Christmas Prep

A few weeks before Thanksgiving my friend Lisa Dinsmore and I were talking about this cute Nativity we had seen on Pinterest. She told me She was thinking of getting a bunch of girls together to make them. She was willing to get all the stuff together and so why on earth would I pass up that deal! She texted a bunch of her friends and family and I sent one out to all the girls. Callie and Jamie thought they were ugly and Lindsey ,Michon and I loved them. ( It was pretty rustic) We settled on a date to make them but, since Lindsey lives in Logan I told her I would get her stuff and She would have to get it when we went to meet them in Salt Lake on the Dec. 18 for Kennas Echo at Primary Childrens Hospital. Michon and I were pretty excited to make them. She needed a girls night as bad as I did and that was even more true after My Mom died. We were all set that morning both planning on going over together. Later in the day she told me Karver was fussy and had a fever. We were both a little bummed but, hoping he would be doing better after his nap.When I texted her later She decided she better stay home and we were both so disapointed! I was looking forward to us making them together as much as she was.

When I got to Lisa's I was depressed cuz Michon wasn't there and I realized that I was still really numb from losing Mom. There ended up being a small group of us. Less than I was thinking but, everyone there was making more than one set so I texted the girls and asked them if they wanted me to just go ahead and make theirs too. They both thought that sounded great so I got to work. About and hour into the process we all realized these were MUCH more time consuming than we had thought and decided to go at it assembly line style to see if we could get more accomplished. After 10:00 I was getting tired and it weird to sit there with a bunch of girls laughing and talking and me feeling sad. I could tell none of them knew she had died so I just put on my strong face and kept working. The later it got the more stressed I got. I had Preschool the next day I was tired and having anxiety. I tried to help them finish up and do my share but the longer it went on the more I wanted to leave. We got to a place where my sets were nearly done and some of the girls with lots more were still working. I happened to check my phone and saw Jeff had texted me a few min before that. He said "I am sitting out it front of Lisa's house it's late you need to come home before you collapse. I think he must have been pretty in tune because he was right. I told Lisa I needed to go, with everything that had happened with my Mom, and how tired I was I was sorry but I needed to get home. It was almost Midnight and I was done! It was too late to let Lindsey and Michon know they owed me big time so I climbed in bed exhausted.I loved the Nativity's but they had been much more than I had bargained for and I hadn't known then about my Mom of course.

About 20 min later Lisa sent me a text to see if I had taken extra of a few things and was missing a few things. I got up to look and we worked it all out. Then she asked me about my Mom. I guess after I left she started thinking about what I had said about losing my Mom and realized she didn't know I had. She asked me all about it and felt pretty bad she hadn't known. Apparently being in the Relief Society Presidency doesn't mean you know whats going on all the time. I told her it was fine and went to bed. The next morning I sent the girls a picture of the Nativity's with a small note of sarcasm attached so they would know how long and hard I worked on them. I told Michon I would get hers over to her and Lindsey I would bring hers up and then set mine up and admired it! It was once again time for me to realize I needed to cheer up and start thinking of Christmas and get excited, prepare for Ashlyn and Ethans visit and get to shopping!

 I texted Michon a few times that week to check on how she was feeling. She told me she could barely get off the couch and she was pretty discouraged with extent of her "morning" well ,all day sickness. I offered to come help her when she told me she felt bad cuz taking care of Karver was wearing on her and Kaden was getting on her case a little because she couldn't even do dishes or simple chores. I told her he obvioulsy had never been prego and we had a little chat about that. The next day after preschool I sent her another text to tell her I was coming over to help and she said her Mom was there for the day. I felt better knowing she had help and told her I would check with after the weekend.

 I think it was Friday night Jeff mentioned we should go look at Christmas lights. Didn't really feel like but, Callie was game so we went in search of some good places to take the Grandkids. When we got home I remembered some one had told me there was a really cute place over by Kadens we should go. I asked him and he said he knew where it was so I told him maybe we would come over there Sat or Sun. and visit and go look. We decided on Sunday. Saturday I called Michon and told her we could just bring dinner over and then go look at lights She thought Kaden would appreciate a home cooked meal so, I started giving her choices of things I could make. I finally just said I will call you in the morning and you tell me what sounds good and I'll make that. I texted her before church and asked her again and she said Gatorade and toast. Poor girl, she said she had a good stock of both and to bring anything so , I told Jeff our plan. He said he had meetings and this and that and I said we are going, so be here by 5. I felt such a strong impression once again that we needed to spend time with them. Callie was standing there during all this and said "so what, basically we are inviting ourselves to dinner?" I said yep we are taking it but , thats pretty much it.

 Jeff came home and we headed over with Philly Cheesestake sandwhich stuff and a few other things. Had a nice dinner got to visit and when we were ready to go look at lights they said they would go too. Kaden said we could all fit in the Tahoe so we started loading up. My hubby HATES riding with anyone. He rarely does not take his own truck. He started protesting but, I ignored him. What fun is it to look with two cars? You call and say "Hey look at those and drive on? " Lame.. plus I wanted to see Karver looking at the lights and hear him so, it would be fun and so we all climbed in and took off. Kaden took us all over town showing us lights and things the City was working on. Projects he had done at work and other stuff. It was really quite fun actually. We just hadn't spent alot of time with them for awhile. After our tour we headed home. I for one was glad we had gone and thought it was a good night!