A merry little Christmas

We had a great Christmas, despite the bouts of stomach virus that made their way through the family (thankfully, it was a mild one) and the sinus headache that plagued me through the holiday. The kids all happily sat on Santa's lap (he's come to the family Christmas party since A was little)--T even decided the big man was his new best friend and talked to him nonstop. Everyone got what they wanted for Christmas and we had NO major meltdowns the whole day. Merry Christmas, everyone.

S, taking her turn on Santa's lap

H and his Star Wars transformer

After discovering the fruit snacks in his stocking, T refused to open a single present until he had eaten all three packages.

And finally, it's T the Wise Man in the family Nativity play, complete with a lovely headscarf and sword.

Rest

Today begins my Christmas break from work. For the past few years, I've taken off the days between Christmas and New Year's, and it's a delightful tradition. I got today off because we were planning on traveling down to the Las Vegas bowl, but we decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Turned out to be a good decision, because T threw up twice yesterday morning and has had lovely diarrhea ever since. This morning, he woke up super early with poop all over himself. As I cleaned him up, I realized I was getting blind spots. A migraine--what a lovely way to start the day. But A was able to stay home from work this morning so I could rest, which was quite possibly the loveliest thing I've experienced in a long time. I slept and slept and the kids only came to visit a few times. The Christmas show on TV, plus the Playdoh S got from her school party yesterday helped keep them entertained.

It's after lunch and I'm still in my pjs. I love being lazy. :)

P.S. A few pics from yesterday's Christmas programs. H was the innkeeper in his preschool program. He did a great job: "No room! But I have a really nice stable, and I can get some clean straw." And S did awesome at her clogging performance. Here she is with her friend Amy.

It takes a village...

to pull off an Enrichment Christmas dinner! Last night was ours, and as the Enrichment counselor, I was a wee bit nervous. I figured that no matter what, it would all be over in a matter of hours, but I was worried there wouldn't be enough food. And we sort of ran out of main dishes, so that one fear did come true. But all in all, it was a great evening.

Our theme was "Christmas Around the World" and women signed up to bring displays and food dishes from different countries. We also had women set individual tables with their Christmas place settings. The cultural hall really looked beautiful. And it was wonderful to see how willing people were to help. When my Enrichment leader found out she couldn't come a few days before, the YW presidency volunteered to come early and help me and the committee set up and clean up. They were all so great. We had a special program after dinner, with narration about different Christmas traditions and beautiful songs. The program was really wonderful.

Of course, my OCD kicked in last night at 10:15 when I worried that I hadn't turned the oven at the church off (I had been keeping my lasagna warm before the dinner). Unlike normal people who would have just trusted they had turned it off, I had to trudge back out into the snow (in my pj's, no less) to check. It was off, of course.

I'm so glad it's over... glad it went well... but mostly just glad it's over. :)

Where everybody knows your name

When I moved into my current ward three and a half years ago, like with any new situation, I didn't feel "a part of things" for a while. I felt kind of sad about it, wishing I had good friends in the ward and knowing it was partly my fault for not being more outgoing. But still I did nothing about it. Until that September when the ward started a book club. It wasn't a stretch for me to sign up since I'm fairly fanatical about reading. I've always loved to read, ever since I taught myself how (true story). I was a little bit nervous to go to the first book club night, but it turned out to be one of the best things I've ever done. I feel like I've truly found a wonderful group of friends there. A lot of us are moms with young kids but we do have a mix of different life circumstances, which is always nice. We've read fiction, non-fiction, children's books, and essays. We've shared a multitude of treats and probably gained a lot of weight together. And we've shared the ups and downs of life together and commiserated over the woes of raising kids.

I went to book club tonight and we discussed The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's about a girl living in Nazi Germany who steals books. It's all about how words shape and change our perceptions. I loved the book and I love the book club ladies. Thanks for another great evening!