The countdown to Christmas.....

We started off the week before Christmas with the Hall Extended Christmas "Eve" Party.  When our kids were growing up, we held this event on Christmas Eve and always included the Nativity and other traditional things.  A number of years ago, as the grandchildren were marrying and having other families, we moved it to the Monday before Christmas.  This has worked out great and this year, we held it at Nathan and Cynthia Page's recently finished basement.  It was perfect for our gathering and we so appreciated their willingness to open their home to 35-40 relatives.  (Side note: They did most of the work themselves and I should have taken pictures of some of the amazing things they did. They would watch instructions on youtube and then go do it. They are very talented.)

Here is Scarlett with her new Nemo pjs from Great-grandma Hall-- 

Liam found a fun toy to play with--fake fruits where the halves are attached with velcro.  He loved pulling them apart and sticking them together.  (Weird angle makes the strawberry look larger than it was.)

On Tuesday, we got to play with Scarlett again while her parents went on a date to see the "Christmas Carol".  I even got to take her home and put her to bed following her bedtime routine of getting ready for bed, reading books and then holding her hand for a little while as she fell asleep. Jena took this picture of us rocking together on our rocking elephant.

Wednesday night, Jena had ANOTHER party at Wonderwood and got to sit on Santa's lap another time.

Photobombed by Maddie Davies

 A group shot of her fun friends at Wonderwood---

Thursday and Friday were filled with my internship and then trying to get things ready for the main event on Christmas Day.  I marveled while I was rushing around that I ever managed to do this with five kids at home.  It was a bit crazy this year.  Thank heavens for Amazon my best "friend"--if you don't really like shopping, doing it at the computer and searching is much more practical.  That worked great when I knew what to get but for Jena and Gary it was a bit more challenging.  It was great on Friday evening when the last of my gifts were wrapped and packed for our Christmas trip.

Whew!!!

A week of "Christmasing" around here......

This is one of the cute gifts that Jena received from her annual "Girls Christmas Party".  This party is with girls from her Special Olympics Comets team.  There are 12 of them and they have dinner, play games and exchange gifts--you get 12 of the same thing to pass out.  Jena had a great time.

 Here is the goodie bag she returned home with.

That was on Tuesday night and while she was partying in Layton, Gary and I drove down to Provo to have a family Christmas dinner with Ben and the others from his unit at the State Hospital.  We had ham and the usual Christmas stuff.  It was nice to meet some of the staff that Ben is around.

Wednesday night, Jena and the other students from Wonderwood performed at the Encore Orchestra event in Farmington.  They played on their xylophones--"Deck the Halls".  The rest of the performance was done by a youth orchestra which was very entertaining with some great Christmas music.  It was a fun event.  (We didn't buy tickets for any Christmas theatre or music concerts because we weren't sure when Zander would arrive, so it was nice to attend one concert.)

Russell and Jena enjoying the concert after they performed.

 Thursday I had my "company party" with The Children' Center which was fun.  I brought the balloons in a big box which was again a big hit.

Friday, Jena performed again with the Vista Harmonics, which is the choir at her school.  Singing with elastics on your braces isn't an easy task, but Jena loved it.

Saturday Jena and Gary had a Christmas party at bowling where Jena told me that she told Santa she wanted a guitar case (news to me!).  Then Saturday night we headed to Provo for a quick visit with Ben and then joined our friends for a Christmas party at Dan and Eileen Bradford's (again my white elephant gift was the balloons).  The Bradfords are friends from Hong Kong and this was a group of people mostly from Hong Kong.  Only a few were from our time in Hong Kong, but many of the women I have met over the years at our summer HK women luncheon.

Sunday, Jena and I got to spend time with these cute Sunbeams and talk about the birth of Jesus.

It doesn't get much better than that!

Sitting in the rocking chair....(mushy motherhood reflection)

rocking Liam to sleep, my mind began to wander and I reflected on the many times I have sat in the rocking chair (or actually the rocking recliner in many cases) and rocked a child.  It is funny how certain tiny moments of motherhood can coming rushing back at moments like this--

I remembered the first night that Scott was in our home for good.  His foster family had told us that they rocked him about 5 minutes and then laid him down in his bed to go to sleep.  I did the same thing that night.  After I put him to bed, Jessica (age 3 1/2) came in and asked to be rocked as well. Jessica was not a "rock to sleep" type of person except when she was sick--she liked her own bed even as a young infant. However that night, she wanted to be rocked and so I did. "How long to you rock Scott?", she asked. "5 minutes". "Okay, rock me for five minutes.  Watch the clock," she commanded.  After a minute or so she wiggled down and went and got her pillow to lay across my lap, and there we rocked for the whole five minutes, she mostly straight across my lap and me smiling and remembering that even though she had prayed for a brother since she could talk, it was still a bit of an adjustment to share her parents.

The first 10 days I was Tosha's mom, she was still in the hospital waiting for hip surgery. Our interactions were confined to her crib in the hospital ward, a folding chair, or walking in the outside garden.  When finally we got to bring her home to recover from a rash before surgery, it was a great pleasure to rock her to sleep that night.  Tosha was a cuddly baby and although she easily went to sleep in her crib, I loved the times I could rock her then and later, even with her body cast from her armpits to her ankles, even that was a pleasure.

I thought about the many young foster babies and toddlers which have been in our home--Wai Hing, Sang Chai, Nathan, Paige, Emily, and others...some for a night and others over a much longer time period--them too I often would rock for naps or mid night feedings.  Their faces and stories filled my thoughts as I rocked Liam this week.

I could picture night after night with Ben especially when he was struggling with his asthma and sitting up with him in the rocking chair was the best position for him to sleep. And sweet little Jena--my last little one--how I treasured those times when she needed to be rocked to sleep or because she wasn't feeling well.  I was older then and understood that these types of moments wouldn't last forever.

I didn't know then that I would be able to recreate those sweet moments of motherhood again with my grandchildren--Scarlett, Niki, Liam and soon for Zander. There is something about those moments--the rocking, the peace and quiet, the feelings of love and "mothering" that apparently live in our hearts and minds forever!

I rocked Liam much longer than I needed to that night.  I loved the flood of memories, the moments I recalled with my own little children, the places and bedrooms or hospital rooms or hotels where I rocked my children to sleep.  I was glad that I knew that there were many nights when I rocked them much longer than I needed to as well.  Even then in the busyness of mothering, I knew that I wouldn't hold them forever like that--cuddled, warm, next to my heart, in the quietness of the night.  They don't remember those moments, but I do and even now as I look at some of them with children of their own, those memories bring me to tears and thankfulness that I got to be a mother AND their mother.  Thanks, Jessica, Scott, Ben, Tosha and Jena for making me a mother and allowing me to rock you to sleep and to comfort you when you were sick or hurt.  How I love you and I love being your mom.

And thanks,Liam, for allowing me to rock you to sleep.

A look at the other three---

Liam was so excited when we got to his home on Tuesday and waiting for the rest of his family to show up from the hospital that he begged to get INTO his crib.  Immediately he pushed the buttons to start the music and he clapped and danced and laughed for several minutes.  He loves grandma and grandpa's house but he knew his home when he saw it!

Scott posted this darling picture of sweet Scarlett with her milk mustache.  I got to read her a bedtime story when I visited with them in the evening this past week.  I loved it.

I haven't gotten any recent updated pictures of Niki's face so here is one from the past month or so...

He might be a singer!!

Tosha did send me this gorgeous picture of Niki with their Christmas tree--

I can't wait for the time for them to all be together for the first time...hopefully next October is the current plan.