Another week has come and gone ... Christmas time is always fun because there are so many activities to do. On Monday Dad and I went to work. He worked on organizing the garage, so that he could park the car inside. I finally made myself upholster the love seat ... I really didn't want to do it, but I did want it done. It was my first upholstery job.
That night we went to Melia's concert. She's a young woman in the ward, who was great friends with Trevor and Janell and their family. She and her grandmother came by a couple of months ago to invite us to this concert. It was a Les Mis sing along, as in the audience was the chorus.
Melia is out of school now, in fact she's just finishing up a special needs mission for the church, but she's kept in touch with the drama coach, her favorite teacher, and talked him into doing this program. She is next to him on the left, she sang Fantine. The other two students are current special needs students that he drafted to sing the other two leading roles in the performance, Marius and Eponine. He cast them each with a singing partner.
The boy with the floppy blond hair was the double for Marius, and seeing how kindly he prompted and encouraged his charge, made me proud to be a human being.
Here's our girl with her singing partner, and the boy that sang Marius.
Here I am with my friend Trudy Peck, she played Mrs. Master of the House, and her son played Jean Val Jean. They were marvelous.
Here I am with Melia, and the Drama Coach's daughter who played Eponine's singing partner. It really was a lovely, heartfelt performance. There was so much goodness in the performance itself and in the 200 some odd people who came to cheer them on.
On Tuesday I got most of the trim done on the love seat before running off to a high school friends reunion in North Salt Lake with Debbie, Debbie, Patty, Linda and Karla. Debbie Koew hosted us, and we had a lovely soup and salad lunch at her house.
Dad, meanwhile, was home vacuuming and doing dishes, etc, as he had conceptualized a Finnish dinner for the son of friends of Trevor's who had been called on a mission to Finland.
When I got home I made the salmon soup and Finnish Christmas star pastries for dessert.
Here we are seated for dinner with the Anderson's, and Jeremy Gigena. We started without Phillip Sisco, who had forgotten, but came a half an hour later. They are both missionaries who served with us. We had a beginning course of Rye Crisp with traditional toppings like cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers and sinappi (Finnish Mustard), then had the soup and rye bread, finishing with the Christmas Stars.
Phillip and Jeremy are both attending BYU.
I worked on Wednesday. Another dealer made this fun wreath out of vintage decorations, I love it, well other than the Santa face ... I wonder if I have the components.
Dad fixed the desk lamp in our room. He also put in hook eyes around the front window and strung Christmas lights around it. He also put the wall board back up in the closet under the stairs on the second floor, which has been off for years. Well, you know Dad, he kept busy.
I got home from work just in time for us to attend the ward Christmas devotional and dinner. There was a very good turn out.
I worked again on Thursday, while Dad spent most of the day doing his regular temple shift. That night we went out to the West Mountain chapel for a live nativity. These folks registered us, and we paid our taxes ... there in Bethlehem.
Next a guide took us out into the large ball fields behind the church where we met these three Kings. They told us of following the star ...
We later saw this 'angel', who gave us tidings of great joy.
Next we joined shepherds, with their sheep, who told us about finding a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. They pointed the way that we might go and see for ourselves.
We saw Mary and Joseph in this enclosure, with a sheep and a donkey behind them.
They told us about their experience, then told us that their baby is a girl, but is also the only baby in their ward at the moment. She is three months old. It was really lovely, and all the stations being so spread out, and it being so cold, there was certainly a sense of personal privation, curousity and wonder.
I'd been pretty tired after work, and it was so cold, that I didn't want to go. I'm so glad Dad pretty much made me, it was definitely the high light of a pretty dang amazing week, and really reminded me of the true meaning of Christmas.
On Friday, I got busy and got our Christmas letter made up, because for the 'Light the World' initiative, the first week it was suggested that we do things that touch/help people around the world. We decided to send Christmas cards to a few of our acquaintances outside our home country.
Dad painted around the big stained glass window on the outside, and then put lights on a little tree that we put on top of the fountain. He also wired ornaments on a small tree that I took to Ben's grave site on Saturday. The picture above was taken of a beautiful sunset that evening when we met the Brough's in Lehi at Chuck o rama.
We had a lovely chat about our efforts in ministering, and also about the lighter Sunday schedule, and Home Centered Gospel Study. Its so good to have friends that are as excited as we are.
Here is our Christmas letter.
On Saturday, Dad had hoped the big window would come in, but was disappointed, so he filled his day with little projects, like replacing the light switch on the back patio, changed out the ladder hooks, evened out the legs on a table for me, etc.
I went out shopping, placing signs at the mall for our Christmas open house, and picking up a few bargains, as dealers were discounting everything in their booths. I also went shopping at the Springville DI, getting some baskets for the family baskets we do at Christmas, and taking the tree Dad had done to Ben's grave.
That night we drove to Salt Lake to babysit Van while his folks went to dinner to celebrate Brittney's birthday. He seems pretty interested in the gnome Christmas ornaments I was making.
He was perfectly charming the whole evening.
This morning I made brownies, before heading to a Presidency Meeting at the church. Dad took care of clean-up, because he's cool like that. When I got home, I got the table decorated for our Hannukah party this evening. Then we were off to church. We attended just sacrament meeting, which means next week will be our last '3 hour block', as the following two Sundays we will be attending Sacrament meeting only, before heading into the new year and two hour church.
We stopped and dropped off the brownies at Mike Whiting's house to see his Christmas decor. Mike is one of the dealers at Treasures, and had a store back in the 1990's where I used to shop. First off we ran into Rosemary and Pat who are both employees at the Mall.
Mike has always had great stuff. He's one of those dealers that keeps the cream and sells the milk, so to speak.
The walls in his study are similar in color to our parlor.
These are pictures we took of each other in back of, and in front of Mike's house.
Then we drove to Salt Lake to join Robyn and Bruce Brown for their personal creche festival. Robyn and I were visiting teaching partners in the 1980's. They returned from their mission to Eastern Canada, where they spent much of their mission in a town called Yellow Knife the end of last year.
This is the tiniest nativity ever, the figures are actually carved and painted rice grains. She said there's a lady in Park City with over 600 nativities, who has an entire nativity carved from one grain of rice, its displayed with a magnifying glass. So cool.
We ran into Becca and her oldest children. Robyn used Becca to sell her family home several years back and she had a chance to get to know them. Robyn has 270 nativities.
This miniature Fisher-Price doll house was a favorite ornament for me.
Then we headed home to make about a zillion latkes ... Dad has a cool new grater, so he was happy. We lit the menorah after everyone started eating their latkes and applesauce ... I love this one, it is so funky.
Spencer had brought a cheese cake with candles that said 30, and we all sang to Brittney for her birthday, I can't believe I didn't get a picture. Oops.
But here's the birthday beauty.
Trevor took this selfie, just for fun.
Then it was time for a sing-a-long of Grandma's Feather Bed, before settling down to the business of the night and singing the Hannukah song, by Adam Sandler for us, a long time tradition.
Last of all it was time for Dad to read Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblin, a family favorite.
Eva was having none of this alternative holiday Mumbo Jumbo and read a Santa Claus book.
Last of all we got out the candy and the dreidal and did some gambling. Of course there was a great deal of cheating, I'm not sure what rules they were using, but it all sounded like fun.
So this was the eighth day of Hannukah this year, and it just happened to fall on Brittney's birthday. In two weeks we'll celebrate our Bethlehem dinner, and that falls on Briahnna's birthday, what are the chances. Thanks for being such good sports girls.
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