The Aftermath

Christmas has come and gone and overall it was a lovely holiday.  We had a few details floating, for instance since Sacrament meeting is the only meeting when Christmas lands on a Sunday and mom with Scott would be both opening gifts and eating dinner with us, we weren't sure when we wanted to go to church.

Our meeting was at 10:00 A.M. and I believe my mom's was at noon.  Obviously the noon meeting was enticing as it would allow us to open gifts and have breakfast without interruption.  I was strongly leaning towards the later Sacrament but Jane made the decision for us.  We had an opportunity to meet as a family with the Bishop last Sunday and when it was all done, Jane went up to the Bishop to ask him a very direct question.

Every Sunday there's a youth speaker, alternating between the young men and the young women and even though Jane is almost fourteen, she hadn't been given the chance to speak in church.  So she went up the Bishop and asked when she'd have that chance.  So she was given the very next Sunday, Christmas day with the theme being "The Christmas Story".  Decision, made 10:00 A.M. Sacrament meeting it is.

Presents were being opened here, at our house, which apparently caused my older brother a great deal of stress.  On top of Scott's autism, he is severely OCD (that's obsessive compulsive disorder) and he often feels compelled to have and/or do things in a very precise manner.  Scott understood he was spending the night with my mom for Christmas and he was very insistent that our mother was doing it wrong!  You see, mom failed to put the presents under the tree at her house.

Obviously she was confused.  Next year should be easier, this was the first Christmas with Scott spending Christmas morning with us and it was all new.  With a routine set, he'll expect to follow it next year. 

We ended up opening some gifts, having some breakfast (I tried two breakfast casseroles this year, one a sausage, cheese and egg combo, the other a sweet french toast, with pecans topping it, both keepers).  During breakfast, Ean took it upon himself to wildly open as many gifts of his that he could find.  It wasn't as bad as the year all three boys started ripping open anything wrapped, with regardless of who's name was on the package, but it was still pretty bad. 

After breakfast, the kids got ready for church, all three red headed boys were banned completely from the front room and we allowed the girls to play a little catch up and open a few more things. 

Sacrament was lovely.  Usually there's mostly musical numbers but this year there was the usual format of a youth speaker and two other adult speakers with some extra musical numbers.  The speakers kept their topics oriented on the Saviors birth and it was a beautiful meeting.  Jane did fabulous!  She read the Christmas story as it was written from my old children's Bible and then threw in her own thoughts.  She was insightful enough to say that the reason for Christmas has nothing to do with presents, trees and food and everything to do with Christ.  My absolute favorite moment when she referred to the wise men's gifts and blanked after "gold" and quickly ad libbed "and other stuff."

It was awesome.

We went home, changed and finished gifts as soon as Scott and mom returned.  Then it was general chaos as my mother left and I putzed around the kitchen getting dinner together.

Our kitchen table technically seats six, but we manage to cram our seven bodies around it and in a pinch when my mom is over, eight bodies.  With Scott attending dinner, it was very obvious that nine would be way to many around our pitiful kitchen table.  So we ate dinner at my mom's.  She had the ham and would put it in to heat while I provided everything else.  So I made good use of my new crock pot and cast iron skillet.  Please note that if you want the humor in Kent's gift of a cast iron skillet, look up my blog entry titled "Ace Hardware Hell", the irony is hysterical.

We invited Kent's family that was still in town to attend but Kent's grandmother was the only one able.  So filling out mom's table with ten seats, all the boys pinned against the back wall, we had a lovely dinner together.  My mother sets an impressive table, very stylish and it looked just lovely.

Kent's grandmother had a lovely time.  I am afraid I left some major clean-up in my mom's capable hands as I spent a good chunk of time explaining the various art pieces my mom had displayed. 

My mother's artwork is a walk down our family history, with several needlepoints designed and crafted by my grandmother, with some incredible pen and ink pieces by her.  My uncle's oil paints are also prominently displayed. 

It was a lovely Christmas.

So what's the aftermath?  Why, my house that was so meticulously cleaned for the celebration can't hardly be walked through.  It'll take the rest of the kids break to get it ship shape again.

If we can get them away from Transformer movies, books from partially read series and remote control cars.  Wish us luck.