Monday the kids were out of school and I knew that I needed to hurry and finish up some last minute Christmas things. I needed and wanted to take homemade bread around to my neighbors. I had actually started this project on Saturday, but did not get very far because we had to go ring the bell at Wal-Mart. I got up early and started a batch. At this point pretty much all of the kids were up because Ryan had left for work. I began kneading my dough when I began to notice some disturbing things appearing in the dough. A little rock here, a blade of grass there. I kept kneading, and it got worse and worse. I noticed some elastic bands off of Jams braces and that was it...what in the world had gotten into my flour? Oak blamed it on Mo, but my sack of flour had been sitting in the pantry. The garbage can sits just outside of the pantry, and it almost looked like someone had emptied the dustpan into the flour. Luckily it was almost gone. I chucked it, and the dough, and started over. I went out to the garage and got me a new sack of flour. The next batch looked nice and clean, which was reassuring. I mixed it up and got it raising. I started a second batch. I was just beginning to smell the first batch cooking when a loud boom shattered the silence. I peeked into the kitchen to see that the oven door had blown open, and smoke was billowing out of the oven area. Jams was standing in the kitchen looking quite bewildered. "What was that?" she asked. I peeked into the open oven, and a new smell began filling the air. A green chile/Ortega smell. I looked in and at some point, Mo had added a can of green chile's to the oven. I am not sure what his reasoning was, but that can of green chile's had exploded and there was green chile's and ash all over my lovely bread. Needless to say that I was not happy that two batches of bread were ruined right off of the bat. Why Mo? Did I ask for your help? Ummm no.
Somewhere in the midst of all of the bread making, the younger kids started a bath tub party. They all got into their swimming suits, and got in the bath. Mo somehow wanted to get involved in the party, but could not locate his suit and so he brought Jams a pull-up. She did not know what he was doing and so she just put it on him. Well, he got out bawling pretty quick. It must have weighed a ton. Poor Mo. He just wanted to be involved with the party.
When we did start cranking out the bread loaves, the kids always love to deliver it. Chlo dressed up in her tiger suit for the occasion, and Mo insisted on being involved. Jerusha got a little frustrated with him because he kept wanting to stop and take little snow eating breaks. He also got hollering at Oak just because. We always enjoy passing out a homemade gift to the neighbors, but this year we waited so long that there were a lot of people gone already. Too bad for them because they could have had some Ortega bread.
We usually spend Christmas with my parents because they like to watch the kids open their gifts, and there is usually no lack of little kids at the ranch. It is a ton of work to get all of the Christmas gear packed up even though upon Ryan's insistence Christmas is kept quite small. It never really is small, though just because of our numbers. Anyhow, Ryan had to work most of the day on Christmas eve, and I put Jams and Sags to work wrapping gifts. I would put the gifts in a box, so they couldn't see it and they would wrap. I didn't make them wrap their own, but they were great to wrap up everyone elses. I tried to get Jazz and Rooshkie to wrap Jams and Sags' gifts, but they fizzled kind of fast. Anyhow, we drove over the mountain, and my mom was so excited to see us. She and Mindi were busy cooking Christmas eve dinner. My mom had all of these ideas about a Christmas program with the kids. She assigned Jerusha the task of assigning roles and costumes. I jumped in and helped them get the dinner on. My assignments were guacamole and homemade salsa, but I couldn't keep Jazzerz and Deeb out of the guacamole. Jazzerz especially was all about dipping her chips.
When dinner was over, the program began. The first scene was of Jams the donkey, carrying Mary (Rooshkie) and Joseph (Mo). Joseph was leaning oddly on the donkey and looked as though we was going to fall off. Joseph was also red all over because he had been partaking of hot Cheetos. He had a weird sheath on his head that was all skeewampus too. Anyhow, I have never seen a version where Joseph rode the donkey too, and then ditched Mary as soon as they arrived at the stable. I think Joseph was in need of some more flamin' hot Cheetos. The angels were tussling over wings (Jazz and Chlo). Burndon was a cow, and Ryan was a wiseman. Barry claimed that he looked a little too feminine for a wiseman, which is totally not Ryan's style. Anyhow...the baby Jesus (Maddy) was quite upset before the pageant was over, the angels were slapping each other around, and Joseph was just gone. A memorable, yet inaccurate, portrayal of the Savior's birth. I always love to hear the events read though, and my favorite part is still the shepherds. Sags was our only shepherd in the play, but shepherds would have been humble, and prayerful people. Anyone whose existence and prosperity depend upon the weather and elements, realize that there is something bigger out there than them. I am sure that herding sheep was frustrating and demanding work. I also know that they probably spent a lot of time praying over their little sheep, and over the weather. What an incredible thing that the angel informed simple shepherds.
The night before Christmas was kind of eventful. Ryan and I went to bed, and he woke me up around four so that we could bring the gifts in. I got some warm clothes on, and hauled everything from the van, to the porch so that he could set things up in front of the tree. I wasn't really paying attention to what I was hauling, but there were groceries also involved so that I could contribute to their dinner. I informed Ryan that he also needed to stick bows on everything. I had to laugh when I came in...now bows, and all of the groceries were neatly displayed with everything else...(Wahoo! Cream Cheese for Christmas!) Yep, I love that man of mine.
Rooshkie was up and down and round and round all night too. She could not sleep, and finally I woke up to her and Jazzerz playing UNO. It was around 5 or 6 at this point, and so I told them just to get everyone up. The kids loved their Christmas, and we had a great Christmas season. I really think that we had focused most of our energies on serving other people that we knew this year. It totally made all of the difference. They liked their gifts too, and we had a great day.
I had given the kids a bottle of bubble bath so that they could get in Grandma's jetted tub. I stuck Chlo and Mo in. I kind of forgot about the water softner, and the fact that the jets really agitate the bubbles when I poured some in. When I came back to check on them I just about fainted...they were literally buried in bubbles. Mo's face was even covered in them. They were having a bubble fight and flinging them everywhere. I seriously was not sure if any water was even involved at that point. I warned my mom not to go in there, but she had to see, and she got laughing really hard. Their bubble fight had it to where Mo couldn't even see. I will have to remember to go easier on the bubbles next time.
Grandpa H gave Oak a bow and arrow set. He loved them. We went out shooting Moroni's new .22 rifle, (also a gift from Grandpa H) and Oak got really intent on target practicing. We then went down into old town to check out the deer and turkeys. Oak was really on the prowl to shoot one. He kept telling me to watch for a big buck because he might as well shoot it. Yep, the bow and arrow set was a winner for sure.
The next night was kind of a fiasco because Chlo kept getting kicked out of people's beds, and I noticed Jazz ended up underneath one of the beds. Poor Chlo. She finally told me that she just needed her own pillow and then she could sleep just about anywhere. I got up and went and found her one. Nice little Chlo just needed a pillow.
Yesterday was a fiasco. Ryan wanted to get unpacked, clean up, and head down south for some cattle drives. I started some laundry, but I just did not get done in time. He had also brought one of Clance's friends to help out with the round-up and I was kind of embarrassed because things were insane around the house. He was a good looking cowboy from Orderville and he was fifteen. I also noticed right off the bat that the girls were acting really goofy around him. Yep, I think he is in for a long week. Oak informed him right off the bat that Jerusha liked him. It was a little awkward to say the least. Needless to say, that I am still home trying to get things in order and packed. I am looking forward to warmer weather, and the smells from the river.
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