The Spirit of Christmas

This story is mostly about Joshua, but also about having a great "Christmas Spirit" kind of a day.
.
Here's what you all need to know about Josh.  He is much like his brother Tyler -  Fearless.

Total Tangent Here:   (Side note, I was having lunch with some ladies from the Ward we lived in eight years ago.  One of Tyler's teachers from when he was eight asked me if Tyler was still the same kind of kid.  Just happy and, well, fearless.  I, of course, answered in the affimative.  She said she remembers that he would always ask to teach his Sunday School class.  Too funny!  That is EXACTLY Josh.  Josh even went so far one week as to go to the library for supplies.  At least a have a practice run raising Tyler first....  But I digress.....)

When you give Josh a direction, he may or may not take it.  I mean, he'll listen respectfully most times, but if he disagrees - well, he'll just do what he feels is best. 

Case in point.  I had discused with the old Primary Presidency moving Joshua into the Primay class just older than him.  It has children that are also in his class at school but most importantly, it has boys in it.  His current class had only girls, and poor Johua didn't stand a chance with his teachers (new parents). He was in trouble every week.  Josh said he was fine in his class, but he was mysteriously ill nearly every Sunday.

Derek and I left the situation alone, but I addressed it with the new Presidency members when I was called in.  We decided that we would move him, but didn't absolutely conclude on the best time for it.  I wanted to discuss the situation with his teachers and the teacher of the class we were moving him to.  I then made the error of mentioning to Josh that we were thinking of moving him at some point.

Fast forward to two weeks ago.  Josh, armed with this new information went to his "old" class, informed his teachers that he was no longer part of their class and went into the "new" class, and told the teacher that he would be attending his. AND THIS WAS AFTER I TOLD HIM THAT HE MAY OR MAY NOT BE MOVED THAT DAY!

So how did I feel?  AWKWARD!!!!  Especially since I'd discussed with the Presidency waiting until January (barely over a month) to do it.  Needless to say, Josh and I had a little chat about that, also about listening in general.    Since then, Josh and I have made a real effort to communicate and he has really stepped up and been a better listener.

There's the back story.

Today was the kids last day of school before Christmas Break. 

I missed Josh's fieldtrip this week, so I told Josh that I would TRY (try being the operative word here) to get to his class party today.  He asked at the time, if I came to class would I bring popcorn from our machine?  I said, yes if I come I'll see if I can get you some popcorn.

So this morning rolls around.  It's been a hectic week, school plays, trying to get teachers' gifts done and some Christmas shopping in.  We are getting ready for school and Josh says, "hey mom, you're coming to my party today, right?" Of course, after my week and being up late and in the middle of the night again I say to Josh, "no, I don't think I can.  I told you I'd TRY to come."

A BIG look of alarm was on his face.  "Oh..... mom, I'm sorry I told my teacher that you were helping with the party and bringing popcorn.  I guess I just didn't really understand..."   No whining, crying, fussing or arguing.  I made the decision right then that I was going to his class party and dang it if he wasn't going to have popcorn (specifically popcorn maker popcorn) for his party.

I call Derek and ask for a quick tutorial on where I could find supplies for  our machine somewhere in Coolidge.  He informed me that it didn't seem to be working very well so he didn't want me to use it without him being home.  There is a little place in town, one of the convenience stores that used to sell popcorn so Derek called them for me.  They referred him to our Ace Hardware here in town. 

Derek called Ace Hardware and they said they had a machine.  When he asked how much they would charge for bags of popcorn they said nothing, they would just do it.  So I went to Ace where they'd popped a machine full of popcorn for me to bag and take to my son's Christmas Party.  A really sweet lady named Stella even packaged the popcorn up in easy to carry boxes.  How awesome is that!?  This little town can be so COOL!!

I really feel the Spirit of Christmas this year!  I am a little behind in all of my projects, but I feel so blessed.  I really feel the Love of Christ in my life.  I've been listening to awesome Christmas music and I'm LOVING the Holidays! 

It was a big bonus today to have my own little Christmas Miracle  AND be able to go up to the school and bring Josh his popcorn.  He was SO happy!  What a great day.  Merry Christmas everyone!  Only a week to go. 

PS.  I feel the need to share.  You all have probably heard of the web radio station Pandora.   You can register for free and listen to just about anything. Well, yesterday I discovered that I could do a radio station with the search Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Holiday).  It streamed FABULOUS music into my kitchen all day.  I just kept my laptop away from the cookie batter.  (Or as Tyler called it, "ookie" batter.  He didn't like my cookies, story for another day.  The jury is still out on those mint whoopie pies....)  I hope that someone out there can use that tip!