Give Thanks...Christmas

 In November many posted articles and sayings, photographs, thoughts, and memories with the hashtag, #GiveThanks, me included. I enjoyed the experience of not only realizing amazing things in my life, but sharing them with others, that I decided to keep the tradition going. Sundays were the day I chose to use the phrase, #GiveThanks.

I didn't know how long I would keep the tradition going. I wrote for two or three weeks on Sundays, then I forgot a week ago. I wrote about how much I enjoyed watching different variations of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. I forgot to give thanks, though I am thankful for that timeless story.

This week, how can I not give thanks for Christmas?

I don't know what I did to warrant the blessings I've been given. This past week I was surrounded by family, good health, all the food we could eat, shelter, and anything else a person could want. We tried to make the day special for our kids and we were fortunate enough to have all our children home on Christmas Eve. The above present was given to us by my newly-found half sister. Finding her is one of the best presents anyone could ever ask for.

I'm sure this was a difficult holiday for millions, and I hope things improve for them. I hope also that people can find a promise of better days ahead. 

Some thoughts that ran through my mind Thursday night--I remembered as a child how difficult it was to sleep Christmas Eve night. Oh, what promise the new day held! Eventually I would fall asleep, sometimes awakening before anyone else and I 'd have to wait for the family to wake up. I re-lived those emotions through my own children. Now, they're teenagers and older, no longer do they share that innocence of the holiday. Hopefully, we'll be able to experience that again if/when the grandkids show up.

The title of the song says it all, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. For me, that's been so true. This year, I'm giving thanks for Christmas. I pray you've had a good day as well, a good Christmas Day.

Christmas Wonders...At Willard Bay

 

We prepare for Christmas, personally and as groups. Our family put up lights, a tree, lights on the tree. We prepared food, wrapped presents, readied ourselves for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It's amazing how much work goes into the holiday. It's a direct result in how much the day means to people.

Not just families prepare, but communities as well. The bigger the population, the bigger the display, usually. It's our first Christmas in a new area so we didn't know what displays were around. My daughter, when driving back and forth to the valley in which we used to live, noticed a large light display near Willard Bay. With a little research we found out what it was and we decided to see if four ourselves.

We're so glad we did.

First, it was a drive-through display. Love that--you don't freeze your tail off. We noticed instantly that many had cars with sunroofs and through those sunroofs, many a child peaked through. In fact some cars had multiple younglings hanging outside the vehicle. Of course, they had the best view. The display was set up at the Willard Bay Campground. They were also able to accommodate a lot of cars--we went the last Monday (Family Night...) before Christmas. We completed the tour quickly.

I took a lot of videos, but I only included one here. There was so much to see. So, if you're in the area--Northern Utah in about eleven months, check out the display. It took a lot of work to set up and we appreciated it. It definitely set the mood. Well done.

Merry Sithmas To All...And To All A Good Night

As we all settle down to prepare for Christmas, I think I'll have my crazy talented friend read a story, a Christmas story, a Star Wars story, an awesome story.

Here is BJ Whimpey reading The Night Before Sithmas, you can access the story by clicking: HERE.

My wish is for you to have a wonderful Christmas, no matter where you find yourself, no matter the circumstances. I'm sure it's going to be tough for many and I pray you'll find comfort during this time. I hope you and yours will be safe and healthy and loved.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Starting A New Tradition...Christmas Karaoke

 People have gone without this year, some more than others. One thing we've done with out is singing. We normally participate in our church Christmas program...this year, nope. 

My wife and I are singers, or at least we used to be--she more than me. She even used her voice to earn college scholarships. That was decades ago. It's been so long since either of us used to sing on a daily basis for school, church, or just for fun. It was her idea to sing some Christmas songs in the front room the other night.

The results were mixed...our voices are not used to singing...you could hear the neglect, years out of practice. But you could also hear a sound missing for so long--music. I forget how much I enjoy hearing sung songs and you can't beat Christmas time for good songs to sing.

We sang the one night and we may again before the season's over. I know we need more practice--it doesn't sound much like it once did, but darn...it was fun.

Why Don't We Put The Presents Under The Tree? A Novel Idea...

 When you make the decision to bring a pet--dog or cat--into your family (or, they make the decision for you...), you realize there will be changes and adjustments, but you can't consider every change, every adjustment. Case in point...the house at Christmastime.

You don't know what things can stay the same and what needs to change.

For us, we had to make modifications to our tree and where we put the presents. For years we had cats and a small dog, Patch. Patch had long since not cared about the tree. It helped that she was almost blind for several years. We did have to be mindful of the cats, however. No matter how old they got, shiny ornaments and pretty lights fascinated the cats. We lost many a glass ornament at their hands...or, paws.

Then we got the standard poodle.

For the past couple of years we've had to re-arrange the front room, put the tree behind gates, and even put the tree upstairs where the dog had no access. Needless to say, we had to be careful of the presents. I don't know why, exactly, but this year we decided to try an experiment. We put things under the tree. Maybe it's because the dog has an entire house to explore, and because of that the cats don't have an entire house to explore...either way, so far our experiment has been successful. Everything's safe and untouched.

Looking back, we probably could have given the animals more of a benefit of the doubt, but at the time, we just weren't sure. Part of the reason is because the dog was younger--he's mellowed since then. We're grateful for that, at not just at Christmas.

Personally, I love seeing the presents--they're a symbol of how blessed we are. Part of those blessings are having pets living with us, pets who thankfully are leaving things alone...at least, so far.

Can't Get Enough "A Christmas Carol" This Year...

 My friend Bryan posted the above picture on Facebook. I had to include it. Today, as I channel surfed, I happened upon Scrooge, the Albert Finney version. I had to watch it. Of course, since it's a musical and since I've been in productions of that very show several times over the years, it makes the show that much more enjoyable for me.

The story's the very definition of "classic." 

Some of the film versions of A Christmas Carol are better than others--as with everything in life. I tend to identify them by who plays Ebenezer. There's Alastair Sim (the first Scrooge I remember), George C. Scott, Albert Finney, Patrick Stewart, Kelsey Grammer, Jim Carrey, Henry Winkler, Michael Caine, and Bill Murray (sort of...), and others that in productions I haven't seen. Each of those listed have strengths they've used to make the part their own.

Like most classics, A Christmas Carol speaks to us differently depending on what stage you are in life, at least it does to me. As a child, I thought, "Well, this is easy to understand--don't be a jerk and love money more than people and ghosts won't haunt you seven years after your business partner dies."

But then you get older.

It's not like I put money in front of love, at least, not on that grand of scale, but I have been selfish and kept when I could have been selfless and given? Sometimes, it's the small battles that have the biggest impact.

And then, you reach that "Scrooge age" and you go from "I'm not going to be that way when I grow up," to "I hope I haven't lived my life that way and do I have time to change?"

Maybe it's the year we've had...maybe it's the fact we're entering a new year on shakier ground. Whatever the reason, I feel drawn to the story and more importantly, its message. It could be because we need to hear those four words more now than ever before...God bless us, everyone.

Cartoon Credit: John Atkinson, @WrongHands

Give Thanks...Music

 It's Sunday...a day I've set aside to try and write something about giving thanks. This week, it's music.

I could write a hundred posts about music.

Music changed my life.

Before the internet, before iPods, CDs, even MTV and Walkmans, we had only a couple of ways to listen to music. You could listen to it live. You could play a record, listen to a tape or 8-track, or hope they played what you wanted to hear on the radio.

That was it.

It sounds so weird considering not being able to just listen to your favorite song or album anytime, anywhere. Hence, the wonders of technology. In my high school years I remember sitting in our font room, RUSH, Styx, REO, ELO, Kansas, or any number of records blasting in my father-built speakers. When I was younger, I listened to Mitch Miller, the Beatles, even the soundtrack to Saturday's Warrior (I listened to that album so many times...). 

My senior year I joined a high school choir and that is when I fell in love with choral singing. I sang for four years in a college choir, three years with Mormon Youth Chorus, and we part of a bell choir for another couple of years. Doing musical theater productions has allowed me to keep singing since I left those choirs. It was because of a choir I met my wife.

Yes...music's been an important part of my life.

Today in church, we were able to sing a couple of Christmas songs. I appreciate them all the more because for several months were were not to sing in our meetings. I love singing Christmas songs, love them most of all.

Today, I give thinks for music. It is the language of deity...how God communicates to us, and there's nothing you can say to convince me otherwise.

The Mini-Gingerbread House That Was Amazing...

The past couple of years, our family has a tradition of constructing a gingerbread house at Christmas. Another tradition we started, in addition to building the houses, is destroying them on New Years Eve.  Since we're just going to blow them up anyway, we haven't put too much effort in making them look "nice."

Earlier this week we saw a gingerbread house that was most likely not built to be destroyed.

It was beautiful.

The edible art was a gift to my mother-in-law from her new neighbors. It was small--actually built with graham crackers. The detail, though...we were blown away. I tried to get shots of each side showing some of the detail. I'm going to post all the pictures I took and hopefully you can appreciate the artistry that we saw. It was really cool. Who knows...maybe it will inspire us to put more effort into our next Christmas tradition. We'll see.

The Genius...Behind The Bear River Valley Merchants "2020 Christmas Coloring Book"

 It came in the mail and I thought it was quaint, but it wasn't until I opened the insert that realized what it truly was...

A great big ad.

I'm not "anti-advertising" for the most part. Of course, I draw the line with calls every other hour informing me that my car warranty is expired. But, a coloring book for kids created by businesses in the town, that's something I can support.

I especially liked how the pictures matched--for a majority, at least--what the businesses sell. The eighteen-wheeler for Transport Diesel, an elf driving a tractor for Buttars Tractor, and Santa filling up the sleigh for Miller Gas. Some didn't match as well, but that's okay--I'm sure the kids coloring the pictures don't care. 

Then, once the pictures are colored, they can be taken into the businesses to get a special prize to the winner in each of the four age groups. Yet another way to get kids and their parents to visit the businesses. Maybe it's because I haven't seen anything like this before, but I thought it was fun and creative. They might do this where we used to live, but if so, I didn't know about it. It has such a small-town feel, I loved it.

There's probably no age group for my kids so I don't see us participating. I wonder how successful this advertising campaign is. Even if it's not all that successful, it's still genius.

Four Trips...Four Items

 In this picture, I see four things--there's actually more, but the three pieces of furniture and the tree are what I'm focusing on. The reason I took this picture is because each of these four things represents four trips I had to make yesterday.

I'm glad I didn't have anything else on the docket. 

I don't work my job on Fridays. Fridays have become our "go pick-up groceries" day. We drive about twenty minutes south to get groceries at two stores. Thanks to the wonderful implementation of pick-up shopping, we drive to the store, open up the back of the minivan, and after the groceries are loaded up, we head home.

Yesterday, we decided to check out a couple of places before we came home, one was an amazing furniture store (subject of a future blog post...), and the other a thrift store. We're on the look out for three things--a cabinet for our living room TV, a beat-up desk for my son's projects, and a table base for my bumper pool table (subject of another future blog post...). 

Yesterday, we hit the jackpot!

We found two of the three things at the thrift store on our first trip out. The cabinet and desk were perfect, but we didn't have time (or space...) to take them home. No problem--I can just come back. We did and I did. The problem was, I greatly underestimated the cargo size of Donk the Subaru Forester. When they wheeled out the desk, I knew I was in trouble. Only the desk would fit = yet another trip south. But, before I left, I did go inside the thrift store (if you know me, you know I could not resist...) and I spotted the third leg of the trifecta...I spotted the table.

I drove home, unloaded the desk, then took out the middle row seats in the van and headed once again south. We loaded up the table and cabinet--they barely fit--but they did fit and I counted that a success.

But, if you think my driving time for the day was done, you are wrong, my friend. Last night an opportunity opened to get a Christmas tree. We haven't seen a lot of trees in our area, so we drove east to Logan, home of the Aggies, and picked up a tree. After we got home, I unloaded the tree and placed it in the garage. 

I snapped a picture. It represents over 150 miles of driving to assemble the four items. Lots of driving, but for us, a very successful day.

Out Little Patch Of Christmas...

 I remember something I learned after my father-in-law passed away. The family rallied around my mother-in-law making sure that for the next twelve months, she was with family. That first year is crucial...all those "first" are important to have family around, first anniversary, first holiday season, first everything.

Though, the experience is nothing like that, our family is going through our own "firsts." We had our first Thanksgiving, and now, it's our first Christmas season in the new place. Much of what we're going through is the same...the same people doing the same things, but things like putting up Christmas lights--well, that's different.

It's easy to compare. Our last house was well-suited for outdoor illumination. Even though we never took full advantage of it, we did try and decorate it at Christmas. The porch was fun to string lights and make it look good.

The new house...

We're finding it to be not as easy. First off, it's a traditional house, not like the cabin we lived in before. Short of putting up lights along the roofline, there's not a lot of places to put lights. Plus, we have no yard put in which complicates things. We decided to focus on the small space in front of the house. We set up our inflatable nativity scene and hung some lights above. Tonight, as we returned home from getting a Christmas tree, we were able to see it at night. It was, in a word, unimpressive.

But, that's okay. We can see the lights from inside the house, something we couldn't see from inside at our old house. We know it's not going to be like this every year, but even if it was, the point isn't to "outshine" everyone on the block, it's to remember what the season is all about, and--in my opinion--that's what our lights do, at least, they do for me.