Caught in the Middle

Once, a long time ago, a counselor told me that I am the 'lynch pin' of our family - the 'peacemaker'. This is not an enviable job. Trying to juggle the emotions of the varied personalities in our family is a real struggle sometimes.

Take our latest crisis. We have some very, very tiny guests that have decided they would rather live in our house than their own. I am talking about ants - to be more specific 'pavement ants' (or so the exterminator tells me).


They have been congregating in our daughter's (Miranda's) bathroom (and bedroom and sitting room), and she has been getting more and more freaked out about it.

I have bought her ant bait, and advised her about spraying, but nothing seemed to work. Finally I had to agree to call in an exterminator - which we did today (hence the knowledge of the type of ant we are dealing with).

Disregarding the horrendous cost of de-anting our house, the exterminator told us that we would need to leave the house for 4 hours while they did the inside treatment. Although their stuff is non-toxic, it might be a bit of an irritant to those with asthma or breathing problems.

This threw my husband (Bill) off the deep end. He is already pretty upset about his surgery not going well, and the fact that he already has breathing problems. Although the exterminator assured us that they use hand tanks, and only blow mist into the walls, I am sure what he envisioned was this:


As the poor exterminator stood by listening (until she was smart enough to go outside to write the whole proposal up), Dad had fits about the heat pump blowing contaminated air all through the house, and what kind of residue would be left that might cause problems. This caused Miranda to practically have hysterics about being sick of dealing with her ant problem and she can't take it any more.


We finally reached a compromise. They are going to come and do the outside part of the extermination treatment later on today. Monday at 8:00 am the heat pump experts will turn up to turn off our heat pump so that air won't be circulating. At 8:30 am the exterminators will turn up to do their thing, and we will all leave (Tim will be in school). Four hours later, Miranda will return and open up her windows to air everything out. She and Tim will spend Monday night at home, while Bill and I will stay at a motel (more expense!!!!). Tuesday we will have a house-cleaner do her thing (which should get rid of any residue), and we will come back from the hotel. And Wednesday morning the heat pump guys will come and turn our heat pump back on (and do the yearly maintenance - more money - while they're at it).

I think a lot of this is overkill, but anything to keep the peace at home. I just wish it wasn't so expensive!!

Unbelievable!

It is hard to believe all that the family has gone through in the past four months. It all started on December 17th (a day to live in infamy), when I ended up in the emergency room at St. Joseph's Hospital and had an operation for a strangulated hernia. This hospitalized me for three days.


In early January, my older daughter (who lives with us) had emergency surgery for a hemorrhagic ovarian cyst.


On the same day that I went into the emergency room (Dec. 17th) , my husband had a prostate crisis and after fighting with it for a couple of months, this culminated in wearing a catheter for six weeks, and then having surgery - in April.


The only member of the house who had NOT ended up in the emergency room was our adopted son/grandson Tim. So what did he do this Sunday? He accidentally swallowed a balloon.


We spent hours on the phone with the consulting nurse, while Tim ate bananas and bread in an attempt to push the balloon down farther and escape the risk of choking. My husband had to go back to urgent care for an infection he had developed in his throat (his uvula got nicked during surgery), and Tim had to come along so that we could 'monitor' him and make sure he would be okay.


I would like to say that this is the end of it, but I still have to have more hernia surgery at some time in the future. What a year! Unbelievable!

Festival of the Nativity 2011

I haven't been blogging much lately (it's been 3 months), but I did feel that this was something worth blogging about. The 'Festival of the Nativity' has become an annual event in our stake. It is absolutely incredible! Many people display the nativities they have collected, and there are live performances going on throughout most of the Festival.

In 2009 I entered a few nativities and also did a special cross-stitch just for the Festival. I also caught the 'nativity' bug and started buying more nativities.

In 2010 I cross-stitched another picture just for the Festival, thus starting a tradition. And right after the Festival I picked up a few more nativities. Sorry - I didn't seem to have any pictures in my computer of these two cross-stitches.

For 2011 I did another cross-stitch picture, although this time I started it much earlier in the year.

(The other two were done at the last minute and I really had to hustle to get them framed in time.) However, I'm not sure if I'm going to do one for 2012. They take a lot of time and are VERY expensive to get framed.

However, this year I ended up buying a lot of nativities right before the Festival. I thought it might be a fun thing to show you pictures of all of the nativities that I had on display.

This is probably the oldest nativity I have and it is VERY tiny. I bought in for the Christmas of 1970 when I was an exchange student in Germany. It is made of plastic and was very cheap, but it holds a lot of memories for me.

Another very tiny nativity was made in Mexico (I think). I was amused that they displayed this in the hand-made section with a note saying that I had made it. I had not, but it was a bit late to correct them.


When I first starting actually collecting nativities, I bought several that are more traditional. This one (I call it the bronze nativity) actually came with two camels, but the other one broke in transit.

This is a typical nativity, but I especially like the sweet expression on Mary's face, and the fact that she is dressed in pink.


This is another fairly traditional nativity.


However, I particularly like the way that Jesus balances on Mary's lap. Trust me, if you joggle the table, he falls right out of her arms!


This very simple nativity was actually a homemaking project in Relief Society. We painted the Holy Family in white. I've always liked this, and other than my cross-stitches, it's one of the few nativities that I can say I helped 'make'.


I was almost embarrassed to put this little nativity jewelry box in the Festival as I bought it at the dollar store. But they were trying to reach their goal of 1000 nativities so I threw it in.


This is one of the nativities that I picked up this year. I call it the 'Sleepy Face' Nativity


I particularly like the little Jesus waving his feet and hands in the air. I think he's more awake than everybody else.


I call this one the 'blue-trim' nativity for obvious reasons.


I made these little felt nativity figures many, many years ago. They always end up in the children's room at the Festival


I didn't make this next nativity, but it was definitely designed for children to play with. In fact, when I went searching to find where all my nativities had been displayed, I found this in the room with the nativities that children could play with.


All the pieces are cloth stuffed with cotton. I love the stable, and feel it's almost a pity to put the other figures in front of it.


In general I don't care for the nativity pieces that have 'scenes' painted on them, but for some reason I really took a fancy to this 'Mediterranean' set.


Maybe it's because the decorations on their robes isn't too professional looking.




I have to admit to a partiality for 'tableau' scenes. Some of them are very simple and connected with a special word - like this one that a friend at work gave me.


This one-piece display is children acting out the nativity scene.


Joseph's staff had broken off, but Bill managed to glue it back on. I particularly like the three kings giggling among themselves.


There is a special kind of display that is called a Triptych (sp?) It is a diorama that that can be folded in or out. I only have one of them, and this is what it looks like when it's folded up.


This is what is opens out to display.



I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the magnificent Thomas Kinkade Christmas tree that we have, but I do have this Bethlehem tableau.


Not only does it play music, but the stable can light up.


Speaking of lit-up displays, this is one that I bought this year that arrived the day before the Festival! I had to rush it over to get it included.


It's a three-piece set, and really looks spectacular in the dark.



In the same shipment (also rushed over at the last minute) was one that I think is going to be one of my favorites, even if it doesn't light up.


It looks almost as good from the back as it does from the front.


Another nativity that I bought that arrived shortly before the Festival features a lovely ivy pattern on everybody. Unfortunately, Joseph's hand holding the lantern had broken off. It has since been reattached, but at the time I took this picture I just tried to turn him so you wouldn't notice it too much.


Here's a close-up so you can see the pattern better. Our computer guru really like this one - he said it 'stood out' among the others.


Most of the nativities I have are displays of figures, but I really liked this Irish linen wall hanging.


There have been a lot of nativities made depicting various animals. I actually don't like most of them, but I fell in love with the penguins. The original purchase only included the Holy Family, but we have since added another penguin, a seal and a walrus.


I have to admit that I fell in love with the one-piece nativity with mice. This was also one of my newer purchases.


There are some very pretty ornaments with nativity scenes in them too. Here is one from Ireland. (I think the green gives it away).


I love this little Eskimo ornament where Jesus is lying on a dog sled!


Actually, I really like ethnic nativities. For example, here is a larger Eskimo nativity.


Nativities are very popular in South America. Here is a vivid green set from down South.


A lot of the South American nativities depict halos on the holy family with rays coming out of their heads. Here is one with a gold and maroon theme.


I got this little Peruvian nativity two years ago. I love the looks on the faces of Mary and Joseph.


This summer we stopped at the San Miguel mission in California, and I bought this little Bethlehem scene - designed to be lit from within with candles. It is also from Peru.


From the southwest of our country comes this charming Indian nativity.


However, one of my all-time favorite nativities is this one of the Indians from the more northern part of the United States.


This is one of my favorite Mary's, and the wolf and papoose are just darling.


With my Irish heritage, I couldn't resist getting this Irish nativity. It is actually two separate figures, but when arranged properly, they just meld together. Notice how their flowing robes seem to form a heart.


For some reason, I really like the nativities featuring African or African-American figures. The first one I bought was this exquisite set from Lennox.


The Bradford exchange has another very nice set, but you receive it in separate shipments. I think that is supposed to make you think that it is costing you less since you're paying it in bits and pieces. The first set was Mary, Joseph and Jesus.


The angel and the king came in the second shipment. Jesus can be displayed in his little bed, or Mary can hold him in her arms.


I actually received the third shipment just a couple of days before the Festival, but I had already taken most of my pictures. Mentally add in another king, a shepherd blowing his horn, and a sheep at his feet, and you'll have the collection up to where it is now.

However, the one nativity that generated the most comment and admiration was this one that I also picked up this year.

In case you can't tell, that is genuine yarn for their hair.

The Festival fell a bit short of their goal of 1000 nativities - they actually had 989 on display. However, I am ashamed to admit that since the Festival ended I have bought another 11 or 12 nativities (another addiction?) so next year they should meet their goal. Maybe when they all have arrived, I'll do another blog to show them off.

In the meantime - Merry Christmas!