A Beary Merry Christmas

Kyla called the other day to say she had found a Christmas wallhanging that we used to have.  It was on Ebay and it sold for $249.00.  I had to look it up because I just couldn’t believe that a panel I bought at a fabric store about twenty five years for probably $5 would sell for that much.  Sure enough, it was true.  I bought the panel, put some backing on it and a little fleece in between and stuffed the little bear and hung it every Christmas.  The little bear would move through the house until the day it was Christmas and it landed in the living room.  Over the years it became worn and the bear wouldn’t attach like it used to.  I sewed buttons on each room and threaded the bear with a little loop so it would hang.  Every few years I would have to rethread and loop that little bear and it finally wore right through the fabric.  As with some decorations I retired the fabric panel to the trash one year not really knowing the full impact of that decision.  It is now obvious to me that the little bear house and the little bear finding his way to Christmas had an indelible impact on my children and many others in the world.  If it didn’t, why would anyone think it would sell for $249.00?  If I could only find that panel again I would make one for each of the kids and bring little bear back to life.

Idina

In my car, at this very moment, is a Christmas CD in the CD player and the truth that should be known is that I have been listening to it for a week or so.  I have not neglected Thanksgiving nor have I started to decorate with Christmas stuff but I was a little tempted to put up a Saint Nicholas plaque I just made.  But I didn’t.  Christmas music puts me a “jingle” mood and I really like being in a “jingle” mood.  I just have to wait out three more days and then the fun begins.  Green totes, red totes, Christmas wood projects, small trees and list goes on of all that comes out of the shed for the grand decorating.  The twenty-five boxes of outdoor Christmas lights can come out of my craft room and my Christmas binder will find its place for quick reference.  The tunes will ring through the house and finally I can sing and hum for the world to hear.  But before then, well, I just bought the new Idina Menzel CD that I’ll pop in my car tomorrow.

Joy in the Journey

When Rhea and I left for church this morning there were two moose hanging out on Hollywood Road.  When I drove to pick her up this evening from the Jones the same two moose were hanging out in the very same spot.  That was a nice feeling knowing that we haven’t  startled them nor chased them off.  Perhaps tranquility suits my thoughts better.  I like tranquility.  What is hard is when my tranquil life is rocked by tragedy and sadness, as it happened this week.  A dear little friend of thirteen decided life wasn’t calm and attempted to end it.  She didn’t succeed but her life will never ever be the same.  There are a million questions and no answers.  I need to find the calmness in my soul again and I need all of her friends to know that life is so very wonderful and that there is joy in the journey.  I need them to know that when they find themselves down in a valley they need to look up where a loving Heavenly Father calls down, to “climb a little more.”   I will pray for you little friend.

Babushka Dolls

A Matryoshka doll is also known as a Russian nesting doll.  The set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other are called Babushka dolls.  I have always thought they are kind of cool looking but I have never bought a set.  I received a set of my own babushka dolls in the form of boxes.  The first box was big and brown and arrived at the back door.  Inside that box was a white “Rush” Perishable Box which was insulated.   I kept peeling off a box at a time.  Then came a small white stryfoam cooler box and then inside that box was a small wrapped box which houses a very important commodity to help me feel a whole lot better and way better use of my hands.  I will thank you now Humira and hope my nesting boxes bring me all the relief and happiness I desire and if anyone wants to get me some babushka dolls well that would do me well too.

 

When Upon Life’s Billows

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed.  I got tossed off my pillow not by billow last night.  When I awoke this morning I had red, goopy, puffy eyes.  “Pink Eye!!!” and no sub to be found.  Then I got a call from Mike saying that Rhea’s practice was cancelled due to warm weather and melting ice.  Then I got a call from someone saying there was black ice down KGB and perhaps this evening’s Young Women’s in Excellence should be cancelled.  Now my billow was tossed.  I decided it is just better to roll with the punches so I cleaned a couple toilets, dusted a few furniture pieces and organized a little.  Now I am making room for the new and the better and a couple clear eyes so I can be ready when my billows are tossed again.  

Pieces

As I was standing in line at Target this evening a fine, noble great mother before me taught us all a great lesson.  She stood there with her two beautiful daughters, probably the ages of six and eight.  They each had long french braided hair and each stood tall and quiet as the younger girl handed her mother a small broken ceramic item.  The mother handed the pieces to the Target gal admonishing her daughter once again, that if you break it you have to pay for it.  She said, gently but firmly, that she has told her repeatedly that she should not touch things in the store.  The Target clerk didn’t know the price and said not to worry about it because others have broken things in the store before and they weren’t charged.  Now right here is the pivotal moment where this fine mother “taught” us all.  She looked at the clerk and sweetly, softly said, “Please let me pay for this because there is a lesson to be learned for my daughter.”  The clerk punched in a meager amount and the price was paid.  I was the silent cheerleader as this happened and the young clerk took a mental note of what the right thing to do is.  Hooray for keeping high standards among our youth, kudos for the fact there are still  good people in the world and blessings to all of us for being teachers at all times and in all things.

Spurs. Get Real.

Crazy story but true.  I went to Anchorage early in the morning to drop Mike off to get his car and then started on my list of errands.  Each store brought a story that I just had to call Deb and tell her about when I was done.  First Joanns, then Costco, then Target, then the party store and then finally Fred’s.  I thought I had seen everything until I went to Fred’s to grab my coupon specials.  I saw this man with spurs on.  I had to do a double take and my mind stopped for a moment as I questioned whether we lived in Alaska or not.  Spurs!!  Get real.  i couldn’t wait to tell Deb after I nonchalantly took a pic, which I am getting good at doing by the way.  I wrapped up my shopping, got in the car and called her saying that this guy topped off all the craziness that the morning had brought.  Spurs!!  Get real.  Deb said she knew him and I laughed.  She knows the only guy in the state who wears spurs.  I was an unbeliever until I described him and his wife and to a tee they matched her descriptions.  Viv and Rich.  The more I thought about my morning the faster I drove home to some normalcy.

Fuzzball Head

“Not everyone thinks the way you think, knows the things you know, believes the things you believe, nor acts the way you would act.  Remember this and you will go a long way in getting along with people.”  Arthur Forman.  We decorated small pumpkins today that were donated by the Big Lake IGA.  I kind of let the kids go to town with their pumpkins with little requirements or restrictions.  I then took a picture of their hodge podge fuzzball heads.  As I saw them all standing together on the table I was reminded that each little soul is different.  Each child is raised differently and each sees the world in a different way.  Each one has a little baggage but that is ok and that is good to remember.  Each one can love, although we have to help some to learn how.  After all, sometimes I am a hodge podge fuzzball head too.

 

Plagued

This was the morning sunrise as I got out of my car and walked into the school.  I’m not going to say the day went downhill after the beautiful shot but wow.  Here is the rundown.  I didn’t feel well all day but made it through and muffled along with a bad headache.  I had to pick up Rhea because she was too sick with a cold to go to hockey practice.  I found out from Brooke that she was sick too with the same thing and not feeling well at all.  Micah had sent me a picture of Hinckley because he had the stomach flu for the past few days.  Then Kyla told me Blaze had thrown up, again and again until he was doing it every fifteen minutes.  She took him in and he was given some medication to help with the nausea.  David has a wisdom tooth that is painful and he is going to the dentist in the morning to see if it can be pulled.  I even caught Tank coughing the past few mornings!   May God’s healing power shower us all and may the sky light up once more is totally my prayer.

The Switch

I love to change around furniture.  Mike may always want to turn on the lights when he gets home just in case i have rearranged again.  The other day I took our print table and put it in the other room and then moved my china hutch across the room.  When that happens, of course everything has to come out and be dusted and cleaned, and then returned to an even more organized manner.  I found some cool things in my hutch that I had forgotten about.  Speaking of doing a switch in my room, I found “the switch”.  When Grandma Jeppesen’s house was going to be demolished Mike asked for one thing and that was the push button light switch from her home in Naples, Idaho.  I know it is not just “the switch” that is cool but the memories it evokes in him.  He has such fond recollections of his time in that home.  So, I suppose it doesn’t matter how much I switch around my rooms – just keep the memories alive and the lights on.