CHRISTmas is here!

Well another lovely Christmas has come and gone oh so quickly. I feel like they go by faster and faster each year. I doubt you all know this, but I am a HUGE Christmas fan. I LOVE it! I start the waiting every year on the 26th of December, after 360 days I get SUPER excited. After all I'm SO close again. However the slow tedious days that lead up to December 20th go three times as fast from that point on and before I know it Christmas is over once again leaving me to wait all over. I don't know what it is. From a spritual standpoint Christmas is definately a major deal, after all it is the time we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. That fact in itself is a reason to rejoice. Also (being Mormon) it is the month that the first prophet of this restored gospel was born. That's the birth of the man who brought forth the Book of Mormon and the power of the priesthood to us. December is quite an important month am I right? The monetary angle is maybe my least favorite. It's not that I don't enjoy spending money on the people I love. Believe me, I DO. It's just that I don't have a whole lot of it, and I tend to spend more than I can afford to. All my fault of course, but still it is an issue that I have. Another upside to Christmas is the Christmas spirit...or should I maybe say the idea of Christmas spirit. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but I mean look at the facts! People have been waiting in lines all day, the traffic is bad (even worse if it snows where you live), stores have run out of items that you need to get for someone, and the list goes on. Working at a fast food place I know that most people at this time of year are NOT letting their Christmas spirit shine. It's even worse serving food to Christmas shoppers because not only are they already on their last nerve, but they are also HUNGRY! However there is some hope for the human race, last Christmas I was working in the drive-thru and a woman who was currently at the window offered to pay for the food of the customer behind her. I very nearly cried...and believe me I'm not a crier. I was just super touched at that. The same thing also happened this year (although not this month) and each car kept it going "oh he paid for my food?! How nice! I'll pay for whoever is behind me" I will admit I'd have probably said "well how much is the person's order behind me" and if it had been more than my own I might not have paid it. These people didn't even ask, they paid for the next vehicle's food even though more often that not it cost more. We kept that going for nearly ten cars! I was impressed to know that there is hope yet, that the human race isn't completely self-obsessed and driven by money. Aside from the people that are angry until Christmas day there are those who keep their cool and show those crazies that the true meaning of Christmas isn't in fact, lost. Last but not least is the aspect of family at Christmas. Christmas is a time for family. Family travels from far and wide to be together. Fortunately my family isn't old enough to be living apart quite yet and so I got to enjoy a wonderful Christmas with all of them. I almost forgot the importance of family togetherness at Christmas time when I was unwilling to sleep in the same room as my siblings. It has been a family tradition ever since I can remember sleeping in the same room with all of my cousins at grandma's house each year. This year I was reluctant to leave the comfort of my own bedroom to sleep elsewhere and I almost didn't sleep with them all. Mckelle however wouldn't let it go. She was adamant that we all sleep in the same room and finally I saw the light and we all slept in Skyler's bedroom. I may not have been the most comfortable all squashed in his not so large bed, but I was surrounded by my family, my best friends. Christmas morning followed the same pattern it does every year, I snuck downstairs around 4 am as I do every year. I've done the same thing for as long as I can remember. I used to sneak down to see if I could catch Santa filling my stocking, but to my surprise he'd been and gone before I knew it. Even now when I know the truth about Santa (that he can't be caught of course), I still love to sneak down and look at the shadows of all of the presents and the once empty stockings that are now stuffed to the brim with goodness. After my traditional sneak preview I went back to sleep as I do every year and wait for the time when we are actually allowed to wake my parents and start the morning (6 am). For the second time in 2 years we didn't wake up until well after 7. We called my mom
"can we come down now?"
 "No, new time is 10 am go back to bed till then"
"C'mon mom, for real"
"alright, give us 5 minutes"
we wait....it's been 5 minutes.
We go to the stairs and call down "now?"
Dad sees us all sitting at the top of the stairs just itching to come down "hold tight, not yet"
Dad cues up the Christmas music as he does every year and snaps a picture of us chomping at the bit to come down as he does every year. " Calm down you guys, is everyone up?"
"Yes dad!"
"alright you can come down"
we race down the stairs and rush to our stockings to see our spoils.
This year dad decides it would be a great idea to get some work out of us while we are in this anxious vulnerable state. "This year, we are going to fold a load of laundry before we open presents, then we'll each open one and do another load. We'll alternate a round of presents and a round of laundry"
We nervously laugh and I meet my mom's eyes "he's just kidding right"
She rolls her eyes as if to say "you know your father of course he is"
In comes dad carrying a laundry basket.
Oh yes, he's dead serious. He and my mom fold clothes into our different piles and we have to go put them away. At this point Jake starts to get a little angry.
"dad I'm not doing laundry!"
"Jake there's no reason to get upset"
"You're making me upset" now at this point poor little sensitive Jake has had about all he can handle he buries his face in his arms and starts crying.
Brynlee seeing that she isn't the center of attention exclaims
"this is the worst Christmas ever!"
By this point Skyler and I are silently laughing and beginning to wonder why our family is so odd.
At the end of the load of laundry dad begins handing out presents. We all get one and he says "time for another round of laundry" Mom looks at him a little disapprovingly and he laughs "not a good idea?" needless to say we didn't end up doing any more laundry, but we did get a memorable Christmas. I can just see the future family reunions.
"remember that one Christmas when dad tried to make us do chores in between the rounds of opening presents and everyone started crying?" Oh I love my family.

Overall it was a great Christmas as it is every year. We got a ping pong table (which Sky and I expertly put together) and a trampoline which will be put up as soon as Kevin learns not to eat everything in our backyard. I hope your Christmas was a merry one and I also hope you have a FANTASTIC New Year!

God bless us every one!

Addendum: I forgot to mention this earlier, but another thing that happened at Christmas was after we'd all unwrapped all of our presents my dad announced "OK and there are two more family presents out in the garage. There is also one more present for Bree and for mom" Of course we all go out to the garage. I already knew that the two family gifts were the ping pong table and the trampoline since I'd been present when my dad purchased them, but I was genuinely curious as to what my mother and I got. (you see every year I usually pick out all of my Christmas presents and so I'm rarely surprised on Christmas morning) Out in the garage my siblings are all celebrating the family gifts and my mom walks out and exclaims "Bill, you got me a new bike?!" My dad turned and stared at her for a second as if to find out she was just joking. After a short pause he said (slightly confused or perhaps a tad bit worried about my mother's sanity) "uh...yea...I got you...a new bike..." still probably waiting for her to say "just kidding!" She honestly thought that the bike she'd gotten probably about 3-4 years ago was her Christmas present. We all almost died of laughter. Granted my mom probably never rides her bike, and she claims that she thought the reflector was a tag that you'd find on a new bike. Even typing this up I still laugh at the memory. Poor mom was a little embarrassed and she only gets to relive that embarrassment every time I tell the story to various friends and family. I will definitely never forget that and for sure won't let her : )