Santa Claus Came to Town

I love Christmas. This year will go down as one my favorites. Our kids opted for self initiated homemade gifts this year even though I had other plans. I love that they find so much joy in making things for each other. They love doing the whole process of creating, wrapping, and placing gifts under the tree all by themselves.

Among our homemade gifts was Lucy's puzzle for Miles. She drew a picture of a tiger and cut it up. You can enjoy a similar puzzle by pulling 25 pieces of paper out of your paper shredder and putting them back together again. She also made him a musical instrument out of a paper plate, a plastic cup, and a spoon. She was so proud and Miles was a very gracious big brother.

Lucy's gift to Emily this year was a snowflake garland which is now hanging above Emily's bed. Of course Lucy recruited Miles and me to help with cutting the snowflakes. I forgot how much fun that is. Emily was sincerely excited about receiving it.

Emily made me a stack of Christmas cards each with their own cute saying and mosaic picture from construction paper. Miles made me a Rudolf puppet which I must say is really cool. These gifts mean more to me than anything I could have gotten from a store.

Matt is starting a new job in a different department in January so Miles made a little man out of popsicle sticks holding one of Matt's business cards saying, "Goodbye old job." That got a good laugh out of us.

Each year the kids put out a treat for Santa before going to bed. I really didn't want to do more baking right before bed so luckily I talked them into leaving fudge (compliments of Michele--thank you!) for St. Nick. As we went downstairs after getting the kids to bed we found they had switched it to a clementine and a nice row of carrots with a little ranch dressing along with a note telling Santa they'd like him to go on a diet. I don't know what was funnier, reading the note to Santa or hearing their snickering from the top of the stairs.

Speaking of Santa, Lucy asked Santa for a toy trampoline this year. Not the size you are probably thinking of. A toy trampoline. One that her stuffed animals could jump on. I went on a hunt. Just in case you are looking, jumping on the trampoline apparently is not the exercise of choice for American Girl Dolls or Barbies. But thanks to some ingenious friends (thank you Jennifer and Jamie) I decided to make one. It was so fun. After Lucy fell asleep Tuesday night I asked Miles and Emily if they wanted to get out of bed to help us put it together. They were so excited. This was Emily's first year being one of Santa's elves. Miles worked with the saw and Emily with the paint. It was so much fun watching Lucy with her little trampoline this morning knowing that we made it together.

I hope each of you had a merry Christmas. We are so grateful for family and friends and of course for the reason we celebrate--for the birth of Jesus Christ who has given us the greatest gift of all.

Sweet Emily, Family Series Part 3

I love our Emily. She is an angel. I have never met someone so kind, so guileless. She loves everyone and would do anything to make sure they know that. She's so innocent and tender.

Last week after Emily's girl scout troop sang at a retirement community, I was out front talking with her girl scout leader. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Emily helping a woman with a walker get from her car to the front door. Emily is one of those souls that naturally brings love and joy to the needy and down-trodden.

I love Emily's faith. A few years ago we lost our cat Zoe. She rarely goes outside and one day she disappeared. We looked everywhere and after six days I had decided she was gone. Emily wanted to pray for her safe return and she knew Zoe would come back. I was crushed that her prayer wouldn't be answered the way she thought it would. I was taught a lesson. We found Zoe in the woods just 100 yards from our house that very night.

I love Emily's courage. She's not one to need the limelight but she's not afraid to be in front of a crowd. Better said, she may be afraid but she does it anyway. I have seen this courage countless times in so many different situations.

I love her simplicity. This year Miles drew a really cool wish list for Santa and had each of the girls fill one out. Some of the things Emily wrote on her list display her personality perfectly--"family fun nights, a caroling book, to go out caroling, my own picture of Jesus." And the really cool thing is that I know she means it.

When she was in kindergarten she participated in the Reflections contest. The theme that year was "A Different Kind of Hero." I asked her who her hero is. Without hesitation she said, "A tree". After a little prodding she continued, "because it protects you from the hot sun." See what I mean by simple? Finding gratitude in simple things is something she does naturally.

Just after she was baptized, Matt and I took her on a trip to Hawaii. It will forever feel like the trip that ended too soon. To have that kind of time with her was priceless. She has such a quiet optimism about her. She's so easy to have around.

Emily, I love you. I love the kind of daughter you are. I love the kind of sister you are. I love who you are becoming. With your sweet and tender heart I wish I could keep you under my wing forever. I know that's not possible but as hard times come I know you'll turn to the one true source of happiness. That's just the kind of person you are. I'm so grateful to be your mom.

We Mourn the Loss of...

Apparently the last couple of times Lucy has gone to preschool she has ended up crying. When her teachers have asked her what is wrong she says, "My new mom died." I'm sure you are wondering just as they were what is behind this story.

Since last spring Lucy has frequently talked about her "new mom". By frequent, I mean several times a week. Her new mom sometimes lives in rainbowland (where rainbow cats walk on two legs and talk...and can make rain stop). Last time we were in Portland she got so excited at the sight of a tall hotel and yelled, "Hey, that's my new mom's house!" If anyone ever asks Lucy where she learned something, it is always from her new mom. Her new mom has 200 Lucys, one Emily, and one son named My. (Evidently there is a new dad but we've only heard of him twice.) And of course she drives a bus so she can take all those kids places.

We all just go along with it. It's very real to her. It has always made me laugh...well, except for the time when she asked for her new mom in the ER while getting an IV. Apparently I wasn't doing a very good job protecting her. I think that time I cried but otherwise it's all been quite entertaining to see what her little imagination has cooked up.

On the way out to the car while trying to keep my composure, I asked Lucy how her new mom died. It's very unfortunate. She was hit by an ice cream truck and forgot that she was allergic to ice cream.

Van Gogh? Not So Much

I recently completed a continuing education class entitled Art as Therapy. I thought we'd learn about the impact art can have on the brain, the effect of different mediums, etc. but what it ended up being was...well...therapy. It was all about creating some piece of art then listening as each student described their "process" and what feelings came to the surface as they were expressing themselves through that week's medium. Of course this included explanations of personal trials. So it wasn't what I thought I was signing up for (I should have known, I mean it was Evergreen College) but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Well, expect for that one man who acted as if he was so much deeper and more intellectual than anyone in the room. Hmmm....that could describe quite a few of them actually.

Each week the instructor displayed a quote by Vincent Van Gogh. "If you hear a voice within you say, 'you cannot paint,'then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." Didn't work for me. That voice is still rolling on the ground in laughter but I'm going to make myself vulnerable and post these anyway.

The first week we scribbled with our eyes closed then looked at the paper for something to jump out. This is what I got. Of course the goldfish were not part of my scribbling but everyone else was still working so hard. I needed something to do.

This was followed by looking through magazines for a picture that inspired us. Yeah, that's about the extent of the instruction that day. I pretty much just copied an ad. Freedom of the road I guess.

The next week I didn't quite catch the purpose of the activity. Still don't but this is what my painting morphed into. You might see something similar hanging in a 3rd grade art room.

The next week was my favorite. We were given a piece of clay and told to squish it around with our eyes closed then start from there creating whatever jumped out at us. Mine became a fire which was really fun because as I molded the flames, they kept bending and changing on their own since they were so thin. I liked having the clay take on it's own design just as flames do. As far as it relating to life, change is constant. I don't have a picture of the flame but my next assignment was to make something that symbolized me. That was hard. Maybe I should have just left it as a clump of clay. As I played with the clay suddenly it hit me...

Swiss cheese! I've been going through an important spiritual journey over the last few months. One where I'm trying to understand why I deserve forgiveness when I just keep sinning. Why would the Lord answer my prayers when I fall short in my own efforts? Why hasn't He just said, "Come to me when you are serious about changing"? I want to be better but I keep doing things that I know are wrong--getting impatient with my children, wasting time on meaningless things, procrastinating, giving up on goals, getting upset about stupid things, and just being selfish. So swiss cheese felt like the perfect symbol for me right now considering this journey. I'm all full of holes but that's to be expected in mortality. If those holes were gone, I wouldn't need the Savior. I wouldn't need the atonement. So just like swiss cheese, those holes are necessary and even desired. Oh, and cheese can be really stinky but taste really good. You know, the whole don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover thing.

The last week we were asked to create something out of a theme we might see in our artwork. I thought of water. In dreams water can symbolize spirituality. And for me right now the bucket is ready to be dropped down the well. It takes a little work but as most of my other pieces display, water is readily available.

Question of the Day

Lucy: Mom, why birds don't pee?