Holiday thoughts

Left is our Carmen tree. If you look closely, you can see pictures of her hanging on the branches. Picture below the tree is of grandsons Zachary and William (Ben's sons) at the end of a hard day of play. Top of bottom three pictures is Mom with granddaughters Alexis and Jacqueline (Ben's girls). In the middle picture Audrey and Reed are playing a duet during our Christmas family talent night. Bottom picture is of daughter Audrey, granddaughter Rayne and me. Rayne is on her way back to school at BYU Idaho.






It is often hard for me to separate Christmas fantasies from realities. My mind leaps into dreams of how things could be and what I could do to make it so. This year's celebrations were different than usual. It was an "away" Christmas. That is, the other side of our family got the kids for Christmas day this year. So we spread our celebrations out into three separate days. One was for Ben and Jes, who left for Utah to spend Christmas with Jessica's family. Christmas Eve was for Reed and Dorothy, who spent Christmas day with Dorothy's family. I hardly knew how to chop up our usual celebrations but gave it a shot. We had a Christmas Eve reader's theater instead of a nativity drama. It turned out quite nicely, I thought, with each child present offering a reading part, backed up by a slide show, all in celebration of the Savior's birth.

This year I made just about all the Christmas gifts to our kids. I found that it brought me greater pleasure to present the gifts. Perhaps it was because I put a bit more effort into them. I tend to get excited about things and, quite naturally, look for an equally enthusiastic response from my family. It never turns out that way. But, I tell myself, it is not that our gifts are not happily received; rather it is that we each respond differently. My granddaughter Allegra is my only very enthusiastic receiver of gifts. It is such fun to give her things! But I still long for a more generally animated response from the rest. I would like to say that my Christmas fantasies are becoming a bit more realistic. But they aren't.

The whole local gang came for New Year's Eve. I often feel that our time together is too much taken up with caring for children and not enough for general bonding. So, Layne and I decided to try something new. We rented an inflatable jumper and placed it to open into the garage. We embellished the garage with a rug, couch and table filled with goodies of all sorts. What a day those kids had! They spent the whole bouncing and playing. By dinner they were finished with that. We dined together, watched "Night at the Museum", played games and toasted in the New Year promptly at midnight. It was generally a fine time for all.

People filled our season. We've had a house full of family and friends for most of these past two weeks. Or so it seems. I am happy and exhausted. This morning, with no early obligations, I slept until 8 AM. Then I read until 9. It was a lovely time.

Lately I've been a little concerned that Mom seems to be less enthusiastic about doing things. Several days ago she told me that it is easy to sleep when there is nothing else to do. I notice that myself, as I fight falling asleep every time I sit still for any amount of time. So I wonder what to help Mom to do, so that she does not default to sleeping for want of a weightier project. I'm pondering solutions.