I Can't Take It Anymore!

You have no idea how many times I have had the thought cross my mind during my busy, busy days, "I have to blog about this!", and I've missed writing a lot of cute little family stories, little memories that I'm sure won't come back to me. I swear my brain is swiss cheese. Where have I been? What have I been doing? I've been working furiously on my eBay store. No, there are practically no rewards to show for it yet, but they're coming, they're coming. It's why I've practically dropped off the face of the earth. Maybe my rocks and sand have gotten mixed up. You know, that cute little visual aid at church somebody pops out with every now and then: You can fit more in a jar if you put the big rocks in first, then pour the sand around it, than if you put the sand in first and try to fit the big rocks on top. It's supposed to be symbolic of getting your priorities straight. "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives..." Oh, wait, that's a soap opera! Never mind! I haven't been that much of a heathen since I was at college. Anyway, a lot of the things I enjoy, and probably should be doing, like reading and commenting on the family blogs, and writing my own posts, have gone by the wayside lately, and I just can't stand it anymore!

I was sitting tonight watching the church's Christmas broadcast, with all my heathens around me acting like a bunch of monkeys (aren't we glad we could watch it on tv, and not try to keep everyone reverent at the stake center?). After the prayer, some remarks, and a song or two, Zen wants to tell everyone the poem he learned as a kid, and was reminded of on the wall of the port-a-potty at Man Camp. I'll spare you the crudity here, but Zen said it was poetry, and I said, "Sheer poetry!" (Go watch Christmas Story.) Gil was hacking his lungs out, and begging to go take a Mucinex. Zen said, "Okay, but you can't have TWO Spongebob [disposable] cups!" This makes everyone laugh, including me (I'm trying to be reverent and listen, you heathens!!) Not a few minutes later, Gil is wrestling with Connor on the floor, and while Connor is punching his back, Gil says, "Work on my glutes a little!" Zen tries to round them up, and five minutes later he and Gil are play-punching each other on the couch. Gil figures out how to make Baby Emma giggle, and Dani has to get in on the action, and invents her own peekaboo game to make Emma laugh some more. There was a talk where the speaker (Elder Eyring?) talked about someone visiting a poor family, and there was a little boy who just wanted a big bowl of oatmeal for Christmas because he was so hungry all the time. Zen turned to Gil and Dani and said, "Why can't you just want a bowl of oatmeal for Christmas?" Hmmm... Maybe they'll all get packets of instant oatmeal in their stockings. I can just see it now. It'll be this "thing" we do every Christmas, in lieu of coal... By this time, Connor has snuck off to play with his trains, and I try to sing the hymns at the top of my lungs to drown everyone else out (Sue, aren't you glad you weren't here?!) Oh, brother! But you know what? I loved it. I thought, "Here I am, surrounded by all my heathens who are making me laugh, instead of having a marvelously glorious spiritual experience. But they are MY heathens, and I'll take them as they are." It may have not been very spiritual (although I did have tears in my eyes from the family antics), but I felt a great deal of love for my family, and gratitude for the goodness of our lives.

I'll leave it at that, but pics are coming, the pics are coming, I promise!