Per Perkins Perhe: What My True Love Gave to Me

I've been eating, drinking and sleeping the 12 days of Christmas, these are some of the 12 days ornaments I've dug out of the basement and even a couple I purchased. I spent much of the week planning the 12 days of Christmas luncheon I was hosting for my Book Club, after we all read, Jane and the 12 Days of Christmas, which I chose last year, so I could do my fourth 12 Days of Christmas dinner in four years.

The net result was that as Dad helped and supported me in many Christmas and house activities, I was thinking of all my true love gave to me. So, following is my tribute to the man.

First there was that board he decided to paint that he added a few weeks ago to one of the carriage doors to lessen drafts.

Two is for the 2 full days he spent painting the cabinets in the kitchen, that we decided to do almost a year ago, and never actually did.

I love it, the white cabinets always looked a little dirty, no matter how I kept up with wiping them off.

He did a great job, don't you think?

Three represents this 3 shelf red plate holder, I'd seen a kitchen with a placement exactly like this. Last summer I found this large box inthe garage while organing it, and dad used the box, and recycled a scalloped board into two shelve and a top, then the cross boards are made from old molding that had been taken out of this house. I am in love with it and its creator. Recycling at its best.

Four is for the four hundred dishes he washed this week. He's a champ.

and it's definitely a labor of love, he is shown here finishing up the Bethlehem dinner dishes which have to be washed by hand.

Five is for the five things he did to support me in putting together the Christmas letter. He formatted the letter as a spreadsheet. He printed off the letters and the family pictures. He ran out and bought stamps, and then mailed the letters. Yes, he did all that.

In cleaning the family room, for the parties coming up and a photo shoot this week, I took lots of boxes and bags out to the sale area in the garage. That left a big space between the couch and chair that looked odd. I needed a table, and so I shopped the garage, and found the perfect table at the top of this pile of 600 items ... Yep, that's our 6. and he did it with just the help of a ladder and his long arms ...

See how great it looks.

Now I admit, that Dad makes the bed every day, but he did make the bed 7 days this week, which is the most humanly possible, that's right, he is superman.

Yes, we do live in a house of stairs. By count we have 10 sets of stairs, the most dreaded being the circular staircase to the basement, with all triangular steps and no banister. Just for Jerusalem dinner set up he made 8 trips,

Then there was the shopping he did for the events on Saturday. He shopped for Bethlehem dinner, for my bookclub luncheon and for my Ministering sisters gathering, each with a plus one. 9 bags of groceries in all.

Sunday morning he printed out 10 handouts for our lesson, then he cut them out and prefolded them, so it wouldn't take the whole lesson time.

On Saturday as we made tweaks, I decided that I would hang this Nativity with 11 hundred angels by Brian Kershisnik. I've always loved it, and when I found a damaged copy of the painting at DI, with more wrinkles than I have, I tucked it away to iron out and reframe, later. But its Christmas time and I wanted it hung. So, I decided on the upper staircase where Dad and I can enjoy it in the meantime.

And now for the best of all ... the 12 million bubbles. (Estimated, not by actual count) Dad replaced the faucet in the master suite. It had big issues, then when he put in the new one, it had water volume control built in, which made my bubble baths dismal things. When I told him how much I missed a real tub of bubbles, he took the old faucet and by changing out some parts, he made my dreams come true.

I felt like the girl on this famous Tijuanna Brass Album.

So now for the partying. I went to Kim's charming house out in Day Break. Shirley came too.

Of course, crafting was the order of the day. This is my contributions to the day.

This one is Shirley's.

Aren't we cute?

I saw this cloud of Marge Simpson's sister, when I went to drive home. How funny is that?

So, on Tuesday there was lots of house cleaning, and that's when Dad got the idea to paint the cabinets. I took this picture of the shabby green door in the carriage house, to help us choose the paint color.

On Wednesday, I was off to work, while Dad painted like a mad man. Then Dad ran to Highland to see this girl playing a ukulele, and being a narrator in her Christmas program. Unfortunately, I missed it because it overlapped with my work hours.

But she had lots of family support, plus Dad behind the camera.

Thursday, Dad had his normal temple shift but got in several hours of painting afterwards. I worked and then went to another craft day. Kim hosts these as a commercial venture, and on Monday she said that my friend Laurie, was coming, so I signed on. Laurie is in the pink.

Here are all the projects.

This one is mine, and yes, I know the 'coals' for his mouth are two chunky, I fixed that when I got home.

Here we are with our snowman crafties, Jennine took the picture. She came to assist Kim, and I also know her. She is an antique dealer as well. She used to do Fleaology back when it was at our house. I just found out that Fleaology was her first venue, I had no idea. She is very talented and looked like a seasoned pro to me.

Friday brought more housework, but when a check for Kelly came in the mail for his share of Cheryl's inheritance, we drove up to the Sushi place he works at in Salt Lake. It was so good to see him and visit for a minute. The Sushi was also good, and Kelly gifted us some coconut shrimp. Yum. We were surprised to find out he doesn't like sushi, which is crazy, Dad said Uncle Rick would rather die than eat sushi.

Saturday shall remain pictureless. I spent so much time cleaning, I was exhausted, and it was only two in the afternoon. Dad reminded me that I had started at 6 AM that morning, then it made sense.

After church Dad hauled up all the Bethlehem dinner goodness and we got busy adding a third table, setting it, etc. Here is Elias

We got a puzzle of Jerusalem, and it seemed like a good time to work on it. Hannah's Scott brought three of his kids, Jake, Max and Dallin. Here are the older two with Trevor's oldest working on the puzzle.

Here is a Scott sandwich with Dallin in the middle.

Cousins Eleanor and Adi.

Becca's tired already.

We eat by candlelight, so if you can't tell those are grapes in the foreground. The menu includes a falling apart fatted lamb roast all kinds of cheeses and olives, lots of different breads, and spreads, such as humus, olive oil, fruit preserves, balsamic vinegar and pesto. There was also grape juice (New Wine) and pomegranate seeds.