Christmas in Rexburg

Things over Christmas went better than expected (for the most part). We had an uneventful drive there with a stop at Del Taco and the Army surplus store in Shelley. We then had a yummy dinner and hung out with everyone. My biggest complaint that day was the lingering cold from traveling in subzero temps. I couldn't get warm to go to sleep for quite a while.

Friday, we did sealings at the temple. James got to be sealed for his 9th great grandfather, also named James Head. The Rammells came over for dinner that night, and it was noisy, but fun.

Saturday,  I did some baking/cooking in the morning. We had Christmas Eve dinner with the Lees. It was really nice, the usual stuff, so I had a stomachache afterward. We exchanged presents with the cousins. (Our kids and their cousins drew names for each other.)

Sunday was Christmas morning! We opened at many things as we could, went to a lovely Christmas program at church, and opened the rest and ate scrapple afterward. We then headed to Victor for Christmas dinner: ham, cheesy potatoes, rolls, etc. I made the dessert for it, something called peppermint fluff. I had my doubts, but it turned out really good. The kids did the Nativity story again for Grandpa Head. I noticed the candles were missing that he and Grandma used to light every year, so I asked him about them. At first he said they didn't matter because she was gone, but I got a text 30 minutes after we left saying that they'd found the candles and lit them, just as they had for the past 60+ years. I really missed Grandma Head on Christmas, and I know Grandpa was too. I'm glad I was inspired to remind him of the candles.

Sunday night, James and I escaped for a night to relax at a hotel. It was wonderful to have some peace and quiet, plus sleep in and eat a nice breakfast. We even sat there and read our books for a while and then went to D.I. to hunt for treasures Monday morning. Emily Vergara came over with her kids in the afternoon. The adults (minus Rex, who was watching the grands) went to Righteous Slice for dinner, which was absolutely delicious.

Tuesday, we went over to Sam and Jesse's house. That evening, James went to hang out with Sam, Kenneth, and Nick for a "guys' night" thing. I made mini cheesecakes for Jacob's birthday.

Wednesday, I went to Costco with Melodie and stocked up on nuts and a few other things. We did homemade pizza for dinner on Melodie's new pizza stone, and that was delicious as well. The cheesecakes were yummy too, and just the right size. Since it was Jacob's birthday, a couple cousins came over to play DnD while I watched a Christmas movie with my in-laws.

Thursday morning did not start out well. Kenny threw up 4x during the night and Lewis once. Joseph was also in a grumpy mood for some reason. Things got better once we started driving, and we got home around 6:30 P.M. We unloaded the car, started shoveling the foot of snow we got while we were gone, and opened a couple more presents and treats. By bedtime, I had everything clean and unpacked.

It's been a busy Friday. Kenny has mostly recovered, I'm almost done with laundry, and I'm about to help with the shoveling. Joseph and James went to the temple to do baptisms and will come home with groceries and library holds. I got an excellent night of sleep as well. Though I have some Primary stuff to work on, I have it all written down and don't feel terribly stressed about it. I should be able to have a pretty lazy New Year's Eve before the crazy Sunday in Primary that will be coming after.

It was a really good trip. Everyone got a lot of sleep. We had awesome food, presents, and lot of fun playing board games and hanging out with family members. I am still glad Christmas is over and can't wait for a new year!

Primary, Feeling Grinchy

We had our Temple and Priesthood Prep meeting on Sunday during class time. Though I had a nightmare that everything would go wrong, it actually went perfectly. I did a Kahoot and talked a little about the temple and family history, then my part was done. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. My secretary Kaila made temple-shaped cookies, and they were both beautiful and delicious. We only had 25 minutes, but we pulled it off. It was a huge relief.

I held a presidency meeting last night, and I felt even better about this calling. We put together presidency binders and discussed some important things. I'd gotten bored last week and put together all the other binders (teachers, nursery, and activities) already, but I showed them the progress so far. We have to wait till the 1st to finish everything since classes don't shift until then, but everything is mostly done. I feel like I know what I'm doing now. My presidency is awesome because they are always bringing great ideas and willing to do everything I ask. We definitely have different strengths that complement one another. We all get along as well. I feel really blessed.

Though I'm feeling pretty awesome about Primary, I've been struggling with winter and Christmas this week. I felt some actual anxiety on Monday over something stupid (the heater, which just needed a new filter when it had an error code, but I assumed the worst.) It took me a little while to really feel better, but it was a matter of hours, not days. What helped was reading over my old journal, exercising with Katie at the school, and then cleaning the church. That sounds strange, but it was really good to vacuum for 45 minutes. It's mindless and comforting at the same time.

It's been such a crummy December, weather-wise. Rather than our normal occasional snow, we've gotten a whole bunch of snow followed by subzero temps for the past week and a half. Naturally, Rexburg won't be any better, and it looks like it'll be cloudy the whole time. I just really hate winter right now. It hurts my face to go outside, and I'm worried at how cold it'll be in January if it's already this cold right now. The last few packages came, so at least I'm not worried about that anymore. I'm just ready for Christmas to be over. If you love Christmas, stop reading now.

Why Christmas is the Worst Holiday (Or At Least Not the Best)

1. The weather is often terrible (though more so in Rexburg.) At best, it's a sunny day with beautiful, glittering snow. Often, it's frigid, cloudy, and windy, sometimes too cold for the kids to play outside.

2. I prefer being at home, but I'm never at home on Christmas unless there's a pandemic.

3. Everyone expects me to be happy about it, but I think it's just okay, so I feel guilty for not liking it more.

4. I get tired of Christmas music before Christmas starts, and that's even with waiting till December 1st to listen to it.

5. Buying presents is stressful. In person, there are way too many people. Online, I get stressed about waiting for everything to show up on time, even when I shop super early. I also feel guilty when people get me nicer stuff than what I can afford in return.

6. I can't spend Christmas with both my family and in-laws, so I end up feeling depressed no matter what.

7. I hate the pile of trash and presents that clutter the living room after everyone opens presents. And it sits there for what feels like eons.

8. It's tiring. I never get a good night of sleep when I'm not at home.

9. Someone in my house is sick at any given time. Or, we bring home a new, crappy illness after visiting family.

10. It starts way too early. I HATE seeing Christmas stuff in the store in September.

11. I'm not allowed to complain. The few times I have, I was accused of "not caring about families who have to shop early to afford it" or "not caring about farmers because they really need the snow so they can water their crops next year." I feel like Christmas gets shoved in my face for months at a time, and I don't like that at all.

I guess what it comes down to is this: as an introvert who grew up in the South and doesn't like shopping, large crowds, or clutter, it's everything that I am not. I'm also a mom who wants healthy, happy kids and that feels like an impossible thing to pull off this time of year. I've done everything I can to simplify this season and make it more meaningful, but it's never going to be my favorite.

I suppose I should stop complaining and go get ready for our trip tomorrow. :)

Bring on January! It's one month closer to summer and I get to declutter the whole house. I can't wait!

Cabinet, Parties, Neighbor Gifts

It was actually pretty fun to clean out the Primary closet. Or cabinet. I'm not really sure which it is. We spent 2 hours on it and threw away 1/2 of the stuff in there: crummy old binders, pictures that no one will ever use again, grody old balloons that disintegrated when I touched them, etc. I have a box of stuff that I'm dropping off at D.I. today and a box full of the best binders to give to all the teachers and activities leaders. We found out that we have plenty of rings, too! The green ones were in several different places.

I brought home a huge stack of page protectors. The boys helped me sort through them and keep the best 50% of them. We still have about 600 of them, but now they're sorted and put into some of the crummy binders since they're slippery and don't stack well. I printed a whole bunch of papers for the binders and have a list for what I still need to print on January 1st.

Our ward party was Thursday night, and the Spanish ward had one on Friday night. Both were fun for different reasons and had excellent food. It was also nice not to have to cook. I had a hard time sleeping for a few days thanks to coughing and random insomnia, but I caught up by the weekend. I was even able to sing some of the Christmas songs without coughing. Honestly, that cold was strange. I had some days where the coughing was bad, but it was over in only a week, a huge blessing.

Saturday, I delivered the rest of the Christmas presents for Primary. It's so good to have that done.

Monday, we finished our Christmas shopping for white elephant gift exchanges, the angel tree, and a couple of presents the kids needed to get for each other. The rest of my Amazon stuff will come today or tomorrow. I forgot how stressful it is to be tracking so many things at once. We got a ton of snow on Monday day/night and a 2 hour delay on Tuesday. It was really nice to sleep in and have a big breakfast but extra hard to get up on Wednesday.

I made two batches of fudge, one plain and one with walnuts, to give away to a few friends and neighbors. I scaled things down a lot this year and only did 10 families (not 25-30). Kenny and Katie are going to help me deliver them today.

I'm cautiously excited about Christmas break. I shouldn't have any Primary stuff to worry about between the 22nd and 31st because there won't be any Primary at church, gifts will have been delivered, and I'll be out of town till the 29th. Everyone is currently healthy with very few lingering symptoms of cold #3. All the shopping is done, and I've even finished 2 books in the past week. Now, if I can just stay warm through the subzero temps and sane while I'm around a ton of family members...

Getting Better

Well, I got the cold too, but it's not anything worse than that, so I wore a mask to my meeting with the Stake Primary and to church on Sunday. I'm feeling MUCH better today after a few sleepless nights due to coughing. I'm really hoping to catch up on sleep tonight because 5 hours just isn't enough!

I feel much better about everything. I spent Saturday morning completely redoing the binder for Primary. I retyped everything that needed updating or assigned it to my counselors. I have to wait till the new year for new class lists, but I have most of the other stuff figured out. I bought the Friend magazines (with no help from Distribution) and sent little notes to all the families. For those who don't want one or didn't get back to me, I'm going to get some cute gloves and print a quote to go with them. I'll finish that by Saturday.

We really enjoyed watching the Christmas Devotional on Sunday and eating Muddy Buddies. It's one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

We got a lot of snow this week, so the kids built a giant snowman with James. I supplied the carrot and took the picture since I still wasn't feeling amazing.

I've decided to scale back on Christmas a bit. Primary has consumed my life for the time being, and having sick people in the house since October hasn't helped my energy level or mood. I've really missed being able to SING! It's not the same to passively listen to Christmas music. I'm planning on doing half as many neighbor gifts (probably just my presidency, ministering people, and DND group) and no Christmas cards. I'm just not in the mood. :) I finished a book yesterday after working on it for 2 weeks, and it felt amazing. I need more of that in my life right now.

It's Wednesday, but I'm going to finish this today since I'll be busy. Joseph and James have a temple trip in the morning, I'll be going to the church at 1 to clean out the cabinet with my presidency, and we have a ward party at 6:30. I'm taking a buckeye pie for the dessert contest. I'm pretty excited about all of it. I think I'll even be able to sing since I've mostly stopped coughing. Crossing my fingers.

Speaking of church, someone found my keys! I was sitting in ward council when there was a knock on the door. A man from the other ward brought them in. I had to get a new fob and rings since they were smashed, but I have my keys back! It's a miracle!

Thanksgiving, More Illness, Stress

Thanksgiving was all right. I didn't end up with a lot of stress from the cooking. I'd written everything down beforehand so I knew when it would be ready. The turkey cooked faster than expected, so we sat down to eat by 12:30. Nash came, but he was late, so he reheated his.

Within 24 hours, Joseph, Katie, and Lewis threw up. Joseph was feeling really awful on Friday, so I had James take him to urgent care. He tested negative for the flu (and Covid, done at home), so I guess it was just some virus. That altered our plans to hang out at Holly Days all together with the Boyles. Instead, James and I went around dinnertime to look around. He took the younger kids to the parade and fireworks while the boys and I watched LotR. I had my turkey pot pie as well, so it wasn't a totally horrible day.

Saturday, James and I did a date where we took pictures with as many dinosaurs as possible in 20 minutes. We got 10, about 1/3 of the ones in town. It was silly but helped me feel better about life. Samantha and her parents came over to play games and eat snacks. The Clue Escape Room game was pretty fun.

Sunday was crazy. I had my first ward council meeting, then a Primary to lead/staff since almost no one showed up and couldn't find subs. We had no pianist or chorister and only 3 teachers. We made it work by doing only 2 classes. I played the piano, and Kaila led the music. It wasn't horrible, but it was honestly the very worst Sunday of the year for finding people and a little overwhelming.

Tuesday, I had my first presidency meeting. It lasted 2 hours since we had a lot to talk about. I assigned out lots of things. My main assignment right now is doing the Christmas presents for the kids. It's stressful. I want to order the Friend for 30ish households, but that will take forever if I have to do it online and have to check out that many times. It won't let me order them all at once and send them to different houses. I've emailed Distribution, so I hope they can help me make this easier.

I lost my church keys. I was supposed to let the activities leaders in early, but I couldn't find the keys anywhere. Still can't.

James stayed home sick today since he had a fever last night. I don't know what it is, but I haven't had more than just a minor sniffle. I suppose it's a blessing for doing my best at this new calling that I still find super stressful. Thankfully, we're meeting with the stake tomorrow night. I really hope they can answer all my questions!

If I have a choice for when they call the next Primary, I'm going to have it be in a February. December has the longest to-do list by 5x or so.