Angela – Page 159 – Letters from Home

Wrapping Up

IMG_1144-001 Hello, it’s been a while. We’ve been busy wrapping up projects and goals, reading fat books, and being a complete family again.

During the final weeks of the year Richard and I spend a lot of time wrapping up the lessons and events of the year into a video to send to the grandparents. The kids perform their piano pieces and we make a music video where we lip sync a funny song. My favorite part of the video is the slideshow. We choose music to accompany the images from the year. I watch these videos again and again. I love the memories. My Stewart grandparents say that it is part of their Christmas Eve tradition to watch our video each year. It’s a way that we try to reach out to family far away, but I know that I watch these videos more than anyone.

We threw 3 parties. One was a pizza and game party for Daniel and his friends. Next was Timothy’s birthday.

Timothy turned 11 just before Christmas and we threw him the traditional gingerbread house making party and ate red velvet cake. He finished all of the activity pins for Webelos (Scouts) just before his birthday. He earned every one.

The big family party to celebrate my parents’ anniversary was next. Daniel received an autographed cast picture of Studio C from his uncle that evening. Timothy is being a clown. Aside from the slideshow that we presented of my parents’ marriage, I was most proud of the decorations upstairs and lights we hung across the ceiling in the basement to make our stage magical.

With the kids home I have felt so happy because we haven’t had to go anywhere. Someone asked what we did for Christmas. After I said that we had thrown a big family party, they wondered what ELSE we had done. I couldn’t come up with anything big that we had done, but my mind wandered to what was accomplished without leaving the neighborhood.

I played my violin in church. That’s always an epoch in my life.

We made 20 pints of salsa and delivered them to the neighbors since the thought of baking was making me grumpy.

The kids played in a Christmas piano recital.

We were invited to celebrate Joseph Smith’s birthday on December 23rd with two other families up the street for Family Home Evening. This was super fun. We ate stew and cornbread, sang, had a lesson about the Prophet Joseph, and listened to the kids play the piano.

We took the kids to see Frozen in the theater on Christmas Eve afternoon.

We watched Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concerts on video and opened simple gifts. On Christmas morning, the kids were surprised by Legos and technology. My favorite gifts were the exercise balls that the little boys received. They bounce around on them all of the time. It makes me happy to see kids playing like that. We never have great pictures of Christmas celebrations, but you can probably picture us on our sofa in the basement, Christmas lights everywhere and the fire place warming the room. Small gifts inspire hugs and smiles and in the simplicity is the magic.

We rested and watched Christmas movies such as It’s A Wonderful Life and Mr Kruger’s Christmas. Oh, we needed this. The boys went skiing, but I didn’t do much away from home. Shopping was minimal. Daniel and Richard rebuilt the kids’ computer.

Richard and I went out to dinner one evening. We’re still on the search for a good local Mexican restaurant. We have very discriminating tastes, having lived in Texas, Arizona, and Provo, Utah where good Mexican food (or Tex-Mex) is everywhere.

December 31st was the day Paige got her driver license and I tried to finish reading both The Book of Mormon and War and Peace. I only finished The Book of Mormon in time to ring in the new year. Timothy and Mark stayed up until midnight for the first time in their lives, but Timothy was the only one to truly celebrate. He jumped up and went to everyone’s rooms to wish them Happy New Year!

I dressed in layers and loved the bright sunshine reflected from the snow through my windows. I have twirled in place this week because this life makes me so happy.

As January arrived, I was slow to put away the Christmas decorations, but once they were away, I enjoyed the empty shelves and clean slate that appeared in our home.

Things are getting a little busier each day.

Richard’s parents visited and we went to Gladys’s place to wish her a happy birthday.

We went to the airport to welcome Richard’s niece home from her mission. Richard was very clear that he wanted each of us to hold a letter of her name to greet her at the airport. This attention to a decorative detail was a new side of him that I haven’t seen before. He truly wanted to make his niece’s homecoming a special time.

This morning I finished reading War and Peace. When I introduce myself for the next while, I will say, “My name is Angela and I have read War and Peace.”

Part of the end of the year wrap up is the writing of thank you notes and Christmas cards. This brings to mind so many people who have influenced our lives for good throughout the year. On that note, I will end this post. Thank you, Readers, for sharing your time to read about us.

Happy New Year. There will be many more posts to come. Life is precious and worth writing about.

Merry Christmas Party Pictures

Here is a big batch of photos of the family party that we hosted in our home. I love everything about hosting a party. I love the company and the decorating and the cooking; I love how everyone looked their best and how the cousins got to sit together and the adults got to sit at their own table. I loved the costumes for the Nativity and the talent show with all of the piano music. I loved the slideshow that Richard helped me make of my parents’ 40 years of marriage.

Merry Christmas!

A Six Word Post

Celebrating!

Good kids

Legal

Illness

Home!

Winter sunrise

It’s so dark when the older kids leave for school. This week it was my turn to drive to early morning jazz band. To validate my super human efforts for the musical education of our youth, I took a photo at a red light after I dropped them off. I can’t love winter mornings, but that promise of light making the sky turn blue in the east is a grand thing.

One benefit to not washing your car is the Milky Way effect from the flecks of dry salt on the windshield which reflect light. Stunning!

When it’s cold like this (I mean January-type cold) I just keep spinning it to be a good thing and voila! It is!

Kind friends

A neighbor shoveled my walk yesterday sometime between 4:30 and 6:30 a.m.. I am not sure who did it, but I have an idea. My relief at finding this when it was 4 degrees outside can’t be measured. I could see that all of the walks in the cul-de-sac had been shoveled to so it wasn’t obvious who the good neighbor had been. Nice work! That was my happy face from yesterday in the picture above. You’re welcome. (for the laugh)

The past few weeks have brought a new friend in my life through one of Timothy’s friends at school. I learned that we grew up within a mile or two of one another. She and I graduated from the same high school several years apart and we admired the same teachers. Last night we learned that their family and ours had each worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the early days of our marriages. I love finding people with whom it’s so comfortable to to talk.

I asked… “Have you see this [obscure film]?” and of course she had. It is nice to be understood based on where I came from without her having to know me during those flawed years of my life. She has been a good friend during these days without Richard. She is a recent widow, yet she still showed sympathy to me about this time without him. I admire her for that selflessness. My favorite people are those who can look at someone’s situation and appreciate the importance of it and show empathy, despite their own pain or experiences.

I haven’t made close friends very often in my life, and that’s the way I prefer things to be. Some people are just easier for me to share things with. I appreciate friendships on many levels. I need many different kinds of friends

I have my “Role Model” friends with whom I tag along and try to learn their ways, never feeling that they let me in too close.

I have my “Parents of my Children’s Friends” group and that’s a fun relationship because I learn about them through their children so I think of them as friends even though we rarely talk. I know what they are doing and when they eat dinner and other things about their schedules. These are the friends I can text at 6:30 in the morning with a question about carpool and I know they will be up. These are the friends whom I can call when there is a school dilemma, and honey, I have a lot of those now.

There are the “Friends because we are Working Together at Church” friends. Sometimes these relationships last beyond the assignment, but there is a beautiful bond that lasts from shared experiences even if we have nothing else in common.

I will call anyone a Friend who loves my children.

Yesterday was a happy friend day.

Music

I can’t remember a time in many years that I haven’t played the violin for church or a fireside for Christmas. What a nice tradition this is that I never set out to establish, but one that has humbled me and helped me to feel the sweet message of the season every year. I’m playing two pieces this Christmas and the arrangements are beautiful and the people with whom I play are some of the best musicians I have ever met. Where would I be without music and these friendships that come from it?

In high school I was surrounded by really talented violinists that made me see that I lacked in my ability. After 10th grade I no longer had a private teacher and I felt like an amateur among what I now realize was a remarkable and uncommon batch of gifted kids. It wasn’t until I moved to Texas in 1997 that I began to see that there aren’t many adult violinists. I began to appreciate that I could play well enough and not be ashamed of what I knew I still lacked. I am so grateful that I didn’t give up on my talent because of the greater talents of others. I have learned that my talent is enough. I’m the person in the parable who was given two talents, not five, but I have been diligent.

I drove to an elementary school a few weeks ago to introduce the violin to the student body along with other members of a quartet. I stood in front of hundreds of kids and played samples of many styles of music. I remembered my public school orchestra teacher and dedicated the effort to him. What a gift he gave to me with his teaching.

Last Sunday a grandfather approached me to ask if I would teach his granddaughter to play the violin. “She’s a great girl,” he said. I told him that I would consider it. I’m trying to decide if this elementary school performance and this conversation with this grandfather are the signs that I have been waiting for indicating that it’s time to begin teaching someone, even one person to play.

For now, I am being diligent about practice and trying not to get the shakes when I stand up in front of people to play. Richard says that he finds it odd that my confidence has not increased over the years after so many pieces in so many meetings. My confidence hasn’t improved because I think too much and my goal is to transport somebody in the congregation beyond their troubles. The result is the shakes and fear of fainting. But I haven’t fainted yet, so it would be reasonable for me to get over it. My nerves remain immune to reason and I predict that I’ll be a bit of a wreck for the next two Sundays and then feel great about the whole thing when it’s all over.

Teacher and Carpool Christmas Gifts

This is one of the most useful ideas I have seen. We made these (from potholders and plastic bags) in a Relief Society activity two years ago in Arizona and I have used mine several times a week ever since. They fit nicely into a purse or a glove box in the car. They hold first aid items, tooth picks, medicine, or whatever. The kids and I made a bunch of these for teacher and carpool gifts this year.

You stack and alternate 8 or 10 plastic bags on a pot holder and sew them down the middle using a ribbon and thread. You cut off the bottoms of each bag after you sew them down the middle. In order to keep all the bags and ribbon from slipping, I use 3 flat push pins or to hold them in place as I sew.

The outside looks like this after it’s sewn and you attach a button.

A list of items I like to keep in mine:

first aid: bandages, alcohol swabs, q-tips, cotton balls, rubber gloves, Ibuprofen, antacids, throat lozenges
beauty: bobby pins, lip balm, hair elastics, nail clippers, tweezers, soap leaves, 1 or 2 tissues, gum or mints, dental flossers
emergencies: $1 bill, a quarter, safety pins, thread and a needle, a printed list of important phone numbers, tiny flashlight
organization: tape rolled around a craft stick, post it notes, a sharpie and a pen

I like to be prepared, and this little thing has saved me so many times. Having 10 little compartments helps me to see when I run out of something. I hope the people enjoy them as much as I have.

Finish vs. Enjoy

Once in a while I hear people announce that they are “finished” with their Christmas shopping and gift preparations so now they can enjoy the holidays. There are lots of issues playing out here such as trying to focus on the spiritual rather than commercial, completing a big task, and relief that it’s no longer necessary to fight the crowds at the stores. (Have you seen crowds this year at stores? I have not.)

The other day I was working in my “Christmas shop” down in the basement. Candy jars, blankets, and other homemade Christmas gifts surrounded me. For a minute I felt a little overwhelmed when I realized that I was running out of time to finish everything. Then I remembered how much I really enjoy making gifts; I remembered that I had chosen simpler gifts this year on purpose so I could enjoy the making of them in spare minutes. Most gifts I can complete in 15 minutes or less.

I have decided that it’s most important to enjoy the process. If I don’t get it all “done” by December 10th, all well. And good job to those who do “finish” Christmas early. I mean to enjoy every minute of the season, “finished” or not.

I decided that the baking is what is stressing me out this year. I may not bake cookies for all of the neighbors. A friend of mine in Arizona assembled beautiful plates of Christmas goodies using an assortment of store-bought cookies and candies. Perhaps I’ll do that. But I am NOT going to get stressed out over something like a plate of cookies. Amen.

Our Christmas Village

Tonight after doing some snow shoveling I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. Snow was falling and the icing on the houses and trees made my neighborhood look like a little Christmas village on someone’s mantel. I took pictures so Richard could see what he is missing in Phoenix where it’s 65 degrees today. One neighbor caught me taking photos and I was a little embarrassed. All well. It’s best that he learns my odd ways.

The neighbors have really done a beautiful job with their Christmas lights this year.

I love how this house has icicles along with beautiful white lights everywhere.

Our house doesn’t have Christmas lights yet, but it has a little Charlie Brown tree. In fact, I shall name our house the Charlie Brown House of the cul-de-sac. One of these days we’ll get those lights up. But that’s just on the outside. On the inside, we are NOT a Charlie Brown house.

We have a Christmas tree upstairs and two downstairs. Our candy dishes are brimming, Christmas music is playing, nativities are on every shelf in the family room, and red berries and ornaments are everywhere!!

Freedom

Tonight as I put together a Christmas craft activity for the kids I kept thinking that I could pull out the camera and make a “tutorial” for the little pocketed pouches we were sewing. A contrasting thought reminded me that my grandmothers and mother never felt internal pressure to publish home project tutorials. How did I arrive at this mindset?

I understand that my value has nothing to do with what I publish online, but I like to see that people are reading. And people don’t like stale, day-old stuff. I feel pressure to keep moving so you will come back… because we never outgrow the thrill of reading something new, especially when it’s a note from a friend. I write with you readers resting someplace my thoughts, but I also write because I escape as I craft and whittle away at ideas and sentences. If I decide to post a crafty tutorial, it will be because I am proud of it, not because I feel pressure to produce something.

It would be difficult for me to be a serial cartoon artist, always having to come up with something funny. It would be very difficult for me to be a craft or lifestyle blogger, always trying to come up with the next new thing.

Is there anything I can produce online day after day that I can consistently be proud of?

I don’t think so.

It feels like freedom to say no to this production sometimes. Peaks and valleys, green light, red light. Thoughts take time to distill and life must be lived before it can be written.