Christmas

So you know that battery charger I bought a while ago after being 'camera-battery-less' for a while? I got it for real cheap, remember? Well...turns out when you buy stuff for cheap, that's just what you get. CHEAP. I spent the day before Christmas Eve charging ALL THREE of my batteries, and ended up with NOTHING. I'll have to collect some photos from other family members, but none of us really took very many.

Let me just tell you right now that the month of December was a little crazy for me. I made it that way myself, so it's no ones fault but my own, but there were a few nervous breakdowns mixed in for good measure. Because of that, we didn't do Family pictures. We didn't send out cards. We didn't even bake Christmas cookies. Believe me...I'm determined to make sure next year goes a little differently.

I took on the project of planning and executing the Christmas Sunday Program for my ward. I am the Ward Music Chair, and we had never had a Christmas Program in my ward since I have lived here, so I wanted to make sure that especially since Christmas Day fell on a Sunday, that something special went down. So I began petitioning the Bishopric in October to get permission to move forward. We went back and forth and I ended up getting the permission I needed. SOOO I began my search for the perfect program, started asking (sometimes begging) people to participate, and I ended up with way more support than I expected. Unfortunately, our new Ward Choir Director had some health issues right after she was called in November, so I ended up having to fill her shoes as well. It was fun, don't get me wrong, and I really enjoyed directing the choir on top of everything else, but I did feel some stress from the whole thing. The whole thing was a huge success, and after all was said and done, it was well worth the effort.

That all by itself with the usual Christmas festivities wouldn't have broken me if it weren't for my last minute decision to create 'the best christmas gift ever' for Cami. I was stumped as to what to do for her for her special Christmas gift, so I ended up making her a Felt Playhouse. It's basically a slipcover for our kitchen table that I can put on a take off easily. I decided to dive into this project TWO WEEKS before Christmas, and as soon as I decided to get going, I couldn't stop until it was finished. This caused the house to fall apart, my kids to be cranky, and me to break down into tears several times. If I could do it again, I might have told myself to make it for her birthday instead and just buy her a gift for Christmas, but once I started, I couldn't be stopped. I was a sewing maniac. I was flying through those stitches like a man woman. If you look close at the playhouse, THAT's pretty obvious. BUT at the end of the day, I finished the project three days before Christmas, and those three days before Christmas (and the week following) were the most peaceful and perfect as they could be. I do apologize to all those great great friends out there who brought me goodies and gifts who didn't get anything in return. I promise I'll make it up to you next year.

Anyway, The kids got all kinds of fun things. Blair went out and bought his own special gifts for the kids that I didn't find out about until afterwards. He bought Cami an aquarium (with a filter and heater and everything) and we picked out fish after Christmas. Noah got a ride-on battery powered Harley Davidson (Blair thinks this will make it easier for him to buy HIMSELF one to match. I don't really understand that logic...lol). There were many other gifts, but really my favorite part was when we acted out the Nativity and Cami was Mary and took her part SO SO seriously. She was so sweet, I wanted to cry. She got to ride on grandpa's back (he was the donkey) and she just sat there all serious. You could tell she got it at least a little. We also got to have Steve and Bekah and baby Matthew there with Facetime on the iPad. We really are so blessed in this generation to have technology that is able to bring us together so easily.

I hope everyone's Christmas was all you wanted it to be. I hope you had a chance to slow down (even if just for a day) to think about the Savior and all the many blessings we are blessed with because of his sacrifice for us.