We also did a white elephant gift exchange. As always, there were very funny gifts including but not limited to a bejeweled lizard, a Richard Simmons Broadway themed workout video, and a jar of canned meatloaf (my contribution). The best, however, was a coin purse made from a toad. Well, the front portion of the toad anyway. It was leatherized, but complete with eyes, sharpish toenails, and its tongue. I wish I had taken a picture of it because words cannot adequately explain how strange and creepy it was.
Brandt and Blythe were very funny about their selections. Blythe had a very hard time waiting patiently. She kept saying to me, "Mom, is it my turn now?" I sent her over to sit with Cousin Aaron so her turn would come quicker. She opened a black tie which she then insisted I put on her immediately. She danced around the circle, charming us all with her bubbly happiness.
See the bubbly happiness?
Brandt sat next to me waiting very patiently for his turn. He closely scrutinized each present and would lean over and tell me which one he wanted. First he wanted a large box with polka dot paper. A cousin chose that one and unwrapped a parenting book. Brandt said to me, "I don't want that." He had his eye on another package, and then Grandma Merlynn chose it. She unwrapped a cow cookie jar and again Brandt said, "I don't want that." When his turn finally came, he very happily unwrapped a dinosaur.
When it was my turn, I unwrapped a toy horse complete with bridle, brush, and saddle. Blythe loved it. "Mom, I have your horse?" she asked in her sweetest voice. Not long after, a niece, Becca (freshman in college) came over and wanted to take my horse. In the spirit of the game, if Blythe had not been involved, I would have given it up, but under the circumstances, I shamed her into letting me keep it by saying, "You aren't seriously considering taking this horse from my two-year old daughter, are you?"
Becca ended up with a rusted set of vice grips found as a road treasure. I "won" them last year and contributed them to this year's pile. Becca tried to convince Blythe to make a trade, a fun tool for the horse. Blythe handed her the horse and took the vice grips. She tried to grab the carpet with the tool, and when she was unable to manipulate them as easily as she hoped, she handed them back to Becca, grabbed her horse, and danced away. She's no dummy.
Our parents' ward hosts a Christmas Eve devotional which we attend each year. It is usually about thirty minutes, the Christmas story is read, there is congregational singing interspersed with special musical numbers, and I always come away feeling the true spirit of Christmas. This year was a struggle. The children were wound up, no one sat in front of us so they were up and over the bench, Blythe was conducting in the aisle and singing when no one else was, and then there was shrieking and tantrum throwing and the whole thing went on for almost an hour which was way too long. The children and I made it through about 23 minutes before I was done and took them both out. So much for the Christmas spirit.
In truth, however, it was wonderful to be with family, to laugh and share and watch the little people interact. It was barely controlled chaos, but Brandt and Blythe both came away talking about their cousins and being teased by Uncle Lee, and having seen Cousin Eric play Santa. Brandt knew it was him right away. Although he didn't know Eric's name, he said to me, "That's not Santa. That's the guy with the red hair and the red beard." Blythe was willing to sit on his lap though. All in all it was just a delightful afternoon/evening spent in the company of loves ones.
"Santa" Erik and Blythe
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