What IF?

"What would happen if it snowed and snowed and we had to stay here together?"
"Oh, honey, that would never happen."
"But what if it did?"
"We really don't get that kind of snow around here"
"But what if it did?"
"Well, we'd probably get sent home early if it looked like it was going to snow that hard."
"But what if we WANTED to stay here?"

Chrismas Mistake

Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations-extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.
My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six year old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's "Winter Pageant." I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend in the evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.
So, the morning of the dress rehearsal I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several parents quietly scampering to their places. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor,. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas", I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. When my son's class rose to sing "Christmas Love", I was slightly taken aback with its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and brightly colored snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row- center stage- held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing, "'C' is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then "'H' is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas is Love."
The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet girl in the front row was holding the letter "M" upside down. She was totally unaware that her letter "M" appeared as a "W". Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together.
A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood; the reason why we were there, why we celebrate the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities.
For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

"CHRISTWAS LOVE"

And, I believe, He still is.

Hooray!

Conversation overheard by two second graders:

"Do you want a birthday cupcake?"
"I can only have it if it's gluten free."
"Well then, you can! It doesn't cost anything!!"

Being the Student

This is my cutie-pie granddaughter, Alice, who is pretty darn good with a bow and arrow. She makes this skill look pretty easy. Her dad, Jacob, is very, VERY good with a bow and arrow. On this day he shot the bullseye on a small piece of paper on a tree a VERY long way away. It was quite impressive. We would never go hungry if Jacob were in our midst.
So, when it was my turn to try, I followed Alice's example, and I tried to do as I was told. Lift this, tuck that, pull that, straighten this out...ready? Pull back a little more...Go.
The arrow fell at my feet.
That's okay, I'm in the company of kind people, who didn't laugh. They lined me out again and I got off a few arrows that flew a respectable distance, for a newbie.
Well, I was at choir practice tonight, and figuratively, once again, the arrow fell at my feet.
We were introduced to an arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon/The First Noel that is very beautiful. I couldn't find what page we were on. We just jumped in, and our very talented pianist played the wonderful accompaniment, and an equally talented sister played the rest of the accompaniment on the organ. (What do you suppose it means when it takes two people to play the music?) I all I heard was a whole lot of notes that didn't seem to have one thing to do with the alto part. I'm not kidding, I didn't know what page to even look at. First or second ending? Huh? Contrapunel? Who? Go back to where? I just shut up and tried to make sense of any of it. At one point our dear director says, "I can't hear the altos." Really? Ya think?
Then someone said those words. Those dreaded, hated, banned-in-my-classroom words, "it's really not that hard." Whose twin is, "It's easy." Whose triplet is, "Alls ya gotta do is..." Sure, it's easy for those who have already mastered whatever it is! This was a wonderful reminder for me of how it feels to not know how. To be the one who doesn't get it when those around her seem to. To be the one who doesn't fit in. It's awful.
And I'm going to be a better teacher tomorrow.

Families Are Better Even Than Chocolate

Thanks family!! I had such a fun time tonight. You are all so fun and beautiful and helpful and wonderful! I am a lucky mama and grandmama. You are all so enthusiastic about my Beach Breeze adventures that it gives me hope and courage. Thank you Jennis, for my pretty background. I am so not the zebra print kind of girl. :) muuuaaaahhhh; until we meet again.

HUH?

I don't know if I can tell this and make it funny, but I'm going to try. This morning at assembly Mrs. McLaren was going over the usual pieces of business before we say the flag salute and sing a patriotic song. (Which was God Bless America in sign language. If you have never seen 500+ kids 'sing' this in sign language you have missed a rare, inspiring, and beautiful treat. Thank you LeighAnn.) As part of the daily announcements Mrs. McLaren has a quote that she repeats for a week, something like, "If at first you don't succeed..." These are always prefaced with, "Don't forget what my Grandma always says...". Being Friday, the kids have all heard the quote all week, and can usually parrot it back. At the appropriate time she asked the kids in general, "And what does my grandma always say?" and a little bitty kindergartener shouted, "DONUTS!!!!" There was a big pause and a lot of head scratching, and I'm thinking, "Maybe her grandma has a tradition of buying donuts when they get together?" And when Mrs. McLaren started laughing, and we remember the quote, which was "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" we all got a big belly laugh out of it. Apparently "unto" is an unfamiliar word and doesn't translate well over the loudspeaker into a 5 year olds ear. She heard, "Donuts for others as you would have donuts to you!" It makes me laugh all over again just to read it. I don't know, maybe you had to be there, maybe I'm just over-tired, but I thought it was hysterical.

Teasing

For our ward temple night Danny and I went up with Dan and Melinda Carruth. It was a very crowded session, and a very old lady in a wheelchair was squeezed in next to me by the wall. She must have been well into her 80's, and hunched over pretty good in her wheelchair. With rouge on her cheeks and with a hairpiece of dark gray on her white head, she looked ready to be "out and about." I kept my eye on her, but she didn't need much assistance from me.
When we went into the Celestial Room, we and the Carruths were standing around enjoying the wonderful feeling of being there together when this same little old lady wheeled up to us. She looked at Melinda and said, pointing to her husband, "That your husband?" Melinda smiled and nodded yes. She lifted her gnarled finger and tapped her wrinkled old cheek and said, "You mind if he gives me one right here?" Melinda chuckled and said, "No, go ahead, Dan." Poor Dan, put on the spot, leaned in and gave her a respectful tiny little peck on the cheek.
"No!" She says, "Not that! I want him to rub those whiskers on my face!" We all had to check ourselves from laughing out loud. She knew exactly what she wanted, and it was to have his whiskers scruffing her face. Poor guy; he obliged and we just enjoyed his embarrassment and her happiness.
"Oh, she says, it has been such a very long time!" I was smiling pretty big at this scene, and she turns to me and says, "When you're as old as me you can get away with all this stuff! It's great! You're going to love it! Forgive me, she says, I've been up since 4 o'clock this morning to be here early, and I'm a little tired tonight!"
She wheeled away and left us standing there giggling. After we composed ourselves and went to change into our street clothes I saw her one more time. She was asking her friend, "So, we still going for teriyaki?"
I've thought a lot about her, and how much we are going to miss things we might take for granted. I wondered if in 1920 she was a little girl on her daddy's lap when he rubbed his whiskers in her neck. Of if her husband in 1940 used to tickle her with his beard. Someone somewhere teased her with whiskers! I thought of all the little loving teasings we do with each other, and how much kids giggle and come back for more of it. I think they all send the message "You are important to me, and I love you."
So in case you're wondering what the pictures have to do with my post, they are moments of teasing and playing, of which these kids cannot get enough. Don't let another twenty four hours go by without giving somebody a dose of playful attention.