Christmas 2024

What a wonderful week!  

Monday was quite laid back compared to every other day so far this December. The only thing that marred the day was a letter I had received the Friday before and I finally had time to follow up on. It was from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield saying that I was no longer covered by them for my Medicare Advantage plan! I was dumbfounded when the phone call I made confirmed this news. I had decided to opt out of the MU sponsored Medicare Advantage plan through Steve because the rates were going up quite a bit. I really don't need as much medical coverage as Steve does (at least, not yet) so we sent an email in early November to MU HR telling them to take me off. In the intervening weeks, I began receiving mail from Anthem welcoming me and including my ID card and a quarterly spending card. Then I got that final letter! Finally, after several phone calls, it was clear that MU dropped the ball and never actually took me off of their plan. So, they put me back on and we will just pay the higher premium in 2025. And, at the end of next year, we'll see if staying with United Healthcare was a good thing....

Tuesday, Christmas Eve, we picked up Beckie at 10:30 in the morning and went to Historic St. Charles to enjoy some 19th century Christmas ambiance for the few hours that they were open for tourists. The rain held off and temperatures were rather pleasant. We had hoped to eat lunch at Salt and Smoke on Main Street but they were closed. So we ate at our favorite standby which was McAllister's.  We stopped by a Costco on the way home for a rotisserie chicken and dip and bread for Christmas day. 

The photo below is in front of some dancing chili peppers singing Feliz Navidad. (definitely NOT 19th century there!)

We left Beckie at her house and headed home where we all took lovely naps. Christmas eve was just Steve and me eating our Bethlehem dinner, watching The Christ Child - A Nativity Story and Scrooge.

Christmas Day was rather quiet, compared to other years. We fed the sister missionaries breakfast. We opened gifts. Throughout the day, we FaceTimed with Julina, Elise, Sarah, Kirsti and Steven (he was FB Messenger) . Beckie came over around 2:00 and the Southerlands arrived around 4:00. Dinner was a gigantic charcutier with meats, cheeses, spreads, dips, chips, fruits, veggie sticks and goodies. We opened the joint gift from all the kids at that time - a fancy bird feeder that has a camera and motion detection that snaps pictures when a bird approaches. So cool! It has taken a few days for the birds to discover this new feeder but I am happy to say that, as of today, it has been found by the bird community. Below are some snaps - papa cardinal, mama cardinal, a woodpecker and a blue jay:

We watched It's A Wonderful Life Christmas morning and, while it was running, I finished my Christmas cards!  Woohoo! Below is our lovely tree this year. I took it down yesterday afternoon.

Another Christmas/birthday gift from Emily are these silly toilet paper holders. We got three and all have found homes in our three bathrooms

Thursday, the 26th, Steven and Tamara were driving through St. Louis in the evening so we drove over to Ballwin to see them and have dinner together - basically Christmas day leftovers. Delicious.

I started my morning walking on Thursday and Friday - not the entire distance but about half and it feels good to be doing that again. Steve and Fred celebrated their 72nd birthdays (Fred's is December 1st and Steve's is January 17th so Christmas week is just about half way between the two) by getting lunch around the corner at the Stellar Hog BBQ. Throughout the week, I have been working on cutting fabric into squares for more quilts to give away. And, we have watched two movies: the 2020 version of The Secret Garden and Empire of the Sun, a 1980's Spielberg that featured a very young Christian Bale. The version of Secret Garden was not exactly true to the book but it was a good watch. I don't remember it taking place around World War II, though. And, Empire of the Sun presented a viewpoint of WWII that one doesn't really think of much - China occupied by Japanese troops and a British prisoners of war camp in Shanghai. We also watched the Christmas special of season one of All Creatures Great and Small and episode one of Skeleton Crew. As we watched the latter, Steve commented that it was reminiscent  of Goonies and I would agree.

This morning, I drove Beckie bright and early to the airport where she was flying to Little Rock to spend some time with Kyle and Micah. Then, home and off to 9:30 church meetings for the last time until 2026. I am looking forward to 12:30 meetings in 2025. Church attendance fell victim to holiday travel and illness and the Primary was the hardest hit. No one in the presidency nor the music people were present so I led the opening exercises with a newly called teacher playing the piano (Chris) and someone not even connected to Primary (Karen) and a mom (Erin) sitting in to help corral six rather wriggly boys for the hour. I had a lesson prepared but it didn't last long so thankfully, Karen thought of the game "button, button" and that kept the boys happy for the last fifteen minutes.  Whew, there is a reason God sent me six girls and only one boy!

The final photos are from the stake Christmas concert that was held two Sunday ago. You can see me playing maracas in the first photo (Steve is in the far right), me conducting the orchestra in the next (Steve is the white shirt guy to my left in front of the rostrum) and me singing in the final picture (and that is probably the top of Steve's head below).