Christmas This Year

I think, at least in part, our Christmases have gotten spread out, rather than happening on a single day, because our family has become spread out, geographically.  Maybe that combined with the fact that as the grandkids grow each of the kids have developed their own Christmas traditions and have come to prefer Christmas day to themselves.  That's perfectly okay.  I remember as a kid how I liked Christmas best when we spent it at home with just our own family.  Christmas afternoon or the following days were fine for visiting extended family but Christmas morning was best at home, with just us.

This year we knew Christmas celebrations were going to be scattered over several days so when the presents got wrapped, instead of going under the tree they got stashed in the corner, out of the way.

Then, in time for each "wave" of Christmas, we'd move the presents over to under the tree for whoever was going to be involved.  I thought it worked pretty nice, though it did leave under our tree looking pretty bare in comparison to other years.

It worked out well, I thought. Anyway, our Christmas celebrations began the weekend before Christmas; our first celebration with kids.  Himbeere and his girlfriend were here so we opened presents with them.

Yeah, the dog thought he had to be in the middle of it all, too.

Among the gifts was the customary chocolate orange.  Himbeere's friend had never seen one before, which was kind of amazing.  So Himbeere was more than happy to demonstrate how to open it and break the sections apart you give it a good whack on a hard surface.  Yeah, that put a smile on Himbeere's face.  She was kind of timid at first, in whacking her's so it took her a few tries to get it properly whacked.

It was a good time with them.  We all enjoyed it.  Everyone was happy with what they got, but mostly, we enjoyed the time together.

With just the four of us, it was a pretty quiet time.  Much less rowdy than when any of little grandkids are present.  But it was still a good start to the celebrations.

Just a few days later it was Christmas Eve.  After we went to bed the house was dark and quiet.  With just the Christmas tree lights on, the house has a nice, homey feel.  I like it.  Its a good time to reflect.

Christmas morning dawned as early as ever but we were in bed and missed it. Not since our second Christmas have we not had little kids to share Christmas morning with, to prompt us to get up early on Christmas morning.  Sometimes ridiculously early on Christmas morning.  But not this morning.  Not only did we sleep late but we showered and dressed first, as well.  A gloriously relaxed Christmas morning.  When the kids were still at home and little, they never let that happen.

Then we leisurely opened our presents to each other.

Christmas morning with just the two of us.  Except for a couple of presents from Maulbeere and Moosebeere, Christmas morning was just our gifts to each other.

It was a nice, quiet morning.  Unrushed and low-key.

It was nice.  When we were done we got to doing a few other things we wanted to get done before the next "wave"; our plan was to head over to Schwartzbeere's house to spend a couple of hours with them.  While we were getting things done, Moosebeere called.   His family has a tradition that any time we send anyone in their family a package they Skype with us so we can watch them open it.  That's kind of nice.  This Christmas morning was no different.

So we got to watch each of them open all the things we had sent them for Christmas.  Its so fun to watch them all get excited about their presents and open them.

While at our house it was quiet and calm with no kids, the Skype made obvious that at their house the kids were bringing their usual level of excitement and chaos.  It was fun to watch.

A little later in the afternoon we took off for Schwartzbeere's house to spend some time with their family.  More little kids, more excitement.  We arrived, visited a bit, and then the kids wouldn't be put off any longer; we got to the presents

Schwatrzbeere's youngest was little enough that she needed help getting into the festivities.  This was her second Christmas but she had been too young to remember last year and what this was all about.

The other two, however, remembered full well what was going on.  Especially with the reminder they had gotten earlier in the day with their own family.  So we set about opening presents.

Everybody opened presents . . .

. . . with lots of encouragement and help from the little kids.

Open one of your own, help someone else open theirs. Repeat. It was fun.

When it was all done and everything was open, the kids were pleased as could be - everyone had a good time.  We stayed for a really nice dinner and evening of visiting.  Alas, it eventually was time to head back home.

In the morning we set out presents for the next "wave".  The next wave was Erdbeere and her family.  More little kids, more excitement, more chaos.  They were staying for a few days, that was a really nice thought, especially since there had been so much going on all spring, summer, and fall that it felt like forever since we'd last seen them.

The kids were "patient" enough to let them get inside, bring luggage in and stash it in bedrooms, and catch their breath.  Then it was time for presents.

These kids were old enough that they knew the drill.  Hardly any encouragement was needed.

Some were faster at it than others.

Wrapping and tissue paper was flying, it was quick work.

It was a good time; once again it was fun with kids and grandkids.

When all the gifts were open we were able to sit and visit for a bit.  That was nice, too.

The next day it was off to Blaubeere's house for more festivities.  She had worked hard to be able to host the horde.

While the last touches of dinner were getting ready a couple of people got a game of Yahtzee going at the kitchen table.

After dinner everyone retired to the living room and some musical instruments came out so we could sing some Christmas carols.  It was kind of nice to see the musical talents being showcased, this was entertainment the old fashion way.

We had a guitar, a banjo, a violin, and some rhythm instruments going while everyone sang along.  Very nice.

The little kids were fascinated

The caroling was very pleasant.

One young lady was entranced by the violin . . .

... especially when she got to have a turn.  She loved plucking the strings.

Afterwards we hooked up with Maulbeere for a little while, including a stop for some dinner and more visiting.

And so there it was, wave after wave of good company, presents, and good times. Pleasant memories.  When it was all done the tree stood with nothing under it and the corner was empty. It was a very good Christmas. Given our situation, I'm not sure I'd have it any other way!

Wise Men Came

As Christmas season is upon us many families decorate for the season.  I'd be surprised to learn of any family that decorated where their decorations didn't include a nativity set.  In our house we have somewhere around 10 or 15 nativities, including one that we keep especially so the grandkids can play with it.  Families put out their nativities, both inside and outside their homes.  The church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) came out this year with a new nativity video called "The Christ Child".  This depiction of the story of Christ's birth from the scriptures is set apart from other renditions of the Nativity by several things done in connection with the making of this movie. One of the things the church did was to attempt to relate the story accurately, as expressed in the scriptures.  Attention was given to the story of these real people participating in this real event.  The makers of the movie consulted historians and biblical scholars in an attempt to portray the events in an accurate setting, with the people's dress, the language, and the atmosphere as it might actually have been at the time in ancient Israel. Actors were selected with the age and ethnicity in mind of the people they would portray. Even the actors went to the effort of preparing themselves for their roles.  This effort resulted in some aspects of the story being portrayed differently than in some previous tellings of the Nativity, such as the story of "no room in the inn", the animal stall in which Christ was born, the shepherds, or the wise men's encounter with the Christ child.  Even the dialogue was in Aramaic, the language actually spoken in Israel at the time, so as not to distract from the events being portrayed.  I love it, it portrays the story much closer to how I have imagined it to have unfolded.

One of the things I most liked, was most touched by in the story, was the wise men.  Not a lot is known about the wise men.  If it weren't for the Gospel of Mathew, we wouldn't know at all of their visit.  Matthew's account (Matthew 2:1-13) does not give us much detail about them.  He didn't say how many there were, and only that they came "from the east".  Matthew says they followed the star to to come to where "the young child" was.  Tradition disagrees as to how many there were, who they were, and where they came from.  Over the years I have given a lot of thought to the wise men, who they were, and how they came to make the journey to Israel and bring their gifts to the young Christ child.  During His mortal ministry, Christ referred to "other sheep"  he needed to visit (John 10:16).  As Christ visited the American continent He spoke of still needing to visiting the other tribes of Israel whom the Father had lead away (3 Nephi 3:1-3).  I have always imagined that the wise men were from those others of the House of Israel that had been lead away.  They would have also been watching for the sign of the Savior's birth, the new star, and would have been elated when it finally appeared.  I don't doubt they were as much in anticipation as the Nephites were, waiting in anticipation, night after night, for the sign which, no doubt, had been prophesied among them in a similar manner as it had been among the Nephites (Helaman 14:2-7).

I would not be surprised at all if there were those who were anxiously awaiting the sign, the new star, planning on making the trip to Bethlehem, ready to go and waiting only for the star to appear before leaving. I don't doubt they were far enough east that the trip would have taken a very long time.  I liked how the movie portrayed them navigating across the continent, following the new star.

And, at last, they came to the city under the star

I have never imagined these wise men as having accidentally stumbled upon the Christ child, or men who went at the spur of the moment.  I think of them as prophets, or at least sent by prophets, knowing full well who they were going to see.  They would have approached the little family full of respect and reverence.  These would have been men like Simeon (Luke 2:25-32), "just and devout men, waiting for the consolation of Israel, on whom was the Holy Ghost."

Simeon met the Christ child as an infant.  By the time the wise men made their way from the far east, the Christ child would have been a toddler.  Matthews account of the visit of the wise men refers to Christ as a "young child" nine times; He was no longer an infant.

And yet, these wise men knew exactly who they were meeting.

 This was no ordinary child.

This was Emmanuel, the Light of the World, the Bread of Life, the Messenger of the Covenant, the Messiah, Redeemer of Israel, the Holy One of Israel, the Lamb of God.

I can readily see the wise men hardly able to contain their emotions.  Here, at long last, was the Christ child, God among men, here to perfect the atonement, to open the door and release the prisoners, and bring exaltation to all that are willing to take hold and live the way He taught.  They were seeing the "Condescension of God", not in a vision but it actuality, right before them. The event awaited by all the prophets and peaceable followers of Christ since before the earth was made was happening. The events that were the foundation of the entire Plan of Happiness were unfolding, moving inextricably toward the culmination on the cross. As President Gordon B. Hinckley reminded us, "There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter. The babe Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection." (The Wondrous and True Story of Christmas, December,2000 Ensign)  I don't doubt that they, as Simeon, may have been moved and felt to say "Now let thy servant[s] depart in peace, according to thy word, for [our] eyes have seen thy salvation." (Luke 2:29, 30).

The time will come when we will have the record of the lost tribes of Israel (2 Nephi 29:11-14, D&C 133:26-33).  No doubt we will find then the other side of the story of the wise men.  I don't doubt we will find that they were righteous men, blessed to be able to come and met the Christ child and bless Him with gifts that enabled Him to safely live and grow to fulfill His mission.  What a marvelous way the Lord weaves together the tapestry of events to bless His children and move his work forward.

In the Dark

Then there was the time when I had a headlight on my car go out.  You know how it usually takes a few times of driving at night to notice it seems darker than usual, wondering until finally you confirm there's a headlight out.  If you're lucky you can do that without getting pulled over for it.  So that happened the other day and I made an appointment to get it fixed.  Getting headlights fixed is a gamble; ease of headlight repair is usually not a purchase criteria when buying a car so its not until you actually have to have it done that you find out how hard it is on your particular car.  Brombeere had one fixed the other day.  All that needed to be done was lift the hood and come at the back of the headlight assembly and pull the bulb out.  Pop in a new one and in ten minutes you're back on the road.  Could have done it yourself.  I was hoping it would be the same on my car but no, on mine you have to pull the tire and come at the assembly up through the ceiling of the wheel well, to get to the assembly from underneath.  And then the whole assembly has to be pulled out to get to the bulbs.  More parts and more labor.  About $100 more than on Brombeere's car.  Ah, well.  But the real downer was that the night before my appointment to get the headlight replaced the other one went out.  So there I am, pulling out on to the road and can't see a thing, wondering why its so darn dark out there.  I finally had to put my high beams on to be able to see.  So I had to call the shop and make sure they could do both lights in the time scheduled, that they even had the parts for two lights.  Fortunately, they had the parts and the time.  Life is like that sometimes.

Commonplace Book

A Commonplace Book. “Commonplace”, from the Latin 'locus communis', meaning “a theme or argument of general application.”  For me, it is a collection of thoughts, ideas, anecdotes, poems, observations, and quotes that stood out and caught my attention, some with comment, some without. Essentially a scrapbook, a repository of thoughts too good to just pass over and let go.

"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."

(James 3:17) 

"Nobody can take away from you what you put in your own mind."

(Helen Klein, mother of Auschwitz survivor Edith Eva Eger in her book, The Choice, Rider, 2017)

"For every worry under the sun

There is a remedy or there is none.

If there is one, hurry and find it,

If there is none never mind it."

(LaGrand Richards, 1886-1983, Member of the Quorum of the Twelve from 1952-1983)

"Every morning in Africa when a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

(Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen)

"In a paradoxical period when violating the sanctity of human life is heralded as a right and chaos is described as liberty, how blessed we are to live in this latter-day dispensation when restored gospel light can shine brightly in our lives and help us to discern the adversary’s dark deceptions and distractions."

(Elder David A Bednar, Watchful unto Prayer Continually, October Conference 2019)

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."

(1 John 3:18)

"A lot of times the Spirit doesn't tell me what to do. I have to act consistently with what I've learned to be right."

(A newly called bishop, Fast & Testimony Meeting, 3 November 2019, about four months after having been called as bishop)

A Glorious Mess

Except our very first apartment, we never owned or rented a house that had a garage until we moved to the Midwest.  Since moving here, we've never lived anywhere that didn't have a garage.  Our first home here only had a single car garage but every home after that had at least a two car garage.  One place we lived had a garage that could hold four cars.  Oh, that one was a hard thing to give up when we moved out of that place.  But there were several compelling reasons to move and so we moved.  The garage was probably one of the best things about that place.  Anyway, in all the years since we moved to the Midwest and have had a garage we have really come to enjoy them.

That's not to say, however, that we have always used our garage for parking cars.  We used to do that at first.  But then it seemed more and more that we began using the garage for storage. Now, and for the last few years, it seems that has become the primary purpose of having a garage.

That's an interesting proposition, a garage as storage space.  Its typically not our own stuff that gets stored out in the garage.  More often than not, we've stored our kids stuff out there while they are between places.  And I have to admit, that usually, those that have stored stuff in our garage have been good about not leaving it there forever.  Months, at times, while they arranged their own space, but still months and months.  Make no mistake, we are more than happy to help out our kids in this way.  But it has meant that our cars don't fit in the garage.  If you'll notice, anytime you see pictures of our driveway, there are frequently three, four, and five cars in it, only two of which are our own.  That's another story.

And that's not to say its all their stuff out there.  We have things of our own that live out there, such as lawn mowers, the snowblower, kayaks, bicycles, camp gear, gardening tools and supplies, and so on.  When we first moved in here we built some shelves that a lot of that stuff lives on.  Some of it hangs from the rafters, some of it lives on the floor.  But its the kids stuff that's extra, that usually keeps our cars from fitting in the garage.

The thing about storing our kids stuff in the garage is that it means stuff has constantly been coming and going; the shape of the mess in the garage has constantly been changing, like a living, breathing mass.  Constantly changing shape.

February 2018

We try to keep a couple of trails open so we can get to things but as this kid's stuff or that kid's stuff is out there, and they occasionally need to find things that are out there, or we need to find things that are out there, someone is going through it, looking for this or that, stacking and piling, or restacking and rearranging this pile or that one, to find what they need.

February 2018

We go camping and root through it to get out the camping gear.  Then there's the seasons.  Fall gives way to winter and we have to move the lawnmower back and bring the snowblower forward.  Then spring arrives and the lawnmower comes back out front and the snowblower goes to the back.  Each time that  happens we have to seriously dig, sort, and rearrange; that riding lawnmower needs lots of space to be able to shift places.

February 2018

And so it goes, back and forth, in and out, stir it up once, stir it up again.

February 2018

Sometimes someone's stuff would come and go in only a few weeks or a couple of months.  Some times it would come and stay.  And stay.  And stay.

March 2018

This is also not to say that the kids are the only ones that ever store things out there temporarily.  Twice we've had water out of place in the house that has required major upheaval in the house.  That time the hose on the dishwasher broke, flooding the kitchen.  Everything in the kitchen, and I do mean everything, even the cabinetry, went out in the garage.  That was three years ago and our kitchen was in the garage pretty much all summer.  The other time was a few years before that, "The Great Flood" we call it.  Flooded nearly the entire house, upstairs and down.  Lots of stuff went out into the garage while carpet was replaced.

March 2018

Sometimes the garage has actually looked, well, not quite empty, but emptier.

May 2018

From one angle it would look as bad as ever ...

May 2018

But from a slightly different angle it looked like there was plenty of room.

January 2019

But that never seems to last very long.  Especially when you acquire a trailer and don't want it outside in the weather.  Weather is so hard on trailers, cuts their useful life short.

January 2019

And then your son acquires a big couch and doesn't want to drag it downstairs because he's looking for a place of his own and thinks he'll just be hauling it back up the stairs.  Yeah, so he sets it on top of the trailer.

March 2019

That means you can only use the trailer with great difficulty because the couch is so hard to move.

March 2019

In all the time we've stored kids' stuff in the garage, that has really been the only time it was inconvenient in a major way.

March 2019

But we did find a solution and the couch did end up down stairs and out of the way.

November 2019

That brings us to the present.  I don't know about your house, but around here, any time something gets moved for any length of time, leaving an empty space, that empty space seems to fill up with something else.  So that whatever was moved no longer has a place to go back to.  Fall was here, and winter was rapidly approaching.  The lawnmower was still up front and the snowblower was still in the back.  And, at this particular moment, the trailer was outside.  I was really feeling a real sense of urgency to get the trailer back inside and the snowblower up front so on a recent Saturday I went out to do some rearranging.  The problem with that, however, was that I am still recovering somewhat from an accident I was in last September.  Brombeere heard me rummaging around out in the garage and came out to see what I was up to.  When she heard what I wanted to do she decided I needed some supervision and help.

November 2019

That set the stage for some interesting developments. The space where the trailer had been moved out of several weeks before had been filled with other stuff that now needed to be moved.  In addition, some of the stuff that had been littering the floor, boxes, totes, and stuff, we wanted to put up on the highest shelf where it would be well out o the way.  And with Brombeere involved now, this wasn't going to be merely rearranging, this was going to involve actual cleaning.  That's actually not a bad thing.

November 2019

But the cleaning lead to some interesting moments.  We didn't just move boxes and totes around.  We rooted through many of them, cleaning and tossing stuff.  That was at times exciting.  Like the time Brombeere reached into a box to see what was in it, clear to the bottom, and a mouse jumped out at her.  That was when we learned that mice can jump as much as a foot or more.  This one sure did, right at Brombeere, and then beat a hasty retreat away, across the garage floor, into the back corner.  During the course of the two hours or so we spent cleaning we saw about five mice, most of them alive and running.  A couple were dead and still.  The live ones you only get a glimpse of as they run away.  We hadn't realized we had that many mice out there so we've set some traps and have been working on reducing the mice population.  But it sure lead to some exciting times while we were cleaning..

November 2019

Anyway, the day's efforts were successful and we were able to make room in the garage.  It appeared for a little while to be one of those emptier moments.

November 2019

Then the trailer went back in.  But even still, there's lots more room out there than was before.  A lot of stuff got thrown away, especially if it was mouse damaged.  A few days later, after the trashman had hauled off all the stuff we set out and the rest was better arranged, it actually felt roomier than it has felt out there for a long time.

November 2019

We're calling it a successful day.  There's still more to do but it snowed 3" the day the trailer got moved back in and its cold now.  Today it actually spent most of the day below zero.  The rest can wait until its warmer.  Like next spring, when its time to move the riding lawnmower back up front and the snowblower to the back.  Yeah, a never ending cycle.  That's how life is.