Jolly & Joyous

Some days it is very easy to be happy. Today was one of those days. I found myself giggling and laughing with my family and just generally enjoying the Christmas season. Sometimes in grown up land it’s nice to be surprised by a spontaneous light heart.

Weekends keep us going around here and this weekend has been especially fun. We had crepes for breakfast Saturday morning, went for a family run, and instead of running errands we were able to stay home. We started Sunday off gathered around our kitchen island in our pajamas scooping spices and slicing oranges and measuring out cranberries for our neighborhood gifts. The fire was burning, the Christmas music was playing, and we were playing “factory” with our girls. (It’s nice to know they would be worth something if we need to farm them out for factory labor.)

After an uplifting day at church and a meaningful tithing settlement, we headed out to deliver our neighborhood gifts. The girls really wanted to ring the doorbell and run. They kept trying and kept getting caught. At our first stop they left the car doors open right in front of the house, so although they ran and hid around the corner I was stuck in full view. We were all laughing hysterically and Kate summed it up with, “That wasn’t the best plan ever.” Sometimes their giggles gave their hiding places away. At the house of our best friends in the ward, they rang the doorbell and started dashing to their hiding place when Jane turned on her heels and said, “But I want to say hi!” Again, caught red handed. Our friends and neighbors may or may not enjoy their Christmas Simmer, but we had a grand time giving them away.

We gave up on decorating our Christmas tree. We usually make the ornaments: gingerbread men, dried oranges, popcorn and cranberry strings, etc. This year we bought a tree, enjoyed the smell for a few days, managed to get the lights on, and I can tell that is as far as it’s going to go. It’s pretty. It’s serving it’s purpose. And I just don’t have time to take it any further, so I’m not going to worry about it.

The girls and I made paper chains to count down to Christmas and a double batch of gingerbread cookies, which we shared with several of our neighbors. We sing Christmas carols together every night. I love to hear the girls mumble along as best they can and then sing out with all their hearts when we get to the chorus. Kate has written at least five letters to Santa. She is asking for all of the things she knows I won’t buy her. The top of her list...marshmallows and a pillow pet.

Saturday our big Christmas gift arrived: a piano! We have been married for eight years. For all of those eight years I have wanted to buy Josh a piano and now our future is finally stable enough that we can do it. We ended up finding a great piano for a much better than expected price. I can’t tell you how fun it has been this weekend to hear Josh playing. He seemed to disappear whenever there was a lull in activity and then I would hear the piano start up. The music fills our home. Music is a big part of who we are, we met in the University of Utah A Cappella Choir after all, but when you move thousands of miles every few months and don’t have two dimes to rub together I guess it’s easy to let the music fade to the background. Well, we are back! The piano is tuned, the guitar is out of its case, the choral music is playing and we are ready to “play.” The girls are also really excited about the piano. Kate showed off a little of what she remembers learning from piano lessons with Uncle Alan over the summer. Then she composed her first song. She played it for us and then announced that she had played “Monster in the Village”--well named, I assure you.

There are a few things about the current state of the Dallas Woodford family that I want to capture before I get distracted any further by all of the holiday goings on.

Initials - Kate has been curious about middle names. That must be the buzz of the kindergarten lunch tables. She was pretty disappointed that she didn’t have a middle name. One day I heard her announce to Jane, “Jane we are changing our initials. My initials are KTI and yours are JTI.” Later I asked what the new initials stood for. With a slight roll of the eyes, another benefit of school, Kate replied, “Kate The Indian, of course!”

Snapping - Kate has grown up so much since starting school. Some of it I love and some of it pulls at my heart strings. Her latest new skill is snapping. She asked me how you snap a few months ago and I explained the process. Now she snaps better than I do. (She is very quick to point that out to everyone, by the way.) Her fingers are always snapping. She snaps when she dances, when she is about to make an announcement, when she is emphasizing a point, or when she is thinking. Maybe if I practiced as much as she does I’d improve my skills too.

Identities - Jane is in the phase of assuming various identities. She always wants me to know who she is, but she whispers it in my ear like it is a big secret. Then she checks back with me often, like every two minutes, to make sure I remember who she is. “Mom, do you remember who I am?” Sometimes she is an indian, sometimes one of Kate’s classmates, sometimes an animal, sometimes a princess. Just remember who she is when she confides in you.

Crash - Things have been going much better at Josh’s work. He struggled at the beginning of his current project, but things are going much better now. In fact, when the possibility of downsizing the team arose, he was pretty discouraged at the thought. I met the infamous Kevin at a BCG Christmas party. He told me his call name for Josh is Crash. “This guy will knock through anything to get the answer he needs.” I could tell he respects Josh and is grateful for his contributions.

Plugging Along - As we get closer to the end of the school week, my girls get more and more tired. As they get more and more tired, they get harder and harder to manage on my own. One rough day last week I told Josh, “I was a good mom today even though I didn’t really like my kids.” To which he replied, “I was a good employee today even though I didn’t really like my job.” We do what we can, eh.

Allergies - We have a new parenting strategy. Thanks to my allergic reactions when we first moved into this house my girls really understand what allergies are. We have now declared ourselves allergic to whining. So far it’s working out well. When the girls start to drive me crazy with whining instead of reacting in frustration I sneeze. It usually gets us laughing and diffuses the situation a bit.

Ninja - One of our ward members used to work for BCG. He has been very kind to us since we moved in. He was talking to Josh at the ward Christmas party and said that the best part of BCG, although it can be really rough, is that you come out as a “Business Ninja.” He said that now, when he is faced with a huge problem at work he can quickly analyze the situation and say, “Okay, we need to do this and this and this.” He said his co-workers look at him with bewilderment and wonder how he could figure that out so quickly. He said, “It’s because I’m a business ninja. That’s what they train you to be at BCG.” I had a mission companion who was the Judo champion of Tokyo. Now I’m married to a Ninja!

Love Chain - Kate came home from primary yesterday with a “Love Chain.” There were links for the twelve days of Christmas and she was to write ways she could serve and show love each day leading up to Christmas. She started filling it out. The first day was give mom a kiss. The second, give Dad a hug. The third, play with Jane. The fourth day was to be patient in the car. She kept writing her list but was getting a little agitated as she went. Then at day ten something inside her snapped. On day ten she wrote “Mom make me a present,” on day eleven she wrote “Dad wrap a present,” and on day twelve she wrote, “open presents.”

Gift - I was hustling around the house the other day trying to cook a ham, gather together a shepherd costume for Josh, and get the girls out the door to the ward Christmas party. Kate was engrossed in an art project. She told me it was a gift for me, but I was too busy to think much of it. When we got home that night I picked up the papers strewn across the living room and saw what she had been making. It was a book. She wanted help binding it. The title was The Jesus Book. She wrote out the stories of Jesus’s resurrection, the calming of the sea, and the raising of Jarius’s daughter. After I helped her bind it, she said I could just keep it now since I saw it already. Maybe in her eyes the surprise had been spoiled. In my eyes it will always be one of my greatest treasures. Here is the text:

Chapter 1 - Once upon a time Jesus wanted us to be resurrected so he died for us, for 3 days. Mary looked in the tomb but Jesus wasn’t there. The amazing thing, an Angel appeared on the tomb and said, “Jesus is resurrected.” “Oh my, that is amazing. I want to see him.” And she did see him and he said go tell the apostles. So she did. They were amazed. The Great Testimony.

Chapter 2 - They found the Apostles fishing at the pond and it was fun to see the Apostles. “I think we should explore.” “Yeah, that is a really good idea.” “I think I am tired,” He said. So he went to sleep. While he was sleeping a big storm came. It was ginormous. So big He felt a hundred rain drops. He woke up. He calmed the storm. “Yay,” said the Apostles. It is great.

Chapter 3 - The Apostles told Jesus about a child who was dead. He took her hand and said “Tly tia koma.” It was amazing, so amazing. The parents were amazed, “Oh, my.” The child was happy. It was a great day. Jesus was the shining star. He was happy, so happy. He was so happy he cried.

It doesn’t get much better than that!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!