Christmas!

 Hooray - Steve and I were healthy for this past week of Christmas!  We are still coughing a bit but we feel fine which is a good thing because each day was full of fun and family...

Last Sunday was the Christmas program at church. Steve and the brass quartet reprised their musical number of Once In Royal David's City. The choir (double mixed quartet, actually) sang Still Still Still. I twisted Sarah's arm to sing and happily, she agreed.  Later in the afternoon, Steve, Sarah and I drove to a church in Webster Groves to hear Emily's chamber choir perform and it was SO lovely! And in such a beautiful setting, too.

Monday was full of errands like food shopping and teaching a piano lesson to the kid who vacuums in exchange. Then, after he cleans, I mop and our floors had not been mopped in almost a month! Our big "thing" on Monday was to visit the Giving Machine at the West County Mall. Emily and three kids joined us. 

Tuesday I finally baked cookies!  I just did sugar cookies and cherry nut. Sarah drove to Emily's that evening to decorate their sugar cookies and Elise arrived at about 6:00 and we drove around to make gift deliveries and look at Christmas lights. 

Wednesday morning I finally decorated our sugar cookies and got plates delivered to neighbors that evening after we returned from Southerlands. Because they missed a Thanksgiving feast by traveling to France the last week of November, they decided to host a turkey dinner on Christmas eve. It was delicious. Here is Emily and Sarah-

After goodie delivering, we settled down to watch The Christ Child and Scrooge for our traditional Christmas Eve activities.

Christmas morning was gift opening. Lilly and Bones are modeling their Christmas hats and Lily is opening her gift from "grandma and grandpa".

That afternoon, we returned to the Southerlands for the day. Steven and Tamara were returning from a few days in Pensacola, Florida and they stopped by. So, we had five of our seven children with us for Christmas!

We ate ham and assorted finger foods and then we played games. Emily had prepared a bunch of really fun "minute-to-win-it" games. Below is one of them:

Another game was to divide into three teams and make a snowman with toilet paper and construction paper...

When we returned home, we watched It's A Wonderful Life, per tradition, and then, NOT per tradition, I cut Elise's and Sarah's hair. 😁

Friday morning, Elise drove back to Columbia and Sarah and I joined Beckie and the Southerland gang at the movie theater to see the newest Avatar. Steve, who is not a huge fan of the Avatar movies, went to the temple, instead.  Other movies we have watched throughout the week were:   Muppet Christmas Carol on Tuesday, Red One on Friday evening and Castle for Christmas on Saturday evening. 

Saturday afternoon, while the weather was still a balmy 65 degrees, Sarah, Steve and I went to Saint Charles. 

And we had a fire pit in the evening.

All this unseasonably warm weather is changing today and we are going to be frigid tomorrow! 

Today I played What Child Is This in church with another cellist. It was a nice arrangement. And, now, Christmas music performing is over for another year. Christmas baking is done. Christmas gifts are opened. Alas, though, Christmas cards have NOT been sent but I will do that this coming week. And then it will be a new year. I hope it will be a happy one!

Back home

 Because we got in so late on Wednesday, December 10th, we slept in and happily, Sally let us! The day was spent unpacking, doing laundry, making a quick grocery run and preparing for the last English class of the year. I had been handed three DIY beauty kits back for the Halloween class celebration and I knew that I could not have the women in my class assemble them on that night for several reasons. First, I needed time to process the instructions (those written by individuals who do not speak English as a first language can be ridiculous to interpret!). Second, there were two types of DIY beauty products - body butter (2 kits) and perfume (1kit) - and not enough of each for every woman (six little perfume bottles and just four  containers of body butter) since I generally have twelve to fifteen in attendance. Plus, the two body butter kits were different! One had wax to heat up and mix into the shea butter and the other had cornstarch to add (I opted for the cornstarch recipe). So, in November, I purchased additional shea butter and small containers and, on Thursday afternoon, I prepared everything ahead of class. All that was left was to add the essential oil fragrances, the color and the glitter and the women did that in class. And I solved the dilemma of who got to keep the six little perfumes. Each woman got a body butter and we gave the perfumes to five of the Kindness leaders and to Maliha, our translator.  In the end, I think the class went well and all the women went home happy. And, I also went home happy because that was my last English class to teach. Emma, an intern, is going to take over in January. My responsibilities going forward will just be the sewing projects.  Which is plenty. In fact, before class started, I loaded up the car with all the items to sell at the upcoming Grand Market day sale on the 13th.

Friday morning, I re-inventoried all the items and re-priced most of them to be $15 or under in hopes to move out a bunch of products. That evening, Beckie, Steve and I got to attend the Messiah performed by the St. Louis Symphony and Chorus in the newly remodeled Powell Hall. It was an incredible evening all around. First of all, the hall is so lovely with more comfortable seating. Then, the performance itself was brilliant. I have performed the Messiah throughout my life but I don't recall ever attending a professional performance of it. It was a true delight.

Elise had some hand surgery performed Friday morning in Columbia so she took the day off from her school library job and she also took off from HyVee on Saturday which meant she came into town to hang out. She briefly considered trying to find a ticket to the Messiah (Beckie, Steve and I had our tickets for a couple of months) but opted instead to stay at the house and rehearse her parts for the Baptist choir performance on Sunday. 

Saturday was just an insane day all around. I had the Grand Market from 10:00 to 1:00 AND our ward had a Christmas Brunch from 10:00 to 12:00.  I had put together a pumpkin spice oven French toast casserole the night before and had Steve put it in the oven that morning because I had to leave at 8:15 to set up at the market. After I got the tables all arranged, I left everything in the hands of Madelaine and Maliha and headed out at 9:50 for the brunch. After eating, there was a program in which I directed the the choir in a number and I accompanied a couple of families. Then, I returned to the market and closed it out at 1:00. We made some sales but not as many as I had hoped. We still have SO MUCH inventory - especially tote bags and aprons.  Here we are at the market....

It was bitterly cold all day but it was also one of the only days to visit St. Charles so Elise, Steve and I bundled up and braved the temperatures to walk around lovely historic St. Charles for a couple of hours. 

We were back in time for Steve to attend a 7:30 brass quartet rehearsal. After, we watched the new animated Grinch while I re-packaged all the market items to put back in storage. 

Elise headed back to Columbia Sunday morning. Church was fairly average - the choir sang (we do lots of singing at Christmas) and the women were treated to a luncheon during second hour. All the men took over the children's classes so even us Primary workers could attend. It was very nice. That evening was the stake Christmas concert of which I was in charge of directing the orchestra and Steve played in that brass quartet. It was a very lovely event but I have decided this is my last year to lead the orchestra. There are a few very capable individuals who can take my place. It was hard to be out of town for the final rehearsal on the 7th and I was already feeling somewhat detached from the holiday season, anyway. But, the orchestra sounded as good as possible and it was so nice to check a crazy weekend off my calendar.  Here is the choir rehearsing and the orchestra members getting ready. 

And, a good thing to be finished because Steve and I both started getting sick that evening with a nasty cold.  Steve was about twenty-four hours ahead of me so on Monday, he was already down. I managed to spend my morning at the final Women's Group of the year. I was able to get in to see a nurse practitioner that afternoon about the stye in my right eye. I came home to teach a music lesson AND Beckie came over that evening and helped me make fudge, candied walnuts and Christmas crack. Bless her. I couldn't have done it alone. And, after she left, I made two batches of sugar cookie dough to chill in the fridge. And, then, I succumbed to the cold and I have been down all week.  I still taught lessons wearing a mask. I had to take the KIA to the collision repair place Tuesday morning and pick up a rental car. Thursday morning, I had to take Sally down to the vet for her annual exam and get my annual mammogram. We had to muster up ourselves to go grocery shopping Thursday afternoon. By Friday, I felt up to catching up on texts and email and finances. Saturday morning Steve and I had to fulfill our assignment of cleaning the meetinghouse. So, life had to go on but just the bare bones. No cookies have been baked. No cards have been sent. House decorating was put on hold. It was just do what was necessary and go back to rest in bed all week. Steve and I are still coughing but I think we are on the mend..

Sarah arrived yesterday evening with the dogs and cat and all will be here through the first of the year. It is great to have her.  

Our trip to Utah

We flew west on Wednesday, December 3rd. Beckie drove us to the airport in late morning. I watched Elio on the flight to Denver. Cute movie. I loved the little alien boy the best. We ate dinner at a Mexican food place in the Denver terminal. When we boarded our flight to Salt Lake, they had some light snow so the plane had to be de-iced before we took off. I have never experienced that before and I'm glad they did. We landed after 10:00 p.m. and picked up our rental car and got to Spanish Fork around 11:30. A dear friend we met during our mission, Connie Jo Ziegler, has a house about eight minutes from Kirsti's place and she has an entire basement as her "guest room" so we stayed with her.  We left early every morning to have breakfast at the Merrills but, over the four nights we were there, we had some good visits with Connie Jo. 

Thursday morning, Kirsti, Steve and I drove down to Manti to attend the beautiful pioneer-era temple there.  We ate lunch at a cute cafe in Manti that advertised gluten-free options - well, they were pretty limited actually, but I didn't starve 😄. The drive is about an hour and fifteen minutes away from Spanish Fork and it is so beautiful...majestic mountains and wide open farm lands. Plus, it was nice to visit with Kirsti without adorable grandchildren interjecting questions and comments.

That night, we drove around the Festival of Lights that Spanish Fork has been doing for decades. We stopped for ice cream at The Barn - Wall Brothers afterwards. What a cute shop - kind of like St. Charles all rolled into one store. 

below are Ivan and Alice at the ice cream place and on their swings in their backyard as they were waiting to go look at lights.  After the kids went to bed, Steve and I watched the first part of the Fantastic Four movie. 

After eating breakfast at the Merrils Friday morning, we drove Alice to her school where they had a book fair going on. We helped Alice with her book selections. Then, I went with Kirsti to drop Ivan off at his pre-school.

We finished the Fantastic Four, ate some lunch, and then, the rest of the day, Steve and I visited friends in Orem and Provo. Our first stop was to see Carol Jean Johnson Peterson. I knew her in El Paso. We are the same age, we were in the same Primary class, and we played together whenever we could - usually between Sunday meetings (at that time, Sunday School was in the morning and Sacrament meeting was later in the afternoon). Carol Jean's sister, Diane, played the cello and it was because of her that I play cello. She had just gotten her instrument and she brought it out one Sunday afternoon for all of us to look at and, for me, who had always planned to play violin, there was no turning back! I have kept in touch with Carol Jean via Christmas cards through the years. She and her husband lived in Los Alamos for decades (he was a theoretical physicist). When he retired, they moved to Orem. Then he passed away about four years ago. We calculated that we had not seen each other for about sixty years! It was nice to connect again.

While we were in Orem, we had to drive past Steve's old house. That evergreen tree is ginormous and needs to be cut down, we think. 

We then went to see Matt and Ruth Chatterly, high school friends of Steve. I left them an hour into the visit to go pick up Connie Jo and her step-daughter Laura Sue (they served together on their mission in Phoenix which is where Steve and I got to know them). I returned to Chatterly's to get Steve and we went to a Mexican food restaurant in Orem to meet our former mission president and his wife, Sean and Kristen Collins; Kristen's parents, Jer and Jenene Poulson who also served in the mission office and who now live in Provo. Sean's mother was also present. Here we all are:

We had such a lovely visit there and then back at the Poulson's condo. Great people all...

Saturday morning was Alice's baptism! 

It was scheduled for 10:30. In the Merrill's stake, baptisms are held once a month at the stake center with thirty minutes allotted for each child. The baptism takes place in the Relief Society room for fifteen minutes and the confirmation takes place in the Primary room. I don't know how many children were scheduled before Alice but hers was the last one for the day. As I entered the building a little bit after 10:00, I walked by an older woman chatting with a man in the hallway. I walked past her to Andrea and her mother (Ryan's mom and grandma) and I said "is that who I think it is?" Andrea confirmed that yes, it was Kristen Oaks. I turned towards the door where Steve was entering and out of the men's restroom walks Dallin H. Oaks, our prophet! They had attended the baptism of a great-grandchild and were heading out the door. There was no acknowledgement or hand shaking. Not even the stake president knew that he would be attending. But, pretty cool to be that close to him. And, I wonder if he even noticed Steve who really could be his doppelganger! (In fact, Steve played in a brass quartet at our stake Christmas concert three days ago and someone thought he WAS the prophet!)

After the baptism, which was attended by quite a few of Ryan's relatives, Kirsti hosted a little brunch at the house. It was nice to catch up with everyone. That evening, Kirsti and the kids and Steve and I drove down to Santaquin to Rowley's Red Barn. Ryan was nursing a cold so he stayed home. Rowley's is a fruit orchard/fruit stand but they have build a little train track to go around the trees and it is lit up with Christmas lights as you ride around. The ticket for the train ride included an apple cider donut. The Red Barn store has lots of fun things to look at and/or buy.  Plus, there was SANTA!!!

here are the kids getting their donut....

We got back home in time to have a family viewing of Elf. 

Sunday morning, we bid farewell to Connie Jo (and her adorable little dog Concha) and then we had breakfast at the Merrills before heading north to Ogden. We attended church with Sarah and then we drove up to Maurine and Cal's for a Lambson sibling gathering. We had such a super visit. Maurine is recovering from leg surgery (she was in a car accident in October) but she was still as spry as she could possibly be. Here we all are:

 

It looks like the men in the group (except Steve) all got the same memo to wear plaid shirts. And, you can see that Sarah, Steve and I all decided to be matchy-matchy. You will also note the absence of Dave. So, Monday morning, Steve and I drove down to Salt Lake to see him for about an hour. Sarah had to work during that time so it was a good time to go.  Dave's wife, Dale, has been in Tappan, New York all year taking care of her 105 year old mother so Dave has become somewhat of a hermit with his dog, Gunner. 

We got to Sarah's place a little after noon. After eating and a little nap, we went shopping and had Costco rotisserie chicken for dinner. Afterwards, we watched Klaus. We've seen it before. I love it! 

Tuesday morning, Sarah needed to work so Steve and I went shopping at my favorite store, Deseret Industries. I found five tops! Steve was looking for BYU clothing but found nothing, darn it. In the afternoon, Steve and I drove up to Logan to attend another historic pioneer temple. This one had been "modernized" in the early seventies so it looked cool on the outside but pretty average on the inside. It was still fun to be there. When we finished, we drove about seven miles south to Hyrum to have dinner with Shawn and Janna Bushman, a couple who lived in Columbia in our ward in the early 2000's while Shawn got his master's degree at MU. Janna also has to eat gluten-free so I had a worry-free meal. 

Wednesday morning was spent at the Ogden Nature Center. We had to visit the birds and the gift shop and Sarah and I walked around the short loop. Poor Steve's back was hurting so he sat on a bench resting. 

Here we are saying hello to Des Ta Te, the bald eagle.

We said goodbye to Sarah at around 11:00 and drove down to Bountiful where we had lunch at a Culvers and gassed up at a Costco. We turned in our rental car with no problems but, then, the challenges began. First of all, we ended up on the wrong level for our flight check-in. Then, the TSA line was incredibly LONG! It took us almost an HOUR to get through. Even though there were 14 desks for check-in, only 3 were manned. It was like one of those rides at Disneyland except we didn't have a "fast pass". People didn't have to remove their shoes but my boots didn't pass so I had to take them off and go through again! And, the bag of potato starch that I bought for a ridiculously good price a the Business District Ogden (a store we love to visit - kind of like the out-of-code store at the Amish) caused an alert with the x-ray so my carry-on had to be unpacked. Southwest is in the B Terminal which means a very long walk and our gate was at the utmost end of the terminal. You may imagine a Home Alone dash to the gate but our poor old aching bodies couldn't muster it so we walked as fast as we could. By the time we reached our gate, it was completely empty!!! Everyone had already boarded the plane. So, even though we had A-seating, we were the last to get on. Thankfully the flight was not very full so Steve and I got a row to ourself in the way back. He gave me the window seat so he could rest and sleep and I got some GREAT views. I started to watch a movie but the scenery outside my window just kept pulling me away. Here is the Grand Canyon.

                                                                                                                                                                    

Our layover in Phoenix was fine except Sky Harbor Airport doesn't have convenient charging stations (most places have them at the seats but not Phoenix - dumb) and our flight back to St. Louis was uneventful. It was a full flight so Steve and I got to check our carry-ons for free (yay!) and he and I each took a window seat - one in front of each other - at the back of the plane. And, surprisingly, our rows were the only ones that had empty middle seats. That was nice. I watched the new Superman on the flight. I liked it.

Beckie picked us up and we were in bed by 12:30. Thankfully, Sally let us sleep in the next morning.