Mason Family Christmas Letter 2008

Christmas 2008

To sum up. . .

Laena's a senior in high school, vice president of the girl's choir, and looking forward to college. Working again at MickeyD's, and dating King Julian.

Clinton is a junior this year, working at Pizza Hut, and studying 3D Animation at the Tech Center.

Eric is also in eleventh grade. He's working on his Eagle Scout project, a massive food drive, and enjoying his job at the local movie theater.

Tommy's over at the middle school. (I can't believe we have all these big kids!) He's been having fun tearing Charlie's 'parts truck' a-part, got his Life Scout rank, and started up piano lessons again.

Aleia is the life of the party, full of energy and excitement. She was recently picked to help lead the 3rd grade, as a chorister, in the Majestic Elementary Christmas sing-along! : )

Jefferson has started Kindergarten, loves to play with his friend Evan, and digs cars.

Lincoln, (aka The Binky), is growing up fast, learning how to talk, and climb, and make messes. : ) We love our Binky! What a cutie!

Charlie's finishing up school, for now, and Amy is ever holding down the fort here at home.

I'm thinking about taking a class or two in the spring, and Charlie's thinking about taking a break. : )

Between Scout Master responsibilities, the 7 kidlets, Coca-Cola, school, church, and household stuff, we would have to agree that we do have our hands full.

Happy Holidays! Love, The Mason Family

Christmas Eve!

My favorite day of the year! It's here! It's been a great day so far. . Laena is over at McDonald's, sporting her Daddy's very special Santa Claus hat, on loan from the man himself. : ) Charlie took all three big boys to work with him today. .  He'd volunteered to help merchandize at a local grocery store this morning. (Translation: pull product from the back room and stock the shelves.) The four of them dressed up, for a little while at least, in candy striped red and white Coca-Cola work shirts. It was a sight to see! Of course Tommy and Clint thought the shirts looked too much like. . pink. So that didn't last too long, but at least I got a picture! Charlie thought it would be good to get the boys up early, so they could experience the joy of distributing soda to the masses this Christmas! They blew through the drive-thru at MickeyD's, grabbed some sausage biscuits, hollered hello to Laena, and they were off! On their merry way. . : ) Working together as a family, and making some great memories! Aleia and I plan to paint our nails, and make cookies for Santa!  : )

Last night Charlie and I drove over to the Jordan River Temple. It's amazingly beautiful, silhouetted in stark brilliant relief against the black velvet of the winter night sky. It's all white, with vertical stained glass running from top to bottom. Love it! We then finished up some last minute Christmas shopping, while Laena babysat. Swung by and picked Eric up on our way home. It was perfect timing. He was just getting off work, and toting another enormous bag of theatre popcorn for Clint to use as 'cushion' for one of the presents he's still gotta wrap. . We might try to make a whole lot of popcorn balls with whatever's left over. . . : )

Contest Winner!

Finally! We've posted a video announcing the results of the Christmas Sweater Contest. Some lucky guy or gal will win a copy of our favorite radio talk show host Glenn Beck's latest publication, The Christmas Sweater, personally signed by the man himself. Yes, it will be a Merry Christmas! Signed, sealed, and delivered. And would the winner please contact me ASAP with his/her mailing address, so we can send him/her this lovely gift! Thanks again, and Happy Holidays!

Christmas Sweater Contest!

Some of you may have noticed the lovely red and white Glenn Beck ad/reference here on my blog. So pretty! So festively decorated! : ) Hey, what can I say? I'm a fan.

As luck would have it, I happen to have access to a signed copy of Glenn's fabulous new book, The Christmas Sweater, just recently released! I was planning on buying tickets to the corresponding simulcast here in a week or so, but in keeping with traditional December craziness, our girls' Choir concerts/sing-a-longs, by sheer coincidence, happen to land on the same 2 nights. ARGH! Needless to say, I have mixed emotions.

So all right, Glenn. . . You're pretty popular, ain't cha? Of course you are! People lining up all over the country to see your show . . You're a pretty cooI guy, right? I sure think so. : ) You brighten my chaotic afternoons! You're one of my favorite people. Radio show rocks!

So. . maybe we'll do a little contest, here on my blog. . to help ya out. As if you needed any. . . But I don't mind plugging your latest gift to mankind, because I'm just that kinda gal!  : )

How 'bout this: Everybody who leaves a comment, with their favorite quote, (be it inspirational or otherwise), here on my blog. . . will be entered in a fun little holiday contest! And who will win this signed copy of Glenn's fantastic new Christmas novel? The lucky person whose name my 6 year old picks out of a hat at the end of next week. Say, Friday night, December 19th? Be sure to check back for the video drawing!

All righty then! Sound good? Yeah, I thought so. : ) Who could pass up a chance like this? It's fabulous! A fun, entertaining, and inspirational holiday treat! Just leave your favorite quote, and your email, as an entry here in 'comments'!

Good luck to you all! Merry Christmas!

This Is Why . . Piano Lessons!

Christmas Concert

Last night we took the whole family to Laena's 'Winterlude' Choir Concert. It was beautiful and inspiring as usual. One of the most touching moments, however, was unexpected. You hear about this type of thing happening, you see it in movies, but only occasionally does something like this touch you personally.

About halfway through the concert, which was made up mostly of Christmas songs, Mr DeHaan, the instructor/director walked up to the mike and announced to everyone that one of his Madrigals, one of his most talented students, Jeff, had just been in a car accident and wouldn't be able to perform his solo that night. He wasn't going to make it to the concert. He's okay, apparently. . . He's alive . . . but he hit his windpipe on the steering wheel of his car, and his father had requested that his teacher make this announcement, in the hopes that everyone would keep Jeff in their prayers.

This information was rather sobering, because this boy. . . is amazingly talented, and sweet, and needs, as Kelly DeHaan stated, and I know that everyone who's ever met Jeff agrees, 'to be singing to us all, for the rest of his life!' It is terribly unfortunate that something like this had to happen to such a good kid, especially at this time of year. But, on the flip side, events like this do pull everyone/our community family, together, united, unified, in a cause that is inherently Christ-like. We all want to express love, and administer relief.

Here's a little sampling of Jeff's inspirational talent. I've posted this before, and should probably have recorded more, but nevertheless, here he is. . .

Christmas

A Christmas Message From LDS Missionaries

NYC!

Well, we're back! Back from New York Citay!

After a long flight home, we've caught up on our sleep, and are back in the swing of things! It was so much fun. . . We were privileged to stay with my very hospitable cousin Daniel and his lovely wife Diane, who, it turns out, grew up with our very good friend Brooke Rail! It's such a small world, and it seems more than ever that we're all one big happy family, especially at Christmastime. : )

New York is beautiful this time of year, as everyone said it would be. Daniel and Diane live on the upper West side, so we got to stay in a really nice part of town, within walking distance of Central Park, the fabulous West Side market, and the famous Tom's Diner from the show Seinfeld. Charlie and I had a lot of fun walking around, taking in the sites, experiencing the museums, parks, the holiday decorations, and of course . . the Subway. : ) There was no snow. . . It was just cold, and very windy, which added significantly to the cold. We learned fast that it was best, nay essential, to wear gloves and hats, and sometimes scarves. Thankfully, Diane, with her generous nature, lent us hats, as we hadn't brought any.

Over the course of the weekend, we saw Times Square, tasted New York cheesecake, enjoyed the unbelievable architecture, got to ride in several taxis. . . truly a trip we'd love to experience again! But next time, minus the 'red-eye' flight, which I can't seem to recover from. . . at least not quickly enough. Silly pansy that I am! I must be getting old. : ) Imagine that, needing to sleep. . . I did miss the kidlets, but we got along okay. . Thank Heaven for cell phones! Aleia called us at about eleven, her time, Friday night, just to say that she missed us. : ) So cute!  Charlie had given them all business cards with his mobile number.

But what a trip! : ) It was great fun. We got to see a lot of the sights and sounds of New York! Naturally not all, because of course it would be impossible to catch everything in just one weekend. . but it was magical! There's so much to see! Charlie wants to go back and check out the Statue of Liberty, and more of the southern end of Manhattan Island. . . maybe catch a taping of Saturday Night Live, or a Broadway show. . . The possibilities are endless! But I think we both agree that the best part of the trip was the NY pizza Daniel brought home Saturday night. : ) Good stuff!

We'd better get to saving up those frequent flyer miles. . . And if things keep going the way they have been the past couple of years, we'll be back there in no time! Here's to traveling around the country, visiting friends and family, and most of all, weekend getaways with your sweetheart! : )

First Week of December Craziness!

Well, Thanksgiving was fun! It was nice to be with family. We buzzed over to my brother's place across town in Sandy, where we met up with Hyrum's little clan, and 3 of our other brothers. 2 had flown up from Phoenix, and Matthew drove up from just over the point of the mountain, in Alpine. He had to wrap a few things up, technicalities with his Doctorate from BYU, and then he and Mark were off to DC!  United States Navy, here we come! Mark flew up from Meckeeko last Friday so they could drive out together.

Anyway, we had fun on Turkey Day. Good times! I was grateful to be there at Hyrum's and Kim's, with so many of my original family members. Five of us siblings, and then Mark made 6! : ) The 2 little buggers won't venture out of Kirksville, the pansies. : ) It's nice that Nathaniel and Benj have no problem traveling. . . Saturday, the 5 boys went down to visit Grandpa Tanner in Springville, and Grandma Bartholomew in Provo. If we'd known about it, we could've hooked up with them, since we were picking Clint up from Spanish Fork anyway. . .

Saturday night Charlie and I went out on the town. Yay! It was his birthday on Sunday, so we figured we'd better party it up the night before. Dinner and a movie, a restaurant with Western decor, a familiar ambiance. . . And it was fun driving around. Unfortunately, I had to do sharing time the next day in Primary, at church, so we couldn't stay out late, which was a bummer. However, I've found, in my old age, that I don't mind so much getting to bed early. Say, eleven or so. . . Snicker.

Monday we put up our Christmas tree, and made it a Family Home Evening activity. It was fun seeing Charlie and the kids drag out the big, gigantic cereal box, pull out the faux evergreen boughs, sort the branches, and then see the tree take shape. Sigh. : ) Hmmm. . . Christmas! With all it's magic and romance. . All we need now is hot chocolate! With marshmallows. Except Charlie and I are trying out this no carb diet just now. . . Yuck.

Tuesday Uncle Mark came over and spent a couple of hours helping Laena with her college applications. . . He brought a Christmas present for the family, the first to go under the tree. : )

Wednesday, Laena, Aleia, Diego, Stephanie, and I drove up to the girls' Choir performance downtown at Temple Square. They got to sing there at the Assembly Hall. It was amazing. Sadly, they don't allow photography, or video taping of any kind. I was rather put out. Not happy about that at all! But it was amazing to watch. I drank in the waves of rich, acoustically perfect sound. The kids passionate singing was just . . . breathtaking! Ear candy. I was on cloud nine! And to top it all off, Scott finally remembered Charlie's cupcakes! : )

Thursday, I went out to lunch with Charlie and his co-workers, to celebrate his belated birthday. My mother called just before we left. Apparently Matthew and Mark had left for Washington, and were hitting Lincoln, Nebraska right about then. . . We had a good time at lunch. : ) Charlie was cute, with his Burger King - Birthday Boy crown somebody had picked up. . . It was fun seeing the gang from the office. On a different note, Thursday night, the hubby man had his Physics final. It'll be nice to be done with that class. 

Friday, for whatever reason, I was really pretty stressed out. . Something about the Binky snatching the ornaments off of the tree repeatedly and throwing them to the ground, maybe. . . We were thinking about going to the Festival of Trees that night, but I was too dang frazzled, so we ended up hitting Costco instead. Chuckle. I don't know how that's really any different, but ne'er the less, there we were. : )

I still want some of that wild mushroom soup from Zupas. . . That was soooo yummy! Mmmmm. . . : )

Saturday was just a whirlwind of Winter madness. We had about 5 activities to juggle that evening. . . pretty much all at the same time. Saturday morning Charlie and Eric dropped off a huge load of canned goods, etc, at the Food Bank. Then, later that afternoon, Lea went caroling with the Activity Days girlies. 'Bout this same time, after shopping and getting the little kids' pictures taken with Santa Claus, I had to get ready for the big Coca-Cola Company Christmas party. Charlie sent all the young'uns off to play at the neighbors', so we girlies could have some peace and quiet. He even got me flowers and a card. What a sweet guy!  : ) Then the real craziness began.

Saturday evening, Laena had a Choir gig, turns out at Keith and Marcia's ward Christmas party, and I was supposed so look fabulous, so we both had a lot of hair and make up to do. It's fun, once a year, to dress up nice. : ) And then we were off! It was a mad dash. Clint had to work, we dropped Eric off at the theatre, stopped by the Sundberg's surprise birthday shindig, picked up the Olschewski's, and headed up to the hotel downtown. (Is that a contradiction in terms. . ?) And the party was on, Baby. Wahoo! Saturday night grown-up time. Fun, fun, fun!  : )

Now all we have to do is figure out whether or not we want to drive halfway across the country for Christmas! Oh, and details for the big New York trip this weekend. . . Yiiiiiiipe!

Jingle Bell Rock!

I can't believe they forgot Charlie's birthday cake AGAIN. This is the 3rd year in a row. It always happens. . . I guess that's what he gets for being born at midnight, just a couple of days after Thanksgiving. . and just a couple of days before Christmas shopping gets going in earnest. He's sort of caught in the middle - stuck between the aftermath of Turkey Day, and the official beginning of the Christmas Season. Just when people are thinking of everything else. Everything . . but his birthday. Laaaame. : )

Coca-Cola has a tradition, really a very nice tradition, there in the office, where they take turns picking up everyone's favorite cake for their respective birthdays. They also go out to lunch, usually to La Frontera for Mexican food. I think they call it 'Birthday Burrito'. It's a great idea! Don't get me wrong. I love it just as much as the next . . gal. I just wish they'd somehow remember . . to remember . . Charlie's.

Sigh.

Anyway! Charlie's 39th birthday was this Sunday past . . last. We had a great time Saturday night. Christmas lights, dinner and a movie. It was a lot of fun. : ) Unfortunately, I had to do Sharing Time in Primary the next morning, plus I was sick, so we didn't get to do much on his actual birthday. . .

Janet Wayman did bring over some of her famous cookies. . chocolate chip big ones! Just in time for my diet to start! : ) Then, I believe it was on Tuesday, our neighbor Hyrum brought several cases of canned goods over to the house, for the Utah Food Bank, and Eric's Eagle project. . . It was really very nice of him. We have great neighbors!  : )

Troy Bullard even took Jeffy and Evan out to lunch at Denny's on Friday! Jeffy was sooo excited! And so cute! Who'd have ever thought that a corn dog and chicken stars could put somebody in such a good mood. : )

King Julian and The Big Christmas Party

Sunday night I was perusing Facebook, that evil web site, opiate of the masses. Or at least the middle class, as stated by a recently addicted friend. Just taking a 5 minute breather, checking things out, seein'  what's up with all my 'friends'. . . I noticed, interestingly, when scrolling down the page, that Laena's good buddy Diego proclaimed to be 'the happiest man alive'. They've been spending a lot of time together lately, so I thought I'd better ask.

I leaned back in my chair, and called her name. "Laena. . ."

She and Diego, hereafter known as/referred to as King Julian, (making reference to his middle name), have been hanging out a whole bunch these last few months. . .

She didn't answer. I had to jog it downstairs, and knock on her door. When she opened it, I asked her. "So Boogsie. . Why is Diego the happiest man alive?" At this point, she broke into a wide grin, and gave me the traditional "Why do you ask?" just slightly on the defensive. . Naturally, I rolled my eyes for effect.

"Oh, no reason. . I just happened to notice his dash there on Facebook. I read that he is evidently now 'very happy'. Why do you suppose that is?"

"Well, we're not engaged, if that's what you're thinking. . ." Still grinning.

Honestly, I have to say, the tightness in my gut relaxed a little bit, but I still wasn't entirely satisfied. I leaned against the door frame.

"So what's up?"

"Well, (and she accented the word by making quotes in the air) we're . . 'dating'. . ."

I breathed a sigh of relief, sort of. I mean, we'd figured as much. . .

"Well, we already knew that. ." I commented with mild sarcasm. . .

To my surprise, Laena burst out laughing. Apparently, she thought that me noticing his 'status' on facebook was the most amusing thing ever! She had to call and tell Diego. Ha ha ha ha ha. Very funny. And when was she planning on telling her mother, I would like to know. . ?

Fortunately, he's a good kid. Very relaxed, pretty solid. So we're not too concerned. I guess she is a senior in high school. . . Cringe. Oh, how I hate to say that out loud. Gag. How could this have happened?! Where did the last 20 years go. . exactly?! Sheesh.

On a different note. . but not really. . .

This weekend we're going to Charlie's big Coca-Cola Christmas party. There are about 6 different activities scheduled for Saturday night, but we're only gonna make one or 2 of them. Thankfully, our teenage daughter hardly ever reads my blog, so she won't know in advance that we're getting a hotel room after the party. Coke makes discounted rooms available every year, encouraging people to stay over, if they want to. Say. . . if they need to get away from the kids, and the craziness, maybe go on a nice, romantic date. . . Wow, what a concept!  : )

Anyway, we didn't want Laena to know about this prior to said romantic date. That way she has less time to set up a house party, invite the neighborhood over. . You know the drill. Like Charlie said:

"She's pretty quick as it is. . We don't want to give her any . . . lead time." : ) Chuckle.

She's had it before, and frankly, has gotten waaaaay too creative. Not that I'm terribly surprised. . . I was, in fact, a teenage girl once myself not so very long ago. . And, as many of my friends can attest, I was pretty creative . . also. . .  : )

Sigh.

Well, you know what they say. . . It's every mother's curse. Echoing in our ears, even now. . . (Cringe again.)

"I hope you have a child. . . JUST LIKE YOU!!"

Not this Christmas!