Typical Abel Christmas

Here is a follow-up to yesterday's post about Christmas Eve.

I woke up suddenly to the blaring alarm. It must have been 5:30. It was still fully dark outside. Aimee must have woken up too because the alarm was now off putting the entire house in complete silence. I knew the other three were up too because everyone was stirring.

"Merry Christmas!" Aimee said.

"Merry Christmas." We all replied in groggy voices.

I got up and started folding up the blankets that I slept with while others also either folded their own blankets or stumbled off to the bathroom.

Eventually, we were all ready to go wake up mom and dad. It didn't take long, we've been doing this same routine for most of our lives.

"Cover your eyes like this," Cherise said as Aimee and Cherise started to lead us through the family room. She put her hands around her eyes like a cup, forcing blinders on herself. We all followed suit with no questions or arguments. This was also a normal thing if we had to walk past the tree and presents. We also did this on Easter so we didn't see any clues, eggs or baskets.

Picture from gatesmillsvillage.com.

We trekked through the family room, past the kitchen and down the small hall towards the parent's room like a bunch of ducklings following their mother.

Once we got to the room, it was like a free-for-all. I attacked my dad, because he was always the hardest to get out of bed. Skylar tried to help me, but everyone else woke mom up.

Mom got up quickly and went to their bathroom to make sure her hair was in order with Aimee and Cherise. Taylor joined Skylar and I in waking my dad up. We knew he was awake, but he would fight it as long as he could. He did it every year.

After a little while, the girls would join us in waking dad up, but he wouldn't actually move until mom told him to get up. By that point, it seemed she was almost ready for the day.

"Alright, I'm up," my dad said as he sat up in bed. "I'm going to go shower."

"No, dad!" All of us kids said at once. He said this every year and never actually did it, but we still didn't want to risk having to wait longer.

Once he actually got out of bed, the rest of us would go into the kitchen where a spread of sweets was found. It always included orange sticks, homemade fudge, Cadbury chocolates and hard candy that I've only ever seen at Christmas time.

We snacked on these sweets for a bit until dad came out and joined us. Now it was time to go open presents.

"Let's say a family prayer," mom said. We would always pray that we would remember Christ and His life on this special day.

Picture from ldswallpapers.com.

After the prayer, we walked together until we were just outside the room where the tree and gifts were found.

"Dad's going to go check if Santa came," mom said.

Dad walked into the room while we all waited with anticipation, but patiently.

He would be gone for a few minutes before returning.

"Santa came!" He exclaimed as he came back to where we were.

We all walked in and dad directed us to our presents. Santa always separated our presents for each person at a place to sit. The gifts from family members for other family members still sat under the tree.

"Ok, Skylar will start," mom said.

We always started with the youngest and went to the oldest by opening one gift at a time until we finished Santa's presents.

The only free-for-all present was our stockings, which were also laid out by the Santa gifts. It always had a chocolate orange, which was always one of my favorite traditions.

"Alright, grab all the presents under the tree and pass them out," mom directed.

When they were all passed out, we would start the whole process again starting with Skylar.

Once the presents were all opened, we would set up our toys or games or whatever gifts we may have gotten and just play. We would have a spread of random food to snack on. This food usually included a cheese ball, toffee, Chex mix, ham, rolls and other random goodies.

Typical Abel Christmas Eve

It's Jordan again. I've been thinking about what I could write about Christmas, and I decided to write about a typical Christmas Eve when I was younger, so here it goes.

"Oh, look at that house!" My mom exclaimed as we turned down another street in our Christmas light looking adventure. The house looked like the Griswolds lived there with the amount of lights and decorations placed on the home.

"Wow," my younger brothers, Taylor and Skylar, said together, less excited than they were an hour ago when the trip started. It was starting to get later, and it was obvious all five of us kids were getting tired.

Everyone was dressed in their brand new pajamas that we opened before heading out on our light search. This year, I was adorned in Utah Utes pajama pants that had red and black plaid stripes and a black Under Armour shirt. It was always some type of pajama pants and a shirt, and we opened new ones every year.

We headed home in almost complete silence except for the soft Christmas music playing on the radio. Some of us drifted in and out of sleep, not fully falling asleep because of anticipation for the next morning.

We arrived home, and everyone gathered around our family room to read the Christmas story, say a family prayer and then get ready and go to bed.

My dad was the only one who ever pulled out his Bible to read the story, probably because none of the kids knew where the story was found at this point. I know I didn't. Every year, he would read in Luke chapter 2:

"1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

"Wise men still seek Him." Picture from lds.org.

By this point, everyone seemed to have heavy eyelids. It was time to get ready for bed. We all scattered to brush our teeth and gather blankets and pillows to create a makeshift bed, because all the kids slept in the same room.

"Ok, guys, here is our schedule," my oldest sister, Aimee, said. "We're going to wake up at 5:30. We're going to brush our teeth and clean up our beds. We will wake mom and dad up at 6."

Everyone agreed on the schedule. The schedule was an annual thing. It was generally the same every year. As we got older, we tried pushing the times back, but Taylor and Skylar didn't like that idea because they were still excited to get up as early as allowed to see what they would get.

We all climbed into our makeshift beds and fell asleep. Some faster than others as excitement kept us awake. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day.

Paris France Mission: 6 Years Later

I woke up for the third time of the flight. I was still holding Jesus the Christ in my hands. It was about the only thing that worked for me to get to sleep. I hadn’t slept long when I did fall asleep, but I did get a little bit of rest.

The stewardess was making her way down the aisle bringing breakfast/lunch. I looked at my watch, I probably had slept a grand total of three hours on the flight so far. It was only about 4 a.m. Utah time, but that meant it was noon in France. We still had about three more hours of flight.

I continued to read the New Testament and Jesus the Christ back and forth to try to get back to sleep but nothing worked. The three hours of flight time went quick and we finally seemed to be descending. I looked out the window and couldn’t see anything. It was too cloudy. Maybe we weren’t descending as much as I thought.

The plane dipped underneath a cloud. CRASH! The plane’s tiny wheels connected with the ground. Apparently, it wasn’t cloud cover. It was fog. There was a mist that seemed to guard the view of Paris as we descended. The plane bounced up and down as it came to a stop. Everyone that was asleep was now probably having their heart pounding out of their chest because I saw how it happened and mine was about doing the same thing.

We grabbed our carry-on bags and headed towards the front of the plane. I made sure I was in the back to count heads once again. Twenty-one people. We were all still together. We made our way to the baggage claim. As we walked towards it, a man, his wife, and another missionary holding a box stopped us.

“Elder Abel?” The man called out. He had thin, white hair on his head, wore thinly rimmed glasses and spoke with a soft tone.

“Yeah,” I responded when I made my way to the back. All the eyes followed me as the group stopped and I made my way to the front.

“I’m President Staheli. Good job, you made it with all twenty-one missionaries. We’ll take over from here,” President Staheli said.

We got our checked bags and headed towards the vehicles. Because there were so many of us, we weren’t going to be driving to the mission home. The missionary holding the box was apparently Elder Morgan. Two more missionaries, Elder Helvey and Elder Schwind, replaced President and Sister Staheli as they drove off in the van towards the mission home with all our luggage that we threw in the back.

“Alright, let’s head to the metros,” Elder Schwind said. He was shorter than the other and had red hair.

We headed underground and waited the minute for a metro to arrive. We jumped on and all of us were whisked away. Elder Morgan distributed the box to each of us. It was a proselyting Book of Mormon in French. Le Livre de Mormon. We were supposed to try to give it to someone.

‘I haven’t even learned French,’ I thought as we headed through the underground passages. ‘I doubt I’ll understand what they are saying.’

“Bonjour,” I said to the closest French person to me. It was an older woman and she gave me a look like I had just insulted her. I knew I had butchered it. I gave up trying to talk to someone by myself after that.

Elder Hayden was basically teaching one man about the entire Gospel. They were deep in conversation. Elder Hayden had successfully received the man’s phone number. The man went to get off and Elder Hayden offered him the Book of Mormon. The guy declined, but Elder Hayden insisted. Then he reached out and took it just before he jumped off the metro.

“Good job, Elder Hayden!” I said. I was closest to him during the whole conversation. “What did he say?”

“He was a good guy,” Elder Hayden responded. “I hope I get to serve in Paris so I can teach him.”

“That would be awesome,” I said as all of us got off the metro and onto another bigger metro, called an RER, heading to Versailles.

The people on the RER were quiet. Their faces seemed to light up when we walked in with our group of 25 missionaries. My it was just because they knew these were the people that were going to talk to them.

“...Georgia? How was that?” I heard Elder Pieper say. He was talking to Elder Morgan.

“It was good. It was nice having the opportunity to speak and teach in English for a little while,” Elder Morgan responded, he had a deep voice that didn’t necessarily fit his look. He was just taller than me and wasn’t any bigger than me either.

“Wait, what are you guys talking about?” I butted into their conversation.

“Elder Morgan served a transfer in Georgia before coming here today because he fast-tracked the MTC,” Elder Pieper explained. Fast-tracking was our way of saying someone knew the language well enough they only needed to spend three weeks in the MTC before being shipped out.

“Oh, that’s why you were here, I thought you were one of the office missionaries or something,” I said.

“No,” Elder Morgan said with a laugh. “Yeah right, not me.”

The RER came to our stop and the gigantic group of us jumped off and headed back up into the brisk December air. The humidity was obvious from the moment we stepped outside. It wouldn’t have been as cold if it wasn’t humid outside. By the time we got off the RER, it was beginning to get dark outside.

We trekked through mud and cobblestone until we finally reached the mission home. It was a beautiful home in the suburbs of Versailles. We went inside and Sister Staheli was finishing up dinner.

We washed up and sat down at a giant table as instructed by President Staheli. Dinner was served. Whether it was because I was so hungry or it was just that good, I don’t know, but it was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.

The conversation started with small talk and somehow found its way to the Utah/BYU game which took place nearly a month ago. Being at the MTC in Provo we had heard a lot of things about it and how BYU got screwed in the game. My family is die-hard for Utah, so I was told from my dad that everyone had been whining, but it was a fair call. The game ended with a blocked field goal by Utah’s Brandon Burton which gave Utah the 17-16 victory.

“I just watched it, actually,” President Staheli said. “Yeah, I don’t have the same rules as you. I am sent all the BYU games from BYU. It was a great game that was unfortunately decided by the referees.”

“Really?” I asked, surprising myself since I hadn’t said much the whole meal. “Because I heard it was the right call.”

“It wasn’t. I just watched it,” President Staheli responded.

“My family watched it and said it was right,” I said. I wasn’t trying to start an argument, especially since I hadn’t seen it, but I was just telling what I was told.

That was the end of that conversation and the conversations continued in a more neutral tone.

In the mission home, there were only a limited number of beds and out group was too big, so a group of us had to go to a hotel. It was alphabetical, so I was obviously chosen.

Elder Haas, one of the office elders, drove us to our hotel through Paris. He drove like a mad man and I thought I was going to die as he sped through traffic yelling at people. The van we were in whipped around corners and on tightest roads I had ever seen.

We made it there safely, and went straight to bed. I was so tired.

The next morning started early as we met Elder Haas outside the hotel at 6 am. It was still pitch black outside. I definitely didn't get enough sleep. We were swept off again to the mission home and the rest of the missionaries were already eating breakfast.

We sat down and had cereal, fruit, and yogurt. Then President Staheli appeared with his assistants Elder Schwind and Elder Helvey.

"Well, it's time to announce where you're all going to start your mission," President Staheli said.

He started listing people off and where they were heading. Apparently this wasn't alphabetical though because I wasn't first.

None of the places sounded familiar. They also received the name of their trainers. Some of the names were strange also. The strangest being an Elder Rakotondrainibe who was going to be Elder Hayden's trainer. He wasn't serving in Paris though, which was disappointing to me.

"Elder Abel, you will be serving in one of my favorite little cities,” President Staheli prefaced his telling me. “It’s a small town called Alençon. It’s in Normandy…”

‘Normandy,’ I thought upon hearing the word. ‘That’s the only place I have recognized.’

“...Your trainer will be Elder McQuay, who is a really hard working missionary. He is from Oregon. You two will do great things in Alençon,” President Staheli finished telling me.

“Alright,” President Staheli said after finishing telling everyone where they were headed and with who. “Now, we are going to go to Consecration Hill. Make sure you bring a notebook and something to write with.”

We trekked back out into the cool air and towards the RER’s. There seemed to be a mist in the air. It wasn’t raining, it was cloudy and gray, but not raining. The gray seemed to make everything look dimmer and uglier. It was such a beautiful place last night.

We got back on the RER and headed to some stop that I couldn’t pronounce, but was the last stop on the metro. We got off and walked a little ways to get to what was apparently Consecration Hill. We arrived and President Staheli was waiting for us.

“Here we are Elders and Sisters,” President Staheli started. “This is Consecration Hill. Usually you can see the Eiffel Tower from here, but its too foggy today. I want you all to find a quiet place and think about why you are here. I want you to write down your thoughts and how you feel about being here in France about to start your missions.”

I walked away from everyone a little bit and sat down on the fence that bordered the edge of the hill.

‘Why am I here?’ I repeated over and over again in my mind as if the answer was impossible to describe.

I’m here because I love my family. I began to write. From here the words seemed to come easier. My family means so much to me. The fact that we can live together forever is why I am here. I want to share that message with everyone I meet, because that is the greatest gift that God has given each one of us.

Tears started to form in my eyes thinking about my family. I knew that they knew I was in the right place though.

I’m so happy to be here in France today. I may not speak the language well, and I may not be able to understand anything anyone says, but I can’t wait until I can. I know that God has prepared some of these people specifically for me to come and find and teach them.

After some time, we started heading back down into the metros. To get to the RER though, we had to travel through what looked like a group of random kiosks. I took up the rear as I naturally did when in big groups to make sure nobody was left behind.

As the group passed one kiosk of flowers, Elder Hayden jumped into line. I didn’t want him to be left behind, so I turned and waited for him.

“Elder Hayden, what are you doing?” I asked in a hurried tone. “Everyone is going to leave us!”

“I want to buy flowers for my trainer,” He replied simply. I turned back towards the increasingly distant group. Elder Pieper must have seen me stop because he was about 20 yards from me looking at me.

Elder Hayden bought the flowers and the three of us ran down towards the RER.

“They’re gone.” I said in disbelief.

“It’s okay, we’ll just catch the next one,” Elder Hayden said, who was from Europe, so was more accustomed to these things.

We sat down on a train that had all the doors open and wasn’t moving. We sat for a few minutes without any movement. Another RER appeared going the opposite direction.

“Let’s jump on that one,” Elder Hayden suggested. We got on it and it whisked us away.

‘What if this is the wrong direction,’ I thought as the other train we had just vacated took off in the opposite direction. Then I realized it was the end of the line, so there was only one direction.

At the very next stop, Elder Schwind was waiting on the bench smiling.

“What happened?” Elder Schwind asked politely after we got off the RER.

“I wanted to buy my trainer a flower,” Elder Hayden responded.

We walked back to the mission home and received a sack lunch from Sister Staheli. We then loaded our bags into a vehicle and headed right back to the RER to go into Paris to meet our trainers.

Christmas Movies

Hey, Jordan here. 

I am a sucker for movies. I love being captivated by a new world, a new idea or a great story. Movies are a way that each of us can travel the world both real and fake. They take us on adventures and make us feel part of the action while watching Bond-like films. 

Christmas movies have all kinds of stories, both awful and fantastic. There are so many classic Christmas and/or Holiday movies that people love. Then, each year, we seem to get a few more that don't seem to have an edge on any of the classics.

My all-time favorite Christmas movie is Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Not the animated film, although that could be considered a classic also, but the Jim Carrey version.

Jim Carrey as the Grinch. Picture from fanpop.com.

I love the whole movie. From the beginning with Anthony Hopkins narration ("Inside of a snowflake, like the one on your sleeve..."), to some of the last lines ("Who wants the gizzard?" ... "I do!" ... "Too late! That'll be mine."). My family is obsessed with this movie. We quote it all the time. I'm pretty sure my sister, Cherise, watches it throughout the year (she blames her son, but we all know the truth). My nieces and nephews also will watch it year-round. It has amazing acting, a great concept and very quotable lines. I haven't watched it yet this year, but I am looking forward to it when I do.

My next favorite Christmas film is The Santa Clause. Tim Allen is one of the best actors ever. He's had some awful movie choices, but overall he is a great actor. If you don't believe me, you clearly never watched Home Improvement or Last Man Standing on TV. 

Tim Allen in The Santa Clause. Picture from top10films.co.uk.

This movie is just incredibly magic. It shows how the role of Santa Claus gets passed from one person to another. It's hilarious because Tim Allen is funny as an ornery business man, that is transformed into the lovable Santa Claus. It's just a classic Christmas film. If you haven't seen it, you need to.

My third favorite Christmas film is hard to choose. I could watch those first two over and over again all Christmas season without being bored. I don't know if I'll actually pick one, just mention a few here. 

While I was younger, I loved Miracle on 34th Street. It's a very magical movie also. I think Christmas Vacation could be placed here also, but I've only seen it a couple of times. Home Alone is great, but I don't really see that as a Christmas film. I also like Elf because I love Will Ferrel, but I don't rank it very high usually. Everyone loves A Christmas Story, but it's not really one of my favorites. It's ok, but not great.

What are your favorite Christmas/Holiday movies?

Week Fourteen - Championship Week

Rivalry weekend was without too much drama. Kaylee and I both picked identical picks last week, so we both ended up 5-1. That will put Kaylee at 48-30, and I am at 58-20 overall. This week is championship weekend for a lot of conferences, which leads to a lot of intriguing match ups. Some of them will be playing for a spot in the playoffs.

No. 8 Colorado vs. No. 4 Washington (at Levi Stadium)

Jordan's Pick: Washington Kaylee's Pick: Washington

The Pac-12 Championship features a match up that wasn't featured in the regular season. Washington needs to win to secure a spot in the Playoff, but Colorado is looking to spoil it, while also likely to lane the Rose Bowl either way. Two incredible coaches are going head-to-head here also. These two teams are incredibly similar as they rely on great defense and a solid offense. I think Washington has too much to play for to lose. They will win because they are the better version of essentially the same team.

No. 10 Oklahoma State at No. 9 Oklahoma

Jordan's Pick:  Oklahoma State Kaylee's Pick: Oklahoma

The Big 12 (Quasi) Championship. The Big 12 doesn't play a championship game, but this incredibly conveniently placed game looks like it is. Oklahoma looks like the winner when comparing stats. These two teams and everyone watching better be ready for an onslaught of points. The winner will probably make one more stop than the other. I'm going to go with Oklahoma State though. I don't really know why, but I really like Mason Rudolph's game. Nothing against Baker Mayfield though, he's an excellent athlete also.

No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 15 Florida (at Georgia Dome)

Jordan's Pick: Alabama Kaylee's Pick: Alabama

Alabama may not lose this year. Florida is an awful team that has coasted into the SEC Championship thanks to an easy schedule. Alabama's defense is great against great offenses, but Florida is boasting a poor offense. This shouldn't even be close unless Alabama can't get the offense going. Alabama rolls again.

No. 3 Clemson vs. No. 23 Virginia Tech (at Camping World Stadium)

Jordan's Pick: Clemson Kaylee's Pick: Clemson

The ACC Championship is a story of which teams will show up. Clemson has shown flashes of being a great team, but there have been other moments where they look awful. Virginia Tech has had a strange year. The Hokies have beaten teams I expected to destroy them, but lost to teams they should have dominated. They've also had a really easy schedule. I'm going with Clemson to get into the Playoff.

No. 6 Wisconsin vs. No. 7 Penn State (at Lucas Oil Stadium)

Jordan's Pick: Wisconsin Kaylee's Pick: Penn State

The Big Ten Championship is by far the most intriguing match up of the week. Wisconsin only lost to the two teams who should be playing in this game (and played last week) in Michigan and Ohio State. Penn State is the only team to have beaten Ohio State, but fell early in the year to Pitt and Michigan, This is an incredibly difficult game to pick, because Penn State's offense is better, but Wisconsin's defense is better. I think I'm going to have to pick the better defense though. I think Wisconsin will be able to score well enough while protecting its own end zone also.

Temple at No. 19 Navy

Jordan's Pick: Temple Kaylee's Pick: Navy

This doesn't sound interesting, but Temple has one of the better defenses, especially run defense, in the nation. The Midshipmen are and always have been very run oriented, but teams still can't stop them. Navy is going to have to step up defensively if it wants to keep up. I'd be surprised if Navy can figure out an offense that can score on this Temple defense.