I guess I took a bit of a blog hiatus this month. It was an odd December. I didn’t feel the holly jolly elf until like 3 days before Christmas. And let me tell you, it’s hard to get all your elfing done in 3 days.
Even then, this Christmas felt different for me. It was more reflective. I thought a lot about the word “believe.” We have it on many of our Christmas Decorations, and I found myself making a mental list of all the things I believe in, Christmasey and otherwise.
I believe:
-That a baby was born in a stable. He is the Son of God. Angels sang. Shepherds came. It’s not just a sweet story
-In the spirit of Santa Clause
-In the blessings that come from giving and sharing
-That saying my prayers, reading my scriptures, and going to church brings me great peace and happiness
-That families are forever
-In God’s timing, He knows more than I do
-That life is made up of moments, not events (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again)
-That my body is a miracle
-That music can heal the soul, again and again
I’ve also been thinking a lot about simplicity. My overriding New Years resolution is to simplify. I want less stuff in my house. Less nonsense floating around in my brain. I want simple movement and exercise to be a part of my everyday schedule. Easy homemade meals eaten around the table. I want to love others in a non-complicated way. I want projects and art to be fun and renewing instead of complicated.
Doesn’t that sound nice?
Instead of journaling the pictures, and since I’m enjoying lists today, I’m going to pre-write a bit of what our holiday season entailed, and then I will let the photos speak for themselves.
-Frankie saw Santa at the Jubilee of Trees. He asked him for “the Fire Car.” That would be Snot Rod from the movie Cars. Santa was a little confused about this, so I had to explain. And Santa’s elves had a hard time tracking down this particular model, but were able to pull through. He also intermittently asked for a train.
-A Mathis family tradition, that my Mom picked up while my parents were stationed with the Military in Germany, is advent calendar treats. The way Mom did it, and that I am now, is that the child wakes up every morning and there’s a treat or a small toy in a special place. (Every day in December until Christmas.) Frankie loved it this year. He would remind us every night “go put something in my box!” He got some pretty cool stuff, including an Ikea train set I forgot to give him for his birthday, a new car, a puzzle, books, a Little People Nativity I had scored an awesome deal on, and of course, treats.
-One night we drove around and checked out the Christmas lights. Frankie is a big fan of the blow-up lawn decorations. Me, not so much.
-We made gingerbread houses for FHE. It was sort of a disaster because I hadn’t pre-prepared. But good fun, anyway.
-Jeremy’s Grandma Caroline came for her annual visit, and this year she got to fly right into the St. George airport, so we went and met here there. Frankie held a sign welcoming his “Mama Hat.” (Grandma Pat.)
-Frankie wore a festive apron, and helped me bake Christmas cookies for friends and neighbors. If there’s one thing I should have cut out of the 3 days of elf cheer, it was the sugar cookies. I’ve learned my lesson, next year something more simple if I don’t get to it earlier.
-On Christmas Eve morning Frankie’s advent treat was a present to open (a new game.) By the time I made it downstairs he was started on his 3rd (unauthorized) present. Oi.
-We spent Christmas Eve with Jeremy’s family. We had a lovely dinner and gifts. Frankie definitely took the prize for the most presents. Our family was given a quarter of a cow from Jeremy’s parents. It will live in frozen glory at their house except for when we go get some to cook up. A very cool gift, as always.
-I summarized the Nativity story and we looked at a beautiful book when I laid Frankie down for bed. Just as I was wondering if any of it was getting through to him, he said “that’s so sad that the baby grows up and dies.” It brought tears to my eyes.
-On Christmas morning we awoke to the sound of Frankie playing with his new Geo-trax downstairs. (At our house, Santa sets everything up, ready to play with) We had discussed with him repeatedly not to go down without waking us up, but I guess we should have built a barricade.
-We had a lovely low-key Christmas day, and then we took off for the cabin that evening.
-Frankie finally gave playing in the snow a fair chance and he loved it. Sleighing was fun, but I think snowmobiling was his favorite.
-The cabin was lovely. It is great to spend time with family. I read an entire book, Jeremy played a new computer game, and we all ate a lot.
I have a final piece of news. On Christmas Eve, Jeremy said to me jokingly "I got a bonus yesterday, and I was thinking about blowing it all and getting you a laptop." I said "If you're really ever going to blow a bonus I'd rather have a camera.""Let's do it." He says.
"We shouldn't..." I say.
But we did.
My new Canon Rebel came today. I had a few minutes to play with it, and I can't wait to learn more. Picture taken at my house, in fairly low light, and no flash. (I was messing with the aperture priority settings.) I can't tell you how happy it makes me that it's mostly in focus and not grainy.
