Early Christmas Here, too

Well, Monte and Jan must have been very good this year. Santa has delivered two round trip tickets to Salt Lake City to visit our children and grandchildren. I know I said that this trip "just didn't cover it" but I didn't mean that the way it sounded. Besides, I was afraid we weren't going to be able to make it this year - grounds for depression. The point is that I seem to be able to have my cake and eat it too this year (a cake decorator's favorite euphemism). I get to have a gingerbread party with the Oelkers' clan and then go to Utah and make every possible effort to completely spoil my grandchildren. What could be better? Also, we have been coveting a flat screen TV for years. Santa delivered a 40" TV last night. Woo hoo.

A holiday memory

One of my sweetest Christmas memories is Grandma Anna's Christmas tree. My grandmother loved Christmas more than anyone I know. The day after thanksgiving she decorated her house to within an inch of it's identity. She had a huge Christmas tree upstairs in the front window. The room had vaulted ceilings and that room had full length/height windows across one entire wall. This tree she trimmed with decorations she had used for many, many years. We had so much fun looking for our favorites. She had some glass balls that were the size of casaba melons. We thought the tree was elegant but it didn't have a "theme" it was just covered with sweet memories. Grandma also decorated a second christmas tree for the family room. This tree had all the child made, macaroni strung, knitted, and knotted decorations on it- every gift from every child and grandchild, niece, or nephew over 60 years of love. It was also beautiful - in a different way.

Holidays

For the first time in years I'm getting excited about the holidays. I don't know exactly what has caused this uplift but I'm especially grateful for it. Maybe it has taken me just shy of 10 years to resign myself to not being close to my children during the holidays. For the past few years, Monte and I have gone to Utah for Christmas. Sometimes flying in on Christmas eve and home 2 days later, and I love those trips, but they don't quite cover it. Okay, I know that my happiness during the holidays can't be dependent on someone else's actions, but this is probably why I've been doing the scrooge thing. Anyway, this year I'm excited. I'm planning a Christmas party. One of the things I miss about the Christmas season with my kids is the gingerbread houses we used to build. So-o I've invited all my nieces and nephews to my house to decorate gingerbread houses. Wyatt and Willa (who live next door) have been at my house for the past 2 nights helping me make and bake gingerbread. We have doused the kitchen in flour repeatedly and I'm having a blast.

Men!

Okay, I know today's title might be loaded. Every woman knows how it goes, right? You screw up your face and think about that male characteristic that makes you want to run screaming for a nunnery. Which is an interesting response from a card carrying member of the Relief society. From the picture at the right one might conclude that my big sport joined in the rush into the wild last weekend as deer season opened. Not so! This get-up was organized for the annual Young Men's paintball get together. Every year he goes out and buys more gear so that everyone will have what they need and the Young Men and leaders all get together and shoot paintballs at one another. Unfortunately, this year there were not enough youth prepared to go so it was cancelled. All dressed up and nowhere to go. Still he's always game. He loves sports! There are certain times of the year that I don't see him at all in the evenings. He has softball on Monday, basketball Tuesday and Thursday, Young Men's on Wednesday, and just maybe we can go out on Friday night, but then it's basketball again on Saturday morning. Then whenever possible, and the weather cooperates, he goes golfing. If he isn't playing he is watching - or talking about it. Then there's the wheels (or if said man is a fan of Garage Logic - cylinders) More wheels, or more cylinders, equals greater happiness. We are happy with a new car. We are happier with a new car with a bigger engine, even better if said car is a truck - a truck with 4 wheel drive (Oh Glory!) Add a trailer, a riding lawnmower, and still he may covet another riding lawnmower that cuts a bigger swath and yet another (because the first didn't turn quickly enough, or have a big enough bag, or mulcher or ...) Then there's the fire. He likes to build a fire or as he puts it a F-A-R. When the flames climb past his height and can be seen from the end of the street he is happy. He patrols the yard dragging wood from every corner and throwing anything else that has been laying around the yard too long (good thing I don't hang out in the yard) He comes back inside the house with his face flushed, mustache and eyebrows crinkled up at the ends and smelling of smoke - the epitomy of the happy camper! That's my man - he can't sit still, can't watch one television program at a time, and thinks filing is making piles on the tables and counter tops. Am I complaining? - Nope. For all that he is also always where he needs to be. He's the one I look for first in the morning and when arriving home from work. He's the person I want to talk to when I'm hurting or happy or scared or excited. He's the priesthood holder and leader in my home and I didn't really understand what that meant until I experienced it. It means that he will be the one who looks out for our spiritual health. I can count on it. He will encourage our progress, pray for our weaknesses to become strengths, and ALWAYS be someone I'm grateful to be married to.