Christmas 2016

In keeping with our family tradition: the boys slept under the Christmas tree, along with all their stuffed animals, pillows, blankets, etc. I was invited to the party but politely declined.

On Christmas Eve cousins and siblings recreated the story of the nativity with songs and scripture readings:

Then, the children patiently waited for the distribution of presents that Grandpapa traditionally orchestrates.

Christmases come, one after the other, and despite the added wrinkles on the adults faces, and the children's added inches, it is hard to tell one Christmas from another.

The boys continue to pile up on top of each other to stare at the same tiny video game screen.

Grandmaman continues to create her magic in the kitchen:

Along with her apprentices:

And we continue to eat, to be loud and merry, and to create memories

And after every Christmas... this girl gets a year older:

Joshua's baptism

December 27th 2016 will remain one of the most special dates of my life. That day was filled with so much peace and love. Maybe the fact that life had been such a hell during the previous months helped me fully appreciate the healing and peace that come from covenant making. After all, you need to taste the bitter in order to know the good.

Planning for Joshua's baptism wasn't easy. It was painful to reopen a dispute that had caused the end of my marriage (i.e. my decision to be in the Church when my ex-husband resigned from it). I didn't want to submit myself to another debate over who was right and who was wrong and I knew I was likely to face accusations, and yet, Joshua needed his dad's approval in order to be baptized. But while that discussion was as unpleasant as one would expect (and I don't claim the cynicism and accusations were one-sided), it gave me an opportunity to receive guidance and peace from the Scriptures. And despite Rex's disagreement over this decision, I am eternally grateful he did not oppose it and he allowed Joshua to decide for himself.

Sweet Joshua standing outside the chapel

Posing with his grandpa before he baptized him

When considering dates for Joshua's baptism, my first thought was to do it as close as possible to his birthday (dec 7th). Then I realized if we waited a few weeks, we'd have a lot more family members present because all my sisters were planning on spending Christmas at my parent's house near us. Pretty soon, I realized one of our best options was dec 27th, my own birthday. 

It sure made it even more of an emotional day for me considering I was baptized on my birthday exactly twenty-five years prior.

25 years in between: he is so much taller than me!

Standing in front of the fonts after his baptism, with his cousins Dan, Evan and Elise

Joshua and William

Joshua was lucky to be surrounded by many family members (even by great-aunts and great-uncles who do not share our faith) on this special day. His grandma, who lives in Arizona, also participated in his baptism by sending her testimony in an illustrated booklet she prepared just for him. His Aunt Coco and I each gave a small talk and our friend Nicki sent him a tie, a tie-clip and a baptism journal. Many other gifts and expressions of love were offered. I hope I will always remember the peace and happiness I felt that day.