it's offically here

this week the Christmas season hit us like a big bag of oranges. on Wednesday night English, Ash and i did a little role playing for the ward's young women's activity. they held a 'Journey to Bethlehem' progressive dinner and we were invited to participate as the Holy Family. it was a bit awkward at first and i was amazed to see that many cell phones in use at one time but is was a quintessential experience - and the first time i'd ever dressed up to play in the Nativity. earlier in the day i was mentally going through our closets and drawers to create authentic New Testament garb and nothing was materializing. but what do you know? fifteen minutes before we were supposed to be on our way we threw together some pretty good costumes. English looked great as Joseph in the fool-proof dad bath robe accented with a yellow ocher bed sheet shawl and matching pillow case with ugly tie headdress. honestly, i looked less like Mary and more like the ghost of Christmas Pageants but i did wear sandals for that special touch. and Ash, well it didn't matter what she was wearing (white jammies and a flannel blanket)... everyone thought she was the best anyway.

besides looking the part English and i were also asked to share a few words concerning 'our thoughts' about the experience we'd had as Mary and Joseph. it went pretty well but the best modern rendition of Mary and Joseph's experince i heard on This American Life last Christmas. i was six months pregnant at the time so it was very dear to my heart. we listened to it again this year after the activity and it's still just as good. if you have eight minutes give it a listen (free on thislife.org). it's the last story but the whole show is worth the time too.

then last night was the ward Christmas Dinner and as one of two members of the activities committee i had a day filled with the usual party prep: pick up 13 cheesecakes from Costco, twist crepe paper down the length of several tables, figure out how to turn on the microphone in the cultural hall, rearrange the program at the last minute when the primary chorister doesn't show up, etc. fortunately my co-committee member is my good friend (and very organized) so we were able to get the thing off the ground without too much trouble. plus everyone loves turkey roast - even in Sanpete County. so it was a success! and it never ceases to amaze me how the clean up crew divides and conquers. i'm convinced that given an evening, a small group of Mormons could completely dismantle an entire town and folks driving through would never know that it was ever there.

the only negative feedback i got from the dinner was early this morning (around 1:00 am) when i awoke from a fitful sleep of repetitive dreams about consolidating pans and pans and never ending pans of funeral potatoes and i couldn't get back to sleep. i was compensated though... if i wouldn't have been awake, i wouldn't have heard or seen the half-dozen deer walking around our house and chewing on our lawn at 3:00 am. that was really neat.