Christmas is my very favorite time of the entire year! We had and are enjoying so many tender mercies, but I want to mention all those who suffer at Christmas Time.
My friend at work is not a member of our church. She lives with her boyfriend. Her parents are divorced. She was kind of quiet all month, as the other three in our office played Christmas music on our iphones, and talked excitedly about Christmas plans, and gave each other gifts. At first, she just said she wasn't into Christmas very much. When I asked why, she said that it's a lot of work. I felt sad, because I love it so much.
Later, I found out why she doesn't like it. She softly told me, when we were alone, that she doesn't like Christmas because it's always such a hard time. She said that she and her boyfriend are expected to go to her mom's house on Christmas Eve. There is a grumpy sister that gives her a hard time about how her family spoils her, or how she gets the best presents - these women are 40 plus years old. Then they are expected to go to her boyfriend's parents and in the morning, they go to her Dad's. She said it is just too much. People are mean to each other, it's not fun.
Others suffer because they feel alone, when everyone else appears to be having a wonderful time. Some miss their deceased loved ones. Some feel they have no family who care.
It's our duty to reach out and try to help all of them.
Mine was a wonderful Christmas Season.
Blaine and I had planned, saved money, organized and prepared for the arrival of Brandon and Heather, flying in from Kentucky, and for Derek and Breanna, and Nikole to come to our house, during thier Christmas Break from BYU-Idaho. We had Carl and Elizabeth at home with us. Nikole came first, as soon as BYU-I was out. Derek and Breanna came two days before Christmas. Breanna and Derek had spent the week before Christmas at her parents home in Layton, Utah.
This was Breanna's first Christmas away from her family, besides her mission, so I will always appreciate her willingness to sacrifice and let her and Derek be here when Brandon and Heather could be here. I'm sure it was hard on her, but she remamained cheerful and optimistic.
Brandon and Heather were scheduled to fly in on Christmas Eve morning, but the weather was not predicted to be good, so their airline called a couple of days before thier scheduled flight and told them they needed them to fly in to Jackson the day before Christmas Eve! So, that was a nice surprise for all of us.
So, by Dec. 23 night, all of us were together, at our home! Blaine and I had considered this to be a special Christmas, because all of our children are mostly grown - Carl at almost 13 and Elizabeth at 16 1/2 and Nikole at 18 makes for a mostly grown family. We figured it would be unique in that our married couples don't have a baby yet, so we are all able to do things that adults can do, as far as not having to worry about little ones.
We took a quick picture by the elk antler arch when we picked up Brandon and Heather in Jackson. Derek and Breanna did not go to the airport with us, because they had just driven from Layton. We stopped and got hot chocolate for everyone, at Bradnon's suggestion.
We kept our tradition each night, of selecting one family member for the rest of us to give compliments to. That really builds love and unity. That was special each night.
We had planned special Christmas treats and meals that we knew certain family members like. I made or had made carmel, blonde fudge, crepes, the big Christmas Day lunch meal with turkey and all the trimmings, then the New Year's Eve meal - we tried to make some things Breanna would have at her parent's home - red frozen pizza, we had the Italian flavored sodas Aunt Tammie taught us to make years ago, chicken wings, layered bean dip and on and on. For New Year's Day, we had ham and the trimmings. The food was really good.
On Christmas Eve, Blaine led the family with the Christmas Story, that we have read for years and years. A few years back, we bought a book that has the whole story and songs in it, so we used that. On Christmas Eve, I told the story of the Gift of the Magi, one of our favorites. We had been reading a Christmas story a day, before our extra people arrived.
Both Christmas Day and New Year's Day were on Sundays, which is fairly unusual. We had been asked to sing a family musical number for Christmas sacrament meeting. Carl played the violin and the rest of us all sang. Well, Elizabeth accompanied us on the piano. We sang a renditon of The First Noel. It was beautiful and we got a lot of compiment.s It's rare to have children that all can harmonize. Especially Carl, Elizabeth, Nikole and Heather are really good at harmonizing. They can sing the melody, alto, soprano. It's one of my greatest treasures - their beautiful voices. And all three daughters can play the piano.
Christmas Day we had fun opening gifts. Some of the highlights were Derek and Breanna got long boards from her parents. Their family long boards together, around town. I got a new cranberry colored really warm coat with fur around the hood. I've wanted one for a long time. I usually buy coats at Deseret Industries or a thrift store, so this was quite thrilling to me. It's the kind that goes down below my hips, and it's quilted and really warm. Blaine got a trip to see Brandon and Heather, from me. We will have to decide when to go. Nikole got some nice clothes. Elizabeth got a Fit Bit - thing that looks like a watch, keeps health data on it, and a guitar. She is going to take a guitar class this new semester. Carl got a light that shows different colors to the beat of the music he hooks up to it, and a massager that sits in a chair. We had sent tools to Brandon before Christmas, from Lowe's, that he opened at home, right before they left. We gave Heather two beautiful dresses she had told me she liked.
We took our family over to Jackson to have a sleigh ride on the Elk Refuge. It was extremely cold, but fun. We swam at the Jackson Rec Center that night and ate at Wendy's.
The other bigger thing we did was rent Cross Country skis for all of us, and we went skiing up Teton Canyon. That was beautiful.
We spent about 10 days together. It was a lot of work, and cost a fair amount, but we were thrilled to have our family here. We felt like we grew closer together, showed mostly love and support to each other, had fun playing a lot of games at our table, watching some type of movie almost every night, and spending time together.
This winter has been rather challenging. It hasn't been this cold of weather or as "nasty" of weather for many years. It was pretty cold during parts of our family's stay, like -25 degrees. Other parts of the time they were here, and before and after, have been what I call "snow storms". The poor weather has had a part in making all of us, even valley residents, fell rather down and out about the not much sunshine, sheer ice roads, over cast, bad weather.
Despite all the weather, we did have a very wonderful Christmas with our 9 family members all home. Blaine and I gave our whole hearts, souls, talents and resources to our children, we love so dearly. We were tired, afterward, but it was well worth the effort. I was very grateful to my parents, for all they have done for me during my lifetime, for all the times they let Blaine and I and our children come and stay with them for holidays.
We had Blaine's mother, Helen, come for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, for New Year's Day. 2016 was a good year. I've always loved Christmas - such a wonderful time to remember Jesus's birth, His life, His example, His sacrifice, His crucifixion, His raisiing from the Dead, His Eternal Life.
We took homemade carmel to many friends at the hospital, and to many of our neighbors.
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