The Vacation That Wasn't

This past week we were supposed to be somewhere else.
Mark had five fabulous days off work, plus two weekends.
The twins were out of school.
No piano lessons, dance or baseball practice.
Church duties were light.

And the best part?
We had buddy passes for the entire family just waiting to be used.
Oh how perfect it would have been to jump on a plane and leave the cold and snow behind.
We could hear the Florida shore line beaconing our bare feet.
We could taste Grandma's German Chocolate Cake.
We could feel the warmth of the sun gently caressing our pale faces and frostbitten fingers.

Only one snag.....
About 347,872 other people had the same idea.
We could not get a flight to Evanston, let alone a warm and sunny destination.
We checked flights to everywhere and anywhere.

Nothing.
Not a chance.
Ain't happening.

After a day or two of hoping that other folks would stop traveling, we decided to accept our sad fate.
Disappointment was evident.
We frowned and sighed and hung our heads.

Finally, Mark and I called an executive meeting.
We determined to make the best of an unfortunate setback.
We gathered the kids together and announced that we would be staying home for an amazing fun filled week, right here at home!

The twins were understanding and supportive.
We started brain storming all the possibilities before us.

Things were looking up.

And so began a week of good old fashioned togetherness.
Nothing but pure raw time on our hands.
And you know what?  It was surprisingly heaven-like.

We slept in, stayed up late. 
Played hours and hours of games.
We had the zoo to ourselves in a snowstorm.
Mark and Linc cheerfully sat through The Sound of Music then Rachie and me returned the favor when they rented Star Trek.
We scored four tickets in the Jr. Jazz section of Energy Solutions Arena.
We raced down powder filled hills on our sleds and then came home and curled up by the fireplace.
We hung out with cousins and other family.
Lincoln and Rachel inflated an air mattress and slept in the family room.
We ate too much fudge and cookies and chips.
No piano practice required.
The boys watched football and the girls worked on crafts.
We talked, we laughed, we set goals and made plans for the year to come.
Mark didn't shave one of the days and I didn't give him too hard of a time.
Everyone pitched in with the housework.
Neither of the twins even asked to play with friends.

It really was that great.
Who would have thought?

Raw time.  I could get used to this.
I hadn't realized how much of our life is filled up with places to be and things to get done.
So much busy-ness and not nearly enough unstructured, unscheduled, unorganized time.

The vacation that wasn't turned out to be the best week of the year.
I wish it could have lasted a month.
How can families carve out more time together?
That is the question I have been asking myself all day.

If anyone reading this has some good ideas, please pass them on to me.
Oh and by the way, I hear that raw time on the coast of Florida is pretty good too.

10 Things I Love About Christmas

1.  Lights.  I love Christmas lights.  Our circle is aglow this year!  We even put a few lights on the vacant house next door.  There is something warm and magical about a home decorated with lights.

2. Cards.  I love opening the mailbox to a stack of Christmas cards!  I love to see pictures of old friends.  I love family letters.  I love to hear about the wonderful things your kids are doing.  I ran out of time and didn't get a card out this year but I appreciate the cards we have received, we treasure each one.

3.  Recitals.  I love hearing the twins and the other kids in the neighborhood play.  They are all fantastic!

4.  Christmas music.  Especially our ward choir, they really should put out a cd.

5.  Decorating the Christmas tree and then watching my favorite two year old re-decorate it.

6. Traditions.  I love making gingerbread houses with all the cousins.  I love the rule that for each candy you put on the house, you get to eat one!

 

 

7.  Treats.  I love the ding dong of the doorbell.  The cookies and candy, chocolate milk, fudge, popcorn balls, caramel apples.  So what if we're eating 6,364 calories a day.  We'll figure that out in January.

8.  Love at home Thursdays.  Love. This.

 

9.  Family.  Our greatest gift.  Gathering around the Christmas tree.  Talking, laughing, playing games, watching Christmas movies, going to plays.  Just being together.  Wishing I could keep them little, yet loving the people the are growing up to be.  Gratitude for health and happiness.

10.  The Baby whose birth we celebrate.  The life He lived, the sacrifice He made. The ability to repent, to change to be forgiven, to know Him, to become like Him and then to return to Him.

I love Christmas.

Merry Crazi-ness

As previously mentioned on this blog, 

I come from a family of nuts.

I say that in the most loving sense of the word.

There is an up-side to coming from a crazy family......

They know how to have fun.

Christmas time brings family parties

and family parties bring gifts

and gifts in my family bring things like....

Travel Supplies including a little something for irregularity.

Holiday-style nursing pads.

A camping Snuggie, stocked matches, marshmallows, first aid kit, water, newspaper, roasting sticks, toilet paper, toothbrush, tissue

and all other necessities for the trip.

A lovely holiday sweater to wear on Christmas Eve.

And an all-occasion wreath (Valentine's Day, July 4, Easter, Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras and balloons to blow up for birthdays) complete with a 

portrait of the decorator.

But the grand prize,

one of a kind,

Mac Daddy of all presents.....

The golden throne.

Custom painted and adorned with jewels.

 

Merry Crazi-ness and a Happy New Year.

It's Beginning to Feel a lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Our halls are decked, four parties and one play in the same week, Christmas cards are trickling in, and treats are showing up on our doorstep.  I love these parts of Christmas!

Yes, it does look like Christmas but the real question is, does it feel like Christmas?
I regret to say that there have been years when the humble and quiet tenderness of the season has been in the background.

Some years on Christmas night, we collapse on the couch and reflect on the December that was.  We look around at the remnants of wrapping paper, boxes, bags.  Sometimes there is a pang of guilt for spending too much on the kids.  Excess they really didn't need.  Things that will become forgotten, lost, broken or outgrown over time. 

Then our thoughts turn to a meek and submissive mother who gave birth to the Savior of the world in a barn. 
A barn- surrounded by animals.
Her gentle husband, imagine the worry and  heavy responsibility he must have felt.  Mostly, we reflect on the Baby.  The man He grew to be.  The love and kindness He taught in His every word and action.  The uncomprehendable price He paid for us.

As we pondered these things a couple of years ago, a sadness crept over us.  We knew that in the busy-ness of the season, we had missed the true essence of Christmas.  The Savior was a part of our Christmas, but not the focus of each day.  We promised to never let that happen again.

We remembered the words of King Benjamin, "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God." (Mosiah 2;17)
We had a deep desire to be more fully, even daily, in the service of our God.
This inspired a new family tradition we call The 25 Days of Service.

The last Monday in November we hold a special Family Home Evening.  We each come prepared with ideas of ways we can serve others.

After some brainstorming and voting, Mark constructs a calendar.  We post it on the fridge and in the bedrooms.  Some of the things we do are simple and don't cost anything like "Random acts of kindness Tuesdays" and "Love at Home Thursdays".  Other ideas we have done this year include sending packages to the missionaries serving from the Spanish ward in our stake and delivering a Christmas Tree to a needy family.  We volunteer at the food bank, the homeless shelter and make stockings for the animals at the Humane Society.  We also do something special for our grandparents and church leaders.
We give simple gifts to each other so that we can use our funds to make a top secret delivery to a special family on Christmas Eve.

This tradition has changed they way we feel about Christmas. In early November the twins started asking about our service.  They have been so excited to check the calendar and carry out the daily task.  Neither one of them have asked for anything for themselves yet.

An extra special feeling has settled over our house.  It is the spirit of love and giving, it is the Spirit of Christ.   We feel Him closer.  We talk about Him more often.  We try harder to be like Him.  We are more conscious of our mistakes and shortcomings and are trying to do better.

This really is the most wonderful time of the year, when Christmas becomes a feeling.

Dear Darling Part 2

Dear Darling,

Well, after ten exhausting, back breaking, mind numbing days of work, the rooms are done.

Yes, I know I qualify as a thoughtful and considerate wife in that I managed to pull most of this off while you spent the week eating out at fancy Italian restaurants, snoozing on airplanes, hanging out with your work buddies, working hard on a business trip.

I spared you the headache of assembling a desk, dresser and three IKEA night stands.  I mean seriously, IKEA does not write out directions.  They use PICTURES and only PICTURES for CRYING. OUT. LOUD. You can only imagine how long it took me to get the legs on that desk!

Then there was the fact that I found a discounted Pottery Barn hutch to go on top of that darn cute desk.  

The problem?  It was navy blue and I needed it to be a lovely cream color.  

So I sanded, painted, sanded, painted, sanded, painted.  But look Sweetheart:  It turned out great!

Then there was the never ending paint jobs.  Three rooms in three days.  The taping, spackling, corners, baseboards, closet doors, CEILINGS.   Oh, I saved you a bundle with my free labor.

Please note the beautiful canopy bed in Samantha's room.  I had one picked out from Pottery Barn Kids.  But since 800.00 for a canopy and frame was not exactly in my budget I hit the classifieds.  I could not believe my good fortune when I found one for sale by a nice woman in Springville.  Rachel and I drove an hour each way in a snow storm but for  147.00 it was money well spent!

I hope you won't mind if I mention how difficult it is getting new carpet installed.  All the furniture out, closets emptied, stuff everywhere.  Nothing in its home could send a mildly OCD girl like me over the edge.  But I maintained my composure until the very last hours before you were scheduled to come home from Boston.  

In those final hours, discouragement started to overtake me.  You see, I really did not want you to have to come home to a mess, boxes of furniture to assemble, stuff to move, curtains to hang, beds to put together.  I'm just nice like that.    

I was pondering the sad predicament I had gotten myself into when the doorbell rang....

In walked some of my favorite people ever.  Grandma and Grandpa tackled the dresser and night stands  while Amy and Danny started putting the rooms back together.  It was awesome!  Like an episode of Trading Spaces.  In three hours, we had the rooms done!

You got to come home to a reasonably clean house and a very happy and relieved wife!

So  Darling, the fact that I went $603.36  slightly over budget should really be a non-factor here.  If you had to pay a designer, painter, mover, cleaner, professional shopper, vinyl lettering installer and furniture assembler, you would be nearly broke.

I know how grateful you are.  You've thanked me.  You've hugged me.  You've told me the rooms look great.  But if you wanted to take me out for a steak dinner, sinful dessert and then rub my feet and back for an hour or two, I'll let you.

Sincerely yours,

Kimberly

Dear Darling

Dear Darling,

It's me.  Your loving wife of eighteen years.
 
Have I told you lately how much I love being married to you?

Have I thanked you for your easy going nature and virtual inability to get mad at me?

Remember that time I drove your car into a pole?  I was so upset, I rushed in the house, ran right past you and called my dad.  After a deep breath, you  were so kind and understanding and completely agreed with me that it was the pole's fault.  You weren't even offended that I told my dad first.

You are amazing that way.

How about the time we were traveling to Las Vegas.  You were asleep while I took a turn driving.  I thought about stopping in St. George for gas but I really thought we could make it.  Oh the discomfort I felt at having to wake you up at 2:00 am in the middle of the desert to tell you that we had run out of gas.

Your response?  A very deep breath, that's all.

At this point in our lives, you are trying very diligently to get our house paid off.  You're doing great!!  I appreciate your "saver" mentality.  I do, really.  That is why I came to you with a strict budget of what I would spend when re-doing the kids' bedrooms.

One thousand dollars per kid, that's what I said.
You happily and willingly agreed and that was that until...

I ordered new carpet,
New paint for all three rooms,
Three new memory foam mattresses,
A new bed for Samantha, dresser for Rach, desks and nightstands for all three,
shelving, curtains, accessories and some very amazing Pottery Barn bedding.

I know.
Never look at Pottery Barn first.
Never. Never. Never.

Yes.  I did go a bit over budget.
But Darling, Love of my Life, Amazingly handsome, Brilliant, Sexy Husband---
their rooms are going to look spectacular!

I am telling  you this now so that you can breathe deeply all the way back from Boston.
With all those deep breaths, you are going to feel great!
You won't have to go running for at least two weeks!

Now, aren't you glad you married me?
You could never get this kind of cardiovascular workout with a Suzie Orman type woman.
See what a great team we make?

Sincerely--
Your loving and devoted wife,
Kimberly