We opened our hearts to each other. We tried to get everything done early so we could have time to just be together and savor the season.
We opened our hearts to our kin by sending our Christmas cards. I finished making most of our Christmas cards on the drive home from Utah after Thanksgiving. Some I printed upside down and on some of the envelopes, I printed on the sealed side, oops! But I guess that what happens when you're sending out 60! Now that we've lived in so many places, our card list just grows! Here's the text:
Ryerse
Rant 2018
David – Started at Stillwater Billings Clinic this summer. Helped work on our home. Elders Quorum/Young Mens President. Playing
ball and wrestling with kids. Resident
D.J. He’s a champ. Melanie – Packed and moved and unpacked
and still getting moved in. Primary Counselor/Primary Chorister. Almost caught
on laundry. Emma – Enjoyed the science fair and music festival. Turned 12 and
became a young woman. Went to the
temple. Started middle school. On the wrestling team, loving it. Favorites -
art, music, designing, shopping, and reading all night long. Callahan – Attended a winter scout day
camp. Won a bike at school for reading so much.
Continued with gymnastics and is enjoying learning new things
there. Plays the piano and the recorder
(with his nose). Favorites - Roblox and
football.
Lucy – Draws and
colors a lot and always making pictures for others. Did some gymnastics but decided “not her
thing”. Jigging in Irish dance now. So animated & funny. Plays piano, begrudging.
She’s the queen of play. Favorites – chocolate, changing clothes, playing
pretend.
Coverton – Played in
his first piano recital. Graduated from preschool and started Kindergarten.
Played his first organized sport - flag football. Got to be the best man at
Uncle Randy’s wedding. Favorites - making up games, magic tracks, balls and
making us all laugh. Sydnie –
Grown so much this year! Went from
barely rolling, to running this year.
Says many words now – first was “cat”.
Loves playing ball and snuggling with her daddy. The lone ranger at home now & the best
part of the day is when siblings get home.
As a family, had some fun in Moose Jaw & Regina, Canada, Mishoshaka
State park/Glendive, MT and Driggs,
ID/Jackson Hole, WY. Sadly said goodbye
to Scobey and happily made the 5th move of our marriage to Columbus,
MT. If you’re still keeping tabs on us and sending us Christmas cards, you
deserve an award!
“Christmas
is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts.”
-Janice Maeditere
May we all keep our hearts open to
the best gift, Jesus Christ, this season and always!
-Dave,
Mel, Emma, Cal, Lucy, Covey & Sydnie
We opened our hearts to our home and got decorated the week following Thanksgiving. I am so loving the new nativity we got for our front yard. It is beautiful! I also had fun decorating our porch with stuff we already had but rearranging it. Our stand on our white tree broke so it was on its side for over a week until we found our real tree stand (someday we'll get a real tree again!). We got a new ornament that matches the theme of opening our hearts. We also finally got real stocking holders - some stars that light up and letters that say peace. Also, we have a place to put my first Christmas present from Dave - my nativity - again! I love decorating for Christmas and the reminders all around the house we have of our Savior and his birth. We never set up our outdoor lights, but Daddy brought them indoors a few times, which turned into a disco party in our house. The kids loved it and the baby just pointed and said "oooh!" We had one tree "cat"astrophe from Jazzy this year. She pulled the tree over once but it was before we decorated all the way.
We opened our hearts to our fellow men and looked outwards by lighting the world. Bob and Rose, our kindness elves, returned again to help us do something corresponding with the Light the World initiative. The kids said they just knew they'd be back and were so delighted to have them. They've been excited about the challenges each day and loving doing it! Cal keeps praying and asking "please help that we can serve others." Sweet. They even followed us to Utah this year and kept giving us challenges all through the month of December! It was a great way to think of others during this busy time.
We've opened our hearts to Santa, who shares the spirit of Christmas giving with us. We wrote him some letters, and got some in return. Cov and Lucy have both been worried they might be on the naughty list. Lucy told me "I'll try not to rage. Sometimes I just get so mad and can't help it. But I'm trying so hard to be good!" Cov asks a lot "Am I on the nice list?" Santa assured them in their letters they were and also shared some spiritual thoughts and messages. And Lucy got a kick about what Santa said. Lucy asked for a few unicorn things for Christmas and Santa responded that he thought that sounded fun and Mrs. Claus keeps suggesting he get some North Pole variety unicorns to help pull his sleigh with his other 9 reindeer. She was delighted!
We opened our hearts to our neighbors and and made our neighbor gifts - cookie dough and cherry cheesecakes. On it was the quote we've been focusing on this Christmas season. Everyone really liked them, including us. Always got to test them before you send them off, right? We also made some of our own yummy and restive food. We went to a cookie exchange with our branch which was a lot of fun. And a lot of sprinkles and frosting. Cov got to come with me. Lucy and Sydnie were home sick with Dad and the other two were at YW/Scouts.
We opened our hearts to the music of Christmas and its messages. We listened to the First Presidency Christmas devotional. The kids had a back scratching train going on during it. It's not Christmas without this event. The music was breath taking as were the messages. We learned "Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus" for singing time at church to sing for sacrament meeting. I found myself singing more randomly during my regular duties and to my kids. Lots of Christmas songs, but other good songs as well. The kids had their music concerts at school and did great! Covey was nervous but did great and sang Silver and Gold and Holly Jolly Christmas, Lucy sang Oh Christmas Tree and This Christmas. It was fun hearing them practice at home so much. Cal was off the hook as they only had a recorder concert for the other kids at an assembly at school. He was pretty thrilled about that. Sydnie enjoyed dancing to their music and making loud noises so we had to take her out a few times. Emma had her first middle school band concert. They did pretty great! They played Santa at the Symphony, the Grinch and Carol of the Bells which featured the drums and that was pretty cool. They all had religious songs at their concert too, which is cool to see because you don't see that everywhere. As I was singing Christmas songs to the kids one night, Cov said "Mom, you sing like an angel!" As I thanked him and told him I like to sing but really am not that great, he insisted and said I sounded just like an angel. Sweet kid!
We opened our hearts to our friends and had our friend Christmas party where the kids each got to invite a couple of friends. We did a Jingle Bell Rock theme. They painted or colored rocks in Christmas themes, jammed out and danced to some Christmas rock songs, played jingle in the trunk, jingle bell ornament bowling, did a little photo op time, and made ice cream floats (we were looking for Pop Rocks but none to be found in our town). They had a blast. We were going to have Emma's, but a lot of her friends were involved in sports the weekend we were planning on it. So we are going to do a post party for her and pals. The kids really enjoyed being with their new friends. They are pretty cute kids.
We opened our hearts to faith and helped out with our Branch Christmas party. Dave was the chair of the committee assigned by our Branch President to put it on. Emma was given her first assignment to be on the committee, along with Celestina, one of our other active young women. Their help was invaluable! We came up with the theme of Christmas Light. We decorated with lots of lights and candles. We wanted to keep it simple but meanigful. We had a scavengar hunt the kids could do and turn it in when complete for a goody bag with light up yo yos, glow stick toys, and a few other things. Then they made little cup lantern crafts too. For dinner, we had Dave's Christmas beef sandwiches and ham along with many tasty sides and salads and desserts. We decorated the tables with fairy lights in jars and we made these little picture frames with wood slices that had quotes and pictures on them about the Savior and light. Each family got to keep one after. We had a program Dave narrated and a slide show we put together about the Christmas story and the Light of the World. We sang Christmas Carols together. It was a nice night but even nicer now that it's over.
We opened our hearts to the outdoors and community and were able to go to the Snowflake Festival in Absarokee for the light parade, activities and fireworks, which were pretty legit! The following weekend we had a light parade in our town and it was pretty long and fun. In the park there were only two wise men and Cov thought they needed three and decided to be the third. It was so cute. It was fun for the kids to see their friends. The hospital float was fun with "Elvis" on it and some Montana inspired floats. We also drove around to see the lights. Emma went with her YWs to go see some amazing houses in Billings, too!
In between all of the holly and jolly, we had a lot of coughing and barfing. Oh man. It was a rough month and the kids and Dave and I kept passing back and forth all kinds of yucky things. Glad it got over just in time to go visit our family and celebrate the season!
We headed to Utah and it was a pretty nice ride down. And we were glad to see snow in Smithfield, where we visited Mark, Mayela and Amber. We have had zero precip all month! I guess it's a global warming Christmas. We gave hugs and talked and ate some sliders for dinner and then went to a fun little pastry shop called Sweetly Divine. And the older girls and moms went to Walmart to get a few things. Good times! That night, we played around and ate the desserts and stayed up too late. The next morning, watched Santa Chronicles and ate waffles and played. Then we hit up Gossner Foods for some flavored milk and different cheeses. We headed to the Ryerses after that for an early birthday party for Tayla, as they are moving to New Mexico in 7 days and she wanted all of the family to be together to celebrate. We also did hair cuts and I took the kids to the park to play. We talked a lot and watched a Jazz game and played. It was fun! That night, as I was tucking the kids in, Lucy told me excitedly after sitting in the guest room a while by herself that she had something to tell me and she seemed excited but a little solemn too. I finished tucking in Cov and then talked to her. She said she had been thinking of Jesus and the nativity and the whole birth of Jesus and then she got tears in her eyes, but tears of joy. She said it felt so powerful and she felt like a super hero after feeling that joy. I told her that was the Spirit, telling her it was true and that feeling that Spirit and joy is powerful and can make us feel like we can do anything! It was a tender, sweet moment.
On Christmas Day, we started things out not too early, but the kids were up early enough and excited! We had to wait for Grandma and Grandpa to get up for a while. The kids were thrilled with what they got! Sydnie got a book set and swivel car, Cov got a feisty Pets dragon and a blue ukulele, Lucy got a reversal sequin unicorn journal and a ride on bouncy unicorn, Cal got a remote control snake and a huge stuffed snake, Emma got some headphones, a cat drawing book and some other pre-teen things. Then they enjoyed going through all of their stocking stuffers, too. The rest of the morning, they rode around, bounced around, slithered around, played around, tried out all their stuff all around the house. We made baked french toast for a brunch. We had a cream cheese strawberry cheesecake and a blueberry cream cheese. And we also made two breakfast casseroles, one with sausage and one with ham, half with onions and peppers and half without. Catering to everyone. It was a hit. Julie and I did good, if I do say so myself. The cousins got there about noon and we all ate, then we did presents with everyone else. Sue & Julie really liked the wall sconces Dave and I made and everyone thought the socks were fun. Dave got a neat drone you can pass back and forth from Erin. I got some lotions and soaps from Todd. The kids got spoiled, of course. They got money, toys of all types, note books from the Ryerses with notes in the front from them and art supplies to go with it, Aunt Shirley made the girls the neatest journals, Cov got a remote control tarantula, Cal got Legos galore. So many gifts and so much fun. We played for a while with all the new stuff. But then we tried to focus on changing our hearts towards the real gift. We put together "A Christmas Play" which featured gifts that were given to the Savior and gifts we can give to others and the Savior. At first, it's kind of chaos. But we all made props, everyone helped each other, we rehearsed a bit, and they were ready. Brody didn't really want to act, but ended up being stage hand and doing a spot light with his flash light he got. The kids all did great and I hope they always remember in their hearts the Spirit they felt as they performed and shared the gifts we can give to the Savior. We had a dinner together next. Tender turkey, mashed potatoes and the works for dinner. After eating and enjoying being with family, Dave, Emma, Brian and I headed to the NBA Jazz game. Randy got tickets but was unable to go since he was gone, so he gave them to us. It was an amazing game! Everything was festive and decorated and the National Anthem was played by a violinist and was so breathtaking. It was great to see the Jazz in action against the Blazers, and seeing former WSU player Damian Lillard in action too, who is so crazy good. It was fun that many cheered for him as well as the Jazz. The Jazz took command and won the game relatively easily. The quarterly entertainment was fun and so was the company. Emma's never been to a professional sports game and while she usually made fun of the Jazz, we turned her into a fan by the end of the night. We got out of the game and giant snow flakes were coming down. Everyone was catching snow on their tongues and "skating" around. We got a ton! It was the perfect way to end the perfect day!
The rest of the week after Christmas, we mostly just hung out with family - playing at home, talking, going places together. The kids loved the Grand America with Grandma Di & Grandpa Scott to see their giant gingerbread house and window displays. We got to see a bunch of NBA players there, too. We also went to temple square, so it was fun to see that during the day. We watched some college football games. Emma and Cal had to put on their fake mustaches and make signs for Minshew Mania (Gardiner Minshew was their awesome quarterback this year) and the WSU Cougars. We were able to help get Jerry and Stacy off to New Mexico for their new job. Exciting! But kind of sad that we'll be further away from them. We helped finish loading and made a bunch of soups and bread bowls and hot chocolate for all those who helped pack. Jerry, Stacy and family slept over and Dan and Sue's for their last night. Kaison, Tayla, Cal and Emma had a sleepover and stayed up talking and laughing most of the night. These cousins are so close and I love it. We also went to see Amy. She has been through a lot lately and has been having so many IUI treatments and then she had an IVI they were really hoping would work but it ended up being an ectopic pregnancy. So she had to have a DNC. We went up and brought Amy some of her favorite Taggart's carrot cake and visited with her and made cards for her to try to cheer her up. Then we helped Kolby a little on the house they're building. It's so much work they have been doing and still so much more. They are incredible and it will be awesome! I mostly played with the kids and Boji. They were having a blast most of the time, a few squabbles, but mostly fun. I was able to go with my friend Michelle Trujillo to the temple. It was a tender mercy. We went and did a session and it was beautiful. We went to lunch at the Corner Bakery. While we did that, Dave and the grandparents and the kids went to Chuck-A-Rama. We went to see a few movies while we were there. Dave loved the new Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse a lot. It was a wonderful time to open our hearts to family and friends!
Most of all, we opened our hearts to the Savior, who is the what Christmas is. Lucy keeps saying that we should just call "Christmas" "Christ- mas" and pronounce his name in it as we say it, as it is written in it but we say it more like Kris-mas. And when we visited family, Kaison kept heartily wishing everyone "Merry CHRIST-mas!" Love it!
