This just in this morning from our friends who live in Fallon, but are in Utah right now. Guess who they bumped into at church today?!
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| Sidney, Kenna, Alex, and Natalie |
And Hannah shared 2 great things with us today. One is that she has earned her Young Women's Personal Progress Award (congratulations, Hannah!) and the other is a sweet letter to her from Alex back when Alex was 7 years old.
A low-key Christmas is what you have when 4 of your 5 children can't be home for Christmas (plus 3 of their spouses and your 2 grandchildren). But, it's still Christmas and it's still wonderful.
So, Merry Christmas everyone. What a wonderful time of the year when it is easier to share the message of Christ. How grateful I am for my knowledge of Jesus Christ, His life, and His mission, and for that knowledge that has helped me to have a better life.
Monday was Christmas caroling to our neighbors. It was a little bit damp, but really not too bad. In the end, we had about 26 of us (including a few babies). We, as usual, sang "Silent Night" followed by "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and gave out our cookies.
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| cookie pass off |
One of the houses we always go to had a lady who was so excited, because she's been waiting for years for us to come while it was also Hanukkah (Chanukah, Hannukah, and Hanukah are also acceptable spellings, though spellcheck doesn't like any of them).
Anyway, she had made latkes for us (with our choice of sour cream or applesauce) and lit the hanukkiah for us (more education for the day--it is often called a menorah, but technically a menorah only has 7 spots and not the 9 of the hanukkiah). Her mother had been in a concentration camp and she said she still has the yellow star from her mother. The plan now is for her to go in to Glen's history class and talk about that when he teaches about World War II.
Tonight is the last night of Hanukkah for this year. I personally love lighting Hanukkah candles. Jesus was Jewish and it was part of His heritage. I love the story behind it all. There is an article that I read that I really love on this topic:
https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/sound-of-faith/read/articles/did-jesus-christ-celebrate-hanukkah-17683.html
Tuesday was Christmas Eve. With just Glen, Eric, and me, it was pretty quiet. Eric was working and Glen was in town, so when it was time to light our traditional bayberry at sunset, I was the only one around.
Christmas morning was a slow affair. Even with just 2 of them competing, we did the traditional German "hide the pickle in the tree," using the paper maché pickle Eric had made in elementary school. Eric found the pickle, and we were about to start opening gifts when Alex gave us a video call, so we paused to talk to him.
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| Eric needs to go a little lower and to the right to find the pickle |
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| and he did! |
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| video call! |
After the call, it was time for presents. It was pointed out to us that we haven't had so few home at Christmas since 1990. Glen and I had already gotten our main gift--about 2 weeks ago we got our new dresser and nightstands put up in our room. I think they look very nice.
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| before |
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| after (the c-pap machine hides in a drawer during the day now) |
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| before |
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| after |
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| dresser after (I forgot to get the before, but it was pretty bad) |
Heather sent us this picture of Henry using her new yoga mat and block. Too cute. He really reminds me of some pictures of Andrew.
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| Henry (4 1/2) |
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| Andrew at about the same age that Henry is now |
The week was also filled with playing games with the family. And crafting. And movies.
We watched "A Muppet Christmas Carol" and "A Christmas Story" here at home, Glen and I went and saw "It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" (we highly recommend it), and Eric saw "Cats" several times as well as "Jumanji" and "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker."
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| using alcohol inks to craft--messy but fun |
