My Christmas Story

Ok, so this is a book, but I just had to get it out. Its personal and would definately be categorized as a 'journal entry'. Our Christmas weekend was very interesting. Good, sad, bad, great, fun. I got off work at 4:00 on Friday and grabbed Taco Time for dinner on the way home. Caslon and David went to her room and wrapped my presents, and I spent the next 4 hours wrapping presents and watching tv in front of the fire (eventually with Caslon's help). We got to bed at about 1:30. On Saturday morning we got up and cleaned the house, top to bottom. What a great feeling, especially after having the power out and not cleaning anything (except dishes and laundry) for two weeks. The house needed it. We went grocery shopping and picked up a few more things for Christmas, then went home and made broccoli, cheese, bacon quiche for dinner. Our friend, David (Newt) Newton came over and watched the movie Cars and had ice cream sundaes with us. We hadn't seen the movie yet and we all liked it a lot. Sunday morning (Christmas Eve) came and the 3 of us went to church together. Our friend Shannon and her family were at church, visiting from Utah and it was so good to see her. I really miss having her in town. David had been grumpy lately and it was all wearing on us. He has a hard time every Christmas since he doesn't see any of his family, and for other reasons. We only had Sacrament meeting that day so we got home at about 10:30. Caslon had to be at her dad's house later that night to spend Christmas morning with him, so we had her Christmas on Christmas Eve. We opened presents and I took a nap for about an hour while David and Caz did some stuff around the house. We left and went out to Seattle, planning to see some friends at their Christmas party. David took one look at my shoes (orange tennis shoes) and said "you need new shoes". So here we were, on Sunday (Heaven forbid), at the downtown Macy's. I got a pair of brown loafers and then he took us up to look at dress coats. I've been wearing the same long black wool coat for about 6 years - ever since his mom bought it for me at an estate sale. The inside lining is all ripped out and the pockets have holes in them. It was in sad shape on the inside. So, I got a new black coat. We argued about what was practical because he liked the shorter, lighter weight coat on me because it was stylish. I liked the longer, heavier coat because I hate having cold legs. We went around and around, him saying "don't buy another coat that looks like you're wearing a garbage bag." and I was saying "I need something to cover up my legs in the winter, and its not a garbage bag." He would not back down. So I have a beautiful black short, light coat for 60% off. He keeps saying "I hope you can get used to it" and I say "I'll let you know." He's never worn dress slacks or a skirt with nylons in the winter, how can he know what its like to have wind blowing up there? That was the beginning of a really horrible afternoon together. Satan must have been working over-time on us because our day was turning worse. I'm sure he wants to make sure we never go to church again together. When we got back into the car to go to the party we just started bickering. His mood for the past few days really ticked me off and I couldn't take Caz and I being picked on anymore. When I get ticked off to a certain point, I can't back down until I get a serious time-out. So we missed the party and ended up going back home to all sit in the living room and have a heart-to-heart. David is really good at talking and working through feelings and problems. I'm not so good at it. He will want to talk until its resolved, so there aren't hurt feelings any more and so we can start again fresh. I really love that about him. He explained why he had been so frustrated lately and I explained why I was so pissy at him. (Ya, its also my PMS time... Got a problem with that?!) Caz just sat there and tried to help. She's the coolest kid. She works so hard to keep our family happy and doing everything we ask her to do. I wish everyone could get to know her the way I do. So, after the family pow-wow we dried our eyes and went to ChinaTown for some really good Chinese food. (Its normally our tradition to go out for Chinese on Christmas Night "fa ra ra ra ra", but we really wanted Caslon to be with us so we switched it to Christmas Eve.) Once we got home from dinner we were all pooped. Caslon and I made her dad a Christmas stocking and then it was time for her to go over to his house at 10:00. After I dropped her off, I came home (David had fallen asleep in bed watching Aliens) and made a big fire. I bundled up on the couch with a good book and read and dozed for a while. It felt like heaven. I eventually went to bed after David came out of the bedroom looking for me. I'm so thankful our day ended better than it had started. I'm thinking it was cursed because we were so Unholy on the Sabbath, going shopping and eating out. Sometimes its hard to keep harmony in our family when I'm too strict about things like that. It was an exception this time, I swear. Christmas Day was sunny and gorgeous. I woke up late (nice!) and took a bubble bath. David woke up and we got ready for the day. I made homemade hot fudge for my family gifts and hemmed some new pants. I got the turkey ready to put in the oven after my family party and then David and I opened some presents. It was a great morning. He decided to stay home and just have some alone time so I took off for Rebecca's house where we had a Christmas brunch and gift exchange with my sisters, brother and parents. I got home at about 3:00 and put the turkey in. David was busy working on his model hydroplane so I took a 2 hour nap! Loved it! The turkey turned out the best I've ever made and David made really good potatoes. We cleaned up the kitchen and I went over to my parents house where my brother Jeff and his wife and in-laws were having dinner. We sat around and told stories and had a good time. When I got home, David and I opened the last of our presents while we sat in bed. Then I got to talk to my sister Rebecca for a long time on the phone. It was a fun way to end the Christmas day. I remembered later that I forgot to ask her for her turkey vegetable soup recipe.