Christmas 2010 Highlights

I was glad that in some measure we were able to squeeze in our tradition of making a candy house when our friends pulled out their gingerbread house kit.  Didi and Jasmin did the honors, and did a great job.

We can't go to our best friends' house without enjoying music!  Kendall and Jazz collaborated for some beautiful clarinet & piano duets (Jazz later went to piano and left the clarinet to Kendall), and I loved it when Lainie sang for me one of my favorite songs, "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most", despite her cold. 

Cousins in spirit!  (Except for Goldie and Alyse, who are twin sisters in spirit.)

Our tree was probably a fire hazard as it blocked our back door, but oh well. Tootie had something against our garland and tried to remove it every chance he could; not sure what what up with that, but at least the ornaments stayed on the tree a lot better this year than last year.  The candy canes were just a Christmas Eve addition--thanks, Santa!

Stockings.

Essentials.

Goldie's favorites included her pillow pet and her new bedding (comforter and sheets), and a pretty fabric-covered glass plate.

Tootie had a Superman Toy Story Thomas the Tank Engine Christmas.

I got what I asked for!  A long-sleeved BYU shirt, and a brown purse (which Jazz did an awesome job of picking out himself!).  Jazz topped me off with some other thoughtful gifts, and also shown are the wonderful gifts from my mom & dad.  So nice!

Didi received the biggest gift in size--a new bike.  She was also really excited about the watch set, and the Woodstock stuffed animal from Goldie (which we had a hard time buying while she was in the store with us).

Jazz had a BYU shirt Christmas, and his favorite was the Beethoven records, nearly completing the big set he already enjoys.

Shark had a Ducks Christmas--including an autographed poster from Mikey the Duck himself!  (the football team's mascot is one of Jazz's students). 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

No doubt about it, Shark's most exciting toy of all wasn't a gift he had received, but the iPod he bought off of Craigslist on Christmas Eve.  He had saved his money for months and months for this.  I'm proud of him for saving and earning something he really wanted. 

Inside the tent box--the surprise Christmas gift which came in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Lovell. 

Look how big our kids are!  Next year will Shark be taller than Mom???!

We couldn't wait.  We wanted very much to spend Christmas in our own home as our own little family unit, but once all the presents were opened and we got the clutter cleared away, we hit the road and made it to Sacramento  by dinnertime.  On the road on Christmas Day wasn't what I had in mind, but in the end, I realized it was super fun to be in both places on that special day. 

Didi and Goldie love their new matching jammies with their cousin!

I loved my outing with one of my best friends.  We got to go to the Crocker Art Museum.  She's so great to treat me to such cultural enrichment!  I had never been to a museum like that before--it was amazing.  Thanks, Jazz, for letting me slip away for the 3+ hours to enjoy it!

"It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight..."  I think they rehearsed this song together about 50 bajillion times. 

Christmas cookies!  Because we all got the flu the week after we made about 5 batches of cookies (the week before Christmas), unfortunately we didn't get them all passed out to our friends.  But we enjoyed the baking time anyway, and eventually they mostly got all eaten.  Better luck next year : ).   Overall, we had a fabulous Christmas season!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Ada wins the award for cutest of the cute this year.  I can't get enough of her happy shiny personality.

Thanks, Stephanie.

From my journal today, Sunday, 11:40 a.m.

Feeling sorry for myself a little.  Goldie has a bad cold & needed to stay home from church.  Jazz's calling in the nursery needs him there for 2 hours, so I was elected to stay home.  After sacrament meeting Jazz brought Tootie home 'cause he won't go to Primary by himself yet (tough transition from nursery), and plus, he has a cold too.  I was really bummed about missing church--I always look forward to it so much.

So at home I sought to find something inspirational on the internet, and I came upon a beautiful gem that I believe will enrich me for a long time.  The story of Stephanie & Christian Nielson.  They're an LDS couple who, when parents of 4 children, were in a terrible plane crash--and they survived.  He, with burns on 40% of his body, and she, with burns on over 80% of her body.  Now she is back to mothering full-time, after recovering from her 3-month long coma while they repaired her body.  Now she is a stronger person--yet still the same person--yet a new person with a new life with so many new struggles and limitations.

She said in the "Conversations" interview on LDSradio.org that sometimes she wishes she could shake [people like me] and tell us to be grateful and not take the ease of life for granted.  --What a blessed, lucky, rich life I live.

She has a new life, and she is happy.  She remembers that while she was in her coma she was given the choice (!!) to either stay on earth and live through the challenges, or to stay in heaven where she could also be happy and have lots of important work to do.  She thought of her husband and children, and said the choice to stay with them was so easy.

And now she continues to inspire millions of people through her upbeat blog about her life as a wife and mother (for which she had a couple hundred thousand followers before the accident, but now it reaches a worldwide audience).

Two things that she said particularly struck me are:
"To me, beauty and motherhood are one.  They are the same thing."
and,
"I am Stephanie Nielson.  I am not my body."

Thanks, Stephanie.  I am excited to start following your blog.

A few more thoughts:
-Every morning she wakes up and stretches, and showers, and scrubs her new scarred skin.  It's painful, and it takes about 2 hours.  I can pull it off in 5 minutes if I have to.  Something else not to take for granted.
-At first her children had a hard time looking at her.  It took months for them to do that.  :(
-There are so many things she can't do now that I can do every day.  HOLD HER CHILDREN. Wash her children in  a hot/warm bath.  Open ziplock bags easily.  Wear skirts without tights.  Little things!!  I'm so grateful!

Visit Stephanie Nielson's blog


Hear Stephanie Share Her Story on Mormon Messages

Eugene Creche Family Picture 2010 (1)