Joyeux Noël

Here it is, another Christmas!

What a weird time of my life, where I don't even know what my life will look like in two or three weeks. How can I be in my mid-thirties and still never have had a permanent job?! Literally every job I have ever had has been temporary, unless you count jobs in 2007 and 2011 where I only planned on having them a few months to make money for mission and college. I had a job interview this week on Zoom; it was OK. Last week I also had a job interview; the hiring manager reached out to me this week to tell me she hadn't made a decision yet, but she called me Mike. I had lunch with my supervisor, and he encouraged me to apply to two open positions in the Church History Department, so I did. And I also applied to another job. And Wednesday I had to do some more last-minute copyediting for Wayfare.

As I mentioned last week, my brother's family is in town. On Wednesday they wanted to make sugar cookies, but then they lost interest before it became time to actually decorate them. 

Can you tell that the holiday cookie cutters were all mixed together?

On Thursday, I took my sister-in-law and her sister to see the lights at Temple Square, but of course the lights are limited because of construction. Since I work downtown, I tend to take it all for granted. My SIL's sister has never experienced an American Christmas before. I also drove them around Bountiful, and we passed a house ("Candy Cane Corner") where Santa and Mrs. Claus were sitting out front, so she wanted to stop to see Santa.

Me with Second Sister at the Assembly Hall. That's literally what they call her, even in Chinese.

On Friday, my brother joined the rest of his family here in Utah, and I took the niblings sledding. Second Sister enjoyed sledding for the first time.

And of course Saturday was Christmas Eve. I love to spend holidays playing their respective playlists while I make seasonal foods. I made gingerbread pancakes, pomegranate guacamole, cherry salsa (to use the leftover cilantro—it has nothing to do with Christmas, though it is red), and apple crisp with chocolate peppermint topping.

I smashed twelve candy canes for this topping

I also took my cousin's kids sledding.

And then Christmas came! Most of my gifts followed a theme of rainbow or cats or both. Even the wrapping paper.

My brother created this AI-generated picture for me. In 2017, my nephew Franklin coined my nickname, Holiday John.

I also got some bear spray and safety wristbands. But I usually stick to well-traveled trails that feel pretty safe.

I attended the family ward for Christmas services. Earlier this year, my youth Sunday School class created a group text, and today I got a text that said "Guys he's not wearing a festive suit"—I'm assuming the "he" is referring to me because of my Fourth of July suit. I was kind of surprised they would notice and send a group chat! I might have to invest in a Christmas suit. But I probably won't be in the family ward again for a while, since next year it overlaps with the single-adult ward. I opted not to go the SA ward today so I can have more time with family.

I have opinions about Christmas hymns. The ward choir sang "The First Noel" with some of the words set to Pachelbel's cannon, but the traditional tune is literally the only good thing about that song. The lyrics are trash. And why is "Silent Night" always the closing hymn? Those lyrics aren't great either!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the rest of my Sunday/Christmas with family.

Happy Holidays!