Beneath the Wraps

                When we lived in Kearns, Jenna and I had taken many walks.  Often we had a destination.  One of her absolute favorite places to go was Big Lots.  Thus whenever we happen to see a Big Lots, it brings back good memories for us and we have to stop in. Kearns Shopping Center         We haven't experienced even half of Roseburg.  We seemed to be locked into our routine of what few places actually bring us to Roseburg. There is a Big Lots in Roseburg, but it doesn't fall into our average drive and thus has been overlooked - even non-existent until one day in November when we just happened to be taking a different route.          "Is that a Big Lots?"  I asked Roland.  "Can we go there?"         We were there for gift tags specifically,...

          Two days after Christmas, I put Jenna to work in her room with the condition that we would take many breaks (I was also doing household chores - washing the kitchen and doing laundry.)   I asked Jenna if she wanted both of us to color in the book I gave her.   But she realized that pictures were printed on each side of the page - which would interfere with cutting out - so we started making photocopies, and I realized that I would have another project of scanning book material in order to preserve it, but would have to wait until Jenna headed back to school.           First break: we started coloring what few pages we had scanned.   Roland even joined for one picture during his break.   We started coloring before reading any of the stories, and Jenna wondered aloud if it might make a difference.   After I had grown weary of coloring, I read through some of t...

                As I mentioned, there seemed to be a game theme going on . . . and of course what Christmas does not come with duplicate gifts?   As I have mentioned on a few posts, we left West Valley and came to Oregon ahead of schedule.   We left behind so many games.   We even had two games of Sequence -  one of Richard's favorites, and I hadn't brought either.   When Jenna and I saw Sequence at   a 2nd hand store, we purchased it for Roland - unaware that Tony and Rochelle would also be sending a Sequence game.   Perhaps it is our lot in life to have two.                 Biff and Jen had sent two games that seemed pretty identical - 5 second rule for Jenna which comes with a 5 second timer and a deck of card with a topic on each side and the player (or team) has five second...

                After the book sale had started last month, I was drawn to two books in particular.   One was a hard bound and the other softbound.   The softbound was an art book that outlined some popular artists and gave a synopsis of their style and background perhaps . . . I hadn't actually investigated through it thoroughly.   The book was in great condition and a subject I knew Roland would be familiar with.                        The hard bound had originally been published in 1963, but I purchased the 18th edition published in 1971.   Same pictures and cover as the original edition I would imagine.   I wondered if one of my granddaughters might like it, but as   I viewed the many naked pictures inside, I thought of Jenna who loves to color.   So I purchased...

            Our bishop read passages of scripture and would pause for a hymn to fit with the scripture.   It reminded me of the many times our family joined Birds for their annual Christmas pageant.   For the longest time, I had played Mary as I was the only girl. The narrator would read passages of scripture and Peggy would direct the cast on what to do, and we would sing carols to fit in with the setting.   Over the years some things were added, like Samuel the Lamanite and his prophecies.   But that wasn't until after my niece had taken over the role of Mary.               I enjoyed playing Mary and was not at all humble about having been replaced as other families had been invited to participate.   Ellen became bored with playing Mary and was ecstatic when the opportunity was given to another.       ...

        I'm sure there must have been a few Christmases without snow before 2009.    I just can't recall any until that year.   It was our first year living in West Valley.   Tony was engaged and had come home from Fort Knox to spend Christmas with us.   No snow on the ground!   It was awesome, actually.   I took pictures of Jenna wearing brand new outfits from Grandma Lucy.   Without a coat, s he stood next to the outside tree.             I took many pictures of the outdoor weather because it was just so foreign to me to have that much sunshine and warmth for December and no cold air biting at us or having snow on the ground.   That is actually the only year I remember not having snow . . . until last year.   But even then we had experienced a little bit of snow - not as much as we're used to, but an outrageous amount for Myrtle Creek.  ...

            We had a great Christmas the year that Jenna had turned one.   That was the year we had spent opening gifts ALL DAY - something I had wanted to do for such a long time, but not everybody else was always in favor of doing that - at least at the same time.   We hadn't planned on doing it that year either.   It just happened to work out that way.   It was awesome!             We had Roland's two other girls.   They had stayed over Christmas Eve night.   Christmas morning for all of us - not just certain siblings.   They were all there.   The girls had even brought with them four gifts for all of us.   The ward had done a sub-for-Santa that year and had included the girls.   We were loaded down with gifts - lots of them!   And we had scheduled ourselves to feed a brunch to the missionaries at 11:00. ...

            The thing that I have been most grateful for this Christmas season has been Jenna's positive attitude - despite the way we both felt, despite having family so far away, she made the best of it.   She has been amazing!   I wish I had drummed up the same enthusiasm.   I did things with her just so her flame wouldn't die, but I really didn't do it with the same amount of energy; I wasn't even able to fake it.             For example, she wanted to deliver cookies to the neighbors on Christmas Eve.   I would have liked it better if Roland had gone with her.   But even he seemed quite uptight for Roland - I suppose because his two girls were sick and perhaps he felt helpless.   He watched a lot of TV by himself.             Anyway, I had gone with her, but lost my breath. ...

On Christmas day I jotted some notes down, which I had planned to turn into posts.  I think I have seven thus far - perhaps only five.  But they still don't flow as I would like them to.  And it is more important that I spend time with Jenna than to post anything.  I can't believe it's this late and she is still in bed.  Usually she's at least stirring. Oh, she's up.  She and Roland are making breakfast.  I should be getting dressed.  Perhaps after Jenna returns to school I will post again. out the door and on our way to Church

          Roland asked me what I thought about getting a tablet for Jenna for Christmas.           "Do you not even know your child at all?" I wanted to scream at him.   Even if we could afford it, giving a tablet to Jenna would be offensive.   She would interpret the gift to mean: "We don't have time for you.   Here's an electronic device to tie you over" though I'm certain the tables have been turned for some parents.           Jenna and I would like to get rid of the TV.   We watch it because it's there, but she would be a zillion times happier if it wasn't there.   And actually, it's not even on that much.   When Roland gets off work, he likes to relax in front of the boob tube - even if it means vegetating in front of a program that doesn't offer material worth watching for either me or Jenna.   A...