Christmas with the Bishop's Family

The holidays of 2009: The year of putting my life on Fast Forward, Rewind, and Pause all at the same time. In the words of Dickens: "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."

For possibly the first time in my life, I did something early. I always get sick in January---after Christmas, after finals are graded and posted, after the Bishop finishes tithing settlement, after the holiday fun is over. This year, I started when we drug the tree into the house---the first day of December. It is now Dec. 20 and I still wish I could sleep 12 hours a day. Now that I am off my antibiotics for double ear infections, the bishop is coughing non stop and having fun with kidney stones, and Daughter #2 is bleeding from the mouth (story below).

It was the Christmas of puting up one decoration at a time. And five on the Christmas tree in one quick pass. I should have rented some kids to help me.

The master's thesis defense of Daughter #1. In Geology. Now we know why she always wanted to be outside playing with mud and water and rocks when she was little. And why she built the water slide in the kitchen at age 3. In fact, as I watched her present at her defense, the clock kept going backwards and I saw her at age 5, 10, 15, and so on . . . It was like a movie where the character goes back in time to let the audience know the backstory.

Daughter #3 playing Glinda the Good Witch, swooping in at our house occasionally between performances on stage. After the successful run, she went right to Madrigal and Bel canto performances: about 40 this month and counting. Glinda says, "Remember, only bad witches are ugly!" Thankfully, one performance was at our ward's Relief Society party so I could complete two things in one swoop! (Thanks, Wendy)

Daughter #2 successfuly completing her internship at the Bank of Southern Utah, while also working as the Honor's Assistant, carrying 15 credits, and coming home to have her wisdom teeth removed on Dec. 18.

It was the December of 42 Freshmen Research Papers, 42 Final Papers, and 42 Personal Narratives---now all graded and returned. I'm tired just typing that. (About 700 pages of text to read and evaluate)

Every year I plan to be more organized for December. Since every year December gets away from me. There is often a wedding or funeral in for the bishop and tithing settlement, and making sure ward members are okay for Christmas. In other words, the Bishop is not a lot of help in December. Last Sunday he was at the church from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and then home to answer more calls and collapse in his recliner. It just happens to also be the busiest time of the year for me, as well.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.