I think I miss my eyelashes the most...

There is a quote attributed to Ozzy Osborne: Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.

As I've aged over the past few years, the thing I seem to lament losing the most are my eyelashes. I knew I'd get gray hair and wrinkles and such (though the chicken neck did start sooner than expected), but I never thought about eyelashes. It's a daily struggle especially since my left eyelid has fewer lashes than my right...getting them to balance is a chore. Who knew that mascara would play such an important part of my morning routine.

Anyway, I turned 58 years old yesterday. I had a wonderful day (and a wonderful week) filled with family, friends, and the start of the Christmas season. Thanks everyone for your calls, texts, and messages!

For my birthday, Glen gave me 2 games, Onitama and Azul Stained Glass of Sintra. Too  much fun! I haven't played many Onitama games (similar to chess), but I have lost every one. Yay me. I have a better win record with Azul.

The other day, I started decorating using the bulletin boards that are over the kitchen counter by putting up past years' cards that I had made. I think my card-making skills have improved. As cards come in, I'm replacing mine with them.

a few of these were cards I designed but didn't use, so you may not recognize them

Yesterday, Glen brought over our decorations from storage and the real decorating began. It's still a work in progress, though.

I'm sill working on this as well as the tree

We got to talk to Alex on Tuesday as well as on my birthday. Alex's companion, Elder Sivadon, is the mission's IT specialist and they wound up spending several hours of their p-day fixing phone problems, so Alex didn't have time to call home, but was allowed to on Tuesday instead. And then again on my birthday. It's so weird to think that Andrew, Eric, and Ryan were only allowed to call home on Christmas and on Mother's Day. I'm loving the rule change.

Sounds like Alex and Elder Sivadon have plenty of people to teach and had a great week. Alex is loving the snow (I wonder how long that will last, but glad he likes it now).

Another interesting thing about Alex's area is that the 19 wards they cover includes a Japanese one (Elder Sivadon's name tag is in Japanese and Alex will be getting one in Japanese, too). When they teach someone, though, they use an interpreter.

And once again, they had dinner with a family who then shared a photo with us! Doesn't Alex look good!

I love Elder Sivadon's "Hi Mom!" sign

Thursday night was the annual Christmas party with my friends. This year our talented friend, DonNell, led us in painting a Christmas gnome (she had designed the painting herself!). A few years ago we did this with cardinals. I think we all decided our gnomes came out better (it's easier doing a character than a real creature).

mine

having done the example for us in red, DonNell decided to try out green

Kara's

Terra's

if you look closely you can see footprints of where Jennifer's gnome walked away...

Friday night was Fallon's Annual Christmas Tree Lighting. It was cold, but not too cold. Fireworks followed the tree lighting. It's a great tradition we have here.

6 December 2019