Life in a Northern Town: FAMILY LETTER 12.03.17

Dear Loved Ones,

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was so fun, we had to take last week off writing our family letter (I was driving back from Great Falls during letter-writing time ;). This weekend was so full, even now I can barely keep my eyes open, but I don’t want to get too far behind on our letters. I always seem to fade away in December because I’m too busy to sit down—but not this year!

So last time we wrote we have just had Adeline’s 16^th bday bash. We celebrated a little at home on her actual birthday (Tuesday 11/21) and then her friends kidnapped her after dinner and had a movie night at Clara’s house. It was lucky that her birthday was the last day of school before TG break. Wednesday all the kids worked together really hard and got the house ready for guests while I made the Thanksgiving turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. Dad Post arrived around 3pm and had dinner with us. Early Thursday morning we got up and started preparing to host dinner for 20. The Hamlins arrived at 10:30am, and Lehmans a short time later. Mom and Dad Melin arrived around noon. The kids played, the dudes watched football, and my sisters and I bustled around the kitchen getting everything ready. We ate dinner around 1:30 and had it cleaned up by three. We played some games and talked for a while and took Lehmans downtown to take photos of Lily (Gabe’s daughter, Laura’s granddaughter) in her Christmas Dress. Lehmans headed back to Helena, and the rest of us dug into pie and board games for several hours. We had so. much.fun getting to know our Hamlin cousins. You’d think the kids had all grown up together—no delay in everybody becoming buddies. My heart was bursting with gratitude for good food, cozy home, and loving family.

Friday we took Sara and Rob out to see the ranch, then they had to head home to work Saturday, but their kids stayed til Sunday. Friday afternoon we went to see “Coco.” I could go on and on about that movie, I love it SOOOO much. Just as much as Moana, and for the same reasons: they nailed the culture (there’s a chancla beat down!) and family ties/Grandma/ancestors live on and watch over their descendants. I really felt like some hearts at Disney are’ turning to the fathers’. Good stuff. The kids wanted to listen to mariachi music and eat burritos when we got home, so we obliged. Then the 3 little boys went to bed and the 6 bigs played games . There was a ton of laughter—I loved it!

Saturday we did some chores, then went out to Chico to take an early swim in the hot springs, then Rich bought us all pizza for lunch. We went home and Scott and Brooke Mayberry (my first cousin & his wife) came to stay overnight on their way home from Rexburg to Minot. Of course the kids were over the moon because Scott and Brooke are so fun. We played games and had fun together and took family Christmas pictures. Later the big kids had friends over to watch the British movie “Nativity.” It’s so cute.

Sunday we scrounged up clothes for the cousins and went to sacrament meeting, then grabbed some lunch and left for Great Falls at 12:30. I drove 195 miles to Sara’s house and dropped off the kids, bought some mint lemonade at Café Rio, and drove 195 miles back home (with my 3 big kids). We got home at 7:30 and I was exhausted---what a weekend!

On Monday 11/27, everybody got back to the grind and I went for a meeting with Ammon’s teacher and got him all ready to start preschool on Wednesday 11/29. The school called and had me come pick up Heidi because one of her friends took her own life Monday morning and the middle school kids were reeling. Heidi was really shaken and we had a very hard week. It has been a growing experience to grieve with her this week. We love her so much and pray things will level off for her soon. Middle School has been tough. But she is pretty amazing.

Tuesday I kept Heidi home and did laundry and fluffed and lit Christmas trees (the kids each have little trees in their rooms which they decorate with the ornaments they receive each year from Nana and us). Heidi read and did homework and rested, Ammon ‘helped me’( he loves laundry). That night Addie babysat and had gumbo with the kids while Rich and I went to the Big Sky Insurance office party. It was really fun. I scored the coolest woolen Tomten and Rich scored and giant mug of Lindor chocolates. The Bozeman office ladies planned cool games and the food was good. I love the good people Rich works with!

Wednesday was Ammon’s first day of preschool! They have a new schedule that runs from 8:30- 3:30 and includes breakfast and lunch. It seems a little bit long for him, so sometimes I pick him up at 1 or 2. I was going to pick him up before lunch a couple of days (he goes M-TH) but he wants to eat lunch with his friends, so I guess that is great. He really likes it! That day I came home and cleaned house and started doing Christmas cards. That night the kids had YW and Scouts and the boys and I were asleep before they came home!

Thursday I sent the kids off to school and hunkered down to collect and edit all the photos for our ward’s annual slideshow. I built a fire and edited and organized all day. Once the kids came home and we made dinner and did homework and stuff, I lost my mojo. I took Heidi to a Grief support group at the library and came home and watched the Grinch with the boys instead of getting back to my editing. Heidi’s friends brought her home from the library and we got the kids to bed. Later that evening we learned that Heidi was in need of some professional attention for her grief and depression, so I took her to the hospital for a psych. evaluation. The psych professionals were unavailable, so we came home and they had us come in on Friday.

Friday morning was spent doing a 4-hour evaluation and in-take process for Heidi to get some support and treatment with a private counselor. We have high hopes that therapy, nutrition, spiritual nourishment, and sleep are going to be the healing combination for her. We love her so much and can’t wait to see her blossom and help others with the experiences she is having now. After the in-take, Heidi was genuinely excited to get back to school and be with her friends before D’s funeral at 4:30pm. Right after taking her to school, I had to run and get Ammon from the babysitter (he doesn’t have school on Fridays)and take Rich to Belgrade to pick up his new 1965 VW beetle. He is in love ;) I had to hurry home and get the kids ready for lots of things—Niles to a birthday party at 4:30; Heidi to a funeral at 4:30 followed by a Christmas concert at 5:30; Addie ready for her concert at 6:15; and all of ready for an evening at The Downtown Christmas Stroll! Somehow, we pulled it off. After the funeral and concerts, our family went to Pickle Barrel for soup, then the boys went on a hay ride, then we walked through a couple of stores and came home as it started getting super cold.

Saturday was a regular wintry day of chores and hanging out and baking. We made 8 dozen cookies and 3 dozen tamales to enjoy during the Christmas Devotional broadcast on Sunday night. We cleaned the house and finished putting up our Christmas decorations. It’s fun to see the kids get out their sentimental favorites and talk about their Christmas memories—I LOVE IT! Saturday night Addie had a double date with Mikayla Denniston and Lincoln Jeffery and Matty Johnson. They ate some Mexican food at Fiesta en Jalisco, then walked around the corner to the theater to watch “Coco,” then down the street to Gil’s for hot cocoa afterward. I picked up the girls and they said they had a total blast. In the meantime, Rich got the little boys to bed and Heidi had 2 friends over to hang out. There was a lot of laughter and snack-making, so I think they had a good time. I’m grateful for my sweet girls and their good friends!

Fast Sunday began with choir practice, where 6 of us practiced “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring.” Testimony was lovely and edifying as always. I will always remember it because Heidi snuggled me through the whole meeting (after she hasn’t wanted to come near me for 3 years). I got to help with Primary music and learned lots of signs for the lyrics of “Stars Were Gleaming.” After church I worked on photo editing for a while while the rest of the fam watched Christmas movies or napped. Addie made sugar cookies and I made tortilla soup and steamed the tamales. While we were working, we were treated to some fantastic caroling by the Jeffery family. Emma held up a blue tooth speaker and she and Gloria danced while Lincoln and Oliver lip synched “All I want for Christmas is YOU” by Mariah Carey into candy canes. When they were done, they gave us the candy canes and a pretty holiday tea towel. IT WAS STELLAR. I wish someone would do that EVERY NIGHT. We decide we would carol back after the broadcast. We had invited the Jones family (and a few others) to join us, but everyone was sick. Instead, we delivered fresh soup and cookies to the sickies, and hurried home to snuggle up by the fire and watch the broadcast. And it was LOVELY. Afterward, we ate some treats, then made a big plate of goodies for The Jefferys and caroled (the boring old fashioned way) to them. We were just in time for the little boys to catch a ride down their big wooden stair case on a mattress with Emma! What a fun crazy family—BOTH of us.

So that covers both weeks. It has been a HUGE rollercoaster of joy and sorrow and growth in 2 short weeks! We are so excited for Christmas, for these three weeks of anticipation and Lighting the World we have planned. It’s going to be so great. We hope your holiday is equally joyful, and we hope you will feel the Savior’s love for you during the rough patches, because it’s real. And it’s powerful. And it gives us strength to do things we thought we could never survive, and helps us to say and do things to lift others just when they need it most. That’s why we rejoice this month—like Brother Duncan said in the broadcast: it’s His birthday, but we get all the presents! Savor it all!

Love, Jamie and Rich and Family

11/17: Flashback to Addie blowing out her candles

11/20: Good Fortune

11/21: Pretty Candle from my visiting teachers

11/21: Addie's ACTUAL Birthday with cream puffs

11/21 at 5:49pm=Addie's 16th BirthMINUTE

11/22: Bubble heads

11/23: THANKSGIVING MORNING with my BABY SIS SARA!

Heidi and Aunt Sara

Heidi's cool TG graffiti

Me n my Lynnerz

Addie made this Charlie Brown homage...love it.

Cousins digging in
Ammon, Kaylee, Cooper, and Niles

The Feasters

Brady, Ammon, Kaylee, Cooper, and Niles

Heidi being swanky

Niles in his handmade native get-up

L to R around the table:
Dad Post, Sara, Heidi Brady, Ammon, Kaylee, Cooper ,Niles, Laura, Gabe, Jared, Darrin, Raef, Adeline, Grandma Melin, James, Uncle Rob, (Rich, Grandpa Melin and me not pictured)