Traditions...Old & New

Three of my favorite Christmas traditions began sort of by accident...

Shortly after we were married, Eli’s sister Naomi needed surgery, so her four kids came to stay with us for about five or six weeks during the summer. We were having so much fun with them that I suggested to my sister-in-law Toni that my niece Guinevere (who was 9 at the time) come and spend part of her summer break with us too. Toni thought 5 kids might be too much for a newlywed couple living in a two bedroom condo to handle & suggested maybe Guinevere come visit during her Christmas break…so began the tradition of my "California" nieces & nephews coming up to Utah at Christmastime when they were nine years old. It was tradition that I think we all looked forward to birthdays for, however it ended as soon as there were no more nine year olds.

Guinevere & Mickey at a Escamilla family Christmas party.

Guinevere's mini snowman...there wasn't much snow

As a Christmas present in 1991 my mother gave Eli & I a beautiful glass ornament shaped like a heart. The outer edge of the ornament is framed with poinsettias with two love birds perched at the bottom of the heart and the center has Our First Christmas Together 1991 embossed with gold lettering. The beautifully delicate ornament looked a little out of place on our tree among the brightly painted Santa Clauses, toy soldiers, stars and other little wooden ornaments we had bought to decorate the tree, but we placed it prominently at the front.

Our first Christmas tree...you can't really see the ornament

On Thanksgiving Day 1992, we moved into our first house & the next day promptly began decorating for Christmas. We had so much fun shopping for the perfect tree…looking back at pictures now, it looks more like Charlie Brown’s famous Christmas tree. Shortly after we decorated the tree a Christmas card from my mother arrived. Inside the card was another ornament. This one is also in the shape of a heart, but it is gold & has a house intricately cut out of the center. Around the edges it reads, First Christmas in a New House ~ 1992…so began another new tradition. The next Christmas was Connor’s first one, so we found an ornament of Santa at a baby’s cradle & every year since we find an ornament that represents something that happened with our family during the year. Some of my favorites are Santa riding a whale in his swimsuit from 1999 when we spent Christmas in California, Santa at a desk on the phone with a ton of paperwork from the year we started Print Media Consultants, a fire truck from the year we had a fire in our house & a beautiful bell that looks like a quilt from the year my mother passed away. I like the bell because it reminds me of a saying my mom had embroidered & framed, “Families are like quilts: pieced together and stitched with love.”

Our very own Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

Christmas 1993 was spent in California with my family. We stayed with in Oceanside with Suzy, Brent & the boys and had a very enjoyable stay, but Christmas morning we felt a little bit like we were invading on their Christmas. After that we decided to go to San Diego for Thanksgiving & stay home for Christmas. So the next year, on Christmas Eve as we were wrapping gifts for Connor and putting them under the tree another tradition emerged. One of the gifts was a really cool train/car track set that was called Flip Track. The train tracks were on one side of the track pieces & the road for the cars was on the opposite side. It had these awesome mountains with tunnels that the tracks could go through, along with a filling station, airport & a dock. Not only did it have trains and cars, but there was an airplane and boat also. It was just too much for Eli to resist…instead of wrapping it he ended up setting it up. We decided to leave it set up by tree, so we could see Connors excitement upon seeing it. Every year since then, Santa has always left an unwrapped gift out for each of the boys. It was kind of a nice tradition when they got a little older…they would go out & find the unwrapped gift to play with and let us sleep in a bit.

This year we stumbled across two new traditions… Eli has wanted to deep-fry our turkey for I don’t know how long and even bought the fryer about six years ago, but for one reason or another it hasn’t been used. This year we planned ahead enough to figure out how much oil was needed & purchased it. Christmas morning I was a little nervous as he started setting things up…especially after I saw an Allstate commercial quoting facts about how many homes get burned down each year from people trying to deep-fry their turkeys. OH MY! The turkey was SO good! It was the moistest turkey I have ever had…this is definitely a new tradition!

The second new tradition came about when Connor was visiting his girlfriend Alyssa & they decided to make homemade eggnog. I guess they messed up following the recipe & it didn’t taste so good. Needless to say, when he got home Connor wanted to go buy the ingredients to try again. Now I am not a big fan of eggnog, but he had whipped it so well that it was nice and airy instead of thick & heavy. It turned out REALLY tasty! Another new tradition to look forward to next year!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

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End of an era...

It was time for Eli & I to renew our temple recommends, so we went tonight for our Bishopric interview. When I first sat down with Brother Stoutsenberger, the counselor, he said "We'll be able to accomplish two things tonight." He then went on to tell me they were going to extend a release to me for my calling as Cub Master in the Cub Scouts.

When I first heard those words I wanted to cry...I have (or should I say had) the best calling in the ward! I was the official party planner for the Cub Scouts! Who else gets to plan a meeting where you get to dress up & act silly to recognize the accomplishments of the youth you've been working with...no one! I have been working with the Cub Scouts since March of 2000 & have been a Cub Master for almost 9 years. I am really going to miss working with the boys. It is so now fun to watch the 12-14 year old boys as they are passing Sacrament on Sunday and remember when they were just 8 and starting out in Cubs and see how much they have matured...I am truly going to miss this calling!

Then when Dennis (Brother Stoutsenberger) told me what my new calling was going to be I couldn't control my laughter! I'm not sure what the official title of the calling is, but I get to be in charge of calling & reminding the people who signed up to come clean the church house on either Monday evening or Saturday mornings. Then I get to go & make sure they show up.

I felt so bad for laughing. I have had a feeling that it was about time to be released, but I in no way saw this coming! I guess I should be thankful that it's not teaching Sunday School!

Funny Man!

Tanner has really been developing a sense of humor lately. Saturday we had Lucky outside with us while we were working in the yard. At one point while Tanner & Grandpa were working together to pick up the piles of leaves we had raked, Tanner turned to Lucky & said, "Come on Lucky make your self useful...pick up a rake!"

Our Crazy Life...

We had lots of plans for getting projects around the house done this summer. Eli had kept pretty busy subbing last year, but with school being out Eli was only working Tuesday & Thursday evenings from 4-10, and Saturday & Sunday days from 6-3 at WalMart, so we figured he'd have lots of time during the week to get some of our projects around the house finished. Boy were we wrong...Eli has been working 7 days a week since the beginning of summer!

Provo Canyon School (a residential treatment center for troubled teens) has year-round school for the kids there & they really like Eli as a sub. In fact, Dave, the Director there told Eli he is more reliable than some of his full-time faculty. At the beginning of summer they called to see if Eli could cover a two-week vacation for one of the teachers there, so he did. Then he covered the next vacation, & the next one & the next one...you get the picture. Needless to say, most of the projects are still not complete. But that's okay, because the time was well spent.

At the end of summer during a discussion with the director, Eli mentioned that as a substitute he is in danger of losing his teaching license. To maintain his teaching license he needs to be employed by a school & continuing his schooling to earn his teaching degree. Eli explained that even though he is able to work full time as a substitute it doesn't count because he's employed by the temp agency that provides subs to the schools. So...the director created a position for Eli at Provo Canyon School. The school has not had a computer technology class in the past, but it does now! The class is only taught one period a day, but at least it helps Eli to be able to maintain his license.

They scheduled Eli's class period to be from 2:30 to 3:30, so that he can be done in time to get to WalMart by 4:00 on Tuesdays & Thursdays. Dave creating this position & scheduling the class to fit Eli's schedule has been a real blessing for us, we only had one concern. With Eli needing to be at Provo Canyon School by 2:30 he will now only be able to accept subbing positions at high schools, because the elementary & middle schools get out too late and that would mean less income. We decided not to worry & trust that things would work out for us.

A few weeks ago one of the managers at WalMart approached Eli to see if he'd be interested in interviewing for the CSM position managing the night cashiers. Eli knew they were doing interviews for the position, but really hadn't thought about applying. Part of why he hadn't really considered it was because it would mean working from 10pm to 7am...ouch! After discussing it, Eli sat down to figure a schedule to see if it might work, then decided to go ahead & apply. Yep, you guessed it...Eli got the job, and a nice raise too!

So now Eli is going to work about the time I am getting ready for bed & he gets home either after the boys & I have left in the morning, or just as we are pulling out of the driveway on the days we are running late, then when I get home from work Eli is usually in bed.

With such a crazy schedule, we find ourselves spending the little bit of time when we are actually all together doing more "family" activities & find that this schedule actually work for us!

Dad's One-Liners

It was a gorgeous day here in Provo today! The sun was out, the skies were blue & there was a crisp fall breeze. On the way home from work, I stopped by Jamestown to pick up dad for a visit & to run to the store with me to get some cough medicine for the boys, because you know how dad loves shopping!

Jamestown is located just up the street from BYU's intramural fields & dad usually comments on whatever sport is being played at the time...today was a little different. A cute young co-ed was jogging along the street dressed in both a black sports bra & incredibly tight short shorts & as we passed Dad said, "It looks like she forgot to get dressed before coming out!" I was glad we were in the car & she couldn't hear.

Dad's Got a Friend

One of the hardest parts of having dad at Jamestown is the fact that in the Enhanced Care unit he does not get much social stimulation. There are lots of fun activities that keep him active and engaged, but unfortunately most of the other residents can not carry on a coherent conversation. The staff is very good about spending time with dad taking him along when they run errands and he has also been able to attend some of the activities at the activity center on the Assisted Living side, but unfortunately he doesn't usually remember.

When I went to pick him up for a visit last Saturday I noticed a man I'd never seen before and noticed he was having a conversation with one of the staff members. I asked dad if he had met him yet & he could not remember, but today as we walked through the lobby on our way out Mike (the new resident) stopped dad to shake his hand. While they were talking I asked the nurse (Summer) as she was opening the door for us if Mike was on the same level as dad & she said with a big grin, "Yes!" I guess that just after Mike moved in Summer had taken dad over to Mike's apartment to introduce them and now they spend a lot of time talking with one another.

Dad has never been a social butterfly by any means, but I know he has missed the opportunity to have a real conversation with the other residents. Yay for new neighbors & the chance for dad to have some more social stimulation!