Christmas Memories!

 Updated: This blog post has been in the writing for several days now, but I’m going to leave it as it is- Merry Christmas! 

Merry Christmas Eve! I was very much hoping that I would find the time to write an updated Christmasy letter, but at the rate I’m going, it looks like Easter is a much better possibility! We’ve managed to wrap up this part of the school year and slid into Christmas break. It’s been a few years since I’ve felt this tired and overwhelmed at the Christmas season, but there’s a lot happening in our lives right now. I feel like I’m struggling to find “balance” in it all with Holiday gatherings, friends, Church events, school events, basketball, cheer, children, spouse, food to prepare as well as finding moments to prepare my own heart for the reason for the season. (If it was completely honest, I feel like I’m struggling a bit with some depression, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to find a few moments to re-group and re-focus over this Christmas break). We went to the Christmas Eve service this morning, and that is always one of my favorite church services as it’s typically full of more music and an opportunity to cherish a quiet moment of reflection.

The last few weeks have been busy as we’ve prepared for Christmas break. We were able to take in a singing event with our friends, the Harrison’s and the Everett’s. It was a truly wonderful experience to soak up the sounds of the season and listen to college kids sing about the reason we can celebrate- Jesus. It’s a tradition that I hope we will be able to continue with for years to come as it really was a great service and the kids all enjoyed it too. We’ve also hosted a cheerleading Christmas party, made 100s of treats to give out for Christmas gifts, gathered food and gifts for the kids school events, and even managed to get the art room free of Christmas ornaments! Whew! 

Those would be the highlights. The low lights would be helping our freinds, the Everett’s, clean their military base house as they prepare to move. I can’t even hardly type that without my eyes filling with tears. Laura has helped me coach cheerleading, loved our children, hosted us for more meals than I can count, and their family is very special to us. We will miss them more than we can express. Another lowlight would be last Sunday night. It was raining and Laura and I had taken Emma, Chandler and Ava out to get some items for our cheerleading party. On the way back home, some of the roads were becoming flooded. We turned on the road towards home, and about halfway through a very large puddle…we were stuck. I immediately hopped out of the car and the water was over my knees. We tried to push the vehicle out of the water, but that didn’t work either. We called our husbands, and they came to rescue us. I ended up taking Laura, Ava, Chandler and Emma back home in Roger’s truck with Garett, Roger and Justin tried to figure out the car situation. It involved calling a tow truck, a long night, and lots of water before the vehicle was finally out of the water. That adventure definitely put a damper on the night! I’m thankful that God protected all of us. We learned a lot, and God is still in control. I don’t understand why God thought we needed one more situation in our lives, but God is still good. It’s been a week!

Also this week the alternator on the van went out, so Roger spent the day after Christmas fixing that! Garett’s car bit the dust, and the repairs were going to be way too costly, so that vehicle went to the junk yard. Garett was pretty happy to get $400 for his car, and he’s beginning the process of looking for a different vehicle. He doesn’t have his license yet, which is partially on him, but mostly on us as parents. We aren’t quite ready for the hike in insurance prices, and currently he’s still going wherever one of us are going so it’s worked out. Yes, he’s missed out on a few things, but nothing that he’s seemed too bothered about. He’ll get his license…eventually! 

We took Jen to the airport on Thursday morning as she’s flying to Maine to see Hannah and Josh and their kids. Roger hasn’t felt well for the past few days, so he’s been home a bit more this week and I’ve appreciated that. Jen opened up her home to the Everett’s as their between homes right now without base housing or a house in the area that they are moving to yet. We celebrated Christmas with them on Saturday night with lots of yummy food, gingerbread creations, and a Christmas movie. The Everett’s are leaving to see family in Tennessee, and Roger’s parents are coming into town tonight. We are thankful for family. 

Continued (12/29/23) It’s now Friday morning. The presents are unwrapped and strewn all about. The cookies are eaten. Grandpa and Grandma have come and gone, and now we are trying to recover from too much sugar and junk food! We enjoyed our visit with Roger’s parents, and the weather was beautiful on Christmas Day. Roger, his dad and the kids went to the baseball park for a while, and I was able to get in a short walk. We visited on the phone with my parents for a bit too. We had a relatively quiet Christmas as far as gifts for our kids. Since we are going on a family vacation in January, we told the kids that they would just pick names for each other and they’d each get a gift that way. We all picked names for each other and the kids do the shopping for the name that they picked (with some help from mom and dad!). It’s interesting to me to see what they pick out for each other. As they’ve grown and matured, we progressed from picking things out at the Dollar Tree (nothing wrong with that!) to picking out shoes, a hockey stick, a doll, etc. I do enjoy spending time with the kids as we Christmas shop, and I hope that Roger and I have impressed on them the importance of the real reason for Christmas! Gifts, lights, cookies, treats, special events are all fun and exciting, but without Jesus we’d have no hope for eternity! I’m so thankful that Jesus came to be the “Light of the World”. 

It’s hard to believe that our Christmas break is wrapping up in just a few days. I wish I had had a bit more time to savor the moments, take longer walks, and do a few more things, but I’m thankful for the break from school. It was beginning to feel overwhelming and over stimulating those last few days of school, and I can recognize in myself when the tentacles of depression start to creep in. Roger and I have had some long conversations over break about the future and what that might look like for our children. With Garett approaching his last year in school soon, we are quickly recognizing that our time is running out to spend these amounts of time with him. I feel like there is so much more that I want to teach him or that I want him to be prepared for or informed about in life. But above all, I want each of our children to recognize their need for Jesus in their lives in a real and personal way. The burdens sometimes seem really heavy these days, but we can lean on Jesus. 

I do have plans to write an updated newsy letter for our family and send out a picture, but it’ll probably happen around Easter! I like to write the letter every year because I like to re-read them over the years. 

We hope you all had a wonderful Merry Christmas! 

A Hundred Thoughts and Memories

 Merry Christmas! (I feel like I don’t have enough hours in the day right now, so I better say Merry Christmas first!) It’s hard to believe that it is already December, and it’s been so warm around here! Today (Sunday, 12/3) it was about 76 degrees! This Northern girl has a hard time remembering that it’s December when it’s so warm outside!

The boys (and Roger) had a wonderful time hunting up in Wisconsin over Thanksgiving break. They are already making plans for next year, and they’d like to make it a yearly tradition! I don’t know about that, but I’m glad that they had a great time. Travis got two doe and Chandler also shot a doe. That was exciting for Travis as I figured he was the least likely to get a deer as sitting still isn’t his favorite! Roger said that he’s never seen two deer act so dumb as those two doe that Travis shot, but I think God was showing His love and grace to Travis. They arrived in Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon, ate lunch, and went hunting. Travis sat in the deer stand with Roger, and eventually the first doe came into sight. Travis got his gun all lined up for the shot, and then leaned over to Roger and whispered, “Is this gun gonna kick hard?” Roger said he had a hard time not chuckling, but Travis shot the doe right through the lung. Since there was still some daylight left, and the deer dropped right down, they waited a little longer. About twenty minutes later, another deer walked into sight. The doe stopped about ten feet from the first dropped deer, so Travis shot that one! We were excited for him, and the next morning Travis slept in while the other boys got up to go hunting. He was pretty excited to have something to smugly remind his brothers that not only had he shot the first deer, he shot two deer! The next morning, Monday, Travis sent me a text from my mom’s phone. He said, “I’m smiling and you’re crying. I’m not at school, but you are. Love, Travis” Ahh! That boy! It was really, really good for him to have a few days off of school and be away from the stresses that he’s been facing. It was a good week for all of the boys, and they had a great time with my parents. My mom said that she had forgotten how much the boys could eat on a regular basis, and I just laughed. Our grocery bill was much lower that week with it just being Emma and I! We are so thankful that the boys had this opportunity to spend time hunting and with my parents. Education is important, and I absolutely believe that. But I also believe that life experiences, family, and relationships are also important. God is so good to allow the boys to have this privilege to travel to Wisconsin, and they’ll forever treasure the memories. 

Emma and I also enjoyed Thanksgiving break. It was nice to have a little bit slower pace and to savor a few special moments with just one child. It was a weird week as our friends, the Everett’s were gone, the boys were gone, Roger was gone and Jen left on Wednesday for South Dakota. I wasn’t sure what we were going to do for Thanksgiving dinner, but I figured that even if we had just cereal, it was gonna be fine with me! However, my friend, Laura Guelfi, invited us over to her house for Thanksgiving dinner. That was a nice change for me as usually it’s my house that’s a bustling place on Thanksgiving day! It was nice to go over to their house, enjoy dinner and fellowship, and help clean up, and then go home. I’m thankful that they extended hospitality to Emma and I, and we are so very blessed to have friends to give thanks with and for. 

Emma and I did go do some Black Friday shopping! We went to Michael’s art/craft store as I needed some supplies for the 500+ ornaments that the kids are making for gifts for their parents. Such is the life of a teacher- buy it when it’s on sale! But Emma and I ran into some freinds during our lunch at Chick-fil-a and Emma was thrilled to have lunch with another little girl from school. That was the highlight of her day, and I’m glad that God orchestrated that detail for Emma. 

The boys got home on Sunday afternoon, and we whipped right into a busy and full week of school! We are on the countdown to Christmas break, but these are some long and full days with cheer practices, basketball practices for three of the boys, and the endless job of trying to keep up with all the school work and projects that are due. We’ve been very busy in the art room, and while my regular art assistant is filling in for another teacher, we’ve been busy! I am thankful for the TA’s that help on Monday and Tuesday with art as we’ve been in the middle of a million pieces of popsicle sticks, hot glue, pictures and ribbon! I’m thankful for help that is willing to pitch in and do whatever is necessary! 

It was a mentally exhausting week for me. It felt like a dogfight to get up and go to work towards the end of the week, and I don’t like that feeling. We’ve faced some pretty serious attacks from Satan head-on this past week, and I’m still waiting for God to work out the details of what His perfect plan looks like. To be completely honest, Friday was a terrible, horrible no-good very bad day. Laura and I were both in tears on the bus ride back to school, and an older, much wiser coach looked at us and said, “You gotta let it roll like water off a duck’s back. Just remember Jesus loves you and press on.” It’s not that easy for me, but after going home and talking through a lot of it with Roger, I was able to get back up on Saturday morning and head to the basketball tournament. Chandler was playing in the tournament this past weekend, and they had a 9:00am game, which meant an early morning departing from the school! Roger and Garett came along to the tournament, but Emma and Travis stayed with Aunt Jen. Wyatt was at Brody’s house. We got home around 2:00pm, and it was good to catch up on some household chores that badly needed attention! 

On Saturday evening, we had the opportunity to attend a “Night in Bethlehem” put on by a local church. We’ve been to something similar in Maine, but yet completely different! We met Jen and the Everett’s at the event at about 6:30pm. The church had set up  “Bethlehem” in a field complete with many shops that would’ve been in Bethlehem, camels, sheep, the Inn, the stable, etc. It was really a cool interactive experience for Emma especially but we all enjoyed it. The weather was beautiful, and it was a fun, free activity. The kids all enjoyed it, and it was a good reminder of why we celebrate the season. It’s not just about the Baby, but about the cross! I am so very thanfkul that Jesus was willing to come as a baby in a manger, but He didn’t stay a helpless baby. He is indeed the Risen King of Kings and Lord of my life. 

We had several families over for supper on Sunday night as well as to bake, cook, and create Christmas treats! Whew! It was the most chocolaty mess ever, but it was fun! The kids ran around outside, ate food, ran around some more, ate treats, and played hide-n-seek in the yard. About the time that the parents were ready to go, the kids had all disappeared! We spent some time looking for them, and then realized that they had walked down to the pond and around on the gravel road by our house. It was a flurry of activities with parents yelling for kids, car horns honking, and lots of excitement! Two of the neighbors checked in with us, but I was happy to tell them that the excitement was over. We had just temporarily lost 13 kids! Oh well! It was a fun memory and lots of baking, cooking, creating, and chocolate dipping! I am thankful for good friends to enjoy fellowship, laughter, and baking together. 

The Middle School Basketball team had a game on Tuesday evening, and with some scheduling arrangements with Laura and the cheer schedule, I did make it to his game. Roger was able to get off early enough to watch the game too, and it’s fun to watch that age play basketball. None of them are very good, but for the most part they work hard and have good attitudes. Travis has been able to have quite a bit of playing time the last two games, and he works hard at it. We are thankful for the coaches for his team, and that Travis has this opportunity to play. Chandler has had a few games also, but not quite a much playing time. He tends to get nervous in the game, but I think part of that is just lack of experience. He is learning a lot, and we are thankful for his coach also. 

This week Garett’s junior class is putting on a Christmas play, and wow- Garett has been stressed! He’s been in Christmas programs before and involved in lots of things on a stage, but this is a major responsibility for him, and he wants it to be well done. After many long conversations with him, helping him learn lines, and listening to him, we just told him that he is responsible for himself. He doesn’t like to be embarrassed and if he’s involved in something he wants it to be done well. So, he would appreciate your prayers for his class tomorrow night! 

We are coming down the homestretch to Christmas break, and this mama is looking forward to break. For the first time in many years, I don’t have a Christmas card to send out or a letter. That was hard for me to accept as I like to stay connected with people, and I like to get and receive mail. However, at the end of the day, it’s not a priority this year. But I do need to make cards at some point because we had our family pictures done! I think most of the 500+ art ornaments are done, and other than picking up two more pictures from Walmart, we are wrapping that project up too. Literally on Monday, we will be wrapping and packaging the ornaments during our art class time for the kids to take home. Most of the kids have been really excited about having a present to give to their parents, and it’s a way to help the students understand that Christmas is definitely not all about getting something! 

The cheer team is prepping for a pep rally on Friday, and whew! Laura and I have been working hard on a lot of details behind the scenes to help prepare for this, and we’d definitely appreciate your prayers! We want to glorify our Heavenly Father, encourage school spirit, have fun games, not have any injuries, and show a little Christmas spirit. (I think I’m tired already!) 

December is such an exciting month, but it can also be an exhausting month. I’m learning that I can’t do it all, and that sometimes, I just have to let things go. It’s okay that Emma’s clothes don’t always match - she picked them out herself. It’s okay that we won’t send out a Christmas card- listening to Garett’s concerns was more important. It’s okay that I didn’t get up all the Christmas decorations- we have a tree and the real reason for Christmas is Jesus anyways! I’m thankful that God is always faithful. I am thankful that regardless of my “feelings”, God never stops loving me. 

A favorite song of mine this Christmas season! Emmanuel, God with us!