A Week of Gratitude

This week we divided and conquered.  Dad went to Darby's as he races to get it ready for her tenant to move in on December 1st.  I spent the day helping my service group decorate the small tree they are donating to the Festival of Trees.  Here My friend Sandy works on wiring on the ornaments.

Cutting wire.

Signing cards for nursing home residents.

I tied up a bow for the tree topper.

Here's Carolyn with the tree and the Mooseltoe sign.

It turned out very nicely.  Carolyn and her husband will wrap up the tree and deliver it to the site.  The festival is virtual this year.

We had great refreshments including this veggie tree.

Dad picked up the charcuterie box after he finished up at Darby's for the day.  We had ordered it from Honey Tea Hive, and Edi and Tom had picked up for us. 

It was a fun addition to dinner.

I had spent the afternoon making ornaments for my plaid Christmas tree in the dining room. I'm hosting a Scottish luncheon for my book club, as we read a Hamish McBeth mystery for our December book.

On Tuesday Ann and I were locked off from the hike we wanted to do at Jones Ranch, so we turned around and hiked the Grotto.  Her son grooms and builds trails, and had told her about a hike to the Grotto from another direction. We found where the new trail ties in and were able to make the hike a decent length, and of course, no hike is prettier than the grotto, so we think we've found another hike to tuck into our portfolio. 

Even the burned trees have a sculptural beauty

The Grotto falls never disappoints.

and the addition of icicles made it even nicer.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Idaho, this girl is flying high.

I put the plaid tree together that day with Dad's help.

and started setting the main table.

I worked on Wednesday, and Dad headed back to Darby's.  I ran to the dollar store from the antique mall and picked up dinner napkins that we put on that night.

The house was ready to go before we headed to bed.

Dad got up at 6 to start the turkey, and I joined his about 7, and we worked until our guests started arriving a bit before one.

Welcome Ian!!

Here are the cute littles dining in the family room.

Ian, evidently, likes my dinner rolls.  Yeah!!

Here's the cutest turkey gobbler ever.

Trevor filled his plate in style.

The parlor table is for people that are very old or fairly young.

Our kids and their guests dined together in the dining room.

Brittney, Scott, Darby and Scott.  We sang a rousing song of Happy Birthday for Scott's birthday that very day.

Aunt Cheryl, Campbell and her Dad.

Trevor and Nelle

Eva

Campbell, Spencer and Scott

Scott and Ian who now both live about 5 minutes apart near the U.

Andy

Zach and Darby

Madi.

Madi, Van, Reagan, Penny and Cam

They found the costume closet...

so cute.

Titan's alter ego.

Eva holding Cam

Van and Madi

Uncle Trevor, the human swing.

Meanwhile the northern branch of the family enjoys dinner.  Here is Brittany's charcuterie board. 

her beautiful table

and some of her guests.

I was so exhausted after dinner, that this chair looked mighty good to me.

We had talked about having a list of the items in the house that have a family history.  So when I was putting away the dishes, I took pictures of a piece from this set.

I've labeled it and started a album on my phone.

Dad met up with Ashley to donate platelets on Friday.  You can see Ashley's bandage elbow at the reward lunch.

Dad got home in time to join me for the Santa Dash.

I'd found the perfect costume for him to use in the run at an estate sale on Hartford Street just a month before.

I made a special trip to DI to find mine.

Others in the race came in fun Christmas costumes too.

We met Ann there, and were not surprised to see our basement renter, Lillian, ready to go, as she is the runningest girl we know.

Ann's family came to walk or run it as well.

Other people in the North were doing other things with Santa.

On Saturday, Dad and I finished up putting away chairs and dishes.  He finished off the day watching the BYU football game at Trevor's along with Spencer's family, While I stayed home and finished up my book club book.

Today we went to Lehi for Elder Perkins Home coming.  Here I am shown with Elder Vawdry one of our favorite missionaries, who had to run off before we could put together a group picture.

The Auras are still in town and were able to join us for the homecoming.  I am standing between the two 'Elders Perkins'.  It was fun to meet his family.

At the Perkins home later, Laurie Kehr said she thought my cameo necklace looked like mini Pirrakkas.  What do you think?

It was fun to do a little 'relatives around me' too. BTW, Dad is 8th cousin 1 time removed to Elder Perkins' Dad, but through his mom's side and not the Perkins'. Dad was checking out his Perkins line after church and it goes all the way back to 550 AD!

Dad's favorite ornament is the white heart that has Hyvää Joulua (Merry Christmas in Finnish)

Dad said I should show you our ever evolving Christmas tree ... as I add more and more red and white ornaments. 

 What a wonderful week it has been to reflect upon the things that we are truly grateful for, especially our interactions with you, our family and loved ones who read our blog.