowded into Mom's living room to hear them, and they made a joyful noise!

After that, Matt wanted to get in on the musical action and he busted out his Christmas piano book and played three songs for us. Then Sidney wowed us with leaps, splits, axles, and flips. She's into figure skating--if only we had turned Mom's living room carpet into a rink!

This morning, the rush of paper opening lasted only a few minutes, but I do believe no one was unhappy.

Other Jim got a bunch of hi-tech frisbees and a portable disc-golf hole.
He's going to have to wait a bit to play with his stuff because of this:
We got a load of snow overnight and it continues to fall and pile up. And so while the snow continues to put a hold on disc golf, OJ hibernates.
Hayley got a GIANT fan. We'll be using her fanning capabilities during the summer months to supplement the air conditioning.
Matt got a bunch of Lego blocks to add to his already vast collection of foot-gougers. He's smiling all over because this set comes with a teeny-tiny Lego C3PO, which will replace the one he lost in the miasmatic fog of can't-remember-where-I-had-it-last.
Matt will be doing this all day long. Notice how the pieces are sorted by size? Perhaps there is a little of Paul in Matt.
Paul got an invisible bike. Isn't it cool?
Jim and Magic sit together in mutual adoration (not really. Magic just barely tolerates Jim in this tableau)We talked to Katie over the phone while she opened her presents--she had them for over a week and resisted the urge to open them prematurely. She spent Eve with the Wrights, and this afternoon she's going to her roommate's relative's house and then tonight she's going to the home of someone from church. She sends holiday greetings to everyone. And she cleaned her room!

Merry Christmas!

Jesus Christ

Merry Christmas, one and all (and probably just one person will read this today--me, as I'm writing it. But no matter. It's my scripture study for the day and whether or not anyone else reads it is not important)! I hope you have enjoyed your holiday.

So I thought I'd ponder a few scriptures about the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ today.

I will start with what is in my mind the quintessential Nativity scripture (and not just because it's a well-known part of The Messiah oratorio):

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

I can find so much in just this one scripture. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:" his birth was for us. We are born into this world for our own progression, essentially we are born each for him or herself, but Christ was born for us. He was not born into this world simply to work out his own salvation, but to work out ours as well. From the beginning, Christ was a gift to the human family.

His role will be one of governance. He will show us how to conduct ourselves. He will direct us and give us the law and doctrine. Governments also care for their constituents, and Christ will do the same. He will succor us in time of need and provide for us.

Because of his work, we shall call him Wonderful. We are in awe of his miracles, his teachings, his example. We shall be indebted to him eternally for his greating atoning sacrifice.

He shall be our Counselor. We should look to him for counsel when we need it. He will help us improve ourselves and teach us how to be better people.

He is the Mighty God, creator with Heavenly Father of this earth we live on. The elements obey his word.

As Everlasting Father, his Sacrifice will be eternal and since he has redeemed us, essentially offering us new life, he shall be our Father, with God.

As Prince of Peace, he calms our fears and buoys us up in times of trouble--John 14:7


Isaiah 40:11
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

This scripture caught my eye because it mentions "those that are with young." As a mother, it is very comforting to know that Christ leads me gently as I lead my own little (or big) sheep through life. Motherhood comes with very little instruction and one gets hardly any practice before jumping into it. I've had to rely on heavenly help often because I don't have a very good innate motherhood intuition. Sometimes I've been faced with challenging situations as a parent and have had NO idea how to proceed. The Lord has been there always when I have gone to Him with my problems. I've felt the comforting guidance of Jesus helping me with more emotions than I can handle and he's given me the peace of mind needed when life doesn't go as I would like. It is good to know that Jesus wants us to succeed in life, and he wants to care for us if we allow him to.

Mosiah 5:8
And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives.

Christ is the only way to eternal life and happiness. Through him, because of his Atonement, we may have salvation, provided we have taken upon us his name through baptism, and then we continue in obedience from then on.

I have a firm belief in Christ, in his mission and his Atonement. That belief motivates me to be obedient to the commandments given to us by Christ's prophets in scripture and through modern revelation. It also motivates me to try to improve myself so that I can help others, especially my family, come to know and love the Lord.

To me, that is Christmas.

Simeon and Anna

The snow is gently falling, making the Currier and Ives vision of Christmas complete. Paul just got up and said he's going out to shovel the driveway. He can be such a pragmatic boy. I imagine that he wakes up, looks out the window, notices the snow, and thinks, "The driveway will need shoveling," and then does it. I don't think he realizes that he could sit around, playing Wii, or texting or generally laze around on the couch until I asked him to shovel, and even then, he'd have like two chances to pretend he didn't hear. But no, he's putting his boots on right now. He hasn't even eaten breakfast! I wonder if he's being good for Santa? But then he's like that all year long. He doesn't do bribery. He just does. Every family should have a Paul. They are so nice to have! I'd even rent Paul out.

Today's scripture (Luke 2:21-39) isn't considered part of the Nativity story, but it occurs so close to the night Christ was born and has revelatory significance that I'd like to consider it today as a part of the nativity. In it I see evidence of Primary answers to questions. People joke that if you answer these four things to any gospel question (especially the "what must we do..." questions), you'll most likely be right, but we'd be right because it's true! Obey, go to church, pray, and read scriptures. Sounds simple, but yet many don't do it (and to be honest, I need to work on some of the four too. This many be considered a Primary child's answer, but aren't we supposed to be like children? (Matthew 18:3, and Mosiah 3:18)

And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

The naming of a child in the grand scheme of the plan of salvation seems so insignificant, yet Mary and Joseph were obedient in the little things. Of course, Christ's name was significant because of prophecies regarding his name, which would be a sign of his Messianic mission.

And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

Mary and Joseph were aware of the law of Moses, which means they had knowledge of scripture. Even if they couldn't read, they had apparently been read to out of the words of ancient prophets. We too should be reading the words of prophets, ancient and modern. We should know what it is the Lord has commanded us to do. We can't be obedient if we are ignorant.

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

The first thing Simeon does is say a prayer of thanks to God. When I recognize blessings from the Lord, is my first reaction a prayer of gratitude to Him from whom I received the blessings? When we receive gifts from others, politeness requires the first thing we do is thank the giver. And we have been commanded to be grateful. Prayer is an act of showing gratitude in voice to Heavenly Father. Simeon, a devout and righteous man, knew the importance of showing gratitude to God for fulfilling a promise. And he recognized the Messiah. He too must have been familiar with the scriptures and prophecies of prophets before him to have known that this little child would redeem the world. How wonderful to have seen with my own eyes salvation embodied!

And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Mary and Joseph had marveled, even though they had been told by angels the mission of their infant son. I wonder what they marveled at? Did they marvel because here at last was someone else who knew? I imagine that one of the characteristics necessary for raising the Son of God was humility and these two people must have had it. I don't think they would have gone 'round to the neighbors bragging that their future child would save the world. Humility might have made them unwilling to proclaim Jesus' mission to the world and maybe their marveling was because someone else knew it too.

And there was one Anna, prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

Anna departed not from the temple. She was a church-goer. She knew where the holy place was and was determined to be in it. So many times, church worship and temple worship can be thought of as a burdensome requirement, but we have been commanded to stand in holy places (D & C 45:32 among many other scriptures) for when trial and tribulation shall come to try to shake us from our faith, if we are standing in holy places, we shall not be moved. Anna was not a Sunday believer, she was an everyday believer. She showed her devotion to God every day, not just on the Sabbath.

And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.

Sometimes when I read the scriptures, I think all the stories revolve around men. They are told by men, about men and the women's stories have been given short shrift (please understand that I am revealing more about my own hangups that I am complaining about scripture). But women and their examples are there, if I look for them and quit assuming I've been discriminated against. We have Mary's story and also a brief description of Anna. Both are righteous women that I can look up to and identify with. Anna was familiar with Messianic prophecy too, because she recognized Jesus as the one who would redeem Jerusalem. I should rejoice in my opportunities to worship every Sunday at the Sacrament and I should be more "every day" in my temple worship.

In the interest of space and length, I didn't include all my thoughts. I had to limit my thoughts to the four Primary answers, otherwise I would have rambled on all day and I need to finish baking molasses cookies.

Merry Christmas! I'll be back tomorrow (I know, I'll probably be the only blogger in the US to blog something) with one more day of devotion.

Wise men

This has been a challenging, but rewarding, series of blog posts for me. Normally, I write in my notebook as I read the scriptures, and I miss days more often than I remember to do it. Hopefully (if you stick around long enough to read what I write) you don't find anything offensive or way off the mark. This is just a regular person searching for meaning and trying to personalize the scriptures.

Matthew 2:1-12

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.

I wonder if the wise men were surprised that Herod apparently knew nothing of this King of the Jews? I wonder if even they expected that the Jews would have at least known as much about the coming of Christ as they did, having known of the signs and watched for them, presumably by reading of the prophecies of prophets before their time. Are we surprised when people around us aren't aware of the restored gospel? And how to we rectify that? We share our knowledge. I find it interesting that there are missionary lessons even in the story of the birth of the Savior. I never thought that Christmas had much missionary allegory in it.


When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

Why would all Jerusalem be troubled? Wouldn't the Jews be excited? Even if they had misunderstood and thought the Messiah would free them from an oppressive government, wouldn't they be excited? Perhaps there were many who flourished under Roman rule and were unwilling to think of a life under different circumstances. Do we face repentance the same way? Am I unwilling to give up my sins for Christ? Or am I troubled like the people of Jerusalem when faced with the coming of the Lord?

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.

They had the truth right there with them! And Herod believed the prophecies, but the result of his belief was not conversion. His belief led to massacre. It is not enough to believe, we must have put our belief into action and live lives that exemplify our belief.

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 I read those words, I want to act like a kid again and say "Big fat liar!"

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.

If I were one of the wise (wo)men, I might have worried that we might have misread the signs and prophecies. Doubt creeps in very easily. But with the star still there, still pointing the way, my worries would have turned to relief and exceeding joy. When I get off track, the doctrines of the gospel, the promises of God are still there pointing the way and my doubt turns to relief and exceeding 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 treasures, 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.

Obedient to the last, these wise men. They too had a vision from God. God is ever merciful to His faithful followers; He led the wise men to safety and gave them a way out to avoid making good on what might have been a promise to Herod to return and report on this child. And the wise men, after looking for the Messiah in a king's palace, apparently didn't mind finding him in humble circumstances in the end. No one said, "Surely this can't be the place. Surely that little child can't be the King of the Jews." They were not fooled by pomp and ceremony; truth is often simple and unadorned, but we do have to search for it.

You might think that I'm done with the nativity story, but I do have one more scripture story to consider. And then on Christmas, I plan to look at some scriptures relating to the ministry and mission of Christ.

The kids are in school still. One last day for them today and then I have my children around me for the upcoming snowstorm which has been predicted for this area. We shall see if the storm lives up to expectation. If it does, I plan on drinking a lot of hot cocoa while watching snowflakes fall. I love to watch a good snowstorm.

Shepherds

Luke 2:8-20
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:

I wonder if the angel tried to get the attention of anyone else? Were the shepherds the only ones who were of a mindset to listen? Will I hear inspiration and good news of the Spirit when the Spirit calls to me?

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 Saviour, 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.

I wonder what the shepherds thought of Christ the Lord lying in a hay trough for animals? The Lord works in ways that are surely not that of man. Sometimes I wonder what blessings or inspiration I've missed because I wasn't looking in the right place. Even the greatest of blessings can come in mundane packages.

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.

It's interesting that they didn't find excuses not to go. They didn't say, "well, we have to look after the sheep so we can't go." They even made haste. They must have realized the importance of what they had been told. Did the angels appear to anyone else, but those others simply couldn't "find the time" to find Christ? Am I making time to find Christ? I do believe I must make haste to find him. I must find the time to do what is important, even if it seems like a small thing. This reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures, Alma 37:6-7 "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." The birth of a baby boy in humble circumstances with no fanfare was indeed a "small" thing. But it had great and eternal consequences. I need to watch out for and pay attention to these small and simple things.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

Missionary work! My sons are preparing themselves to do the very same thing! One of them will hopefully be doing this in two years. All of my children are growing up to be missionaries and I am grateful to have had a part of their upbringing.

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.

Mary pondered things in her heart, the shepherds glorified and praised God (could it be said that they had gratitude for what they had been told?) Two characteristics of disciples of Christ: meditation upon the word, and returning thanks and praises to our Heavenly Father. I imagine that the shepherds told their families for years to come of the night they were attended by a heavenly messenger and given directions to go see the Messiah with their own eyes. Did they and their families get to hear the teachings of Jesus during his mortal ministry? Were they among the thousands fed miraculously with a few fish and loaves of bread? Who knows, but had I been one of the shepherds, I would have watched for the day when the baby pointed out by an angel grew up to do great things.

The manger

Matt's finger is not hurting him so much now. The blister looks icky and doesn't seem like a normal blister. The burn probably went pretty deep but I don't think a trip to the doctor is necessary. He says it only hurts when he forgets that it's injured and he bangs it on something. It was hard for him to get to sleep last night with it hurting so much, but I gave him some ibuprofen and I think that helped.

Anyway, on to the nativity story, which I was reminded in church today that it's not a "story" per se; it's truth. But it's hard for me to call it "nativity truth." So "story" it remains. Besides, I call recollections of my youth "stories" and it doesn't make them any less true.

So I move on to Luke 2 and I consider the manger. Luke 2:1-7

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 this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 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.

Now, I've moved a couple of times while pregnant and it is NO FUN. Poor Mary, riding on a donkey or perhaps walking, spending nights in unfamiliar places, probably wondering if the baby would arrive while they were on the road and what would she do then? And Joseph was probably a little worried as well. Will there be someone to help his wife in her time of delivery?

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.

I've always marveled at the workings of our Heavenly Father. He sent his Only Begotten Son to be born in circumstances that were meager even for the time. Jesus was born among animals, with little heraldry, I'm sure. It would have been much easier for Israel to believe the Jesus was the promised Savior of the world if he had been born of an earthly king and raised for all the world to see. But he was not. He was born in simple and lowly circumstances. And so faith is needed to believe. Jesus Christ was not born as worldly kings were; where was his nobility that anyone should believe he was sent to save the world? And so God expects us to trust in His plan, even though it might run counter to what we would expect.

Those circumstances are also symbolic for what we need to aspire to be--simple and lowly, or humble. Christ was born in humble circumstances, and when we are "reborn" through our conversion to the gospel, we do so in humility. All pride and loftiness must be stripped away, all thoughts of riches and wealth must be erased. We must be like the manger. We ourselves are the humble, lowly, simple places where the light of Christ can dwell.

Christmas and geography (and mother guilt)

The setting: in the kitchen baking cookies

The ambiance: listening to Christmas music, specifically Nat King Cole's rendition of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"

Matt says to me, "What is this person singing? 'With th' angelic coastal plains?' What does that have to do with Christmas?" (Nat was singing the line "With th' angelic host proclaims...") heeheehee!

And as I was typing this little anecdote, Matt burned two fingers probably pretty badly on a little lamp I left out by the stove. I had just blew out the flame on it and left the kitchen to type this. He got curious because he had never seen the lamp before and touched the really hot part. I feel awful for having left it out where a curious pre-teen boy can reach and touch it. Sigh.

Day 2 of the Nativity story: Joseph

This will be a shorter scripture study today. The subject matter is the mortal father of the nativity story, Joseph, and there isn't as much about him in the scriptures as there is about Mary. But within these few verses from Matthew 1:18-25, we get a glimpse into what kind of man he was.

Now, as it is written, the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.

A rather noble thing for a man who probably would have been totally within his rights to make a public example of his intended bride (side note: I'm assuming that Mary and Joseph were in an engagement sort of arrangement, since we know from the above scripture that they had not consummated their marriage). Many men would have been aggressive about having been wronged in this way, yet Joseph, even after thinking Mary was unfaithful, must have still cared for her to not want to make a public issue out of the situation. And he was called "just." Of course, God the Father would have wanted a just man to be the mortal father of His Son. A just father would have seen the divine attributes in his adopted son and would have created a family environment designed to foster and revere those character traits.

But while he thought on these things,...

He thought and pondered before he acted. A fine example of a considerate man. I am moved to wonder how often I act before I think, and what do I miss because I have done so? Had Joseph not thought before he acted, he might not have received the following blessing. The Lord waited for Joseph's reaction to Mary's surprise pregnancy. Joseph was given time to put his agency to the test. I notice that he didn't get a visitation from the angel at the same time Mary did, so I am led to think that Joseph was given a test by the Lord.

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 his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

When I wake up from a dream, I am usually pretty glad that it was a dream. But what a dream! Like Mary, Joseph was given no instructions on how to care for this child, even though he was chosen to be Christ's father because of his abilities and characteristics, which he probably didn't realize he possessed as of yet. And here he gets the assurance that Mary has not been unfaithful to him. He receives this confirmation, this blessing, for his thinking before acting and his nobility in showing her compassion. I also like how the angel reminds him that he is a son of David, and noble in his own heritage. The son (great grandson to the 12th or something degree) of a revered king shall raise the Son of the most revered King, God the Father. Very fitting.

Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife. And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

Joseph recognized this as a vision, and not just a regular dream. That still takes faith, though. I can imagine that people he knew must have ridiculed him for taking stock in a dream when the "circumstances" were so obvious to the rest of the world. I can identify with that. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have faith in the truthfulness of the visions given to Joseph Smith, even though many of those around me ridicule my belief in some guy's "dream" or "pretense." Joseph, like Mary, may have sorrowed because of the reaction of others, but he didn't let it stop him from doing what was right. And I need to be more like that.

Hmm, it wasn't as short as I thought it would be. I hope you don't mind.

One week before Christmas

Normally I don't talk religion on my blog. I was never very comfortable discussing religion with people I don't know very well or who don't share my belief system. And even then, I keep my testimony mostly to myself because I am not a scriptorian or a great philosophizer, and I don't have any new insight that hasn't already been shouted from the rooftops elsewhere. I have my own insights related to my own life, but since nobody is in my place but me, I figure they wouldn't be of use to anyone else. Or easily understood. For the most part, my friends see me at church and I do what I have been asked to do (sometimes with great discomfort--I have a very hard time conducting Relief Society. I can play the organ in Sacrament meeting and goof up every verse in every song, but I have come to accept that as just a part of who I am. Standing up in front of people who are of greater apparent spirituality than I makes me want to hide in the Relief Society cupboard under the tablecloths and not come out until the meeting is over. I am NOT a leader, no matter what calling in church I hold) and somehow I hope that shows that I am committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But it's the Christmas season and I am a Christian, and for the next week, I would like to do my scripture study on my blog. Today I read a short excerpt of the larger nativity story about Mary being called to be the mother of Christ (see, this has bearing on my feeling of general incompetence regarding my calling as a counselor in the Relief Society presidency) found in Luke 1:26-38. And FYI, scripture study for me usually means thinking about the situations I read about and how I would react. (Keep in mind that I am not a theologian--this blogging exercise is going to be a tough one for me because even among friends I don't like exposing this much of myself and how I think)

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 angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: 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.

Only a woman could be troubled when an angel appears and calls her favored. It's an interesting response, especially when the greeting is as good as this one. An angel calls Mary highly favored! And she quails. Does she suspect she's going to experience a major life change? Probably. Angels don't appear just to tell a person that she's been a good young woman. They come with a purpose and often that purpose is an assignment, usually a difficult one.

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

First of all, she gets to have a baby. Frightening and exciting all at the same time! I wonder if she realized at this point that she was going to be the mother of the prophesized-of and long-awaited Messiah?

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.

I can't imagine knowing that in advance about my child. I'd be thinking that I could never be that good a mother to a son like that. The angel left her with no instructions on how to be the kind of mother the Messiah needed, and even if she was chosen precisely because she WAS that kind of woman, she probably didn't know it herself. Women generally don't know what they are capable of (maybe men don't either, but I'm not a man so I couldn't say) in advance. Then I think of my own children. Am (Was) I the kind of mother they need(ed)?

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

And then after that, I'd start worrying about what the neighbors would think. Really. Maybe I'm too concerned about the judgment of others. It doesn't appear to have worried Mary as much.

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. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.

I think that last line is my favorite out of this whole reading today. For with God nothing shall be impossible. No matter what my failings might be, nothing is impossible if I am with God and God is with me. I can do my Relief Society calling even though it's not my favorite thing in the world and I think that I suck at it. (Is it ok to say "suck" when discussing one's testimony of the scriptures?) (Is it ok to be just a little bit facetious while discussing scripture?) (yes is my answer. I hope yours is too)

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.

Her faith is to be admired. She would do whatever the Lord asked her to do and with whatever consequences. I can imagine her shaking a bit, thinking to herself, "am I ready for this? Can I do it? God must think I can, so I guess I can think I can too. But I'm still scared!"

And the angel departed from her.

I wonder if the angel waited to depart until after Mary agreed to do what was asked of her. The Lord doesn't force upon us anything--we decide if we believe it or not. He calls his servants, but they can refuse, I imagine. It's a huge leap of faith to accept these opportunities. Moses probably would have been content to live out his life with his wife and her family. At least I would have been.

For me, this story is about accepting the opportunities to serve given to me by the Lord and trying to serve as willingly as Mary did. In calling herself "the handmaid of the Lord" she showed me that that she was turning her life over to Him and would do whatever He called her to do. I need to be more like that.

Blog stalking guilt

I have a confession to make. I obsessively read several blogs written by people I find extremely irritating. And don't you dare think that you are one of those people. I am not talking about anyone on my bloglist to the side of this commentary. Or anyone who has ever commented on my blog or anyone I know in real life. If you are reading this and you say to yourself, "Gee, she must be talking about me" then you know for sure that I AM NOT. This means you, people whose names start with J, S, K, D, M, A, T, etc... who actually read my blog. I guarantee that none of the irritating people whose blogs I read out of some sort of deranged sense of indignancy and self-righteousness has ever read mine. These are people I do not know even cyberly. I stumbled upon them through blog-surfing and connections from places on the web.

Do any of you do this?

Without going into detail or giving links, here is why:

One I read because I want to validate my reasons for not homeschooling my children. (Note to the person who might read this who does homeschool her children and lives quite far south of me, I read your blog to make myself feel guilty for not homeschooling my children. You seem to be doing a good job of it, and it's not making you crazy) I also read it to get my daily recommended eye-rolling exercise as this person puts REALLY HUGE fake flowers on her daughter's head and photographs her. I mean REALLY HUGE. To the point of nearly eclipsing the girl's own head.

One I read because I can't believe a person can be that vocal about her own beauty and charm and monetary riches. She has a very high opinion of her own writing and humor too. But I find her humor crass. (and yet I continued to read it mostly to say to myself, "I would NEVER write about THAT!) This person has only very recently gone private, though, and now I can't read her blog. Pout.

One I read because I believe she is a real-life incarnation of Seriously So Blessed (a Mormon satire blog), down to her use of {{ }} instead of regular parentheses, relentless use of cutesy words like "preggo" and "kiddos," overcapitalization of the word "me," over-apostrophization of any word ending in "s,"and vapid commentary on a life made better through crafting, shopping, and girls'-nights-out. The language usage person in me loves to feel grammatically superior and this blog feeds that hunger (even though I cringe at my own self when I make up words. See previous blog post title containing the word "exercism." I also choose to use non-standard usage for effect or for whimsy. So I can be quite a hypocrite when it comes to usage snobbery).

No I won't give you links. Find your own irritating blogs to read. Or maybe that's why you're here? In that case, :P

(Edited to add: yes, I feel guilty about this. I need to be nicer.)

Postlets in between bouts of exercism

...or exorcism, as it seems that's what I'm trying to perform on the fat cells in my body. They are little devils and have taken over my body and I can't get rid of them. The ritualistic kickboxing and kneeling before the altar of fitness videos hasn't worked. Ritual sacrifice under the knife might be necessary.

Sorry for the cerebral rambling (cerebral in the sense that my brain was doing it, not in the sense that it was intelligent in any way).

I'm in between fits of exercise at the moment and while I'm resting my feet, I thought I'd update you on the status of a few things.

First, I think I have figured out the exact plans for a feline takeover of the world. Shred paper found in the garbage all over the family room floor and when the humans are bent down picking up the bits of paper that the gutless vacuum wouldn't suck up, attack from behind.

Second, Jim and I are almost done with our anniversary movie list. We have taken a bit longer than planned and gone several weeks past our anniversary, but we are not letting that bother us. We are up to 2006 with "For Your Consideration."

We've put it slightly on hold, though, while I plow through a birthday present: Fawlty Towers on dvd, and especially John Cleese's commentary on each episode. Mr. Cleese laughs through much of the episode titled "Waldorf Salad." I am pleased as punch with this present because my VHS tapes of Fawlty Towers were disintegrating.

Third (or fourth?), yes it was my birthday. No, I don't have any pictures of me turning 42. Several years ago, I made the following announcement to the family: If anyone wants dinner on my birthday, they will have to make it (or buy it). If anyone wants cake for my birthday, they will have to make it (or buy it). And if anyone wants to do anything special for my birthday, they will have to plan it. I spent many years as both a teenager and an adult making my own birthday cakes, and I spend many hours, days even, the rest of the year making cakes for my family. I did not want to make that kind of an effort on my birthday. I'm fine if nothing gets done because I will have spent no energy making a fuss. Sitting around the house doing crossword puzzles and cleaning the bathroom (yes, that too because it makes me feel good to walk into a clean bathroom) and reading are all parts of my ideal birthday, and now that all pertinent children are old enough to fend for themselves, I can have the kind of birthday I really want. With the exception of one thing. Photos of me. No one remembers that a camera is necessary at all celebrations, no matter how small. But I don't nag on my birthday so picture-taking was left undone. So no pictures for you. If you really want to know what I looked like on my birthday, look at my profile picture and pretend I have started another wrinkle or added an ounce or grew one more gray hair.

Back to hopeless optimism: more exercise.

If I had taken pictures

If I had taken pictures at the choir concert last night

• you would have seen Matt with a shrunken hat that didn't quite fit him because it was put in the dryer after being washed.
• you would have seen several children all dressed in white shirts and dark pants/skirts, wearing scarves, and looking very festive (and slightly rumpled because their series of songs was at the very end of the concert and it's hard to sit still for that long and keep your clothes fresh and untampered with).
• you would have seen rosy cheeks from the wicked coldness outside
• you would have seen Hayley with her clarinet because she played a descant for one song, even though she's not in the children's choir anymore.
• you would not have seen me in the pictures because I would have been taking the pictures. But the reason I didn't take pictures is because I was at the piano. Jim was working so he wasn't able to man the camera either.
  

Major stress event #2 of the week is now history and I heaved a major sigh of relief when the last note faded into the back wall of the Schmitt Music concert room.

Major stress event #3--my humanities test--is this morning. Wish me luck as I try to keep all the roccoco painters straight. Baroque too. (Warning: incoming bad pun) I hope my brain isn't baroque after I take the test.

Testing

I woke up this morning and reminded myself that El Greco had a hard time finding patronage for his paintings.

I pulled on some pants and reminded myself that Schopenhauer is not the maiden name of my sister-in-law who likes to browse at the mall (rim shot. OK not rim shot, just a very lame joke with a limited set of folks who would even get it) but a philosopher with a negative view of mankind. Something about human desires cause suffering.

I grabbed my box of cereal and reminded myself that Bach and Handel were Baroque musicians and that Bach composed, among other things, fugues, and Handel was known for oratorios.

I ate my cereal reminding myself that Cervantes mocked the medieval tales of chivalry through his great novel (which I tried to read once as a teenager but gave up on it) Don Quixote.

It's going to be that way the rest of the day.

I'm swimming in Humanities information and drowning. I can't wait to empty the pool of Humanities knowledge tomorrow when I take the test.

Winter snooze-a-thon

Other Jim and Paul appear to be having a contest to see who can sleep in the longest on a school's-canceled-because-of-the-weather day. I'm trying very hard not to interfere with the contest, although I did make Paul get up to feed the cats earlier because Magic and Servo were following me around and drooling.

Matt and Hayley are up and getting down to business playing. There is much to be played when school is not in session. There are things to draw, things to color, things to pretend, and DS and Wii games to be played. I will also interfere with their plans with my own list of things to do like vacuuming and practicing and sweeping and helping with food preparation.

After that, I'll leave them alone and hope they do likewise to me. I have a test to study for.

Yesterday's recap:
Party planning for our Relief Society Christmas party. I cannot emphasize enough how glad I am that it is over and done with. I had a heckuva day getting ready for it.

Ten things I learned about party planning:
1. Even though I think I have large marshmallows in the cupboard--I might even be 100% positive I have large marshmallows in the cupboard--I'd better check beforehand. Halfway through the cookie baking process is a REALLY BAD time to find that I was wrong.
2. Ditto flour. I learned that finding out that there is no flour is even worse than finding out about lack of large marshmallows because I found out about the flour situation AFTER I had already gone to the store for marshmallows.
3. Whole wheat flour IS an acceptable substitute in the type of cookies I made.
4. Look harder for flour. I found a bag of it in the food storage closet AFTER I finished the cookies.
5. Licking the cookie batter off the beaters soothes panic attacks related to inadequate pantries.
6. So is licking the leftover frosting out of the pan.
7. And feeding the kitties some treats.
8. Rising dough is hardier than I thought. The bundt pan full of rolls did NOT actually mutiny when I removed it from a warm oven and put it in the fridge. Personally, if I had been the rolls? The baker would have been dead meat.
9. DO LAUNDRY. 'nuff said.
10. I sleep really really well after the party is over.

Forget what I said about posting more videos

Hayley had a band concert this evening so I'm going to post pictures from that instead of more videos. Sorry to disappoint if you were expecting and wanting video clips. I stick my tongue out at you.

Hayley is a member of the 7th-8th grade honor band, and as such, had to wear special concert attire. This is her in her honor band outfit. She is allowed to wear black pants, but I am making her wear skirts. She rarely looks like a proper young lady, preferring sweatpants and sloppy t-shirts to even jeans and regular t-shirts. So it's nice to have her wearing a skirt to somewhere other than church.

This is her regular band, composed of all 7th graders. I think this is the first concert I've attended where I picked a seat with full view of my child. Yay for me!
This is the honor band. She sits way in the back and it's hard to see her.
And here she is, tooting her horn.For a while, I wasn't sure that Hayley liked playing an instrument, but when Mr. Hanson invited her to be a part of the Honor band, she has suddenly appeared to enjoy playing music more.

Mom attended the event and I was glad that she was able to come (and that she found the school without incident--we are grateful for cell phone and GPS technology to help Mom avoid embarrassing directional mishaps). I was also glad that I had kleenexes in my purse because, once again, Mom indulged in her penchant for developing a bloody nose at inopportune times. Poor Mom!

The musical offerings of all the bands were joyous to behold aurally. It was a fine evening for music and the students should be pleased with their performance. Yay for band!

Late Thanksgiving post

I never did post anything from Thanksgiving. I left early the next morning for California.

I didn't take many pictures at Thanksgiving, but I did take some movie clips.

I give you now a small taste of what went on at my mother's for Thanksgiving. Three clips from Thanksgiving.

Nephew Owen loves Santa. Here he sings "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."


Matt tries to sing Jingle Bells



Niece Annie sings a song about a dog in school.


Maybe I'll post a couple more tomorrow.

A rare sighting of the entertainment center gnome

Something lives between the TV stand/entertainment center and the wall...

Very silly.

Actually the entertainment center gnome is helping Jim install a Christmas present. Yes, Jim is installing his own (really really early) Christmas present. He wanted it, and now.

Unpacking and finding something missing

I left my brain in Sacramento.
Flat on the road, it calls to me.
While driving that rental car,
Chewing up miles of tar,
It flung itself up in the air
Both lobes, the pair!
My brain waits there in Sacramento
Among the orchards, halfway to Yuba City
When I came home to Minnesota,
I came home brainless, no functionality!

(My sincerest apologies to Tony Bennett and whoever wrote the REAL song, "I Left My Heart in San Fransisco")

I have no idea what my version means. I just came home from my trip and I've spent most of the time since my arrival either sleeping or talking on the phone. I can't seem to quite remember what I do around here so I'm doing a lot of standing around. Laundry? I can't just throw my stuff in the suitcase? Dinner? Where's the Wendy's with the chickens who live next door (and the rooster who crows at 4:30 AM Pacific Standard Time)? Housekeeping? Doesn't the staff around here do that sometime between 11 and 3 PM?

Adjusting: I'm having a bit of trouble doing it.

PS: Life threw my missing brain another curveball this morning and I spent an hour fiddling with the internet, trying to make it work in my house. I should have gone grocery shopping, but instead I was unplugging and plugging cords in various holes, consulting various troubleshooting pamphlets ("if the red system light is on, jump up and down in frustration and take 950 ccs of chocolate STAT"), and finally calling the people in charge of internet breakage. It took them a few hours to rebuild my modem remotely (????) but they did it. Now I can go shopping. Maybe. Or I could sit on my bed and ingest more chocolate. Shopping involves brain activity, and I am currently without any cerebral function. So I may as well dig into the chocolate and crawl under the bed covers.

I'm back!

Did you miss me as much as my cats did? I'm thinking that they didn't even know I was gone. Neither of them said hello to me when I got back. And they both looked at me this morning with hooded eyes and facial expressions that said, "Hey you. Turkey leftovers. Now."

As for the kids, so far only one has seen me and he said, "HIMOMYOU'REHOMECANYOUSIGNTHISPAPERINEEDTOBEATSCHOOLEARLYWEDNESDAYANDTHURSDAYCANIHAVEA SNACKWHERE'SMYSHOEIDIDN'TMISSYOUTHATMUCHIMISSEDYOUSOMEBUTI'MNOTABABY..."
etc.

And Fake Child is here already so I'm back "at work" with just 8 hours of sleep after getting off the plane.

I really should be unpacking.

Here is a statistical recount of my trip:

Injuries:
1 Sore foot
1 Strained shoulder
Multitudinous hangnails

Clothing and accessories purchased because a)I realized I forgot a couple of things and b)I was really sick of what I did manage to remember to bring:
2 pairs of shoes
1 purse
3 shirts
1 camisole

Number of hours spent white-knuckle driving:
Practically the whole weekend

Pictures and explanations:

A lot of people at the party for Grandma. These people are all related in some way to them, either as a direct descendant or married to a direct descendant.

Grandpa and Grandma and three of their children. The other two were probably looking on from their place beyond the veil.
My photo op with the grandparents. (The scrapbook page table was behind the photo staging area)
Marylee narrated the slide show with help from Dad:
The Pelton kids with Grandpa and Grandma (Sadly, I was not in the area when the Stubblefield kids had their turn or the Steve Hawley contingent had theirs, so I didn't get their group photos.)
The event organizer. She put a lot of work into this and I'm glad I went.
The artistic highlight of the night and the entertainment:I talked with Aaron (Amy's husband) about his piping after the party. Like us, he has Scottish heritage (he's a Highlander, whereas we are Lowlanders) and like me, he was interested in learning more about that heritage. I am so glad I took my Scottish class when I did so that I could understand the meaning behind some of the bagpipe song titles and stories he told.

The other entertainment (and humorous highlight):Laurie and her girls perform a lovely sister act.

It was wonderful to see all the cousins again and introduce myself to a few who didn't remember who I was. And Brian, I'm sorry I called you Micah at first! And Jordan, I did know who you were. I hope you didn't think that I didn't. Amy and Aaron, I had a blast working on the Jeopardy questions with you! Andrea, I loved hearing about your kids (especially about Kendall's marching band life--you and Jenni would have much to talk about and many notes to compare about being a marching band parent). And all the other cousins, it was so nice to see all of you! I remember when you were all little kids!

I went to church on Sunday with the Stubblefields and Grandma and Grandpa. Marylee and her husband Tom were there too. I sat next to Grandma and it felt good to be with extended family. I thought about all the summer visits and going to church with Grandma and Grandpa. It's different now since all of us are much older now, but the memories were strong and happy ones.

After church, I drove an hour and a half to see Jim's sister Tammy. Stockton was close enough to make it for a visit. I got to meet Tony's wife and see four of Tammy and Wil's six kids.
Tammy's doll, commissioned by her mother for her. It's Stevie Nicks. It's one of a kind and Tammy is proud of it.
We watched about 20 minutes of a webcast of the Messiah concert for which Katie played in the orchestra. We saw Katie!

Then, Monday morning, I spent another hour and a half with Grandma and Grandpa by myself chatting and reminiscing. It was hard to say goodbye to them; we were all teary when I had to leave.

Now I'm back home again and I'm very grateful that I went out to California for the party.