Our Christmas Overview

Well Christmas has come and gone and we realize that we haven't written anything about it.  So for posterity, family, and friends, we offer some highlights of our Holiday season. 

December and January were crazy, mostly because we never knew if Mark was going to be around or not.  Starting around Thanksgiving Mark has been assigned to the CGC NEAH BAY, an ice breaking cutter here in Cleveland, to help during the ice season.  Luckily, during December he was home most nights even if they were odd hours of the day.  We had plenty of Christmas parties:

1) A party for Mark's office at a horse ranch.  There we won a mug full of gourmet coffee and we got to look at all the horses.

2) A white elephant gift exchange with a group of friends.  Mark was absent.  I can't say what we got because somebody else might be lucky enough to receive it next year.

3) A party for Mark's ship.  A ship's crew receives a large amount of money for morale purposes.  So the whole ship and their families were treated to dinner/arcade night.  We also won a door prize; a large case of plastic dinosaurs.  Awesome.

4) There was the Ward Christmas breakfast.  Good breakfast.  Mark was again absent.  But, the kids make a nativity out of peanuts and met Santa.  Hannah was certain he was not the real Santa because his beard was not long enough.

5)Hannah's class put on a Holiday celebration for their families.  They sang traditional fun Christmas songs.   Hannah's favorites are Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Jingle Bells.

6) Christmas Eve we had dinner with a couple families from church.  It made it nice to have friends and good food without having to do all the work myself.  The kids were also able to dress up and act out the nativity.  I, of course, made way too much food for the occasion and had to bring a lot home. Mark spent the 10 days eating the leftovers.

We went to many Christmas Parties!

We finally made it to an ultra sound after rescheduling three times so Mark could be there.  It's a girl.  Hannah is thrilled.  Of course, she knew all the time.  We are thinking about Esther Joy.  The middle name is still up for debate.

One night for a family Christmas activity, Mark and the kids and I drove to Kirtland to see all the nativities set up.  There were more nativities gathered from around the world than you could count.  It was a nice chance to think about the many characters involved in the glorious events of the Savior's birth and to explain them to our kids.

On the way home from Kirtland, Hannah recounted to Mark how I had done something undesirable to her that day (like not give her what she wanted) and that she was going to write Santa a letter and tell him I should be put on the naughty list.  Mark very wisely told Hannah you can't tattle to Santa about your parents or you get put on the naughty list yourself.  Hannah was silent after this.  That night before bed, Hannah said a very heartfelt prayer.  It went something like: "Dear Heavenly Father, I'm sorry I told Santa to put Mommy on the naughty list.  I will be good.  Please tell Santa I'm good and should be on the good list for Christmas."  I've never laughed so hard after a prayer.

We had a pretty normal Christmas eve and Christmas morning, made so much more fun by having little children excited about putting cookies and milk out for Santa.  Christmas morning the kids excitable opened their presents.  Everyone was pleased with what they got.  Thanks to friends, aunts, uncles, and grandparents for making our kids Christmas memorable.  The most treasured gift of the whole morning: two $1 slinky toys.  I'll explain in the next paragraph.

We then ate a speedy breakfast and got ready for a long day.  We all headed for the airport, where Holly and the kids said good-bye to Mark , for what turned out to be a long trip.  Travel on Christmas day was busy, but everyone was pleasant which made traveling with two little ones a bit more easy.  The slinky toys kept the kids busy for 65% of the trip.  Thank goodness for tried and true toys.  We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Croshaw's house in time for Christmas dinner.

Perhaps this is a good time to tell you what Mark was doing while we went to Illinois without him.  As mentioned earlier, LT Patton is assigned to CGC NEAH BAY for the winter season.  He will be gone from home for about a week at a time then home for a day, all winter until the ice clears up on the Great Lakes.  This meant he had to stay in Cleveland.  While he was home he's been practicing on his new guitar and installing a remote starter in our new van--that was my Christmas present.  We get to talk to him most nights, but we miss him and will be very glad when this assignment is finished.

All of my siblings, Daniel being the only exception, were home for part of the vacation.  It was a general mad house with 21 grandchildren running around.  Hannah, of course, fell right into place with the little cousins playing dolls and store and school and dress up and making general noise and chaos.  Isaac was a bit overwhelmed and preferred quieter rooms.

On Monday, the older portion of the family participated in a service project to paint a house in a handicap neighborhood.  The whole house was painted in a pale peachy color in less than three hours. 

After that the family get together became more interesting.  One by one we all became victims to a flu bug which caused sudden nausea and vomiting.  It usually only lasted a day or two.  The children most often started to experience serious diarrhea afterward that lasted much longer.  There is nothing like cleaning up each other's vomit that brings a family together.  Special thanks to all who helped to take care of me and my kids while we were sick, which seemed like the whole time.  The biggest thanks to Genny who got up several times to help clean up after Isaac's diarrhea in the middle of the night.  And thanks to Grandma who probably had a very large water bill from all the laundry we had to do.  Our family was still feeling sick on the day we were supposed to fly home.  So, since Mark was on a ship somewhere with no idea when he would be returning, we decided to stay an extra week.  This gave us a chance to recover more fully and enjoy Grandma and Grandpa by ourselves.

We finally flew home with little incident.  Mom and kids are definitely glad to be home after such a long trip.  We are especially happy not to be sick anymore.  The only things that could have made us happier was if Mark was home to greet us.  Alas, we didn't see Mark for another week. 

The day after we got back our van wouldn't start.  I thought it had something to do with Mark trying to install the remote starter.  Luckily someone from our ward came over and helped get it started.  Apparently the battery was dead from being left in the cold for so long.  But, while he and his wife were here, he also shoveled a foot of snow off my driveway and sidewalk and his wife took me grocery shopping.  I don't usually need or ask for service, but I really needed some that day.  Everything is back to normal now.  Hannah is back to school.  We've played in the snow.

 Mark was home for two days last weekend and back out again.  He's growing a mustache while on the ship.  I'm not sure how I feel about that one.  Anyone have an opinion?

That pretty much catches up to speed. 

 

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