BINGO! And SNOW! And CHRISTMAS!

Sunday Dec. 21: I started in baking and preparing for bingo. I had choir practice at 11:30 and church at noon. I sang in a double mixed quartet and the choir did 2 numbers, one of which I directed the congregation on. I think everything went over pretty well. We decided to go home after Sacrament and get ready for bingo, and I really took most of the time to finish preparing. I thought I was ready, but I kept thinking of "things." We had chili, cornbread, veggie platter and drinks. Then I had made 2 kinds of cookies and cinnamon rolls. Everyone didn’t come at once, but everyone CAME! It was wonderful to see everyone and so good to be together. Some still have some sad feelings, but I hope each one has some special memory of the occasion. We played bingo and each one was so appreciative of the silly little gifts I had for them. After "THE" Christmas story and some sweet thoughts from Dar, I sent them all off with jerky and shalalie roll and little gifts. Congratulations on Lexi for getting a great job, to Zac for his winning spirit in wrestling, and to Curtis for the wonderful Christmas spirit he showed. I really love my family and wish I could see them every day! Dec. 22: We hurried out early in the morning to go to Savers and get our car inspected, but it started snowing right at 9 am and we really got dumped! We just came back home and enjoyed the day watching the snow fall. It was a beautiful snow with big flakes falling thick and piling quickly up in the yard. It let up about 2 pm so we both went out and shoveled for a while. It was a very wet snow – a good one for snow men and snow forts, but there was no one around to build them. One neighbor cleared the sidewalks with their 4-wheeler snow plow and another one came by and helped with his snow blower. We must have had 10”, so we really have big drifts now from the shoveling. Right now I am really enjoying snow!

DEC. 24: After some packing and errend-running, we took off for Jon’s. The roads were good and we arrived in good time. Jon had gotten home before Lisa and had the house all in order, he had added some rammed earth decorations, candles lit, and Christmas music playing. He also had set up the baby room - even to hanging up baby clothes in the closet. I love that boy!! Ty and Lisa soon came along with Christopher, Brittia, Jordyn, and Lisa’s 2 sisters and their husbands/partners and Cailyn. Lisa brought home a huge lot of food from her work, so we all ate until we were stuffed. Then we each opened a present and had some Christmas stories – including THE story. It was good! All our family stayed over night, so it was good to be together. It started raining, so we knew it was snowy up north.

CHRISTMAS: We all slept in late, then Harold and I made a huge breakfast casserole. We opened presents while it was baking and then ate until we were stuffed again. We just relaxed, watched some basketball on TV, and ate some more. It rained much of the day, and as we talked with family, we found out that it was really snowing other places in Utah and Idaho. And there was jerky and shalalie rolls all around! Good Christmas! I surely love my family!!

Dec. 26: We slept in again, washed bedding and then loaded up and headed for home. The snow had left the roads icy and snowy a lot of the time, so we just went slow. We met Tyson on the way and brought up a game for Josh from him. We arrived home to find that we had only gotten about 2” of snow here, and were happy for that. Other places around really got dumped on. Jon came up also, but Lisa stayed behind. Her back is still giving her some grief. Harold & I opened our gifts after we got home, and I think he was really pleased with his gifts. And I got a wonderful gift from Lola – the book, The Life and Adventures of Santa Clause, which is the book mother read and got my name from. It is published in 1902, has the family names in it, and I will treasure it always.

This image is of some of Jon's decorations - candle holders he made from rammed earth - I want some!