Beneath the Wraps

  This morning Richard was watching one of his cowboys which was Christmas themed.   Those that were in that particular episode were discussing decorating a tree and adding candles.    It triggered a memory with hot lights that replaced the candles as they were fire hazard.   Still, a dry tree and hot lights were still cause for fire.   There have been a number of homes destroyed due to Christmas tree fires.   Anyway, I remember my mom and I having attended one of those “selling items” party similar to Tupperware or Usborn Books or the Pampered Chef – only it was for Christmas items.   Among the items shared was a smoke alarm ornament.   The idea of it was appealing, but the idea didn’t seem to carry over to what we believed would be a helpful item to have.          We decided to test the product before we hung it and ended up melting part of the babble.   We returned it and tried it again with our replacement. ...

         Richard and I picked Jaime up from school on the 6th.  A few days later Jaime and I put up the tree and finally started decorating but left oodles of space on the tree so that Ally could also decorate.  She's been running a fever, learned that she has a kidney infection among the many health problems that she has already been blessed with.  She did manage to put up a few ornaments before she returned to bed.          On Friday we did the yard.  Well, mostly Biff, Clair and Jaime.  Richard supervised - or at least said that is what he was doing.  Jaime wrapped lights around the pine tree.  She is a mountain goat and was able to step on the rocks and unbalanced ground without slipping.  She put up some ornaments and I put up some.  Still room on the outside tree for more ornaments but we've had rain and wind in addition to the near freezing temperatures.       ...

            My first daughter-in-law is a lot more creative and frugal with money than I have ever been.  Both skills I am certain that she learned from her mother who was able to make her husband ’ s paycheck stretch among feeding seven children and providing for medical and clothing needs.  I don ’ t know what her dad did for a living, but I highly suspected that there had been struggles.  I, unfortunately, never got to know her mom as she passed two months after Tony and Rochelle were married.            Roland sent each of the boys a check to use for Christmas gifts this year.   I don ’ t like going to the post office in December as it is.   And we always end up spending more on shipping than for the items themselves. Of course this year presented even more challenges.   For the last couple of years we have sent out gifts to Tony ’ s family and sometimes my sister.   ...

        Almost every Christmas tree I can remember being in my house had a wide variety of ornaments – not just colored baubles, but Santa Clauses, snowman, bells and stars – even partial nativities.  It seems like there were some ornaments that made their way up and down and around the tree as someone would take it off to looks at it and hang it back in another spot, or parents would move clumps from one branch to even out the tree.  I noticed that our tree this year had several bald spots - and I could sense that some of the ornaments had traveled throughout the tree once again.         On Saturday night, we watched the Disney’s 2009 “Christmas Carol”.  Don’t much care for that particular version – though not my least favorite version of "the Christmas Carol".  I did enjoy watching behind the scenes.  It always amazes me how much time goes into each shot.  With Disney’s 200...

I think Roland woke me up to ask me something I don't remember what I guess he didn't wake me but I did get out of bed I dragged myself into the living room.   I don't even know what time it was Jenna asked me if I would make her lunch. I made a sandwich and cut some potatoes and the remaining ham and put them in the crock pot with 2 cans of milk and a   can of corn. I went out to the shed for bubble wrap and boxes and started wrapping ornaments to mail to the boys. I had planned on sending letters and the "legend of the candy cane" thought. first package: Tony's family.   Large box. Extra items.   First I put in bubble wrap for padding boxes of cookie decorating kits hats, ornaments.   Seal box.   Whoops.   Forgot the letter.   Go to computer.   Type and print letters. Put Tony's in an envelope.   Tape it to the box. Next:   I open box of hats for Randy's family wrap ornaments.   Take off t...

        I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by!   Winter Break will take place during the two classes I am currently taking.   It doesn't seem like it's been too long since the last winter break.   I know a few months have gone by, but not 12!   Not even 10.   Only one month left of 2017. What the heck?   How can the year have gone by so quickly when there were so many spurts of activity that almost seemed/felt endless ( here and here for example) Jenna painting ornaments         Last year I had participated in a posting class offered during winter break - students shared Christmas memories and recipes.   I remember one recipe for salt dough ornaments, and made up some batch for family home evening, but waited until yesterday morning to cut out the dough as the recipe suggested a four hour baking time, and I knew I wouldn't want   to be checking the oven after 8:0...

          Jenna had made a gumdrop ornament in preschool one year.  We’ve had it for four or five Christmases now.  The neighbor asked if he could eat it.           “The candy is really old.  It probably doesn’t taste good.  And it may make you sick either way.”           He had invited himself to decorate or tree.  I thought that was presumptuous of him.  But it was dark.  I couldn’t see well.  Roland had gone into the other room.  And so I left Jenna and Trume to decorate (they actually were better at spreading out the ornaments than Ooki had been with his first tree ).           Before he returned home, I gave him a small tree that we had put in Jenna’s room last year.            I had confiscated...

          I always think it’s kind of odd that so many ornaments are made from porcelain or glass as they break so easily and not all of us are blessed with a quiet environment in which the tree will rest looking perfect and undisturbed.   (Jenna’s eight.  I think she still rearranges the ornaments on a daily basis) Several years ago my mom came home with a whole slew of ceramic ornaments that she had painted at a Relief Society activity.  I don’t know how many ornaments there were, but I believe I had at least four of them in my possession when Roland and I were married.  The fondest memories are of the Raggedy Anne and the gingerbread man Ornaments. Mom had wanted me to have Raggedy Anne and Patrick was to have Andy.  But we also got to choose among the remaining how many ever there were. The gingerbread man is the first one I chose.  It had been left on the tree one year when the tree was...

A few years before I met Roland,  I had gone into a Deseret Book Store in search of something.  Sharon Velluto was doing a book signing on her new book, “A Christ Centered Christmas”                      I remember picking up a book and thumbing through it.  It looked interesting.  It was on sale as I recall.  I took it home and started reading it. “How to Use this Book” – the very first words on the very first page.  “This book has been designed to satisfy the needs of all families {bold italics added} from those with small children to those whose children are grown, as well as singles and seniors .  . .             How many times have I heard or read that . . . “and to all of those that are single, we love you as well” (though you are really not our main focus – we don’t want to exclude ...

            I recall one year it was announced in Relief Society that we had been given the opportunity for submitting a tree to the festival of trees  and were asked to save our frozen juice lids as we would be using them for making ornaments to decorate the tree.  We had an enrichment activity later on in the month making tin punch ornaments.           I continued saving juice lids long after the holidays.  What a cute idea.  I tried making tin punch ornaments several years later with Roland’s two oldest girls.  As I recall, they didn’t turn out too great.  Still I kept the lids.  My scouting calling was too short lived for tin punch introduction. Jenna found the lids when she was two or three. She’d play with them and count them and call it her money.  It was cute.  It definitely provided inexpensive entertainment.  S...

          Each of us has traditions.  Many are the same.  Some vary. Some get lost.  Some don’t work.  A tradition may be carried on for generations. Some may brush away.           One of my favorite Christmas books is “God’s Vitamin C for the Christmas Spirit”  which shares stories, ideas, traditions and reasons.  One of the thoughts I read was written by Christi Anne Shepeard in which she shares a tradition of “The Jesus Sock”           The story unfolds that there is an extra sock in her possession – one that doesn’t match the other socks selected for each family member that year.  She decided to make it a sock for the Savior in which her family would write letters and insert them into the sock – every year.            I thought that sounded like a cool tra...