... and a new week dawns ... I drove to Genola, as usual, to meet LaVern for our walk at 7:00 A.M. Isn't her house pretty with it Christmas lights?
I wrapped some gifts that morning, and worked on Christmas cards. Dad ran some errands then came home and decided the snow had melted off sufficiently so that he could mow up the latest batch of leaves. The we worked on putting together the Christmas baskets, to determine what more was needed.
That evening we headed to K's kitchen in Provo, and when we walked in Phil said, "You missed your daughter by ten minutes!"
Becca texted me these pictures, after I messaged her that we were eating at K's Kitchen.
We all laughed about that.
Then we headed over to the BYU Museum of Art to hear Brian Kershisnik talk about his wonderful huge nativity. I love every minute.
Trevor and Nell and their family met us there. They actually own an original Kershisnik, which I think is awesome.
On Tuesday I headed north, where I attended the temple with Arlene. We had lunch afterward, then I did a bit of Christmas shopping to fill the baskets. Dad, meanwhile, was busy doing small chores, like mudding the main floor bathroom in prep for its painting, and the like.
That night we went to dinner at Dad's cousin Kathy's house. I met her when she was doing vintage sales in Coalville, as you may recall. We did some junking together this past summer, and we have somewhat similar tastes. I loved the table settings.
I brought sugar free lemonade pie.
Isn't her tree lovely?
This funny frozen Charlotte is my favorite ornament on her tree.
Her decor was stunning.
Dad got a chance to meet his 2nd cousin once removed, Kathy's nephew Zach who is going to school at BYU.
It was also fun to meet Patrick Shane, a former BYU cross country coach, and father of Chris Shane, one of Trevor's fellow runners at Mountainview high school when he was a sophomore. Of course it was Trevor's senior year that their team was ranked number one in the nation. Trevor said he's still in touch with Chris, and forwarded this picture to him. I thought that was so fun.
This is Kathy's collection of Steif bears, please note that the certificate behind them is her grandfather Wendell, at his graduation from BYU, Wendell and Grandpa Milt are brothers.
I adored her craft room.
Here we are with Kathy and her husband, Larry. They were wonderful hosts.
I worked on Wednesday. Dad worked on our mission papers, and made appointments to do medical and dental forms. He also brought me Cafe Rio for lunch. Isn't he the best?
I got home in time to go caroling with the Mutual kids. Here are some cute Beehives, they knew Eva when she lived here.
Here's our group with one of the families we sang for.
The two women in front are Bonnie and Rebecca, women I work with. BTW Bonnie mentioned at a meeting this morning, that Emily had been a life saver for her, editing her papers for an English class after she went back to school to be a teacher, I had forgotten that. It gave me such warm feeling to have one of my children praised like that.
Here are a few other Mutual kids.
Thursday was Dad's gift to me. It was all about doing stuff I love. We started at this pop-up sale which is run by a friend of mine.
Another friend also sells at this little store, making the salt and pepper snowmen.
Dad had a blast from the past when he found this rocket bank that he had owned as a kid. He had no desire to own it again, but it was fun to see it and be reminded.
Here I am with my sweet friend Marci, a co owner of the shoppe.
At work the day before a customer told me about this store. Its a craft supply reseller. People donate unused craft supplies and people like me buy them. I also think I will donate some stuff, as its a non-profit, and we could use more tax credits.
Next it was time for the main event. We had gotten tickets to tour the Governor's mansion, which is why I'd gotten off work. It was amazing, but they wouldn't let us take pictures. You can imagine how painful that was for me ... so much beauty, it was beyond stunning. But it was cool to know that the original owner was friends with President Teddy Roosevelt, and he had visited the mansion.
On the way home we stopped at the DI on 21st south and Dad found himself some fine skis and boots. I laughed when, after I questioned the style of the skis, he said one of the workers in the back had told him he'd be the only one on the mountain in skis like those ... so he's forewarned, right? But remember he is the same guy who once went golfing with work friends taking only one wood and one iron. I love this guy!!
On the way home we stopped at my friend's house in Lindon. I had found something she was looking for at Marci's shoppe. Joanne reminded me that I had given her these two sheep, and they are her favorite.
Here are more of her vignettes.
That night Dad got Trevor to come over and help with putting in the new big parlor window.
Davin and Briahnna were able to come and help as well.
Having a contractor's daughter really helped. Bri had some great suggestions.
I love this picture.
On Friday we got food ready, and I wrapped gifts for my sisters, since I would see Joyce that night and we planned to exchange gifts. We left around 3 and headed to Salt Lake where it was my turn to host the Larsen Family Christmas party.
Shirley, Andrew and Jon.
Spencer and Van
The first generation including, Paula, Bruce, Dar, Brent, Clark, Joyce and Doug. Of course Brent and Dar are our cousins, Monte's son and his wife.
Here's the whole gang, all 70 of us.
We found out that Andrew and John (Jill's husband) both work for Zion's Bank.
Uncle Doug is helping Clark wash his hands. Clark is Jack's son, named for Jack's father and my brother Clark.
Just for fun I picked up this picture of Van on Instgram.
Joyce had given me some cash for Christmas, so first thing Saturday I headed out to Olson's Garden Shoppe, who had advertised that they had 75% off fairy garden items ... so Thanks Joyce.
We put the old window on Utah Vintage Yard Sale Friday night for free and Alison Gwilliam, a dealer I sold near several years ago at Thanksgiving Point, came by and got it on Saturday morning.
Next we headed to Salt Lake to enjoy my Christmas gift from Spencer and Brit. We went to lunch at a fun vegan place called the Oasis Cafe, where I had a Reuben without the corned beef, but with a large mushroom. It was delish, but a lot of the flavor of a Reuben IS the corned beef. Still it was yummy and I think we'll go back. Spencer had a real Reuben.
Then we went to the Pioneer Theater where we saw Miss Bennet's Christmas at Pemberly , which I loved.
Afterward we saw some couples in Regency dress and asked to have our picture taken with them. After chatting with one lady for a minute, I realized I knew her. They all belonged to the Jane Austin Society of North America, and she had come to my house when I belonged, and was hosting a Jane Austen birthday party. She had brought her half size replica of the quilt that Jane had made with her sister Cassandra. What small world.
Then when we were driving home I saw this meme that someone had posted. It was Jane Austen's birthday ... what a fine day to see this play ... Thank you Brittney and Spencer.
Charlie also had a recital that day ... though I was not in Idaho to see it. Here she is with Alex and her Dad. I have seen a bit of a video, maybe Britt can post it to our facebook page. Its adorable.
This morning I worked on more Christmas cards before my presidency meeting. Then when I came home Dad brought up the nativity costumes, and I sorted and fold them to take to church,
because Melia had asked if she could use them to help with singing Christmas carols in Primary. When Trevor was the Primary Chorister and Melia was his assistant, he had brought them and she had loved the activity and wanted to recreate it. Here she is as 'the star' above the head of my cousin Joseph ... Hahahaha. I heard his mother after watching them sing, say that she is like 7/8 th Norwegian, and since I've never found anyone I am related to on my Dad's side, on the Family Tree, Relative Finder, I asked her to go into her app as I did, and found that indeed we are about 10th cousins, but through my Dad's line and her mom's line. That was first for her too, as she usually connects through her Dad's line. His family immigrated earlier than her mom's line. So her mother, who grew up in Norway, and my father, whose mother did, are related. That was fun.
Here's the larger group.
... and just Joseph and Mary, and the naked doll I swiped from the nursery at the last minute.
Our last hour of our last 3 hour block ever, was spent discussing the new Come Follow Me curriculum. I am very excited about it, but a young mother sitting near me, said she was a little nervous. She is familiar with our family history, and I was able to tell her how much I wish we'd had this program. She is a great Mom, and I know she will be wise, and use personal revelation which is an important part of the program.
When I got home, the primary chorister and her husband came by to return the costumes. They came in and we chatted about our mission. Dad is working on our papers now, since our mission president emailed us telling us that Finland is getting funny about senior couple visas and is taking up to 6 months to clear them. Thus we will get our papers in in January. Exciting stuff, but it was fun to talk to this couple about their future plans. She is full blooded Estonian, and she speaks the language ... her hubs wants to go to New Zealand ... not sure it will happen ... how many people actually speak Estonian.
Before dinner, I remembered that I wanted to add some greenery to my 'library tree' ... Its silly I know, but I love it! So that was our week full of Christmas fun. We hope that you are all having fun this holiday season, and that you will remember ultimately that Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth.
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