Skip to main content

A suggestion of guilt in action!

Image
By
  This Christmas shopping season was a pretty typical one.  After having made a LOT of money this past semester (yea!!!!)  I was able to purchase everybody some fun gifts.  However, when I asked my mom what she wanted, she didn't suggest a thing, she suggested things we could DO...cleaning the baseboards and cleaning the chandelier.  Cue suggestion of guilt....:-)
  I was able to find a nice gift for her that I thought she would enjoy, but the entire Christmas season I knew that I really couldn't just get her a gift. Instead, I had to do one of these service-oriented things that would make her really happy for Christmas.  Hannah, Glo, and I hatched a plan to make some of those Christmas projects get finished.
  We knew that it wouldn't really be a Christmas present unless she found it Christmas morning.  On Christmas morning, we got up at 5:15 AM and went downstairs to clean.  Doing everything we could to avoid looking at the Christmas gifts under and around the tree, Hannah and Glo started to work on the baseboards while I unhooked all of the crystals from the main body of the chandelier.  I never thought that it would take so long!  We ended up finishing at around eight, and most of it was spent with the chandelier.  We had to take off all the baubles and lines of crystal, wash them in a bowl of soap and water, rinse them and dry them, and then try to remember how they were originally connected to the chandelier.  Things got interesting when we figured out that when the chandelier was put up the first time, some of the chains of crystal were put together incorrectly.  It got even MORE interesting when some of the hooks were lost in the water!  Thanks to Glo and  her metalworking knowledge from Interlochen, she knew the best way to take paper clips and turn them into hooks that would work.
  Finally, we finished, and it was amazing to see the difference.  Plus, it was definitely my favorite gift to give this Christmas.  Thank you, suggestions of guilt!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Quest for Birkenstocks

By
One of the main reasons I go to Germany every couple of years is to restock my supply of Birkenstocks.  I started buying them when I lived there, and I basically can't live without them now.  It just about kills me when a pair runs its course and needs to be thrown away.  I think in my lifetime, I've thrown away only three pairs.  One that never was quite right (the straps were plastic and would cut into my skin after a long day), one pair that I wore gardening one too many times (the brown dirt stains wouldn't come out of the white leather), and the pair that I was wearing when I broke my ankle (they were an unfortunate casualty of broken ankle PTSD because those purple and blue paisleys go down as one of my favorite pairs of all time).  I only threw out the garden ones a couple of days before I left for Germany, because I knew I would be getting a new pair. The only store where I have ever bought my Birkenstocks is Hoffmann's in Speicher.  (Well okay, t...
2 comments
Read more

Johannah's Bridal Shower

By
One of the only reasons to lament my daughter not living in Utah anymore? Sister Mecham.  When I think back to the absolutely classic, beautiful, elegant, heart-warming bridal shower she threw for Glo, I literally sit in awe.  Her talents and abilities are unmatched! Believe me, I was hoping anyone  would volunteer to throw Hannah a bridal shower.  Being only two weeks post-op, I knew it was going to be very difficult for me to stand up let alone host the thing.  I even asked several people about me throwing it, thinking they would tell me it wasn't  up to me, but do you know what they ALL said? Of course  I should host it. This is what we do, baby! So I took a deep breath and decided to do it the best I could do it, knowing that I would never equal what Becky Mecham could do. Since Hannah's wedding colors were Tigers colors, and since Hannah loves baseball, I figured a baseball-themed bridal shower would be perfect for her.  And she agreed! But l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Your Life in Two Suitcases

By
I remember when Johannah told us that she wanted to serve a mission.  It was a couple of months after her freshman year had begun.  When she uttered those life-changing words, "I want to serve a mission," my heart sank.  Mark hadn't been home from his mission for very long, and the pain of having a child gone was still pretty fresh.  Let's just say that I wasn't at all encouraging. However, time passed, and when she actually submitted her papers, I was so excited for her.  I was excited for me too.  While I can't pinpoint any specific blessing that came to us when the boys were serving their missions, there is just a special kind of purpose that enters my life.  I can't really do anything without thinking about my missionary, and in some special way, my life is changed.  I write daily letters which, for an introvert, is cathartic.  I study my scriptures a little bit better because I want to be able to offer encouragement.  I'm constant...
2 comments
Read more