Christmas Day is Charming

We had a great Christmas day.  It started by finishing up Christmas Eve and leaving Mom and Dads at 12:30am.  We came home and opened up our own Christmas presents.  Some how Santa always makes it to our house by the time we get home on Christmas Eve.  We finished about 1:30 and headed to bed so we could get up at 7:00am and make our way to Josh and Jen's.  We got there and watched the boys open their presents and then made our way back to Ogden for Church.  It was a great service at Church and reminded us that we should live with the Christmas spirit all year long and be in the service of our neighbors and near friends.  Awesome advise and it really made me think a bit about why we should know our neighbors and serve them.  Then we headed home crawled into bed and took a bit of a nap.  About 1:00pm we got up and started thinking about Christmas Dinner.  At 4:00pm we were increasing our dinner numbers by the handful.  It was a spectacular day and was a lot of fun to have the family over for dinner.

Breakfast with Santa

Gavin in line to see Santa

Sage and Jen are ready to have breakfast with Santa.

Skyler keeps us all laughing

CHEESE!

Gavin found Thomas

Picture with Thomas

All Sage wants for Christmas is Thomas (and to get off Santa's lap) All Sky wants for Christmas is Star Wars ANYTHING!

Gavin wants a train set maybe two or three if they fit in the sleigh

Friends play on the stage and that wraps up our day.

Never mind Santa...

It looks like all of the Garcia Boy's will make appearances this weekend.  Love it.  Wish we all lived closer and saw each other more often but we will take what we get.  Merry Christmas!

Tamales and the family

Every year a few weeks before Christmas the Garcia's get together to make tamales.  The past few years we have had such a fun time doing it with the whole family that John and I have made them with our family.  It's fun to sit around the table working together and enjoying each other.  Then you are in for a treat when they come out of the pressure cooker.

Melba's Girls

The girl "Melba" cousins got together for dinner last night.  It was so much fun to get together and eat and visit.  We don't often get to see each other in person so it is a lot of fun to get together for dinner.  We missed Aunt LaRue and Paige. 

Life knows how to keep you moving

Yesterday I was charging my phone in my car so I didn't have it with me.  When I got back to my car I had three messages.  A text message from my sister asking if my Dad had gotten a hold of me, a phone message from my Dad and a text message from my husband.  I figured I'd call my sister back.  She asked me if Dad had gotten a hold of me.  My stomach dropped.  I had not talked to him yet, but I could tell I was not going to like the news she or he had for me.  She told me that Dad called to tell me the biopsy from his prostate came back as a positive for cancer. 

Wow. That word really gets you going.  A flash through a lot of emotions and then the questions start.  I made it through our conversation on my drive home but when we hung up and I pulled into my driveway my eyes started to water like crazy.  I remember so vividly the day my Mom called to tell me she had cancer.  My life has changed a lot since that day, I was in my basement apartment in Clearfield and I was so angry and upset that I drove to Nephi and back just to process.  I remember fearing that she would die the next day or that she would be in so much pain that she would hate all of us to be around her.  Well that's not how it happened and I learned a lot from her even if she died so early. 

 So I went in to fill John in with the news.  On my way in the house I called my Dad back.  It's funny to be able to envision yourself handling the same news the same way your father is, minus the fact that I lack the body parts that make it possible.  I pointed that out to my father and he belly laughed.  My Dad, if anyone enjoys a joke in EVERY situation.  I never remember a situation that he couldn't find humor in.  Sometimes that made me mad but now I know its a great way to cope through the tough parts of life. 

I really hate cancer.  I hate that it hurts so much and that there is no cure.  I hate that the treatment is horrible and takes a lot out of you.  I hate the fact that there is so much unknown about it that it feels smarter than you.  I often wonder about the "whys" in life.  This week I'm just focusing on the facts and trying to grasp a hold and hold on with both hands.  Life is sure a roller coaster. Get on and enjoy the ride. 

Christmas Crafts

Tonight begins the Christmas Crafts. (well at least it begins the start and finish of Christmas crafts.  I found this tree skirt on line and fell in love with it.  I have never had a tree skirt before.  I usually just use a table cloth draped around the tree or use the Christmas bags my mom made me as a skirt.  This year I decided to make a real tree skirt.  I looked and looked and then ran across the pattern for the skirt.  I bought material and then the night I was going to start this project ended up to be the worst storm ever so I had to wait until today.  After we did some yard work I started sewing.  In just a few hours it was done.  I love it and think it turned out perfect. 

The wind storm of 2011

On Thursday morning around 2:00am the wind started to blow.  It was a wind coming out of the East.  You know those are the worst kinds.  They are the kind that always shut down I-15 to semi trucks and the kind that have a lot of force to them.  By 3:30am I was wide awake listening to things crash all around me.  Bella wouldn't even go out side at 4:30am when I got up to let her our after her begging to go out.  By 5:30am we didn't have power any more.  I didn't worry because usually it's only out for a few hours at the longest.  At 6:30am I was called into work because the power was out and they needed help.  When I got to work I couldn't get out of my car because the wind was blowing so hard.  A trampoline was blowing in the air and lots of debris was flying around.  While I was at work John called me and asked me to hurry home because part of our pine tree had come through the dinning room window.  On my way home this is what I saw a block from my house. 

Visions of my parents tree flashed in my eyes.  I was scared that when I got home I would find my huge pine down on our house.  Well, my tree was still standing but the wind was blowing so hard I thought that the tree would go down soon.  We taped up our window and waited for the wind to stop.  It did not stop.  It blew all day.  We did not have power.  The whole city was out of power.  We didn't have power for 41 hours.  By the time it came back on I was so happy.  We lost some shingles and our back fence, compost bin and a few tarps but the tree still stands.

I cry the day I put the tree up

Ok ok.  So if you know the song I hope you are laughing by now.  If not you'll have to look up the forgotten Christmas carols.  Back top my blog!  I cry every year that I put my tree up.  Not all the tears are sad ones just some of them.  I love looking through all of my old decorations.  I have my first grade ornament that I made.  How fun it is to get that out each year.  I have two tree ornaments from my pre kindergarten years that I got from our neighbor boy Clint that I used to play with.  We were the cutest red heads in the neighborhood.  Each year I add an ornament to our tree.  I have ornaments from the first tree I put up many years ago where me and a few of my nieces and nephews spend a whole day threading pop corn onto string to put on the tree.  I don't have the popcorn but I do have the tinsel stars that have grown shorter each year.  They used to wrap around the whole tree but now barely make it across one side.  This year I got a few special ornaments.  My Dad downsized his collection and so he gave me two boxes from my mom's collection.  That's where the tears start.  It's so much fun to get out all of my Christmas collection but every where you turn is memories of my Mom.  That's not bad it just makes me homesick for her. 

The past three years my new ornaments have been in memory of her.  They are not anything unusually just things that remind me of her.  So, usually I don't have a problem with taking the Christmas stuff down on the 26th of December.  I know that's when lots of people cry because its over.  I however, cry when I put the tree up.  Merry Christmas!

This is the best tree decorating helper a girl can ask for.  I guess she got tired of the lights.