O, Holy Night

"O, Holy Night" has been my favorite Christmas song for as long as I can remember. I love the music of the season...within reason. For those familiar with the radio stations in Utah, FM 100.3 has been a long standing tradition for Christmas music. As a kid, they would throw a holiday tune into the play list periodically between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then, 4 days before "the big one" they would launch the "100 Hours of Christmas" - nothing but Christmas music and minimal mention of sponsors.


Then it all changed. A competition station came to town and over the years two stations subjected us to their continuous contest to one-up each other. It was just a couple years ago that the Christmas music debut was on Halloween. Yes, pre-trick-or-treating. Now that non-stop yuletide tunes were dominating these two stations for two full months, they had no choice but to infuse their broadcasts with commercials. Can't really blame them; they have businesses to run, and subsequently fund.

You can only guess my delight when Gail found that our satellite TV service had a couple holiday music stations - NO COMMERCIALS! Last week the kids were at their aunt's house for the evening, so we took the opportunity to get the gift wrapping out of the way. The sound track: commercial-free satellite radio. It was an hour or so into the task when I realized we had not yet heard any song which spoke of the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Sure, there was plenty of Frosty, Santa, dreaming of white Christmases and crazy people who find it necessary to roast chestnuts on an open fire. I've never questioned these songs which sing of traditional holiday pastimes, but for some reason this year I have been keenly aware of the absence of Christ in this season. Needless to say, we turned off the satellite and popped in The Forgotten Carols, by Michael McLean. The feeling was amazingly different.

This experience has given me a new appreciation for the local stations. Though littered with Christ-less songs and commercials, they do play a significant amount of songs which celebrate the first coming of our Savior. May we all evaluate our traditions and our focus at this time of year to make sure we are centered correctly. If we are, great. If we aren't, fix it. Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is the reason we have this holiday season. Our society may have evolved it into so much more than that miraculous event, but we can choose to keep Him front and center as we bustle about in our winter wonderland. O, Holy Night...'tis the night of our dear Savior's birth!

Ox in the Mire?

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." Number four of the "Big Ten" is one of those commandments with exceptions. Sometimes an emergency presents itself and we must rescue our ox from the proverbial mire. Such is the case for emergency medical personnel, fire fighters and law enforcement. When there's an emergent need on Sunday, it's nice to know that help is on its way and won't be postponed until Monday.

I was in the church's hallway between Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School when a neighbor found me and informed me that two police officers were at my house. They had received a call due to a tripped alarm. I quickly found Gail, handed off Moriah and headed home to meet the officers. Yeah...that was a fun drive home! They informed me there was an alarm at the house and they had confirmed there were no human tracks in the fresh layer of snow around the front yard and as much of the side yard they could see from the west gate.

As I opened the garage door, all I could think is that maybe Sunny (the cat) knocked something over. When we installed the alarm system, they assured us that pets less than 20 pounds wouldn't affect the motion sensors. One of the officers instructed me to wait outside while he announced himself and checked out the house...then he drew his pistol and opened my door. I have to admit I was a little jealous. I've always wanted to do that and here he was stealing my thunder.

After confirming there were no thugs on the premises, the officer called me in to check things out. The place looked like it had been ransacked...but that was just because we have four kids. Though everything was out of place, it was all right where we left it. When I looked downstairs to verify that the mess was all ours, I came face to face with the culprit. A large, free-floating mylar balloon that we brought home from Aaron's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's had drifted into the corner in front of the motion sensor.

Are you still protected under the Ox in the Mire clause if the ox ends up being a random piece of harmless junk?

Merry Christmas & Happy Blog Catch-Up Day!

The Holidays are here!

I've been out of the blog-scene for awhile.

Time to catch up. Here's our nice picture, all dressed up and fancy. We are so excited for Christmas and all the FUN activities this Holiday brings. The other night we started a tradition Mike remembers from his childhood. We made a special calendar of the month December, write down all the fun things we want to do, decide which days to plan them and then decorate the borders of the calendar with Holiday pictures. I love watching my kids grow and I cherish each Holiday as we carry on important traditions and start some of our own.

MY Dolly!

Rebekah holds Moriah.

I can't help but think that Rebekah must see Moriah as the coolest, most live doll she's ever seen. Rebekah who loves baby dolls now has a doll that cries, eats, sleeps, poops - for real!

She probably wonders why she's constantly reminded to be careful, soft, and quiet when we never said a thing before as she would scream her head off around HER dolls, hold them by the leg, or drop them down the stairs.

Bring Out The Food!

The kids drum on their plates as they wait for the Thanksgiving Feast to be served.

Mike and I decided long ago that for Thanksgiving we would spend odd years with my family and even years with his. This being an odd year it was my turn. It's been kind of crazy Autumn so I wanted an EASY Thanksgiving, low stress/low preparation. So I ran an idea by my Mom and she liked it. Let's just order Marie Callendar's Thanksgiving and split the cost. Which would have been sooo easy if our microwave didn't break down while warming the last of the side dishes. It was pretty rotten timing, the turkey and corn bread were ready to come out of the oven, people were starting to sit down at the table. Oh brother! It was still pretty easy though - we just threw the remaining dishes in pots and warmed them up on the stove top - you know the old fashioned way. After a delicious meal that the kids hardly touched we relaxed, played games and laughed our heads off as we watched "Up." I love those dogs!!

And yes because the kids didn't eat dinner I ended up making them PB&J later on when their little tummies started to rumble.

A Halloween Recap

Emma is a Native American princess, Aaron is pretty obvious - he's Spiderman, and Rebekah is a Fairy-Ballerina-Princess - it changes all the time. I would have preferred she wear the much warmer Cookiemonster costume but she wanted to be "pretty."

Halloween seemed to come & go without much involvement from me. Which made me rather sad, I love Halloween - especially with children who get sooo excited. I spent the day at the Hospital, feeding and holding Moriah. I was determined to leave that nursery with my baby. The nurses and I were convinced that she was ready to come home. The doctor wanted to keep her for possibly another day because she had lost another 3 ounces. The nurse joked with the doctor that she was much too fat to be in the nursery and that it was time for her to leave. Thankfully as the day progressed she did very well and that afternoon I found myself driving home...WITH my baby this time!

Michael was so great! He had taken care of everything Halloween related and everything not. He made sure the kids cleaned their rooms and the house before I got home. When I walked through the door though I have to say it was a memory I'll never forget. Here I am bringing our baby home to meet her very excited sisters and brother and the sight before me as I open the front door is Bekah laying on the floor getting a diaper change. Oh well, can't say I'm not used to that scene - this is our life right now. But after Christmas Bekah's getting potty trained.

I can't wait.

Moriah Paige

Moriah Paige joined our little family last Tuesday. She weighed in at 8 pounds 14 ounces and 20 inches long. That makes her the runt of the litter; her siblings all broke the 9-pound mark.

(Momma and baby...both looking fabulous!)

Moriah's birthday hadn't even closed before she had a scare with a mild pneumonia. Long story short...it wasn't pneumonia. It was just excess fluid which didn't squeeze out of her lungs during delivery. It took multiple tubes and wires and poking and an extended hospital stay to figure it out, but better safe than sorry. The IV didn't work so well in the hand, so she got a tube in her head and medical tape instead of a bow.

(When speaking of the tubes and wires, this picture doesn't do it justice, but she's sooo cute!)

The kids were starting to believe we made up their baby sister. For nearly nine months we told them of this mysterious Moriah. Then Mommy goes to the hospital to get that baby sister out. Finally, Mommy comes home with no baby and spends the next two days driving across town three to four times a day. Still no Moriah. Just as they were starting to lose hope in her coming, Mommy walked through the door carrying the evidence supporting our story. They were all so anxious to get a chance to hold the baby who was "talked up" so much.

(Emma and Moriah)

(Aaron and Moriah)

(Rebekah and Moriah)

Daddy even gets his turn...it's just usually messier.

Are you wondering what those black patches are doing on her temples? They're velcro to hold on her very stylish sunglasses. Being on IV fluids for the first two days of her life bought a weekend vacation on a baby tanning bed.

We love having Moriah at home at last. Thank you to everyone who kept us in your thoughts and prayers. Bedtime now!