Tom found some out-of-state deer licenses that Karyn, Rick, and David could afford in an area where we own a little bit of property. They put their heads together and agreed that hunting together would be a fun family event. I (grandma) would be more than happy to watch the three grand boys while the adults hunted first thing in the morning and last thing late in the day. The best time for this would be the the first full weekend in December - the second Sunday in Advent. Tom and I scurried home from a Thanksgiving visit at my mom's house. We also practiced. In the past, our children have been less than amused with our form of communication. We decided we would have a code phrase to remind us to tone it down during the frustration of going from 2 to 8. "My Love" was well used during our time together.
The plan might have been to hunt but it seemed appropriate to make it Christmas, too. I unpacked my Christmas boxes, put together my Christmas tree, wrapped presents, made a menu, decorated the house, washed bedding, dusted vacuumed and prepared for the coming of boys! It looked nice and festive! Alas, a north arctic wind plummeted the countryside in below zero weather. Nobody wanted to hunt so the trip was postponed.
To the third full weekend in December aka the fourth Sunday in Advent. It was cold, it was windy, but on they came anyway. Karyn and family arrived very early Saturday morning. I had stayed up to welcome them and sort them out into their various sleeping arrangement. Then I crawled into bed. All, too soon, I had a couple of grand boys joining me and the sun was peeking in the window. There is something about this early morning time for us. The boys are happy to see me and share some of their thoughts with me. This morning though, they wanted me to help them make a marionette just like great grandma makes. I thought they meant Rick's grandma. I know my mom wasn't into puppets, dolls for sure, but not puppets. Timmy reminded me of the gooney bird puppet that cousin, Sara, had played with at Great Grandma's 80th birthday party. OHho, that marionette. Most of the morning was spent trying to figure out how to make a pompom marionette when there isn't a craft store in town to help with the supplies. Eventually, Daniel made a rather cute dragon marionette out of cardboard tube. Timmy, however, had his sight set on pompoms so didn't make one.
After lunch, the hunters left to sight in their rifles and check out some hunting areas while waiting for David to arrive. I spent the day with the boys and figured out our meal. I asked that we have one special "Christmas" type dinner and that we invite our neighbor, Pat, to attend that one. It seemed as if Monday would be the best evening for that event. HOWEVER, I had bought a big spiral ham. Most folks were leaving on Tuesday. I didn't want to eat that big ham over and over again for weeks. I decided to cook the ham for a Saturday meal so everybody could help eat it the rest of the weekend.
Suddenly, our special meal was being moved up. David rolled in with a donkey hat on. I told him where everyone was. He asked what dinner would be. When I told him, he asked for cloves in the ham, just like grandma used to make. I had to borrow cloves from Pat but didn't invite her to dinner. In retrospect that would've been the best night, but I thought the hunters might get a deer and delay the meal. Timmy ran next door to borrow the cloves. I called Pat again and invited her to be our Christmas dinner guest on Monday evening. She said she'd bring over her stuffed mushrooms. They are the best!
The boys were being pretty good. I decided to fix a cake David especially likes - Red Velvet cake but from my recipe called "The $200 Cake". It is in essence, Red Velvet with a cooked type frosting that I like better than the cream cheese frosting put on Red Velvet today. It is a bit complicated but the boys were being good so I proceeded. Again, with the idea that we'd have lots of people helping to eat that cake. My memory is fuzzy now, I think there was some managing of boys, cooking, borrowing, letting dogs in, letting dogs out (Karyn brought their little dog, Aida) but since everyone lived through this afternoon it must not have been too harrowing, other than we lost a Wii remote which could have been catastrophic, instead became a hunting game. It was finally found next to the refrigerator on the floor - sneaky James.
The boys and I set the table with my pretty Christmas dishes. I have owned these for years but had left them in storage. This year, I pulled them out and started using them the first Sunday in Advent. Alas, they can't go into the microwave which was a little inconvenient at times. I put candles in the middle of the table. I got out a carafe of wine, pulled the "kid wine" from the back of the fridge, placed the Red Velvet cake on the glass cake stand in a prominent place. I was waiting for accolades on my domestic "grandma" skills - the kids were alive and happy, the dogs were curled up in front of the "fake" fireplace, a meal was simmering on the stove, a dessert was lusciously awaiting consumption.
I wasn't disappointed. Everyone seemed properly impressed with the meal and wondered where Pat was. They, too, thought this was the Christmas meal. I stated it was a trial run. Everyone ate, drank and lusciously consumed a portion of the Red Velvet Cake - they even liked the unusual frosting. It was mentioned that there was some good comradery during the hunting stake out. It was decided that anyone acting like and "ass" would have to wear David's donkey hat. Ha, play on words.
I forget, I'm old, I might have a few details mixed up. Somewhere in here we decided to let everyone open one present. I think we did this after the meal but it might have been before. Daniel and Timmy got to play Santa Claus. Daniel grabbed the biggest present right away. I was glad of it as it was the one he was supposed to have from me, grandma! Timmy had a replica under the tree, too. Grandma was hoping to rock the Christmas presents this year. Timmy, being the big brother, was NOT going to pick the exact same present though. He was still searching under the tree for another present with his name on it. Karyn stepped in and made sure other presents were passed out, too. James got his biggest present (also from Grandma). Timmy was still searching but little brother, Daniel, was impatient and began to unwrap his present. A machine NERF gun! Timmy glanced over and suddenly the replica present became much more enticing! Timmy ended his search and began ripping into his present from Grandma. A machine NERF gun! It had to be put together, loaded and figured out before a war could begin. Daniel went to Boppa for help and Timmy went to David for help. It wasn't long before it was raining NERF bullets everywhere. Giggles were unrestrained from everyone. David was sorely disappointed that "Grandma" hadn't bought him a NERF gun, too. James had also opened his present, a rather calm one in comparison. It was a "Hammer Away" toy boat with balls and a hammer that kept him entertained most of the weekend. He did learn to hammer the balls but mostly liked pushing them through the hold with his hand until by Monday, he learned he could just sit on them and they would "poop" through!
The adults were hoping to get the kids to bed so we could play a few hands of cards, but after the kitchen was cleaned, bullets dodged, baths taken, beds figured out, we all just crashed.
Sunday morning we began our morning by getting ready for church. As I came into the room dressed and ready to go, I glanced at the Backhus clan! How handsome! All three boys were decked out in their Sunday best. Timmy in his pin-striped suit, Daniel in his 3 piece suit, James in his vested suit but wearing a very dapper hat that he did like to wear. The dad of the bunch, Rick was also dressed in a red shirt and tie. David rolled out of his room and rolled back in. He called to me, "does dad have a tie I can wear, I feel underdressed!" We picked one out and headed to church. Tom was elder of the day and had already left. Most of the boys were very well behaved in church. Timmy had most of the answers to Pastor's questions during the children's sermon. Daniel threw in a few answers too. I'm glad they were there as Pastor might not have had much interaction. For some reason there were only 4 boys at his feet that morning. James did well for awhile but his cries and antics got a bit loud. Since Boppa was the elder and had to be at the back of the church for many things, he just corralled him for the rest of the service.
I tried to convince the boys to stay for Sunday School. They weren't ready to do that which was spoiling my plan! A few adults were to go home and stuff Christmas stockings. I finally pulled Timmy aside. I asked, "What do you know of Santa Claus?"
Timmy replied, "I know his real name is St. Nicholas and that he really lived a long time ago."
"Okay. What do you think of Santa Claus, today?" I asked.
"Well, he is supposed to bring presents to children." This is dragging out longer than I intended. Finally, I quit being obtuse. "Do you believe in him?" I asked.
Timmy hesitated, pondering the meaning behind my question just like his Boppa does. "No, not really, anymore."
Then I whispered..."Okay, here's the deal, Santa Claus is filling Christmas stockings while you are at Sunday School, if you don't go to Sunday School, he won't have time to fill them and you won't have presents to open when you get home. If you get excited about Sunday School then Daniel will get excited, too."
Timmy said, "Okaaaaay, " and headed downstairs to find Daniel. Daniel still was reluctant so I told him I would go with him. That worked. Finally!
The Sunday School lesson of the day was Jesus' birth out of Luke 2:1-14. The lesson was paraphrased from the original version. The teacher started reading it and Daniel started saying it. "I know that," he said. He started narrating. Like all good teachers everywhere, the teacher interrupted him and said, "that is one version, thank you, but we need to read this one." I didn't know he had the entire thing memorized or I would've stepped in for him. He shrugged it off and listened. When we got to the Bible verse, it was just part of the verse - Daniel said the rest of it. The teacher was finally properly impressed as was Grandma! The teacher handed out candy canes, candy to add to the additional candy bag each boy received after church - leftovers from the children's Christmas program. Oh boy, just what I needed boys on a sugar high.
We made it home. The kids ran right past the stocking towards the Nerf Machine Guns. They looked like the mob with their guns and dressed in suits. David nicknamed them, Timmy the "Brain", "Jawbone" Danny, and "Baby Face James" aka "Jimmy the Hammer". Karyn worked on getting some pictures while the boys looked spiffy. She was successful.
Early Monday morning, the hunters left again. I was dreading this morning by myself with all 3 boys but it was very pleasant. James was in his usual good mood. The boys wanted to play Wii. They played some tennis, some baseball, some golfing, some boxing and then they let me play some bowling with them. It was really a very nice relaxed morning. We were still in our jammies mid-morning, when Timmy or Daniel asked for waffles for breakfast. Sounded good to me, besides I had some ham to get rid of.
I started the waffle iron, carved off some ham to warm up. I had just finished the first batch when the phone rang. The hunters were coming home - it was too cold. They wanted to bring home breakfast burritos, but I told them we were eating waffles. Yummy! I put pecans on theirs. I'm gunning for the "Grandma-hostess of the Year" Award.
I was running out of food and needed to round out my Special Christmas dinner menu. Karyn needed to pick up a few things and Tom needed to go get batteries for the present he bought for the boys. We scattered. I had asked Tom to be in charge of buying a nice roast beef. (Pat isn't a big fan of venison so I thought we'd appeal to her tastes) I had all the fixings for the mince meat pie Karyn had requested for Rick. There was still some cake left over but most of us were tired of it, so I wanted to get another dessert. When we came back there was more present opening. Tom had bought the boys remote control bumper cars! The kitchen was the perfect place to play - one boy at one opening to the kitchen another at the other opening. James in the middle picking up the drivers that would eject from the cars if they were hit just right. Then he'd drop them in the dog's water dish, where they would bob until rescued by some adult. Fortunately, James never did that with the bumper cars. This toy was wildly, loudly entertaining! It gave the boys something to do while the adults settled in for marathon bridge. I thought were going to play until 2 or so until the late afternoon hunting began. I needed to get some of the dinner started. It was going to be relatively simple. Tom was taking care of the roast. I had potatoes ready to boil. We had a spinach, cranberry, almond salad kit to throw together. I also threw in some walnuts and raspberries to add some more variety. I was going to make some beer bread but that was relatively easy. I cheated and bought a frozen pie to cook along with the mince meat. I also cheated there with mincemeat in a jar and frozen pastry.
The bridge was good; the weather lousy and the hunters wouldn't leave. I felt somewhat bad about this but never turn down bridge players so we played on. I was partnered with Rick, something that rarely happens. Brother and sister were partnered - a real treat for them. Rick and I won again, and again and again. Audacity mixed with skill makes a good combo, I guess. We also let the kids play cards with us now and then - Uno! They are catching on fast. Uno is a great game to teach how to overcome disappointment.
Pat arrived at 5 with a cake pan full of stuffed mushrooms. Karyn and I broke out the chocovine and shared with Pat. Tom and David figured out drinks for the rest. The boys were on excellent behavior. The mushrooms disappeared in quick order which pleased Pat. They are delicious! The meal was divinely festive. Tom did a great job with the roast. The potatoes were lovely, the spinach salad just right, the beer bread is always great. We were stuffed so we let the meal settle for a bit before dessert. After dessert, Pat was getting ready to excuse herself, but I told her she couldn't. I told everyone all day that they could open all the presents except one. I wanted one left so we could all open presents together with Pat. She felt like she was imposing until I told her that it was the plan all along that we would open one present with her and she had one, too! I think she enjoyed that but she did "escape" not long afterwards. She was going to stay and help clean up the kitchen. I told her that is what I had Karyn and Rick for!
Musical beds, as the boys figured out where they wanted to sleep. There are so many choices most entail closets! My closets are big and while I can't fit a bed in any of them, they are big enough to have a little quiet space. A few more hands of bridge were played. Rick and I won again.
Tuesday morning - 3:30 am. James is not happy. Grandma isn't happy, her tummy isn't happy. I finally get up and take some soda water hoping that will help with the heartburn. It did, sort of, it made me vomit - a lot. Boppa got up to see if he could help with James. Karyn turned on the computer and brought up James Taylor singing "Sweet Baby James" - this finally lulls James into quietude. Karyn said it works every single time. I went back to bed.
A few hours later, I got up and still felt cruddy. I am aching now. Breakfast is fend for yourself. Nobody goes out hunting because it's still cold and windy. Karyn and family are organizing stuff to head down to Denver to spend Christmas with Rick's family. We get to keep Aida and David for a few more days. David is supposed to drop Aida off in Denver on his way through.
I mostly sleep through the day but rally enough to play some cards with David and Tom in the afternoon. Our presents have been opened. The only thing left is celebrating Jesus' birth. There is nothing secular distracting from this. This is what I've always wanted and yet it isn't what I want. I remember the Christmas's of my youth. We usually had chili because my mom couldn't stand oyster stew which was some sort of Minnesota tradition her family did in her youth. After eating the chili, was dressing in our finery to go to Christmas Eve service. Sometimes it was the Children's program, sometimes it was a regular worship service. ALWAYS it was going around town to see the Christmas lights then home to see what Santa brought while we were away at church service. Hot chocolate, cookies, Christmas music, wrapping paper, ribbons, toys, new clothes. It was a joyous time in my memory. Yet, now I didn't want to fix dinner. My tummy was still rebelling. Tom did throw together some left over roast beef sandwiches and I ate a little bit. I decided I would try to attend service.
I did get into some finery. Tom was still elder so he left early. David and I left together. If I couldn't handle it, I could come home. We were invited to friends after the service for a mini celebration. Again, I wasn't sure if I would be up to it. The service was lovely - a candlelight service is always a favorite. Pastor's wife and children shared their musical talents with us. Callie, their daughter played a few piano selections, She and her mother, Courtney, played a flute duet. Courtney and another member sang a duet. Pastor's sermon was poignant. The service was well attended with many people we hadn't seen for awhile - grown children that had moved away were home with their children. I was glad I was able to attend. I managed to go to the party afterward which helped ease my memories of Christmas past with Christmas present.
Thanks to my sister, we had one more present to open on Christmas morning. We got up had our coffee opened our present, chatted for a bit and got ready for Christmas Day service. Tom was still elder so he had to leave early. David and I got spiffed up and were out the door not long after. Fewer people were there in the morning. There was gentleman sitting by himself. He turned around and said, " I saw you here last night."
I introduced us to him (I became more confident with that because of my Toastmasters' Training). I said, "I noticed you last night, too, because you wore a red bow tie. My father-in-law always wore a bow tie and sometimes David wears a bow tie. Not many do anymore." At this point, David would be kicking me under the table if he could, he teases me about my rambling. Too bad, this man is a rambler, too!
He said, "I was going to leave my son's this morning but I so enjoyed your pastor's sermon last night I thought I would give myself one more gift and worship with you this morning before going home." It turns out he is an elder from North Platte and even helps the LWML in the kitchen (with his bow tie on) when he gets a chance. Since his son is a new member to our congregation, I'm sure we will see more of him in the future.
We welcomed him. While the service wasn't very well attended, we still were blessed with piano selections from Pastor's daughter and son along with another flute duet from mother and daughter.
Since we didn't have breakfast, I told Tom and David, I would make us Christmas brunch. I woke up feeling much better and was rather hungry! Cleverly, I throw together a frittata (fancy word for open faced omelet), and sneakily cut up the pie into squares and call it coffee cake. I set the table with my fancy Christmas dishes - light a candle and Voila! a festive meal - #3 or 4, I lost track.
It is a low key day. David and Tom go to the quonset to do some work on David's truck. I talk to some of the family. We play some more cards. I made scalloped potatoes from scratch to go with some left-over ham. David provided the dessert, his various Christmas cookies he received from his sister and grandma.
After all of it is over, I have to admit, I think I rather liked that Christmas gift opening didn't take precedent on a special holiday to worship our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Taking time to set that all aside for awhile and just worship was good for my soul. If the grandchildren had been around on the actual day, perhaps it would've been harder. Undoubtedly next year will go back to trying to balance it all. I am rather assured that my grandchildren are learning how to balance it well. They know the answers, they have the story memorized, they know about the real St. Nicholas, Jesus does live in their hearts, I will trust that He always will and pray nightly for my dear boys that bring me such joy.
Merry Christmas, May Jesus, our Lord be in your heart, too!
