I know a guy...

This morning, I received a letter from my nephew who is on an LDS mission in Brazil. He is a gem. I love him dearly. It was in response to my letter to him in November. It is Braydon and he is so good to write.

HOWEVER!! He wrote an amazing letter that included his testimony... in Portuguese. I don't know Portuguese. YIKES!!! Good thing I know a guy who does. I will have to sit down and work it out. The funny thing is, I never pictured Braydon as a super religious missionary, but in reading his letters, he is amazingly spiritual and I am SO proud of him!!

See his website at: http://www.missionsite.net/elderderu/main

More from the letter were the following lines (and anyone knowing Braydon will not be surprised):
-My spirits are high and the ship is in ship shape
-And by the way, the Zulu uprising is over... over!!
-I am in a new area where there is a McDonalds and a Pizza Hut. Closer to Christmas and I am hitting those babies up... ha ha. I'm really craving a Big Mac ha ha.

He also drew this picture...

I love it. So funny. In case you can't see it, the caption is "Elder Braydon Deru. The "Brotha Snowman".

And the following picture was included with the caption "Shouldn't I cook this first?"

Heaven in Ogden

Mom and Aiden at Ogden Lights
Uncle Chris and Aiden. Uncle Chris feels much better this time seeing lights...
Soooo..... cold....

Great sign on one of the "houses"




It is one of my favorite restaurants. Lee's Mongolian Barbecue. OH MY HEAVENS!!! I love it. Biggest dive in Ogden... best food in the world. It is in the part of town where you have to count your hubcaps before you leave - and take your mace with you.

But afterward, Aiden, Uncle Chris, and Mom went to see the Ogden lights. It was so fun. Cold, but fun. Mr. Aiden loves the lights.

Best $3 Investment Ever

For Christmas, Santa was going to bring Aiden a bath time bubble maker. However, Santa could not figure out how to wrap this gift, so it ended up in the bathtub tonight blowing bubbles all over.

It was $3 and when I bought it originally, I thought, "it is probably broken and will be dumb." Ah, the simplicity of a $3 toy - and the joy it brings.

Aiden is one of those babies that you have to work really hard to get any emotion from. So when he was looking at the bubbles in awe, that was cool for Mom to see.

He found out quickly that they don't taste all that great, though.

Sit back and enjoy the ride.

The shopping is done. Everything is wrapped. Donations given. Packages shipped.

Ah..... Now to sit back and enjoy the next 2 weeks...

I miss...

Tonight I am tired. Happy, but tired. I am tired of shopping, of crowds, of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree". I am finished with the shopping for this year.

When I am tired, I am melancholy. And tonight I miss many things.

I miss the first Christmas concert of the year at St. Josephs in Ogden. I miss playing for the Christmas oratorio that Weber State gets to play. This year they played The Magnificat by Bach. And I could not go.

I miss reading The Other Wiseman - or I should say I miss listening to my mother read it to us while we sat by the Christmas tree.

I miss doing 12 Days of Christmas to the Dawsons in our old neighborhood. They knew we were doing it... we knew that they knew. But I loved that they let us do it anyway and didn't try to catch us in the act.

But then I also think that I wouldn't trade this year for the world. I love the excitement of giving Christmas joy to my son and my brother this year. I love that I can take care of things and not feel rushed or pitied. I love Christmas this year.

Optimism

What a beautiful snow. In the wee hours of the morning.


I have been given a lot of flack lately. Especially from work and, well, one friend in particular - about being so "damn optimistic all the time". I am not the in-your-face "You must be having a bad Monday" sort of optimist (and for all of you who didn't get that reference - watch the movie Office Space...). I try to realize that things that happen aren't the end of the world and just work through them in the best way possible.

Now, I am NOT talking about the things like death and terminal illness sort of stuff. That is huge and I take that very seriously. I am talking about - someone forgot something for a potluck or a nurse forgot a not-so-important paper. Or bills come that I can't pay immediately. Rather than freaking out about things, calmly figuring something out seems like a better thing, but I tend to get razzed about it pretty hard.

Example:

Coworker: "it is so #$%@ing cold outside. I want it warm."
Me: "I kinda like it. It keeps the snow on the ground. White Christmas and all that..."
Coworker: "But I freeze my butt off every year."
Me: "Yeah, but in August we will miss it."
Coworker "Says the person who sat in traffic for 2 1/2 hours the other day because of the storm."
Me: "I didn't mind it. I had 4 wheel drive, a warm car, cocoa, and Christmas music playing."
Coworker: "Shut up. I hate people like you who are so happy to have a crappy life."

By 'crappy life' I think he meant the snow and being in it, but I didn't quite understand how being happy is a bad thing. Snow is going to fall, traffic is going to be slow, winter is going to be cold. These are things we choose to deal with when we choose to live in Utah. Might as well find a way to enjoy it.

But the marshmallows did melt on the drive into work. Maybe I should pout about that...

In Awe

It is interesting to me to see the things that we take for granted as wonderful and awe-inspiring. It is when you get to see all those things through the eyes of a baby who is experiencing all these things for the first time that you really understand how really beautiful and intricate the world is. Light reflected on the water. Sound. Motion. All these things in one package are just stimulus to us, but to the baby, it is new. It is excitement and it is COOL!

After the Festival of Trees, we went to the Mayan for lunch. We sat overlooking the water that the cliff-divers go into. There were lights that would very gradually change color. And Aiden was fascinated. He was fighting hard to stay awake so he could see the water. Then when the divers did the performance, he could care less about the man, but the woman in a swimsuit - he loved that. Typical man.