The Firetower

Sunday, December 7
We get to church late and then spend an hour and a half trying to keep our kids quiet. James was amazing, but we were still handling two others. It didn't help that sacrament meeting - our first hour of church- went over by 20 minutes. Then Katherine went to class. Every LDS church in the United States used folding chairs, the same folding chairs. The adult chairs are a metal brown and the children's chairs are metal with a faux wood seat. We fold up the chairs after church. Katherine's teacher was teaching how to work together as a group. The teacher tried picking up the chair with one hand by the leg and couldn't and asked the class how she could pick up the chair with one hand. The answer was that everyone helps and they can together. Katherine said, "I'll show you how." She proceeded to fold the chair up and pick it up with one hand.
Then during the children's group meeting, she was asked what gift she could give to Jesus. She paused, thought for a minute, and said, "Well, I already do everything my mom asks me to, so I think I'll give him a kitten."

We get home from church and I have a message from the Festival of Trees that I have "won" something... I like how they tell you you won although you have to pay for whatever you bid on. Kevin and I have gone to the Festival every year for five years. If we bid on Saturday, we never win. People come on Sunday and always outbid. That is how it has worked for FIVE years. Some background info:

I wanted to give Katherine an American doll for Christmas this year. I have planned on it for a while and so I had the money for it. I know she is young for it but this isn't about her. It is about me wanting her to have it. Kevin was less than thrilled with the idea, but I had planned it and I bought it.

Every year at the Festival, a woman buys an American doll and then sews and knits five or six outfits for it. She quilts a baby blanket and a pillow. She puts it in a sleigh and it is gorgeous. This doll goes for $250-300 every year. It has never gone for under $250 for FIVE YEARS. I decided to bid on it. I thought how much it was all worth and I bid $150, knowing I would never get it because it has NEVER gone for under $250 in FIVE YEARS. I won. So now we have two dolls when Kevin wanted zero. I would have been in trouble except for what Kevin had done.

Kevin likes to bid on trees that have only one bid on them or trees our friends have made. He has done this every year and the only way we have ever gotten a tree is going back on Sunday right before the end of bidding. So Kevin bid on two Twilight trees as a joke, a flamingo tree because James liked it and then on a tree that had a model of the firetower built over it.

The firetower is a town landmark that was built after Helena burned down. They built this bell tower on a hill and people would watch for fires and ring the bell. I'm not sure why someone would build a miniature firetower over a tree and then they put a plastic train track and train around the whole thing. There is a lot of styrofoam and the tree is three feet tall and four feet wide and fits nowhere. Kevin won it. I apologize for anyone who made it but it is one of the ugliest trees ever. It isn't pretty or cute with little ornaments. It is really just a big wooden tower that takes up my whole kitchen table. I want to take the train off of it but then it would just be a tree under a firetower. He didn't bid much for it but he bid way more than it is worth. He should not have been shocked he won.

So I may have bid more on the doll, but it is a doll with clothes and shoes and a brush and ribbons and a necklace. It is usable. It is fun. Our daughter will love it. Kevin bought a model of a bell tower to warn us when there is a fire. Until we decide what to do with it, we cannot eat dinner at our table.

That was Sunday. How am I supposed to face Monday when that was our Sunday?