The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It's crazy that the Holidays, and even December for that matter, are already done and over with. It seems like just a few days ago that we were heading off to cut down our Christmas tree, and now you'd never even know it spent the past several weeks camped in the corner of our living room!

Christmas really is my most favorite time of the year, and this year, despite incessant sickness that showed up in early December and refused to go away right through to the end of the month, was no different.

We'll begin with that sickness, and then we'll move the tale of Christmas 2012 off into a more cheery and bright direction. A few weeks ago, Max told us he wasn't feeling well and he spent the entire afternoon on the couch. A few hours later, he threw up. By the time dinner rolled around, he had thrown up at least twice, but it may have been as much as four different times (the details are a bit fuzzy in my head, probably because of a conscious effort to permanently cloud them from memory). That evening, shortly after dinner, Wyatt threw up. He would go on to throw up at least four times, but maybe as much as six or seven. That night, Isla threw up. In her sleep. It was disgusting.

Let's back up about a week now. We discovered about six or seven days prior to all this, that Isla is a heavy sleeper. How heavy, you ask? Well, she threw up in her bed. A lot. And didn't even wake up. She slept right through it. And then slept in it for the rest of the night. Shayla and I didn't hear her throw up, so she's pretty silent about it as well. So when Isla woke up the next morning, needless to say, her bed, pajamas, and hair, were thoroughly coated. I have photographic evidence of the mess, but nobody wants to see that. You're going to see it anyway, sorry about this...

The photo doesn't do it justice. It was disgusting. And I didn't even see it! Fortunately, I was already at work when this startling discovery was made. Anywho, fast forward again to a week later. Isla threw up in her bed, again, after an already exhausting evening of spewed delight courtesy of our other two children. Isla sleeps in a bunkbed, on the top bunk. I could probably end the story right there and you could easily fill in all the details yourself, but why leave all the fun to your imaginations, when I'm perfectly capable of filling in the details on my own.

The first time Isla blew chunks all over her bed, she somehow managed to keep it contained to only her bed. This time, she shared her regurgitation with the wall. The wall shared it down the entire length of the wall, the bed (Max's) directly below Isla's bed, the floor, and all of the toys that had been so thoughtfully shoved out of the way and under the bed.

This time, I was home. For some reason, I decided to check in on Max and Isla before I got myself ready for bed (I hardly ever do this), and when I did, I was hit by the stench of foul, puke-stained air. I knew immediately what had happened. I had to wake Isla up, and she pretty much slept right through a massive clean-up effort by Shayla as puke was washed off her face and out of her hair, and her pajamas were changed for clean ones. Max, fortunately, was spared in the onslaught of throw-up as it careened down the wall next to his bed. His blankets and mattress, however, were not. Both Max and Isla spent the rest of the night sleeping on the floor, and the next day the entire bunkbed, blankets, sheets, mattresses, wall, floor, etc, were thoroughly scrubbed and sanitized. 

This is how the Holiday Season began for us. The next few weeks were spent in the company of the occasional cold, and then Christmas Day showed up and brought the flu. It started with Max feeling a little under-the-weather on Christmas Eve, but it wasn't enough to keep him inside during the day's brief snowstorm. The next day, however, it hit with a vengeance. He felt pretty good Christmas morning, and made it all the way through the opening of presents before he just couldn't keep going any longer. From early afternoon on through the rest of the day, Max slept on the living room floor, next to all his presents and toys. He would complain of being cold, and then hot. His energy level was at zero. That evening he started feeling good enough to let me build one of his lego sets for him, but after that he was right back on the floor. He slept there until the next morning. When he woke up, he was feeling much better!

The day after Christmas everyone was healthy, but once Thursday came, I returned to work and halfway through the day I began to feel it. I knew it was exactly what Max had suffered through on Christmas day. My energy level was zero. My entire body ached. I was freezing cold and couldn't warm up! Unlike Max, I spent the next five days battling it off. On the fourth day of my sickness, New Year's Eve, Wyatt came down with a fever. I was feeling mostly better now, but still wasn't quite up to 100%. We gave Wyatt some medicine and he quickly rebounded, and the next day, the first day of 2013, he seemed to be feeling much better. Until today. He woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and he only wanted to be held or lay on the floor for the rest of the day. Hopefully, round two won't last as long for Wyatt as my battle with the flu lasted, and he'll be better by morning.

So, back to the most wonderful time of the year! I really did love Christmas this year, despite the best efforts of viral infections. I loved Christmas because I love giving gifts. I loved Christmas because my kids loved it. I loved Christmas because Wyatt pulled all the ornaments off the bottom of our tree, and they slowly migrated toward the top as they were placed back on. I loved Christmas because all the houses in our neighborhood look so magical and whimsical all lit up with Christmas lights. I loved Christmas because we got to see Santa, twice. I loved Christmas because Shayla made us all new Christmas stockings. I loved Christmas because December 25th was sandwiched between two days of snow. I loved Christmas because of the thoughtfulness of others.

   

I loved Christmas, because it wasn't last Christmas. Now don't get me wrong, last Christmas was good too, but for some reason, Both Shayla and I didn't really feel like we got into the Christmas spirit last year. We bought way too many gifts for our kids, and focused more on the commercial aspect of the holiday, rather than the spiritual.

This year, we were a bit more careful in the gifts we purchased, and we were extremely touched by the generosity of those around us. I guess it's no secret that we're not rich. In fact, we spent the entire year wondering how we were going to pay all of our bills. But here we are, at the end of that year, and all our bills have been paid. It hasn't been easy, but both Shayla and I strongly believe that it's because we paid our tithing that we've been able to make it through. I usually don't like to get all wrapped up in talk about finances and whatnot. But when the Lord promises blessings for paying a tithe, he really delivers! Shayla and I can go back throughout the year and pick out times that were especially tight, and we can see where the blessings came in and how they helped us pull things together. I'm telling you all this for a very specific reason.

This year for Christmas, we received a couple of very special gifts. One anonymous, one not. Both have helped financially. We firmly believe that we would have been fine without these gifts, knowing that we had managed things well throughout the entire year, but we also firmly believe that these gifts came to us as a direct result of paying our tithing (along with the generosity, friendship, and divine inspiration of others). These gifts allowed us to be more thoughtful and reflective upon the true meaning of Christmas. They allowed us to share with our children the meaning and effect of caring, sharing, and giving. And that, combined with all else that this Christmas season brought, is why I loved Christmas.

The actual day of celebrations began for us on Christmas Eve (as I sure it does for most people). I had the day off from work, and the skies combined with (finally) cold enough weather to drop snow all around us. It wasn't much, but it was just enough to make the ground slippery enough for sledding. It was a perfect Christmas Eve, capped by a wonderful evening of food, family, and friends as we spent the wee hours of the day at Shelli and Lige's house. We forced our kids into newly provided Nativity costumes (courtesy of Shayla's mom) and amused ourselves  (and the kids too) as they acted out the Nativity scene.

Later, we headed for home as snow melted on the streets around us. Once home, we opened presents full of new pajamas and toothbrushes. Before getting fully ready for bed, we tracked Santa's location on our computer as he delivered gifts across the world, made sure to leave out a plate of cookies and a bottle of root beer, and then we all jumped into bed before Santa had a chance to pass us by.

The next morning, the doorway to Max's and Isla's room had somehow been wrapped up with wrapping paper during the night. Isla wasn't sure what to make of it when she opened her bedroom door to find a wall of wrapping paper blocking her exit. I helped her and Max open up a small enough section at the bottom to crawl out, but before long, the entire doorway had been ripped to shreds!

Max and Isla then found their way into my bedroom and sat on our bed, another surprise for me. I fully expected them to go rushing downstairs the first chance they got! Instead, they both waited patiently for Wyatt to wake up until they just couldn't take it any longer. If I remember correctly, Max decided that he had better go check on Wyatt to make sure he wasn't still sleeping. Of course he was still asleep, but the two older kids did their best to make sure he wasn't sleeping for much longer! Back in the hall, we all lined up youngest to oldest, and proceeded down the stairs and into the living room. Christmas was here. The next several hours were spent playing with toys and opening presents.

One of the best gifts Santa left under our tree this year (in my opinion, anyway), was Super Mario Kart.  I know most kids get the newest and latest in gaming gadgetry for Christmas, but we got the single most important video game to ever be created. I love that Max will play this for hours and think it's just as cool as any Wii or iPad game, and he's right. After a while, Max just couldn't hang on anymore (to both the game and the day in general), and as his sickness overcame him he crashed on the floor.

That evening, we continued one of my most favorite traditions from my childhood. We had a simple dinner in a fashion that was probably common during the time of the Savior's birth. We ate latkes (potato pancakes traditionally eaten by Jews during Hanukkah), fruit, bread, and juice, all in front of candlelight. I'm not sure why this tradition has become so meaningful to me. Perhaps it's because it's so simple, and helps draw me closer to the spirit of the Savior as I think about what family meals might have been like during His life.

The day after Christmas, we received a late Christmas gift from Shayla's mom, and promptly used it to stage our own play. Our kids are thrilled to have their very own puppet theatre! This day also brought us more snow, and we headed outside once again for more sledding and even a little snowman building!

It is for all these reason and more that I loved Christmas. It really is the most wonderful time of the year.