Day 6
Deliver our Secret Santa purchases.
Every year I sign up for one of these Secret Santa activities. We've supported various organizations through the year, and I'm glad when I find one. This year a Girl Scout troop did a giving tree and each kid picked a card off the tree. Wesley picked "bicycles and helmets" and Laurel picked "jewelry." We went to Fred Meyer and picked out two helmets and two cute little jewelry sets. My life was easy this year because the woman we delivered it to lives really close, so she came by my house after work and we just handed it to her. Easy!
Day 7
Wear all red and green clothes!
They weren't that cooperative at the bus stop. Wesley has on his red Picnic Point shirt and you may notice Laurel is wearing the same shirt she wore last year. It's festive. It is worth mentioning she enjoys wearing her reindeer shirt (or black Trick or Treat shirt) anytime, year-round.
Day 8
Call Grandmas and go phone caroling! Grandma Twining got a nice version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Away in a Manger, and Grandma Gottula got Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Wesley was a bit aggravated because, "Mom, the activity didn't say to sing songs AND talk, it only said to sing songs!" And when I wanted to have a nice chat and tell the Grandmas about our lives, that was just grossly unfair to Wesley. Funny kid.
Day 9
Attend our ward's Christmas brunch, a Morning in Bethlehem. Our ward nailed it this year... the three units in the building all agreed on the same theme, and the other ward had its party last night, we got the breakfast slot, and the last unit (the Spanish branch) has its party tonight. We all shared decorations and the work. Genius! It was cute.
They asked me to emcee, which was easy, but I wish I was more prepared. I kind of just winged it and it wasn't as smooth as I would have liked. For example, Christmas music was playing during the opening prayer... the woman giving the closing prayer kind of landlocked at her table and couldn't make it to the micrphone... the opening song was acapella and we totally goofed it up... I was talking to someone and did a bad job dismissing rows of tables to get food... sigh. Next year, right? ;-)
There were activity rooms (like letter writing, crafts, and cookie decorating), plus kids did get to see Santa. Wesley again asks for an Alexa and Laurel now asked for "Jelly" a little cat beanie baby she saw in a drugstore the other day. I asked her, what about the orange cat with red stripes? And she said she told that to the other Santa, so obviously he's taking care of it. Oh geez. Every Santa gets a new message and they're all equally valid. I'll be broke by the time Christmas is here (yet rich with plush cats).
Jesus words this week have included Little Lord Jesus, King of Kings, and Counsellor. In Light the World we've learned about not judging (thinking about how others feel) and loving your enemies. That helped in the car ride home when Wesley pinched Laurel and she's crying huge tears, and I sort of tell him he's acting like a bully, and she says she loves him anyway even though he's her enemy. Sigh. Parenting.
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