Welcome, Christmas!

A new wreath on the front door for Christmas 2017.

Last Christmas, I didn't decorate my house. There were a number of factors behind my lack of holiday spirit a year ago. To begin with, it was my first Christmas with an empty nest. All of my children were married and had moved away, and I was a little overwhelmed that there were no stockings to be hung and no kids to wake me early, excited to open their gifts. 

Second, I was very stressed at work. This was partly due to recent administrative changes, which created an environment that no longer brought a sense of satisfaction, and partly because I knew it was my final year in a career I'd enjoyed for so long and hadn't intended to leave so soon. 

Third, I was struggling with constant knee pain and other health issues that left me with little energy beyond what it took to teach my classes everyday. Gift-shopping and gift-wrapping were about all I could manage at the end of the day.

Finally, I knew the days of trudging through the woods to find the perfect Christmas tree were now a thing of the past, and even decorating a large tree without my kids' help was no longer a realistic goal. Nonetheless, I am still stubborn and picky, so I spent most of December 2016 searching for the perfect small, artificial Christmas tree. By the time I found one I liked, it was almost Christmas and decorating just wasn't going to happen. Nothing more than a small tree with no ornaments, and the packages stacked below.

The first half of December was busy this year.

So I made up my mind that there will be decorations this year! Not the kind they feature on TV, of course, with outdoor decorations synced to music and enough lights to rival Las Vegas Boulevard. I started small, with a new wreath to match our new blue metal roof and our new blue-and-white twinkling Christmas lights and our pretty, blue front door. Just that little spot of Christmas brought me more cheer than I'd expected.

The Nativity I bought in the 1980s in Nogales, Mexico, takes center stage.

It's been slow-going. My energy is still limited, my knees still hurt a lot, and the first half of the month was pretty hectic, both with scheduled activities and with the often unexpected needs that can arise with my new calling in Relief Society. I'm not sure I'd have accomplished anything at all if I were still teaching. The calendar has quieted this week, though, and the need to rush things has fallen away. Peace. I like it.

This year I combined two scenes I'd always placed on separate shelves.

Thus, I spent three days on the living room, refusing to feel pressured to get it done immediately. On the first day, Mark helped me get the deep-cleaning done, from sweeping away cobwebs in the corners to moving furniture so I could clean behind it. We were both quite sore at the end of that day!

I blended the Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer figurines with my

Christmas-tree forest tableau. Why didn't I think of that before?

On the second day, I did more dusting and started putting up some of my old decorations, but with a new twist on how I placed some of them. On the third day, Sarah and Dylan helped with more decorating and setting up the tree. They were awesome!

As always, the candy dish is filled with Skittles for my kids during the

Christmas season. I'd prefer M&Ms, but then I'd eat them all myself!

The only thing I didn't get set up was my favorite Nativity, the one I purchased just a few years ago. I had already placed the Christmas-tree forest and Rudolph figures on the shelf where I'd always put the Willow Tree Nativity in the past, thinking that instead I would put that Nativity on the coffee table with the Christmas tree. Once we got the Christmas tree up, though, it was clear that they wouldn't both fit very well into the limited space.

Nativities don't need to be elaborate!

I may not put up the Willow Tree Nativity at all this year, but I haven't completely counted it out. Maybe it will fit on top of the roll-top desk...

The Christmas tree and gifts commandeered the whole table.

We've found a little time to enjoy an old tradition from when my children were small, of watching Christmas movies together during the weeks before Christmas. It's not as easy, with all the kids' varied schedules, but two Sundays ago we had fun watching A Christmas Story together, which Jake had never (gasp!) seen before.

Not as many gifts under the tree this year, but I'm finally accepting

that my kids don't need as much from their mom as they used to...

Then, after our Sunday dinner this week, when the guys were all gone, Sarah and I sat together and watched the ancient (1960s) television movie, The Littlest Angel, starring Johnny Whitaker. It always makes me cry when he goes home for his box of treasures and then hugs his mom, and all she feels is his warmth in her heart, not knowing her son is gone and will never come home again. I tear up just thinking about it!

Gifts from all of us to Jacob and Danielle in Utah.

Unlike the decorating, this year's gift shopping seemed to go quickly and smoothly, like never before. That, I'm sure, is due entirely to the extra time provided by retirement. I started looking for and buying many of the presents in mid-November, and I ordered more gifts online than I'd ever done before. In the end, everything was wrapped and ready--including those that had to travel to Utah for Jacob and Danielle--and in the mail a full ten days before Christmas! That was a first for me!

I had to get creative and redesign this box in order to

fit in all the Utah gifts, to avoid using a much-too-larger box!

Another fun aspect of the Christmas season is the Christmas cards arriving in the mail; not as many as in the pre-electronic-communications past, but still enough to light up my heart. It's also fun when friends show up unexpectedly on the doorstep, bearing small gifts to let you know you are thought about and loved.

Homemade Rice-Krispies-treat Christmas tree from my friend Liz.

I forgot to take a picture of the plate of homemade candies my friend Wyndie makes and brings every year (to be honest, I was too busy gobbling up all the fudge without offering Mark any--but I did give him all of the divinity and half the caramel!). However, I did capture these two sweet surprises from Liz and Carol.

Whisk and hot pad from my friend Carol.

There are just so many wonderful moments that come to us at Christmas time, and every one of them comes through the hands of those who love us and the warmth of the Spirit sent by Him whose season this is. 

Merry Christmas from our home to those who mean so much to us all year long!