All Is Calm, All Is Bright

Christmas was last week. Perhaps you've heard of this holiday.

I am a week (and also a year, depending on your point-of-view) late in posting photos of our family shindig, but suffice me to say that we had a good one together. I was down and out with strep throat though I was on antibiotics, and the family was good enough not to shun me from spending time with them and observing the many goings-on.

Our annual family Christmas Eve program was very well put together, as it always is, by my sister. Kira enjoyed playing the part of Mary, while Luke was one of the three wise men:

Dad grew out his annual holiday beard for the occasion and gave Kuma a good scratch on the head as he looked on.

Gifts were also exchanged, and among the many given and received, I must say that my family knows me well enough to get me gift certificates for Dee's:

I hope the rest of you out there in blogging land, likewise, had a good Christmas holiday and that the year 2014 is a good year for one and all.

Second Thanksgiving

Hobbits have second breakfast; we have second Thanksgiving. At least, we do on the years when everybody goes to their in-laws' on Thanksgiving Day.

Such was the case last week, when bi-monthly family dinner became second Thanksgiving. Scott, Claudia, and their gang came up from Lehi and joined us for the occasion. The food was plentiful and delicious.

Christian continues to be the ladies' man wherever he goes. . . .

Most of the nieces and nephews gathered around the Christmas tree to play with Grandma Plowman's new train.

Good times, as you might expect, were had by all.

Day 363: S'more, the Hamster

For Christmas, Santa Claus brought McKenna a hamster, making it the second pet in the household and the fourth total new pet added to the family this year (and first non-dog).

Everybody got that?

She has named her hamtster S'more, after the campfire treat. Speaking of food, do you know that I've actually eaten hamster on two occasions? In Peru, hamster is considered to be a delicacy, and when you're in the mission field, you eat what is served on your plate - unless, of course, there are direct Word of Wisdom issues.

 Nevertheless, I've assured Kenna that her hamster is safe with me around.

Day 362: Christmas Aftermath

Mom and Dad slept over Christmas Eve, and the kids woke us up bright and early Christmas morning to open up their presents. The inevitable sleepiness that began to set in by breakfast time certainly took place thereafter, as you can see by the look here on Jackson's face:

Kylee, however, took a nap right in the kitchen.

Day 361: Silly String Attack

In two of my favorite images from Monday's family Christmas Eve party, Jeff pinned down Dallin and then proceeded to spray his face with silly string:

That's how we roll. There is really nothing else to say.

Day 360: Stalking Santa

At our Christmas Eve family party, Kylee logged on to the Web to check Santa's progress westward across the United States. At the moment she visited the NORAD Web site, he was in Jamaica.

Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls!

Day 359: A Not-So-Silent Night

With 19 Plowmans, two Woods, and three dogs running around Mike's and Jana's home, it's never a silent night at our Christmas gatherings - but we do our level best to collectively make it as memorable an experience as we can, and tonight was no exception.

At 5:30, we sat down for a tasty meal that included turkey, yams, stuffing, Costco cheesecake, and many other seasonal favorites.

I found Kira snacking on this piece of cauliflower:

It was nine-month-old Jacob's first Christmas, and he took it all in with wide-eyed wonder alongside his grandmother:

After dinner, we moved over to the family room for the annual Airing of Grievances.

No, not really; that's Festivus and "Seinfeld." We, of course, took part in an annual tradition of reading the Christmas story as it is found in both Chapter 1 of 3 Nephi and Chapter 2 of the Gospel According to St. Luke. Biz, as always, did an excellent job of putting together the narration, which was coupled with musical numbers.

One of these musical numbers featured nine-year-old piano prodigy Jenna, who played "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" on the keyboard for us:

Jackson relished his role as one of the three wise men:

And so, as Tiny Tim observed: "God bless us, everyone!"

Day 355: McRib Returns!

Today, I saw one of the tell-tale signs that Christmas is very nearly upon us. I don't mean snow or a manger scene or Christmas carolers or yet another viewing of It's a Wonderful Life, though all of those things are important.

No, I'm talking about the McRib sandwich returning to my local McDonald's restaurant.

There's very few things a McRib can't help make better - except for acid reflux. Or high blood pressure. Or about a few dozen other things. But other than that, yeah - I think I've made my point.

Day 352: The White Stocking

What are you giving the Savior this Christmas?

That was the subject of tonight's family home evening lesson, which Mike invited me to take part in along with Jana and the kids. We were each given a 3x5 card, onto which we were asked to write the kinds of things we would be willing to give Him, just as if we were one of the shepherds or wise men at the manger, for a gift.

The white stocking will hang over the fireplace for the remainder of the Christmas season as a reminder of those things we wrote that we would be willing to sacrifice for His sake.

Day 349: Jawa Bobblehead

At Tuesday night's aforementioned Improvables Christmas party, one of our activities was a white elephant gift exchange. For my contribution, I donated a roll of Justin Bieber duct tape (yes, that's a real thing) I just so happened to come across while at the store, and Shannon enthusiastically "Yankee swapped" for it and took it home. Apparently, she already has plans for how she's going to use it.

To each his/her own, I suppose.

As for myself, I ended up with a Jawa bobblehead, and I must say that it looks pretty good sitting up on my shelf.

Day 348: Ugly Sweaters

One of my favorite traditions from this time of year is the ugly sweater Christmas party. Tuesday night, that's just what the Improvables took part in together for our annual holiday shindig.

As you can see, our troupe - as they always do - went all out for this one.

Day 339: Jackson and Frosty

Tonight, Jackson had a good time carrying this Frosty doll all over the house, pressing the button on its palm over and over to play the first verse of "Frosty the Snowman" and generally annoying his siblings, who were involved in their homework for school:

Day 338: Lights at Temple Square

Thanks to the customary generous supply of tickets from my inside source in the Tabernacle Choir (i.e. Pepe), I made it to the Conference Center for last night's annual First Presidency Christmas Devotional. President Monson and his two counselors delivered fantastic messages for the holiday season, and the music by the choir was great, too, as always.

It was a rather blusy day and evening, and it rained on us a good deal while we were outside, but Temple Square in December is still one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Day 332: Gift Packaging

So, everything's wrapped up in a nice little package?

Sorry if that sounded sarcastic.

Mostly my family members and/or any "Simpsons" fans out there will understand the reference. Yep, Christmas shopping and wrapping is all done already. Are you on my "nice" list?

Day 331: Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas

The Christmas lights are now up on the house, and I gotta say that they look very nice indeed.

Jackson agrees with me.

Day 321: Red Light, Green Light

For the month of October, a red light bulb hung over the front porch, and it certainly cast a foreboding glow for many nights during the Halloween season.

That red light has now become a green light, just in time for the holidays.

Day 306: One Last Hurrah for Halloween

The inevitable post-Halloween letdown, which I referred to in yesterday's post, definitely occurred today for me. It's always a bit sad to wake up on November 1 knowing that I won't be able to legitimately dress up in costume in public for at least another 335 or 345 days. Still, I reviewed my cache of photos today and realized there still a few Halloween-related ones that I had yet to post for Project 366 here on Disconcertingly Choppy.

These photos were taken Sunday evening following our bi-monthly family dinner, including Kira showing off her Halloween costume ("pop singer Barbie," according to her):

Jackson, blue lips and all (he was in the process of eating a raspberry sucker), trying reach the toy spider hanging down from the upstairs railing:

. . . and Kenna coming along and treating said spider like a tetherball.

And so, that's about all of the Halloween pics I have for 2012. Fortunately, Thanksgiving and Christmas are just over the horizon.

Day 275: The Most Wonderful Three Months of the Year

For Family Home Evening tonight, I joined Mike, Jana, and the kids in putting up several Halloween decorations around the house, since it's October now and all.

In the middle of things, Mike put on his Jason/Friday the 13th hockey mask and went around sneaking up on the kids at various times and places. I think the following three photos really capture it well:

"The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is a Christmas song, and I believe that the "most wonderful" part of it does, indeed contain Christmas. But why limit it to just one holiday? The whole Halloween-through-New Year's stretch is my favorite time of the year, and the calendar makers definitely saved the best for last.

'Twas the Day after Christmas

Belated Christmas Wishes from all of us (well, me) here at Disconcertingly Choppy! Here's hoping that you enjoyed your holiday.

As for me, I gathered with my siblings, nieces, and nephews at Mom and Dad’s home for a big family dinner on Christmas Eve. While Mom and the girls prepared a delicious meal, the kids created some chalk drawings out on the driveway and sidewalk. The results were, I must say, rather impressive:

When dinner time came, we all sat down together for a scrumptious feast.

Have I got seven of the world's best-looking nieces and nephews, or what? (Answer: Yes, I do.)

Dinner was followed by the annual family Christmas pageant, which Biz once again put together, giving speaking or acting roles to most everybody. The kids arguably enjoyed taking part perhaps more than any of us. Jackson insisted on playing the role of Joseph, which he could pronounce only as Jovis, while Kira played Mary; Jenna and Kenna were angels; while Luke, Dallin, and I were the three wise men.

I gotta say that I love the mischievous looks on Luke's and Dallin's faces in the above picture.

Afterward, everyone opened the gifts given to them by those who pulled their names out of the hat. The best part of this is always watching the kids’ eyes light up when they get something they really like.

Christmas Day itself was great, as we got to spend part of the day at church, which consisted of sacrament meeting only. Mom, Dad, and I were invited over to Dave and Jessica’s for dinner, and following that, Jenna, Luke, and Kira showed off the presents that Santa Claus had brought them.

Today, Boxing Day, we had a sort of second Christmas when Scott, Claudia, and their girls joined us at Steve’s house for a Korean lunch. Korean food is still very much a taste I have yet to acquire, but it was good to get together with our cousins and also to get the latest updates from Eden, who was able to call them from Ecuador on Christmas Eve. Later that afternoon, most of the adults went over to the new Centerville Megaplex to see Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, the next film in that series, and we enjoyed it a great deal.

Happy Boxing Day, Bedford Falls.

The Spirit of Giving . . . and of Receiving

This week, I've been doing some thinking about both giving and receiving. After all, it is the Christmas season, and it's a topic on most everybody's minds right now.

It was on my mind the other night when Kylee accompanied me to see the Madison Square Garden version of A Christmas Carol at the Davis Center for the Performing Arts (aka our Improvables home). Scrooge's problem, of course, is that he spends most of his life receiving and not giving. Only after the three spirits show him the errors of his ways does he learn that it's all in the giving.

Additionally, Bro. Kjar gave a rather thought-provking lesson on the subject a few days ago at our mid-singles Institute class. His conclusion was, essentially, that gifts not only have to be given but received and, as a result, both the giver is blessed for giving and the receiver blesses the giver for accepting the gift.

I think the same principle applies to dating - something that we single people tend to tussle with more often than we'd like to. At times, you seem to give a lot to someone who either doesn't want to receive the gift or who doesn't want to give anything back - at least, not at the same level you're willing to be at. It's like putting quarters into a slot machine. (Believe it or not, that's actually something I heard in a Michael McLean song.)

At any rate, what's my conclusion? I'm not 100 percent sure that I have one, although I do know this: I'm going to keep on giving. I may be a bit more cautious about whom I choose to give what and to what degree, but I will keep on doing so until there is someone who wishes to receive - and to give back a little now and then, too.