Singing with Purpose

Tonight Madilyn's Brownie troop sang at a local nursing home. I, unfortunately, was included, and had to torture the residents with my complete lack of singing ability. Anyway, a huge group of us wandered the halls, singing to the residents, and passing out handmade Christmas ornaments. Madilyn did such a great job smiling and being friendly - that does seem to be her calling in life. You should have seen the smile on the face of the woman when Madilyn gave her an ornament. I wish I could have captured it on film... Fun Christmas memories.

A quiet sense of humor

So, with all of her disabilities, it's easy to forget that Sarah has a sense of humor. A dry one, to be sure, but it's there. Case in point:

Driving to the aforementioned church Christmas party, when she knew that the 3 Kings would be there, she quietly remarked, to no one in particular... "That must be the fourth king."... as we were passed by a semi truck labelled "Kings Express".

If you're not paying attention, her zingers get lost in the ether.

Christmas Quiz

So I get these e-mails all the time, asking for my answers to random questions. I love reading the responses, but never forward them on. Drives my sister crazy. So, in the spirit of giving, I figured I'd actually respond and post the answers here.

Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you... Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper

2. Real tree or artificial? artificial, with lots of pine scented candles

3. When do you put up the tree? day after Thanksgiving

4. When do you take the tree down? the day after we get home

5. Do you like eggnog? not even a little bit

6. Favorite gift received as a child? microscope

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes-lots

8. Hardest person to buy for? Parents

9. Easiest person to buy for? Kids

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I'm sure that there have been some, but I must be blocking out the memory...

11. Email or Christmas cards? Christmas newsletter

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Charlie Brown Christmas. Linus nails it!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? this year, july... but usually a week before

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I'm sure I have, but I'm not sharing specifics

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies and chocolate (actually, that's not restricted to Christmas)

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night. I have at least 7 versions on my iPod.

18. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? travel

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? in my sleep

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? people who forget the Savior on His birthday

23. What I love most about Christmas? Being with family, and reflecting on the wonderful gifts given to all by Christ.

The Kings vs. Saint Nick

Our ward decided this year that the Christmas party should be more spiritual, and good ol' Santa was given the boot in favor of the Three Kings (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar). As someone who is normally in favor of a return to canon and away from commercialism, I had mixed feelings about this. I supported the move toward recognizing the Savior, but dreaded telling the kids. Because we don't get out to the mall to visit Santa, the party is really their only time with the "big guy". I was grateful, however, that I learned of the situation before the party, so that I could prepare the kids.

Sarah was beyond appalled. "WHERE is Santa??!!" she wanted to know. "WHY won't he come?" It took a lot of work to calm her down. Madilyn was much more laid back about the situation - "Will we still get presents?" was her only concern.

So, we attended the party with Sarah still expressing great concern over the health and general well-being of Santa. I was hopeful for a spiritual experience, centered on Christ's birth. What we got was a holiday office party, nary a mention of the Savior, and three guys wrapped in colorful shawls delivering snowmen and penguin goody bags filled with Santa (!) straws, jingle bells, and candy.

Although festive and fun, in the end it just seemed like someone with a grudge against St. Nick had ejected him from a standard-issue Christmas party and put the Wise Men in his place. Not a wise move at all.

During the meal, Sarah turned to me and asked "Will Santa come here next year?"

I hope so, sweetie, I sure hope so.

Playing fast and easy with time

A warning to readers:  this blog will, through the magic of technology, defy the laws of time and space.  

Posts from the past will magically appear, and subscribers may feel that time is running forward and backward (or that I am just really, really messed up).

Fear not, it is just the wonderful world of computers, where you can backdate your post.  Because the end result is a blog that looks like it was created in chronological order, I'm taking full advantage of it.

Most days, I feel in danger of losing memories from my swiss-cheese brain... that I will forget something that I should have documented.  So, this blog is the place where I can take all of the drops of memories that have dripped from my over-full brain and try and assemble a meaningful chronology.

At least, that's my story today.  Tomorrow, I may rewrite the past.

She IS growing...

There was some debate at our last (September) visit with the endocrinologist regarding whether or not Sarah was actually getting taller, and therefore, whether or not we should continue using the growth hormone. After 3 months on HGH, the office measurement indicated no change in height, but the kid's pants looked ready to weather flood season! Anyway, the doctor agreed to try increasing the dose and check again in 3 months.

Reflecting on the situation, I came to suspect either a too-hot dryer or, more likely, a slouchy kid during measurements. September was, after all, the first time that I let the nurse perform the measurement without my involvement...

So, for today's appointment, I involved myself and made sure that she was standing straight. Not easy, but we got it done. Result? The doctor was amazed at how much she had grown since the last visit - an "exceptional growth velocity" even for non-chromosomally challenged girls. Sarah has actually found herself back ON the growth curve for the first time since she was two. Granted, she's still 5th percentile, but she's ON the curve. (for the record, she is now 4' 5 3/8" tall and it's still IMPOSSIBLE to find pants that fit without being shortened).

So, we're staying on the hormone, and hoping to get ahead of the curve. Five feet, here we come!

Lamenting the Christmas Letter

So yesterday I sent out our Christmas cards. On December 7th! Definitely a personal best. I am now, however, lamenting the loss of our Christmas letter. In the drive to get the cards out, I chose to create them online - a single picture with two lines of text - and then have them mailed directly to each of the recipients. How efficient!

How sad. Normally, I spend days agonizing over my letter, reviewing the pictures and events of the previous year, and working my best to come up with a holiday letter that won't end up on one of those "worst Christmas letter" websites. In the past two years, I've turned the newsletter into the card itself, working on designing something that, although homemade, is presentable. We always manually signed the cards, and tried to add some personalization. That's the part that's sad - the Christmas cards received by my family and friends will literally never have been touched by me!

Now, perhaps this wouldn't bother me so much if I was better at keeping in touch with friends and family thoughout the year, but I'm not. It's not that I don't think about these people, because I do - a lot. I just don't do anything about it. I have a feeling that this issue will make an appearance on my "2009 resolutions" list.

Regarding the issue at hand, however, I've decided that I can't live without an annual Christmas letter. So, it will appear here, on my blog. I'm also going to post the previous Christmas letters, in case anyone's interested. Long live the Christmas letter, in whatever form it takes!