The Spirit of Christmas

In the LDS church, everything is done by the congregation. Basically, nobody gets paid and we are all expected to pitch in. They ask different people to fill different rolls, some of which carry huge responsibilities. When I moved here, I actually was kind of bracing myself to see what they would want from me. Fortunately, I was asked to be a party planner for our church’s women’s group. That means that about five times a year, I help plan a party/dinner/gathering.

Two weeks ago, we had a nice Christmas dinner to put on. Usually, 40 to 60 women attend. The leader of the party planners invited us over to her house last month to figure out the details. We discussed the menu, invitations, decorations, and who our speaker would be. The other planners had not lived in this area for very long. They were suggesting names of men who attend church with our congregation. I sat there thinking it would be nice to have a woman from another congregation. I thought of the perfect person and suggested her name. She was one of my mom’s friends and she LOVES Christmas, but I have only seen her in passing for the past 20 years. We all decided to tell her our plans for the dinner and let her run with whatever she wanted to talk about. I wasn’t in charge of making the phone call, so I didn’t know whether she agreed or not. I didn’t find out until just a few days before that she had agreed.

When she arrived at the dinner that night, I hugged her and sat by her while we ate. I remembered why I admired her. She is very smart, intuitive, and full of love. I had no idea what she would talk about, but was completely blown away by her approach. Her topic was sad things that have happened at Christmastime that changed who you are as a person. She started with a story about herself.

She grew up in a family with eleven kids. She was right in the middle, actually #5. One Christmas when she was about seven, she awoke to find very few presents under the tree. Her family took turns passing out a present and watching the person open it. When all the presents were gone, she sat there quietly trying to conceal her sadness because there wasn’t even one gift for her and she didn’t want to hurt her mother’s feelings. Her mom suddenly noticed and had a look of panic on her face. Her mom took her by the hand and led her to where she kept the fabric. She had her pick whatever fabric she wanted and told her that she planned to make a dress for her.

Our speaker asked if others had stories to share. Another lady told us about a Christmas when she was in her early 20s where she grew up in Guatemala. Her fiancé had called off their wedding and dumped her without explanation two months before this particular holiday. She had spent the last two months crying in her room and moping around their house. On Christmas Eve, her mother insisted that she get dressed and help with food preparations in the kitchen. She complied, but did so with a bad attitude until she noticed two children sweeping out her family’s garage. Immediately, she could see that they were very poor and must have come from a different part of town. They were trying to earn a tiny amount of money for their family. She suddenly lost all of her self-pity. She fixed a plate of food and cookies to give to them. The kids were so tickled by the thought of bringing food to their family. They were even more thrilled to try cookies for the first time.

This was exactly the Christmas message that I needed to hear. I had been feeling pretty depressed about not being able to splurge on Christmas this year. It was nice to be reminded that the spirit of Christmas is felt in the heart.

Jordan's 4th Birthday

Jordan is officially four years old.  To celebrate, we decided to have a reindeer birthday party.  What could be better than combining a birthday and a Christmas party?  We invited our close friends and had an amazing time.  I decided to share some of the themed items:

Invite:

 Reindeer Noses

Rootdeer

Cupcakes

Bean Bag Toss

Thanksgiving Post 2011

This evening, I suddenly felt like I wanted to make a list of things I am thankful for.  It is a little long and I don't care if anyone else reads it.  It was simply a great reminder for me. 


I, Freckle Face Girl, remember:

1. I am thankful for my kids and the opportunity to be their mom. A while ago, I was in a class where the teacher asked us to think about what we were born to do. I realized that I was born to be a mom. That doesn’t mean that I am perfect (far from it), but I am passionate about it and I truly feel it is one of the aspects that helps to define me.


2. I am thankful for my job. I started working for this company almost 10 years ago. Life certainly has changed since then, but they continue to give me a pay check as well as moral support.


3. I am thankful that I work from home. At times it is tougher than working in an office, but it also allows me to live closer to the type of lifestyle I think is best for me and my kids. I realize that not many people are this lucky.


4. I am thankful that my kids go to fantastic schools and have great teachers. Most importantly, they are happy.


5. I am thrilled to be raising my kids in an area where their influences are mostly positive. I am amazed that elementary aged kids here only know “bad” words to be things like stupid, duh, and shut-up.


6. I am thankful that my mom has been such a great support my whole life, and especially over the last few years. Beyond her moral support, she continues to pay my health insurance and do whatever she can for me and the kids.


7. I am thankful for my family and glad that drama is not part of the dynamics. It isn’t because we are not bursting with personality. We just believe everyone is crazy, so we don’t get offended easily/at all.


8. I am thankful for the many wonderful friends I have made in my life and the ability to stay connected to them.  I am also glad for friends that treat us like family and invite us to spend holidays (Thanksgiving) with them.


9. I am thankful that I attend a church with great people who are kind, compassionate, fun, smart, and continually working to improve themselves.


10. I am thankful for the many wonderful ways that my impossible prayers have been answered. One or two were even mind-blowing.


11. I am thankful for the opportunities to help others. It is amazing how those simple acts inspire someone to pay it forward or come back and return the favor years later (see #10).


12. I am thankful that this year is coming to an end. Before this year even started, I had a premonition (link to post) it was going to be tough and it truly has been. Now, I am just hoping something will brighten up next year. – So far, I have received no premonitions either way…


13. Maybe it is cheesy to end it like this, but…. I am thankful to be single so that I don’t have to share the master suite. I just LOVE having my own walk-in-closet and bathroom.

Christmas Card Time

As I have mentioned probably way too many times on this blog, I like to start working on Christmas cards in November.  I even like to mail them off a bit early - beginning of December.  However, this year, I have been feeling like it is just one more thing that I have to try to do.  Not such a fun way to start the whole process.  This was pretty much my attitude until I found some exciting news on Dayngr Girl's Blog (Dayngrous Discourse).  I was one of three winners selected to receive holiday cards from Shutterfly.  Now, I just have to try and get some cute pictures of the kids.

Goodbye to my Aunt

My dad died of brain cancer almost exactly six years ago.  Today, his younger sister lost her battle with breast cancer.  He was 56.  She was 54.  The worst part is that my grandparents have now lost 3 of their 5 children.  His older brother died last January.  It doesn't matter how old you are or how old your children are, losing them is a nightmare.

Holiday Shirt

I don't think it is any secret that I love holidays & getting festive.  Sadly, this year I am suffering from a lack of funds.  However, thanks to inspiration from pinterest, lots of ribbon and glue already owned, and a mother who always had sewing and craft projects going on – I am trying a new craftier phase of life.  I even spent most of my Saturday working on several projects.  My poor sewing machine had not been plugged in for 3 years.

I am posting the above Christmas tree shirt that I made for Lexi. Most of my other projects will be Christmas presents, so those I’ll have to keep under wraps.  I liked how this one turned out.  It was insanely easy.  I simply used ribbons, fabric glue, fray check, and scissors.  I think it would be even better to use non-traditional Christmas colors like soft pink and blue, perhaps I’ll try that next year.

Halloween Costumes

This year, I didn't have the time, energy, or money to devote to coming up with new costumes, so I convinced the kids that we should be the same thing as last year.  They dressed up on Friday and Saturday for church trunk-or-treating.  We all got dressed up last night to go to a friend's house for a Halloween party.  Of course, I was the only adult dressed up.  That either means that I am insane, immature, or just too much fun... you decide.

Decorating Pumpkins

This year, I decided that I didn't feel like carving pumpkins.  Actually, I should say this week has been crazy hectic with work.  I barely survived getting by on minimal activities and very little sleep.  However, holidays must go on, right?  I decided that we should do some kind of pumpkin decorating activity one evening.  I pulled out my hot glue gun and bin full of ribbons and this is what we came up with.  The kids picked out the ribbons for their pumpkins.  Jordan wanted bats and spiders.  Lexi wanted skulls and polka-dots.  We used these as our decorations for trunk-or-treat.  Maybe next year things will be a little easier and we can go all out. 

Zillions of Distractions

I think it is no secret, especially to anyone who has read my blog for several years, that I simply ♥LOVE♥ holidays.  Remember the old days when I used to re-design my blog for each one?  Pretty crazy!  My blog got too much attention in those days and now sadly has been quite neglected.  These last six weeks it is mainly because of Pinterest.  Who doesn't love looking at, pinning and getting zillions of great ideas about everything and anything?   Of course, I have been looking at lots of holiday ideas.  It is just too tempting for me.  If you are into it or looking for a new addiction, check it out.  I think you can follow me using frecklefacegirl01@hotmail.com or my facebook connection.  The more connections we make, the more stuff there is to look at...  shiny, interesting, crafty, fashionable, dreamy, silly stuff.

Tonight, I have been looking at faces that are painted up for day of the dead.  I have been interested in doing that to my face for Halloween for several years.  I even watched a tutorial.  I don't think it will happen this year, but definitely a motivation for next Halloween.   

Americans Can Cook

Every afternoon (3:30 pm), Jordan and I stand outside of Lexi’s school to pick her up. There are four moms at that exit that walk their kids home on a daily basis, so we have casually talked every day for the past six weeks. For some strange reason, I am the only US born mom and consequently the only one without an accent. One is from France. One is from Venezuela. The third one is from Bolivia.

Last week, the one from France brought each of us a bundle of fresh basil from her garden. The next day, they were all curious about how we each used our basil. The French one’s father was a chef, so she regularly cooks with fresh basil. The one from Venezuela teaches gourmet cooking classes for parties at people’s homes. She planned to use her basil for one of the parties. The one from Bolivia was still thinking about how she would use it, but had thought about using it in a cream cheese mix for various different things. They all looked at me with curiosity. I told them I was going to make a homemade margherita pizza (posted a picture above as proof). They were surprised that I knew how to cook since I am an “American.”

Isn’t that funny that they thought that? Is it because Americans eat out a lot? Maybe they just think we stick to meat and potatoes, which I know a lot who do. I happen to be better at foreign dishes. To be honest, I love all things Italian. Indian, Arabic and Japanese rank high on my list of dishes too. We hardly ever go out to eat, so I have to keep it interesting. I don’t know how Americans got that reputation or if it is wide-spread, but perhaps it is time we show them that we can cook.