For one of our giving days we ventured out to our local stores where the boys left dollar bills with gift tags. They loved playing spy as they left the bills in secret and then covertly hid to watch who the lucky receiver would be. Hyrum left a gift bill on the bench near the pharmacy at Walmart while I was picking up a prescription, and from behind me I heard a young man say, "This is so cool". I looked back to see a teenage boy showing it to his dad. I could tell they had spotted Hyrum spying on them, and I witnessed the grin between the two of them. We didn't make a monetary difference in anyone's holiday shopping, but seeing the boys excitement at the sharing and watching the smiles it brought to others was well worth it.
The giving continued through kind acts of service at home including thoughtful notes that each of us received from Hyrum.
The Eve traditions began with LeRoy in the kitchen making his traditional snacks and a humbling game of foosball as he lost a set of three games to Derek, which is also becoming tradition.
LeRoy ordered a set of owl stockings for some scouts that he works with (who are considered Owls in the scouting program), and I had given him a bad time for giving them away knowing that I like owls but I also adore Michelle's handy work. The owls slowly disappeared, but on Christmas Eve there was suddenly a full set hanging in our entryway. LeRoy didn't say anything; he just hung them and waited for me to notice. I think I walked past them a couple of times, but when I did notice I probably giggled because they were so fitting in my house and having Michelle become part of our holiday decorating for years to come brought a smile to my face.
The boys opened their new jammies and slippers before heading to bed.
Hyrum has been sneaking off with my slippers for most of December, so he was thrilled to get his very own slippers and even more excited that they were sharks. Nathan was so excited to get two sets of pajamas since all of his others hit him mid-calf.
All the gifts were under the tree, and I was heading to bed. At 11:58pm I was brushing my teeth with a text on my phone ready to send at midnight wishing all my phone carrying kids a Merry Christmas. As I was getting ready to hit send Justin came into my bathroom and said, "Derek has cut his finger and needs your help". This is a common occurrence with Derek so I took the Neosporin and band aids and headed to the kitchen to play nurse. When I got to the kitchen, LeRoy was sitting at the table on his computer and Justin was washing a dish in the sink. Justin saw what I was carrying and with a very pale face said, "he's going to need more than that". I understood what he meant when I saw Derek's hand wrapped in paper towels with blood oozing through and dripping into the vegetable sink.
Upon inspection, I could tell it was deep enough that he would need stitches and I was going to be the only help Derek would get. LeRoy was near passing out from his only glimpse at the blood, and Justin was trying to be tough but was a bit queasy as well. So, Christmas morning began at Madison Memorial Hospital.
Everyone there was very kind, and as Derek had his stitches we could tell we were in the midst of a teaching moment. The doctor did the first stitch, explaining each step in detail, and then handed the equipment to who we later found out was a student from BYU-I. The student did the stitches slowly and precisely. The doctor left and while the student cleaned up Derek asked if he had ever done stitches before. The response, "On pig skin". Derek then responded, "Well then, Merry Christmas. My gift to you is your first time stitching human skin." I was impressed with my boy keeping a good sense of humor when he was actually light headed from working all day and forgetting to eat, traveling from Logan only hours before, losing blood, and the throbbing pain.
We made it home around 1:30a.m. to find not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
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