Merry Christmas to our family and friends who read our blog (and yes, I am working on those Christmas cards). (For those of you who don't know to review back, this is the third post of today so you might want to go down and work backwards)
We had a very nice Christmas season with time with our kids,extended family, and friends. We had parties, went to see the Christmas Carol at the Hale Theater, and enjoyed family time and games.
I am happy to report that Jessica, Scott, and Tosha got scuba diving lessons for Christmas which means that I will have some dive partners to go diving with. We will have to wait for awhile...our vacation plans are already being set for 2010--Moab trip and then Family Woodbadge Camp as I have been asked to attend and become Woodbadge certified.
Jena got an I-Pod Nano for Christmas which I heard her tell a peer tutor that she wanted a green one for Christmas over the phone. I was unsure about it but she also mentioned it to Gary while they were looking at ads on a Sunday so we decided to go with it. She rarely expresses something that she wants except for chips and yoyo string. We also got a I-Home so that she can use it in her room with speakers which I think will be the usual way she uses it. She is thrilled and excited to be choosing music to put on it. Jena pays attention at school to the kids talking so I think she picked up that I-Pods were good gifts for teenagers. I think she will like it.
Ben is very hard to shop for because of his illness. One of the symtoms he has is the inability to make decisions. When he makes even simple decisions, his thoughts will circle back and start saying that it was the wrong decision--ie, if he picked a blue shirt, his thoughts will starting repeating "The blue one is bad. You should of picked the red one." over and over. He is aware enough to be able to say, "That is not me saying that, but my illness." but it is a tricky thing to manage. He takes little pleasure in things as well. We had finally decided to let him get two rats. Of the small animals, they can be the most interactive and loyal. I chose a cage, hoping that it might make things a bit easier, but he couldn't quite deal with the green/blue base so Gary and he are returning it for another one. Animals can be a stress reliever and he has always liked animals so I hope it will be a useful gift once we get it sorted out. He still needs to pick the rats as well.
Despite his uncertainty about the cage, his face lit up when he read the message about the rats. Most of the day, he was happier than he has been. Scott commented how nice it was to see Ben happy for awhile. Ben had a hard night until he got to sleep, but it was nice to see him smile for awhile....and that is what Christmas is for...to make people smile.
Merry Christmas, one and all!
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