Christmas Prep

I got called onto the Activities committee a few weeks ago. Of course I automatically assumed this was one of those made-up callings (“Sister Jensen doesn’t have a calling…throw her onto the bottom of the committee list”), and my hunch was strengthened when the activities leader left a message on my phone saying “Um, I guess you’re on the committee…we heard your name announced today in Sacrament, so we figured we’d get in touch with you…”. Looks like a strong case for made-up calling, right? WRONG. As it turns out, I am THE ONLY person on the committee! Except for Jon, and he doesn’t count because he’s never in town anyway. So yeah, I’m the only person on the committee. It’s me and the couple in charge, THAT’S IT. So we’re scrambling to get a Christmas party planned, since we were all called about three weeks away from the blessed event, and the woman asks me, “Would you mind making the fliers? Would you mind running the rehearsals with the children? Would you mind building the nativity?” BUILDING THE NATIVITY!! I am not even exaggerating; All of these things came out of her mouth. She may as well have said “Hi, thanks for joining the team, will you do everything?”. Well as it turns out, the Christmas party got postponed from last weekend to THIS weekend, and HOORAY – I’m not going to be here. And neither are the committee leaders! The bishopric ended up calling another two couples as “Christmas Party Specialists”. So I while I still helped with a lot of the details, I don’t have to set up or clean up or actually attend the event. Though the fact that we’re leaving tomorrow for our Christmas vacation in Canada didn’t prevent the original activities committee leader from asking me to make a breakfast casserole for the party, anyway. And when I told her that I didn’t think that was a good idea, seeing as it would sit in someone’s fridge for four days before making its debut at the event, she got kind of huffy and said “Well since we dumped this whole thing off onto these other people, I just think it would be the respectful thing to do.” WHOA WHOA WHOA, wait, what?? Dumped? They were called by the bishop to do this. What, was I supposed to change my flight so I could mop up spilled food off the Cultural Hall floor? Why don’t YOU just NOT go to your grandchild’s baptism in Flagstaff? And what? Respectful? “Thanks for helping, please keep this casserole in your fridge for four days, then feed it to people.” And besides, wasn’t it respectful of me to make the flier? And to find someone with a nativity already made? And to line up the musical numbers? And to help with the children’s rehearsal? She really confused me with that one. Anyway, that’s that.


I’ve been busy at work mailing out Christmas cards and organizing an Adopt-a-Family type of a thing for the employees to participate in. And I’m glad to report that it looks like this is NOT going to be a repeat of last year’s food drive. It was kind of embarrassing when the representative came back for their behemoth cardboard box only to discover that it contained two things of canned vegetables and a box of mac and cheese. With that memory fresh in my mind, it was kind of hard for me to commit our office to this new charitable effort, but I decided that if I guilted people enough that it just might have a happier ending than last year. And it seems to be working. Some people brought their presents in unwrapped, so I made a quick trip to Walgreens for some bags and boxes. This was where I encountered the Most Melancholy Bell-Ringer of All Time. I honestly didn’t even notice him until after I’d walked past. He gave his bell two or three sad peels before dropping it again to his side as he leaned against the wall. It’s quite a change from the guy last year at the same location. He was a Constant Ringer, and whenever anyone walked past he would hold it out and ring it double-time, double-loud for a few seconds before resuming his typical tempo. You wouldn’t think anything could be so annoying yet so hilarious all at the same time.


Like I mentioned before, we’re preparing to leave for our Christmas vacation (TOMORROW) and we have so much to do between now and then it’s UNREAL. I’ve got a to-do list with about fifteen things on it. We haven’t even begun packing. We have errands to run. Kitchens to clean, dogs to wash, blah blah blah blah. But I’m excited like crazy to leave work behind for a while and spend time with family, eat yummy food, and celebrate CHRISTMAS, hooray!