And appropriately for Christmas week, it all started for me at Walmart. I walk with my friend Carolyn on Mondays in Elkridge, but when it snows or rains we walk at Walmart in Payson. This time I ran into Hannah Bibler, one of the garden girls I bought at a girls' camp auction when she was 12. Yep, she's working at both Walmart and Payson Market!! Her one time 'friend twin', and garden girl associate, Marysa is now serving a mission in Peru! How fun is that?
That was also the day that Sam delivered the gathered tornado relief items in Kentucky.
The highlight of our day was attending Andrew Hale and Liesel Allen's Wedding eve reception at the Springville Art Museum. Of course we loved seeing other missionaries too, including Liesel's twin, Gwyneth, and Andrew's Assistant to the President Companion, Will Hall. Oh how we love these two couples. I might have mentioned that Liesel and Gwyneth were raised as vegans, and it was Gwyneth who helped me so much in developing my vegetarian lifestyle during our second mission. I even got to meet her grandmother again, who started the family down the path of Veganism.
That night I used part of my plaid picnic tin collection to make a Christmas Tree for the Object Christmas Tree Challenge on Instagram that I've been hoping to get around to since Thanksgiving. My friend Julie from work did one that I helped her with just before TG and I really wanted to do one for myself. I barely made it before Christmas, I know definitely a late comer, but I made it.
Also, I think it was that day that Emily sent this miniature view. I have actually followed the Japanese man who creates these, and introduced them to her. But this is totally, so me.
Tuesday was our oldest grand child, Kimberly's, 23rd birthday. That's hard to wrap my head around. This picture was posted by Ashley, and I think it is her working at Market Street Grill.
This is Dad's collage, the one he posted to celebrate!!
While I was at work on Wednesday, Dad hauled in the patio soft goods, which had been snow covered. Thankfully Monday's rain got rid of the snow, now they just need to drain and dry out so we could store them for the rest of the winter.
It was also that day, that Darby made her graduation official in our minds by sending us this notice,. Walking for graduation isn't an option until next spring. We're pretty proud of that GPA accomplished while she worked full time, especially where she had to work graveyards to make it happen. Its been a long haul, and we are so proud of her for sticking to it.
Hannah posted lots of fun pictures from her hiking with her friend Scott and his family in Southern Utah.
I thought this might be the best selfie I have ever seen.
Dad also got himself to Darby's house to do the final touches that day. He installed the doors on her laundry closet in her upstairs bathroom. He installed an over potty cupboard for a place for her laundry supplies, and situated the towel bar on the back of the door, that had been over the potty. He was pretty thrilled to be all done, and we're excited about getting some projects of our own done that have been on hold for a while.
We took Lillian, our renter, to dinner for her birthday that night. We were so thrilled when she chose Indian food. No one we know likes Indian food, and since we rarely eat out alone anywhere but Cafe Rio, (which none of our friends like either) it made our day.
Thursday our world celebrated the birthday of our wonderful and beloved daughter-in-law Briahnna. This, of course, is Dad's collage of celebration.
I worked Thursday, with not a picture to show for it, and Dad did a shortened shift at the temple. Then he picked me up after work, and brought me Cafe Rio to eat on the way to the Heuer's house for our annual Hallmark Movie night. The Heuer's house holiday decor is a stand out in a neighborhood that is about 90% decorated. That's something you don't get in the 'old neighborhoods', we have always favored. The movies were great, but the shared treats were a killer. By the end of the double feature I was totally regretting my decision to just 'eat the holiday goodies, it only comes once a year' decision. Instant sick.
So I searched the internet for a picture to summarize how eating sugar makes me feel, and this is it. My weight is up ten pounds from my holiday 'celebrating', and I am feeling pretty yucky, with more holidays celebration coming up and two trips within the next 3 weeks, I've made the decision to dump sugar, which will lead to me getting in control of my eating, before I absolutely balloon. YIKES!
Because of the rain Thursday night, all the snow at Peteetneet was gone by Friday, and with new snow in the canyon, ie ungroomed trails, Ann and I fell back to our walking plan. We walked around the farmer's field in Salem, and due to the rain the area was full of water and was so swampy that there were tons of Canadian geese, with my new found bird counting skills, I would estimate almost 200 in the 5 acre area.
It was the first time that I have noticed the street sign, inside the property that gives the names of the owners of the paved walks they have provided as a service to the town of Salem. The walk around their property is a mile, and its charming.
When I got back from walking, Dad and I did the big heave-ho, we hauled all the collected goodies we've been saving for our Christmas baskets for the kids up from the storage room in the basement. You may recall that we took Emily's family's 'basket' to them when we visited last October. After sorting all the goodies, we did some shopping to fill in, and bought the actual baskets too, as we had too much stuff to fit in the wicker baskets we have used in the past. Putting them together, surprisingly took actual hours.
Then we played Santa, taking goodies to ministering friends and families. Here I am shown with Tina, who I found all dressed up, so I asked if I could have a picture together.
Last of all we took Cheryl her gifts, as she had declined an invitation to come on Christmas. Dad also found the box of stuff that had been on her grandfather clock shelves, back when she had her apartment. She was so thrilled and told us about the origin of the items, a set of salt and pepper shakers that had belonged to Grandma LaRie, a small bull fighter from her parents mission to Spain, a couple of stones that had come from the construction of the Atlanta temple that she had collected on her mission there. Above you see her looking through a small photo items that had pics of Curtis, and some of the trip she took to California with Zach and Spencer. She shared many fond memories that were elicited by the box of personal treasures. We left her with a bag of presents to open the next day and said goodbye.
That day we also saw this picture of Charlie, with the sub for Santa goodies that her dance group did. It seemed that Brittany ended up with the whole thing in her lap, and administered it all, making up for short falls, as she so often does. What a good heart this girl has.
And this is a picture of Trevor and Nell and their family as they finish up their work on their Christmas Trip to Mexico. We look forward to their return, and the pictures and stories they will share that are always so uplifting.
So let the Christmas Chronicling begin. It was great to see Ashley and her family for brunch Christmas afternoon. Here she and Ian lap eat, which was required with our dining room only seating.
Here we see Spencer and Van as well.
I always love Eli's big smile when he sees me taking a picture.
and look who is walking!
Here we see the dining room diners.
I can hardly wait for the additional seating we'll have with the conservatory addition.
I loved this picture of Ian, and Zach, who is even smiling, sort of.
Another brothers' picture.
Darby showing Ashley pictures of horses she's looking at to buy makes me happy. Just like back in the day, when they were 10 and 12, and started cleaning stalls at Raintree stables in exchange for horse back riding lessons. They were talking about their first horse, that they earned the money to buy, an 18 year old Appaloosa, who was white and looked liked she'd been sprinkled with a dark spice. I guess that is why her name was Ginger. They paid $400 for her and rode her for 3 or 4 years, before trading up. Now Darby is looking at horses in the 10 to 20 thousand dollar range. Hey, can't you get a car for that? Her horse Dallas is getting to be about Ginger's age when they bought her, and she plans to buy a new riding horse, and continuing to keep Dallas as well, so the horses will have company.
I found these guys sequestering with the clock we were giving Darby for Christmas. They look comfy, don't you think?
We just love when Ashley and her family come, though Kim, the 23 year old, ended up at her boyfriend's family celebration, darn it.
Then it was time for my gift. I've heard rumblings of the gift the kids all went in together to get for me for Christmas for a couple of months. Dad knew what it was and assured me I would like it, but I had no idea what it could be. Emily spearheaded the project, and it was shipped to Becca's. Always clever Brady wrapped it so that the shipping straps would still be available to carry. It weighed 45 pounds, so ...
I was so surprised when 65 pound Madi was actually able to lift it completely off the floor.
Mac tried too, but without the success. but heck the result was a big smile in a picture of him, which I always love.
Spencer even gave Bear a ride, though Bear was none too sure about the experience.
How happy do I look, once I got the paper off and found out that it was a pebble ice maker. I've wanted one for years, but always balked at the price. How great are my kids!!?? Thank you all.
Davin said he thought it would fit in the microwave garage, and the the microwave would fit in the bottom shelf of the open cupboard by the sink. The net result meant my blender and toaster got off the counter as well. Happy, happy me.
Holy Eye, Batman, he was exactly right. That was pretty painless.
Here we see Dad with one of his two pairs of new running shoes, and the hat he is wearing actually glows in the dark. I am thrilled about that, since he runs in the dark, pretty much year round.
Ashley and Andy, and Davin and Bri and their families left, so we sent their baskets with them,
But our two remaining kids with families had a chance to open their baskets here, which is always fun.
Of course Darby and Hannah got their gifts as well, but we wrap them individually, since they don't get a whole family's worth of small stuff. Then again, the real gifts we give is cash for family fun, so these baskets are for the kids to have something to 'open' from Mimi and Papa on Christmas.
BTW Davin and Bri, if you are wondering about the French dictionary in your basket, Elias told me he wants to learn French, and I am so impressed.
This cutie and all the rest, say goodbye, and we soon found ourselves with a quick nap to finish up our day.
Emily's family was pretty busy that day, and this was pretty much the only picture she could send us.
Here are a couple of pictures of Britt's kids that morning.
And for us, our Sunday started in Bountiful, where the Bridge's gave their farewell talks. They are headed to Finland to take over as the office couple They will love the Kervinens. You may recall that they were sent to Finland a few months before us for our second mission, but Finland had refused visas to a group of 3 sets of missionaries, including them. That's why it was so touch and go for us to get visas for our second mission, and we became a test case for resuming sending senior missionaries there. The Bridges ended up in Poland as the office couple there, and came home about the time we did, since they were doing a 23 month mission. They talked to us often about coming to Finland as the office couple, and we brought the President into the loop, and they made it happen. With our replacements only serving a year, it made the timing perfect for them. They are so amazing, and it was so fun to finally meet them. We also love having a current link to the mission doings.
Then we came home and did a Mexican Christmas thing, we made tamales.
Here's our day after Christmas spread, with tamales, tacos, refried beans and Spanish rice. Yum!!
Happy Holidays to us.
We hope you all made wonderful memories this year, focusing on the service to others that always brings the greatest joy of all. We so appreciate all the love and support we felt from you, all of our children, that made this month so memorable for us. Now we can wish you all a happy new year!!
