Highlights:
Spiritual
Sunday this year was Christmas Eve. Now, I will be honest with you, since moving Nano's Christmas dinner away from Christmas Eve, it has been hard for us to figure out what to do with ourselves. Dinner's have been odd. What to do has been even more odd. We did a little better this year. Our day began like a normal Sunday. We read, study, I index, we get ready and off to church. Today was Sacrament Meeting only, and ours included a short message from the Bishop and then I was part of the ward choir that sang a Silent Night Christmas Cantata. I love the music, since it all centered on the hymn Silent Night, by far my favorite Christmas song. As we were practicing, I knew I would have a difficulty holding in the tears on the third verse, but as I sang through all the songs and began to close with all the congregation, the choir, the organ, piano and flute with Silent Night, I began to look out in the congregation. There was Audrey, who is fighting cancer, there with us with a beautiful purple knit hat covering her head, there was April sitting with her children after months of fighting cancer, there we all were. Singing. I couldn't hold back the tears. The Spirit was very strong and it just made the rest of my day better. We planned to each Chinese food, so throughout we cut up veggies, dad read, Kayty talked to friends, I FaceTimed with Kaylee, Wade, Cameo and Ethan as they made cookies and shared their day, talked to Nathan as he took the little girls on a drive to give sick Jessica a little quiet rest time, talked to Doran and Morgan about the horrible car accident Morgan was a part of - someone rear ended the car he was stopped in at 45 mph and he is hurting, FaceTimed as Nathan, Jessica, Anna and Ellie opened their stocking gifts, were visited by the Blakes, ate yummy Chinese, sat in the living room listening to quiet Christmas music, went for a small drive to see the luminarios north of us, looked one more time at the beautiful light display East of us put up by some elderly people who were actually sitting outside with music playing and handing out candy canes (we thanked them for their lovely display and all the hard work) and then came home to a MarcoPolo message from Adam, Grace, Josh and Sam. All in all, it was a day that I could worship my Heavenly Father, witness the love from all my children and grandchildren, and think of the many blessings in my life. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for the gift of His Son, for the Plan of Happiness, and for the blessings of my beloved family.
Dad and I attended a session at the Phoenix Temple on Wednesday night.
I am in Alma 36 in the Book of Mormon. I continue to listen to a General Conference talk during my daily exercising.
I have indexed 37700 records so far this year.
Family
The Wilkins Family
The Wilkins family had a great week. They went to parks, jumped on trampolines, played games, and we talked a lot via Marco Polo.
On Christmas Eve, they decorated cookies for Santa, had hot cocoa by the fire, ate yummy cheese fondue and opened their gift of new pajamas
One of the gifts they got was a trampoline
Even their cat Elle was into Christmas this year.
The Ethan Rice Family
Busy week at this house! Kaylee celebrated her 5th birthday on Tuesday.
Happy Birthday, Kaylee! She and Wade will share a birthday party in early January. Wade struggled with pink eye, an ear infection, lung congestion, and he shared some of those germs with Cameo. With his recently discovered penicillin allergy, he just had to wait through the illness.
The Doran Rice Family
We visited Doran and family on Christmas day.
Morgan
Morgan was at Doran's for Christmas day so we were able to see him open his gifts.
He still is struggling with the effects of his car accident and saw both a doctor and a chiropractor this week.
Kayty
Kayty spent Christmas day re enacting pictures...
The Nathan Rice Family
Our Christmas Gift from Nathan and Jessica...
We so enjoyed FaceTiming with them on Christmas Eve as they opened their stocking gifts! We talked quite a few times during the week. It's nice when Nathan isn't so busy at school and can talk a bit. He has taken advantage of the time off to fix the car thermostat and spend lots of time with his ladies. Nathan called Saturday to say the package with the Blessing Blanket arrived. I made sure to type a little history on the blanket, and then I covered it with hugs and Grammy kisses (and I even got dad to kiss it a few times too!) If I can't be there, at least my love can.
Dad's Garden
Dad prepared his garden for the new tomato starts. He also planted some purchased tomato plants. We are picking tons of snow peas every day, and the plants are taller than the fence. Lettuce had bolted to the point dad gave it to the hens. The warm weather is just not conducive to good lettuce.
Year of the House Part 2
We went out on Tuesday and purchased our floor for the shower. Dad spent days preparing the floor, the drain, etc for the tile.
Other highlights
Christmas Eve dinner was Chinese food
Dad and I exchanged gifts.
I decorated sugar cookies and got icing on the cranberry bundt cake I had made to take to Grandma's dinner.
Grandma made a delicious Chicken Parmesan dinner, with salad, garlic bread, cauliflower and cheese, corn, some mac and cheese for the kids and snacks to enjoy.
We opened gifts
At home after Grandma's, we had Christmas with Kayty
Spiritual
Sunday this year was Christmas Eve. Now, I will be honest with you, since moving Nano's Christmas dinner away from Christmas Eve, it has been hard for us to figure out what to do with ourselves. Dinner's have been odd. What to do has been even more odd. We did a little better this year. Our day began like a normal Sunday. We read, study, I index, we get ready and off to church. Today was Sacrament Meeting only, and ours included a short message from the Bishop and then I was part of the ward choir that sang a Silent Night Christmas Cantata. I love the music, since it all centered on the hymn Silent Night, by far my favorite Christmas song. As we were practicing, I knew I would have a difficulty holding in the tears on the third verse, but as I sang through all the songs and began to close with all the congregation, the choir, the organ, piano and flute with Silent Night, I began to look out in the congregation. There was Audrey, who is fighting cancer, there with us with a beautiful purple knit hat covering her head, there was April sitting with her children after months of fighting cancer, there we all were. Singing. I couldn't hold back the tears. The Spirit was very strong and it just made the rest of my day better. We planned to each Chinese food, so throughout we cut up veggies, dad read, Kayty talked to friends, I FaceTimed with Kaylee, Wade, Cameo and Ethan as they made cookies and shared their day, talked to Nathan as he took the little girls on a drive to give sick Jessica a little quiet rest time, talked to Doran and Morgan about the horrible car accident Morgan was a part of - someone rear ended the car he was stopped in at 45 mph and he is hurting, FaceTimed as Nathan, Jessica, Anna and Ellie opened their stocking gifts, were visited by the Blakes, ate yummy Chinese, sat in the living room listening to quiet Christmas music, went for a small drive to see the luminarios north of us, looked one more time at the beautiful light display East of us put up by some elderly people who were actually sitting outside with music playing and handing out candy canes (we thanked them for their lovely display and all the hard work) and then came home to a MarcoPolo message from Adam, Grace, Josh and Sam. All in all, it was a day that I could worship my Heavenly Father, witness the love from all my children and grandchildren, and think of the many blessings in my life. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for the gift of His Son, for the Plan of Happiness, and for the blessings of my beloved family.
Dad and I attended a session at the Phoenix Temple on Wednesday night.
I am in Alma 36 in the Book of Mormon. I continue to listen to a General Conference talk during my daily exercising.
I have indexed 37700 records so far this year.
Family
The Wilkins Family
The Wilkins family had a great week. They went to parks, jumped on trampolines, played games, and we talked a lot via Marco Polo.
On Christmas Eve, they decorated cookies for Santa, had hot cocoa by the fire, ate yummy cheese fondue and opened their gift of new pajamas
I didn't hear how they liked their stocking gifts I mailed up...no news in my book is good news however.
Mike got this neat hammock that the kids tested to assure their dad's safety
The Ethan Rice Family
Busy week at this house! Kaylee celebrated her 5th birthday on Tuesday.
The Doran Rice Family
We visited Doran and family on Christmas day.
Everyone seems to like my new Christmas stocking plan...though the only vote untallied is the ones from the Wilkins family. Postage was much cheaper with this and I stayed in the budget, and still had fun!
Doran and Amber got some new canine family members this week including this one named Tod.
Morgan was at Doran's for Christmas day so we were able to see him open his gifts.
He still is struggling with the effects of his car accident and saw both a doctor and a chiropractor this week.
Kayty
Kayty spent Christmas day re enacting pictures...
The Nathan Rice Family
Our Christmas Gift from Nathan and Jessica...
We so enjoyed FaceTiming with them on Christmas Eve as they opened their stocking gifts! We talked quite a few times during the week. It's nice when Nathan isn't so busy at school and can talk a bit. He has taken advantage of the time off to fix the car thermostat and spend lots of time with his ladies. Nathan called Saturday to say the package with the Blessing Blanket arrived. I made sure to type a little history on the blanket, and then I covered it with hugs and Grammy kisses (and I even got dad to kiss it a few times too!) If I can't be there, at least my love can.
Dad's Garden
Dad prepared his garden for the new tomato starts. He also planted some purchased tomato plants. We are picking tons of snow peas every day, and the plants are taller than the fence. Lettuce had bolted to the point dad gave it to the hens. The warm weather is just not conducive to good lettuce.
Year of the House Part 2
We went out on Tuesday and purchased our floor for the shower. Dad spent days preparing the floor, the drain, etc for the tile.
Other highlights
Christmas Eve dinner was Chinese food
Christmas Day
Christmas began like any other day for me: wake up at 3:30 am, prayers, exercise, walk or jog, laundry, index. I also took my traditional "before" pics, though there wasn't much "before" to see.
Not so highlights
I had a rough couple of days early in the week. Plans I had been working on had to be cancelled due to Nano's illness and I was pretty disappointed. I was blessed with a great conference talk about things not working out as we hope or plan for. I listened to that one two mornings in a row. The first day I was pretty teary and upset. The second morning I was better. I am pretty resilient and usually put aside disappointments and changes pretty easily, but this one took just a bit longer.
I had a rough couple of days early in the week. Plans I had been working on had to be cancelled due to Nano's illness and I was pretty disappointed. I was blessed with a great conference talk about things not working out as we hope or plan for. I listened to that one two mornings in a row. The first day I was pretty teary and upset. The second morning I was better. I am pretty resilient and usually put aside disappointments and changes pretty easily, but this one took just a bit longer.
No comments:
Post a Comment