Weekend

It was one of the secretary's birthday on Friday so she had piñatas for the teachers after school.  They were legit piñatas with Mexican candy inside.  Also her teenage children came to help and it made me happy to celebrate with them.  (Additionally the homemade tamales she brought and left in the teachers' lounge at lunchtime made me happy. Rachel's family used to own El Azteca in Provo which was a Mexican restaurant by my apartment.  And it was good.)

I ended up at a piñata with some of the kindergarten and first grade teachers.  A few of them talked about how anxious piñatas made them as children.  We all started talking about anxiety inducing birthday party games and I told them I had been terrified of the game where you run across the room and sit on a balloon and whoever pops their balloon first wins.

Barbaric.

I thought it was funny that a group of people who decided to spend their lives with children were timid and maybe a little neurotic as children.

It's like we're determined to keep the world less stressful for the next generation.

Saturday I wrapped the last of the Christmas presents.  Done!

There were five shows at the theater on Saturday.  Mark volunteered to work because he is crazy.  I think he viewed it as a feat of strength. Other ushers rotated in and out but Mark and his boss, Sam, were there the entire 13 hours. At the end of his shift, Mark sent this:

 

A fellow usher said that every time he complained, Mark needed to give every other usher a dollar.  Challenge accepted and Mark didn't complain once.

If I had known that would work, I would have tried it years ago.

Adam and I dropped off lunch (for him and Emma) and dinner (for Mark).  If teaching doesn't work out, I may consider a Doordash career.

Emma finished work at 6:30 so we went to dinner with her.  I rode in her car and I told her all the things.

I love having a daughter.

Amid errands and feeding children, Adam and I decorated the tree (until I got too tired).  It was the first time since Braeden was a toddler that we didn't have children helping us decorate.  It takes a lot longer.  I love decorating the tree though.  I love our decorations.  They feel kind of like a scrapbook.

I sent this picture of two hideous ornaments I made in elementary school that always make it onto our tree.

I told them that whoever I loved most at the time of my death would inherit these gems.

Mark texted back that whoever inherits them won't feel the same after receiving them.

I told Mark he is definitely out of the running.  

Braeden and Anna flew home from Virginia on Saturday.  Braeden sent us updates of their progress.

On the way to the airport, I got a text from Amy. She texted this picture:

How I love those two!  It is a blessing to see our son so happily married and it is a blessing to have Anna in our family.  I also love that Braeden has Anna's family too, because they're wonderful.  It all feels about perfect.

Sunday night we celebrated Pikkujoulu, but I will tell more about that later.