Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

Several months ago we were sitting quietly when Derrick started singing, "simply having a wonderful Christmas time."  

I was very surprised.  Derrick hummed a lot, but he never sang. Why was he suddenly busting out a song - and a Christmas song at that. 

I asked him, "Derrick how do you know that song?"

He said something like, "I heard it there." and pointed to the radio.

We hadn't listened to Christmas songs in months so obviously Derrick was talking about hearing it during Christmas time. He'd remembered it all that time and was able to remember the tune and the words. I often heard him humming the song after that. 

It was another clue that Derrick has an amazing memory. 

It also made me actually like the song that I previously felt was kind of annoying. Every time I heard that song this year it made me smile. And Derrick sang the song again at least once during Christmas this year.  

We had a very Wonderful Christmas Time again this year. Let's talk about it.  

Before we get to all the pictures we have to talk about the several ways we were unexpectedly blessed financially this Christmas.  We had not one, not two, not three, but FOUR Christmas miracles involving money. I want to tell the stories not to brag, but as a way to remember the ways that our friends (and God) blessed us this month. 

First some back story.  This year has been an interesting one for our finances. In one year we left a job to stay home with the kids (me), finished school/ended GI benefits (Brandon), moved to a new city (both of us), bought a house (both of us), lost a job (Brandon), took an emergency job (Brandon), and got another job (both of us).

I feel like any one of those things would be stressful enough, but we did all of them.  It's been hard to budget around all the changes, but I've stayed on top of our finances well enough. Still I had some moments where I wondered how we were going to make it all work long term.

The first money miracle happened a few months before Christmas. Some family friends sent us a check in the fall. I took the money and ear marked it to use for Christmas Presents.  Having that money put aside helped me focus on paying the day to day expenses without worrying about saving for Christmas.  

Brandon and I were able to take care of most of our Christmas shopping right after Thanksgiving thanks to that money.  

The second money miracle happened right after Thanksgiving. I got a phone call from the insurance company of the driver who hit me back in August 2018. The agent explained that all my medical bills had been paid from the claim and that I could get the remaining amount of money if I was ready to sign for it now. I also had the option to wait until two years after the accident. When she told me the amount of money that I was due I couldn't believe it.  I actually had her email me the amount because I thought I'd misheard her. 

Honestly I'd have been surprised with even $1. I'd never considered that I was due any money from the accident. Since I got hurt while I was going to the post office for work it was treated as a Worker's Comp claim. I didn't have to pay for anything out of pocket. And I healed so thoroughly that I hadn't thought about seeking damages or anything like that. 

Brandon and I took care of the paperwork and soon we had the check. It was enough to rebuild our savings account after the dent it took from putting together a down payment for the house. It's amazing the piece of mind that comes from having money in the bank to cover 3 months of expenses. 

We also decided to pay forward some of the money. We choose a family that we knew was also having a hard time financially this Christmas. We sent them a check for the same amount of money that had been sent to us in the Fall. 

I thought that would be the end of the miracles, but we still had two left.  

The third came in the form of a Christmas bonus from Brandon's work.  Ironically it was the same amount of money that we'd just paid forward to the other family.  When we got the money I turned to Brandon and said, "Wow, we just can't give that money away!"  

And the fourth money miracle came on the Sunday before Christmas. Our bishop had asked us (repeatedly) if we needed help with Christmas. We'd explained that we'd had a family friend help us out.  And then when he asked again at the beginning of December, we explained about the insurance check. So we weren't expecting anything from the church. But after Sacrament meeting the ward Financial Clerk came out with an envelope and explained that someone had asked him to give it to us.  

You should have seen my mouth hang open when we opened it.  The generosity of people is astounding.  If you are reading this and you are responsible for that money - Thank you!

Actually, THANK YOU if you are responsible for making anyone's Christmas brighter. You may not hear it from them, but I can tell you that they are very, very grateful.

Oh and I feel like I need to add a line or two about how I feel like these miracles are partially blessings from paying tithing. Lately there has been a lot of press about what the LDS church may or may not be doing with tithing money. Personally I would like to see financial disclosures from the church (its the accountant within me), but even if I never find out what the church does with my donations I'll still keep paying tithing. These Christmas miracles proved once again that we are often blessed in excess of the money that we pay as tithing.

Okay now let's go over the things we did during the week of Christmas.

Brandon had to work, but the kids and I were off for the next two weeks. This was great, but also a little scary. The last time I was home with the kids over Christmas break was in 2015 - and Brandon was also off work then. I worked for the treasurers office the last two years and the ski resort the year before that. Those jobs all required me to work a lot in December.  So it was new to be relaxed and home with the kids.

Well I was home with the kids, but I wasn't relaxed.  We were going to Utah that evening and so I had about 10 hours to get ALL the laundry done, pack our stuff, go to the store for a few last minute things, and fill the car up with gas.

The kids were all in low power mode and so getting them out of the house and into the car was tricky.  I ended up screaming at all of them. I regret that, but it did kind of help establish my dominance for the coming vacation.  So the end result was good.  The kids listened much better after that. 

We were able to get all the errands run and the laundry done. (It had to be done because a lot of the clothes we need for the next few days were dirty.) I also got us packed.  

One of the best parts of Monday was that we had Lemon with us. Lemon is a Goldendoodle and is basically my favorite dog ever. She likes me too. She followed me around all day and would flop to the floor every time I stayed in a room for even a few minutes. I'm so glad Sarah asked us to watch her this week. 

Brandon came home from work and we had a quick dinner. Our plan was to leave for Utah right away, but Brandon's new calling is to be over the move ins and move outs of the ward and a family was moving in.  So he went to help with that.

The kids were flying off the handle with excitement so we went outside and they played with Lemon in the back yard for a long time.  They all had fun throwing sticks for Lemon. She loved playing with them all.

Then Brandon came home and we all got in the car. We had a wonderfully uneventful drive to Utah.  The last two times have been stressful (car problems in October, and sever weather in November) so it was great to make the drive without feeling anxious.  Lemon laid down in front of the girls' seats. Sometimes she'd put her head up and look out the windshield.

We arrived at my in-laws house and put the kids to bed.  Then we stayed up talking to Brandon's parents for a while.

The next day was Christmas Eve.  I took Lemon on a walk in the morning.

Everything was really pretty.  I took this picture of Snow Basin. I always like looking at that mountain. Working there was such a good experience for me. I have no idea what my life would look like right now if I hadn't worked there.

At 9:30 Brandon and I went to Valley Market to get more cream for dessert that night. Brandon says he always goes to the store on Christmas eve. Then I dropped him off at the house. I drove over the mountain to visit my friend Kara.

Kara and I moved into our ward in Fort Rucker, Alabama basically the same week. We were assigned to be Visiting Teaching Companions. Thanks to Kara I actually went out and visited with people every month. I have a lot of great memories of talking with Kara. She was one of my best friends in Alabama and I missed her a lot when she moved. 

Her parents live in North Odgen near the road that we always take when we drive over the divide to Brandon's parents. We've always said that if we were ever visiting our families at the same time then we should get together, but so far our plans haven't lined up.  Well on Monday I texted Kara to see if she was going to be at her parents this Christmas.  She was!  So we decided to meet up for a few hours in the morning.

It was so good to see Kara. The last time we saw each other was in Couer d'Alene Idaho when I was on vacation there in May of 2018.  She'd driven up from Spokane to see me.

One lesson Kara taught me back in Alabama is the power of invitation. She invited me to ride with her to the church for a Relief Society activity.  I would have driven myself, but I was so excited about the invitation. Our church was 20 minutes away and so we were able to have a good chat on our way there and back.  I've followed Kara's example  over the years. I try to invite people to ride along with me to things I'm already planning to attend. I've strengthened several friendships that way.

Kara's family is moving to Montana in the next year so we are already talking about a possible trip to Glacier National Park in about a year and a half. Thank goodness for texting and social media that helps keep long distance friendships intact.

When I got back to my in-laws house Veronica told me that she lost her tooth. She now has lost both teeth on either side of her front teeth.

We've had experience with teeth being lost around Christmas before. I told Veronica it might be a few days before the Tooth Fairy Shows up.  Apparently the Tooth Fairy is invited to Santa's After Christmas Party and she stays for a few days before starting to collect teeth again.

I needed to catch up on this blog so I set up Brandon's laptop on the kitchen counter and worked on that while Brandon put together an amazing cheese tray. He had this idea from the cheese tray at the Bites of Brilliance event.

Brandon's family started arriving.  I took Lemon on a walk to get her wiggles out. She was really well behaved, but she was happy to have the walk.

When we got back to the house it was time to get dressed for the party.  My girls put on their Norwegian skirts that Jacque made for them last year. Steve put on some Christmas cartoons and the kids watched those while waiting for more guests. I love this picture of four cousins sitting together.

Look at the big pretty tree.  Veronica and I had a whole discussion about how Steve and Jacque decorate a tree this big. She was very concerned about it.

I went downstairs and sat on the couch. Amazingly my whole family sat around me.  So I took a picture before they all scattered again. This is one of my favorite family pictures.

We had dinner and then started some of the traditions.  Weeks earlier Derrick had gone over the whole schedule with me - again from his incredible memory.  He was really excited to do the chimes. All my kids were really into doing the chimes.  It was fun to watch them.

We also had a small talent show - which was really just Lydia playing Frosty the Snowman on her ukulele. No one else had brought a talent.

I went around and took pictures of how cute the house was decorated.  These are the front stairs.

The tree in the living room. (On top of our old round table.)

It was time to dance around the tree. Derrick had told me that he planned stand at the top of the stairs and watch everyone dance. So that's where he went right away.  Veronica wanted to watch too, but Uncle Justin grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder. Veronica LOVED that. She loves Justin and is always talking to him.  She escaped from him a little bit later and went to the top of the stairs.  My favorite memory of the evening was watching her do her own crazy dance moves while we sang "Rocking around the Christmas Tree."

After we sang songs it was time for presents.  Brandon's grandpa gave all the kids candy. (Someone had been messing with my phone so my camera lens was dirty and that combined with the low lighting made these pictures blurry.)

Steve and Jacque always give the kids presents.  They wrap them so beautifully. I figured I needed pictures of what the kids' presents look like.

Here's Derrick's.

Lydia was the queen of excited faces.

Charlotte's back there looking happy.

Waiting to open presents with Farfar in the background.

Veronica got a bag with a stuffed puppy in it. She was ecstatic about the bag before she saw the puppy. The dog put her over the top.  She kept saying it was her favorite present and showed it to everyone.

Charlotte got a scrapbook kit and Lydia got Pictionary. 

Derrick got a car that drives on walls. All the big boys got these last year. He'd told me months ago that he wanted one this year.  I told Jacque and she got one for Derrick.

Everyone took pictures with Brandon's grandpa.  Someone said we needed to get a four generation picture.  I'm so glad they suggested it.  The picture turned out really well.

Here's Derrick testing out his car.  It's pretty awesome.

Lemon had been upstairs in our room all this time. I brought her out and took her on a walk.  Here's the house from the outside.

In other years we've had to hurry away from the party to try to get home before a snow storm.  But there wasn't anything threatening us this night.  So we took our time packing the car and saying our goodbyes. We loaded up the car and were on the road by 8:30.

The drive home was once again uneventful. Lemon got a little crazy and wouldn't sit down at one point, but that was all the excitement we had.  The kids stayed awake until about 10:00.  There was a lot of fog on the freeway during the last 20 minutes of the drive. 

When we got home we could see that there was a little bit of new snow on the ground. We helped the kids into the house and into bed.  Then Brandon and I took care of unpacking the car and setting up some things. By this point it was 11:30.

I'd been tentatively planning to go to Midnight Mass at St Edwards Catholic Church. We'd made it home in time for me to do that.  So I changed into a skirt and drove over the the church. 

You may be wondering why I wanted to go to Midnight Mass.  Let's see if I can explain it.  There were three reasons. 

1. Back in college I went to regular Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeline in Salt Lake as part of a field trip for a Humanities class. I really liked that Mass and ever since then I admired the Catholic Church.  I really like the pomp of High Church traditions. 

2. For years I've been a fan of Jennifer Fulwiler who is a Catholic author and radio host. I follow her on social media and this year I read her books. Reading about her conversion made me want to go to a Catholic Mass again. 

3. I drive by St Edwards every day after church.  One day I saw a beautiful family with five young kids walking up the steps of the church. Watching them go inside made me want to go inside too. That's when I decided I wanted to go to Midnight Mass. 

The fact that I had no one to go with didn't really faze me.  I knew that there would be many people at Midnight Mass who don't normally attend church so I could blend in with them.  Also this isn't the first time I've walked into something for another religion on my own.  I went to MOPS in Texas without anyone else and I started going to Protestant Women of the Chapel stuff in Alabama on my own too. I googled a few things about what to expect from Midnight Mass and figured that was good enough. 

It was.

But I was completely unprepared for what it was like to walk into the well lit building after being out in the dark night. The room was so bright. The ceiling was white and that reflected the light everywhere. I physically stopped and had to catch my breath because it was so brilliant.

Then I sat down and had a feeling of love and peace wash over me. Its the same feeling I get in the temple. It's like all the tangles in my heart get combed out. 

I often feel the spirit stronger at other churches than I do at my own. I remember vividly being moved to tears during a prayer at MOPS and during a pastor;s speech at PWOC. This used to worry me, but I've figured it out. I usually don't have my kids with me at other churches and so I can actually focus on feeling the spirit.  Also I'm not distracted by the "behind the scenes" things I'm usually thinking about at church. When I'm at other churches I can just relax and take things at face value without wondering why such and such was said by so and so. 

Midnight Mass was everything I hoped it would be. People often talk about how to put Christ back into Christmas or how to focus on Jesus in the middle of all the fuss.  My answer is to go to Midnight Mass. 

At midnight someone came over the speaker and said, "Good Morning."  That was fun to hear. Then we started singing Oh Come All Ye Faithful.  Well I was in tears before the end of that song. 

The service was so good. I really appreciate the words of the Hominy. The priest spoke about adding Christ to our hearts as well as our Nativity Scenes. The preparation of the Eucharist was also really moving. There was at least 20 minutes spent on that. I appreciated spending so much time contemplating Jesus's Atonement while also celebrating his birth. 

I didn't take communion (obviously), but I felt the spirit very strongly while kneeling and watching others partake. I admire faithful people of all religions.  

We sang Silent Night at one point and I realized that song feels completely different when you sing it while staring at a statue of Jesus on the cross. I could literally see the Radiant Beams from [his] holy face and think about the Dawn of his redeeming grace. Yeah there were more tears. 

The service ended by singing Joy to the World which was glorious to sing after such a emotional ceremony.   

I thought about taking a picture of the church, but I was tired and emotional.  So I just went to the car and sat for a minute. I did take a picture a few days later. 

I want to make this a tradition every Christmas. And I plan to bring Brandon with me next year. 

The service ended at 1:15 and I was home before 1:30.  Brandon was still awake.  He'd taken care of a few extra things. He'd added a blow up snowman to our tree. Jacque had given it to us.

We took one last look around the room and then went to bed.

 The kids slept until almost exactly 7:00.  I heard Veronica shout, "Guys It's CHRISTMAS" at 6:59.  She ran around the house waking everyone up. We gathered in the living room and the kids started eyeing their presents.

I love how excited Veronica looks. 

Everyone took turns opening presents.  The kids got so many of the things they'd been asking for.

I got a stuffed animal of a Red Panda. I'm pretty indifferent to animals and even more so towards stuffed animals, but I love red pandas and I really wanted this stuffed animal.  I was so excited to unwrap it. I totally knew I was getting it because of the following conversation with Veronica.

Veronica: Mom we didn't go to the museum . . . Actually we did go to the museum, but we didn't go inside . . . actually we did go inside, but we didn't go to the gift shop . . . actually we did go into the gift shop, but we didn't buy anything . . . actually we did buy something it was ----

Me: How about we keep it a surprise.

I also knew because of this conversation with Derrick.

Derrick: Mom we bought you a raccoon!

Even Lemon got presents.  We bought her some balls. She loved them.

The kids settled down to play with their presents.  Derrick went downstairs to get something in his room.  We heard him yell, "Hey girls come see THIS!" The girls all ran down stairs and we heard them start screaming.  Brandon was actually grabbing something in the car and he could hear the kids screaming from outside. They found a huge Frozen doll house downstairs. Our friend Avery's grandparents gave it to us.  Avery was getting a big doll house so they needed the room.  When I went to pick it up it hadn't fit in the back of the Honda. So they'd driven it over in their truck. I was pretty certain the girls had seen us unload it so I'd decided not to make it "from Santa."  That's why we put it in the basement.  Also it was nearly as tall as our tree and would have completely over shaddowed any other present.

The surprises weren't over though.  As the kids examined the dollhouse they discovered four more gifts behind the dollhouse.

 I was in such a hurry to film their reactions to opening the presents I ended up filming it sideways.  But you get the idea.  They were all thrilled to find roller skates and blades.

They immediately put them on. I rolled up the rug from the floor and our family room turned into a roller rink.

Here are their happy poses.

And here they are showing off their skills.  The three older kids went skating every week with Adventure Camp in  2018 so they were pretty good.  Veronica still needs some work.  

One of the first things Derrick said was, "These are like what Miss Wenda let me try." So I made sure to text Wenda and tell her that we appreciated her helping our kids learn how to skate during adventure camp.  She said that was one of the best parts of her Christmas.  

The kids spent HOURS skating in the basement. I curled up with my new book - Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. And basically didn't do anything other than read and eat snacks. I also named my Red Panda Bandy because of the bands of color on his tail. 

Here's Derrick testing out the "Motor Sailboat" that Santa brought.

More roller skating.

We'd planned to have breakfast food for dinner, but that seemed to complicated. So I made some sandwiches and sliders. Everyone liked those.  I think that's going to be a tradition. 

Eventually we went to bed.  Here's Veronica and Lemon. Lemon slept in my bed every night, but she liked to climb up with Veronica at bedtime.

Brandon put Derrick to bed. Derrick wanted to put his roller blades in bed with him.  Brandon told him to leave them on the floor.  Later we went to check on him and he was sleeping on the floor next to his roller blades. Yep, those were a good present.

Brandon and I stayed up and signed up for Disney+ and watched the first two episodes of the Mandilorian. We didn't stay up too late though because Brandon had to go to work the next day. 

He was really grumpy about having to work.  I was saying something like, "Come on Brandon you've had to work the day after Christmas before."  When I realized that he actually hadn't worked the day after Christmas - at least not recently. 

The last two years he's been in school and so didn't have to work after Christmas. 
The year before that he was the stay at home dad while I was working at Snow Basin.
The four years before that he was in the military and always had a break between Christmas and New Year.
The year before that he was unemployed.
And the year before that was probably the last time he'd had to work the day after Christmas.  That was 2010 and he was working for Frontier Airlines. 

I laughed so hard when I realized that. That didn't make Brandon feel any better.

He did go to work the next day. The kids and I stayed home and explored the wonders of Disney+. After years of living with movies coming in and out of the Disney Vault it felt almost scandalous to suddenly have access to so many Disney movies.  We watched Lady and the Tramp and the Little Mermaid in the morning.

We tried going on a walk. But it was pretty much a disaster.  The kids wanted to wear their skates and they quickly discovered that skating isn't so fun on icy sidewalks. I wasn't really planning on the walk being that great anyway.  All it did was reinforce the idea that Disney+ was the best way to spend our time over the next few days.

The kid watched more movies and I read. I also tested out my new Christmas makeup. 

Here's Lemon keeping me company while I read.

She's such a goof.

After dinner I introduced the kids to the real reason I wanted to get Disney+. The 1995 Animated Spiderman TV show is on Disney+. My brother and I used to watch that show every Saturday morning. For years I've wanted rewatch it.  So I was really happy when I found out it's on Disney+.  The kids loved it.

On Friday we continued doing nothing. I ook Lemon outside. There were a ton of birds in our neighbors yard and they kept flying up in huge waves.

There were squirrels on the power lines in the back and they were taunting Lemon.

Charlotte spent a lot of time making creations with her fuse beads.

I took Derrick and Veronica to Walmart to pick up a few things (like milk) and to look for discounted Christmas things (like trees). We found a good deal on a 7 foot douglas fir. Brandon helped me set it up that night because I was feeling a little bit of buyers remorse. Once I saw it out of the box I felt better.  It's really pretty and will be a good tree next year. 

On Saturday we cleaned the whole house and I made the kids take baths.  (Veronica hadn't changed her clothes since Christmas Morning.)  Then it was time to say goodbye to Lemon.  Sarah and her family came back from Sun Valley and picked up Lemon.  We were sad to see her go.  She's been such a good practice dog. 

After Lemon left we went to the Science Museum on the College of Southern Idaho Campus.  We were going to see a Volcano documentary.  Derrick is obsessed with Volcanos.  So he was so excited.  The other kids weren't so much.  There were literal tears from at least one of the girls. They did.not.want.to.go.

Well after a few minutes at the museum all the kids were happy to be there.

It's a fun museum with lots of hands on things.

At 3:30 we took our tickets to the planetarium room.  This room is set up for star shows and things like that, but they also show movie type shows.  While we waited there were quiz questions projected on the ceiling/screen.

Here are Derrick and Veronica waiting excitedly.

And Charlotte and Lydia. Brandon's over there too.

The show was really good. Derrick was in heaven. Veronica got scared and was crying a little when it was over.  When we got home she curled up on the couch and was asleep before dinner was ready.

We watched more Spider Man. I was really excited for one of the SHIELD episodes. This is what Nick Fury looked like in 1995. When I showed Brandon he was like, "wait he'd not black."

We also finished reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when we weren't watching TV. The kids really liked it.  I wasn't sure if we were going to go on and read the 4th book right now.  But the kids say they want to try.  It's winter and cold outside so it's not like we have anything better to do.  So we are going to attempt to read the fourth book.  Honestly I think the length will get us before we get to the dark stuff.  I'm not sure if my kids will make it through all that filler about Rita Skeeter or S.P,E.W. or Blast Ended Skewetts. We'll see.

Church on Sunday felt a little like a dream. We slept in until about 8:15 and I'm still not sure how we made it to church on time at 9:00. After only having sacrament meeting last week it was odd to go to two hours this week.

Derrick had a little bit of a melt down so Brandon spent time with him. He realized that they are both a little bored.  So when we got home from church we started making lists of fun things to do in 2020. I'm excited about all the possibilities. (We've added more since taking this picture)

Last night we decided it was time to eat the gingerbread houses. (We'd built them on top of our cookie sheets and we needed those back.  Here's the beautiful before.

And the sad after.  Everyone liked the candy though. 

 Derrick did this with his in order to get some of the really stuck candy off of it.

We have another week off of school. We are all enjoying the break, but I know we will be ready to get back into the routine after that.

I hope you all had a great Christmas as well. And I hope you have a Happy New Year. 

Thanks for reading.