Christmas Eve

 Maren invited Neal and I out to her home for Christmas Eve dinner and games.  Maren fixed a delicious ham dinner with funeral potatoes, rolls and veggies.  It was delicious.  After dinner she had planned some fun games.  The first one was a bunch of strings coming up through a toilet paper roll.  At the end of the string was a colored bow that matched the bow on a plastic up at the table.  What ever string you pulled determined what cup you got.  Under each cup there was a prize.  Two of the cups had a not so fun prize underneath them.

Greg came up with the Nothing gift.  

I came up with a $5.00 bill as my prize.  It was a fun game.

After this game she had wrapped some gifts and lined them up in a circle on the floor.  Everyone had to stand by a gift and then Maren had me read a story and every time "left" or "right" came up in the story the group moved accordingly.  At the end of the story you got the prize you were standing by.  Then they went in order and could either open their gift or trade it for someone else's.  It was fun and I think most of them ended up with what they wanted.  

They were all energy drinks of different kinds.  Some of the kids traded one for one, but mostly kept what they had.  

We also watched a short movie made by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about the birth of the Savior.  It was beautiful.  A nice way to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Thanks Maren for having us out for a delicious dinner and a fun evening.  Oh, I will add here that their little dog bit me on the leg when I came in the door.  Not sure why she zeroed in on me but I got it.  Apparently she also bit Greg's mom a few weeks ago.  So apparently she doesn't like grandmothers!!  No harm done.  No skin pierced, just a little bruise.  :-)

Cute picture of my kids.

Gathering with Susan

 Emmi, Abby and Antonio both came into town on the Monday before Christmas.  One of the traditions of the Gertsons is to have a late lunch with Susan and then drive on up to Evanston, Wyoming to buy and shoot off fireworks.  We met Susan at 3:00 p.m. at Don Pedros' for some delicious Mexican food.  We were there a couple hours and then the Gertsons' went on to Wyoming and I came back home.  It was a Tuesday and I had been to the temple and up since 3 a.m.  Neal and I were going to a movie that night with the Cutlers and Tucker.  The movie started at 10:30 so I needed to catch a quick nap in there somewhere!  

Emmi was trying to help Annie tie her sweatshirt strings just right.

Annie looking down and not sure she was happy with it.

Nope.  Didn't like it tied so pulled the bow out and left them hanging straight down.

It was a fun afternoon.  We always love spending time with Susan.  She is so much a part of our lives!

Maxfield Siblings Family Gathering

This year the family Christmas party took place at Vern and Nanette's.  Everyone was there except Nelden and Lynn.  They apparently had their own family party that evening and couldn't come.  It was a nice evening, delicious food and present exchange.  This year Lynda Ann and I made trivets for mine and Neal's family gift.  I should add here that when I say Lynda Ann and I (I use the "I" loosely). Annie did all the work and they turned out perfect and were the hit of the gifts. 

 

Christmas Family Gathering

This year we met on the Friday before Christmas.  We had all of the Cutlers, Tucker, Lyndsy and all of Annie's family but Emmi, Abby and Antonio.  They would be arriving on Monday.  We had a ham and turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

After dinner we gathered in the front room and Neal asked each family to report on what service they did with the $200 we had given each family this year.  The decision was made to not exchange presents but instead do a service for someone else.  Maren and Greg's family had a really special experience.  Maren knew of a nurse at work who is a single mom with a little family.  Working and also going to school.  Maren felt like she could really use some help so Maren put the $200 in a card and secretly slipped the envelope with the money into the nurses back pack.  The night of our family gathering, Maren got a text from her supervisor.  This young mother had text the supervisor about how incredible it was to find the money in her backpack and how much she needed it and was so grateful for it.  She had no idea where it came from.

Lynda Ann's family bought Christmas for Foster Kids of Utah.  They concentrated on the teenagers because it seems that the little people always get tons of toys and the teens kind of get forgotten.  A great program to help during this time of the year.

Tucker said he took a name off an Angel Tree.  He said it was a boy that needed clothes and shoes.  He mentioned that it was fun to be able to pick stuff out for a little boy and kind of a challenge because he is so used to shopping for girls, not boys.  

Lyndsy said that she used part of her $200 to buy Christmas presents for her two kids and then some of it to make Christmas presents for her friends kids.  

Neal and I talked to our bishopric and found out we have some families in our ward that are really struggling financially so we bought Walmart gift cards with our money and gave them to the Bishopric to distribute as they saw the need.  

All of the kids said it was a great experience and wanted to do it again next year rather than exchange presents to each other.  I loved that our kids felt that way.  I hope that this will be a tradition each year from now on.  There is something extra special about being able to give and serve others during this time of the year.  My mother was a great example of giving no matter how little you had yourself.  She said you can always find someone who is in worse circumstances than you and you can always find something to share.  

Thank you all for participating in this project.  We love you all and hope that it helped each one of you feel the true meaning of Christmas by concentrating on others in need.

 

Christmas from Susan

Susan is always so generous to me at Christmas.  I loved her gifts this year as always.  I had mentioned to her that if she wanted a suggestion that I would love the Downton Abby movies and Hawaii.  She totally came through and gave me so much more!!

She knows that I love Beans & Brews hot chocolate.  I usually stop there on my way home from the temple on Tuesday mornings.  

And, she also knows how much I love Talbots.  She was way generous!  I will use these gift cards very carefully as the sales start popping up at Talbots.  Usually the end of January is when they start their big sales.  These gift cards will certainly come in handy.  

She also bought me three new recipes books.  Best of Bridge Cookbooks.  I've already browsed through them and found some fun recipes I will want to try.

These are the bottles she gave me which are absolutely perfect for putting home made jam in and then giving them for Christmas.  Very excited to make jam in the late summer and fill them.

As usual, I was very spoiled and very happy with all my gifts.  They will all be well used!!
 

Girls From the 8th Ward

 It is so fun that this group of women want to get together twice a year to catch up on our families and lives.  It is a fun group and such a reminder of what an amazing ward we had under the leadership of great Bishops like Dick Crebs.  There just seemed to be a special feeling in that ward that I've never felt in any other ward.  We met at Wendy Taylor's home this time and had such fun.

The lady on the left is someone that I don't know.  She apparently moved into the ward just after I moved out but she is good friends with the rest of them so was invited to join us.  Lynda Ann couldn't come because she had worked the night before and was working again that night.  I think I'm in charge of getting the group together in June or July.  

Left to right:  Unknown, Wendy Taylor, me, Sharon Kasteler, Gerri ?, Diane Thompson, Jeannine Davis and Susan Kormylo.

At the table left front:  Diane Thompson, me, Sharon Kasteler, Wendy Taylor, Susan Kormylo, Gerri ? and the unknown.  

We had such a good time and stayed for over two hours.  So much to catch up on and talk about.

Christmas Lights with Abby and Mallory

 Abby came in to town last week to meet with her Payson guide dog raising group.  When she was done with that project she came in to Salt Lake and met Mallory and I up at the This is the Place Heritage Park.  I won't go into the details of driving up there but will say that it took us almost two hours to get from my house to the park.  We had no idea there would be that kind of traffic but when we finally got there and parked and walking around, it was so worth it.  We didn't think about the fact that the Zoo (which is across the street from the Heritage Park) was doing the Zoo Lights.  So you can imagine the traffic issues.  We wandered around for a couple hours and even bought a few things.  If you've been to Swiss Days then you know exactly what it was like at Heritage Park.  We did have a really fun time.  Had hot chocolate and little tiny doughnuts.  There is a name for them but I can't remember.  

My purchase was a sweatshirt.  Also bought one for Mallory and one for Abby.  Mallory spotted the same vendor that is at Swiss Days.  Fun to see them and to tell them that we've bought shirts from them at Swiss Days.  I just love this shirt.  Merry and Bright is how I feel this time of the year.  

One of the squares on Annie's Christmas Bingo was Go see the lights.  We certainly did get to go see the lights!  Such a fun, fun evening!

Annie's Talented Projects!

 I'm always amazed at what this daughter of mine comes up with, can figure out how to make and makes what she has imagined.  She was asked (or more likely, she volunteered) to decorate the ward cultural hall for their ward Christmas party.  She built this huge star, that would hang from the center of the hall.  She painted it with gold paint.  The star wouldn't fit in her car so Andrew had to drive it over to the church in his convertible with the top down.  That's how big this thing was.  I don't have pictures of the table decor so I hope she took a bunch.  I do know that she made this small nativities to go on each table.  I was lucky enough to snag one.

The star hanging in her garage.

Annie also made Bingo boxes for each one of her kids and included Neal and I.  What a gun idea.  There are twelve squares and each square represents something different that needs to be done before Christmas.  This is the Christmas Bingo box.  Inside is a wrapped gift for each of the squares.

Neal and I did a random act of kindness for a family in our ward.

This was a home made (by Annie) Christmas ornament that went along with decorate your tree square.

These were home made, by Annie, Christmas cards that went along with Send Christmas cards Square.  The cards were absolutely darling.  I've already used most of them.

Another square was Watch a Christmas movie in new PJ's.  Annie made Neal and I t-shirts to wear while watching our Christmas movie.  We watched It's A Wonderful Life.  Probably one of my very favorite Christmas movies of all time.

Another square was Read a new Christmas Book.  I found this book and had to buy it and read it.  I want Neal to give it to Peyton after he writes something inside for her.  It is a cute book and reminds me of the day Peyton was helping us decorate the tree and accidentally dropped an ornament and it broke.  Neal yelled at her and crushed her little spirit.  The ornament had no nostalgia, or was it priceless.  Just a stupid red bulb.  He's had to repent and make up for that every Christmas.  I'm sure Peyton has long forgiven him, but . . . . 

Celebrate the true meaning of Christmas was my most favorite of all the squares.

She put a personal message with this one and I'll quote the message exactly as she wrote it:

"To my family, THAT I LOVE SO MUCH!

This donkey had to be a part of our Christmas!  He is so sweet, and peaceful.  (And he even looks a little tired, like most of us).  For me, this picture brings up the warm feelings of Christmas.  The holidays remind us of what is most important.  It gives us the opportunity to reflect, to feel joy, and to remember our Savior.  

I love that Christ came to this earth in such a humble way.  In a quiet and peaceful way.  Christ was never about the pageantry of a king.  He was and is about serving, teaching, learning, and loving each other.

My hope and prayer is that we can serve and receive love within our family, and with those around us.  My heart is so full, I am so blessed.  I love you all."  

What a sweet message of reflection and love.  

Temple Day with Mallory

 Mallory and I have been trying to get a time to go to the temple and finally succeeded!  We went on a Saturday morning to the Taylorsville Temple.  We had an assigned time at 11:30 but got there a bit early and were in the chapel a little before 11:00.  So we were able to get on that session.  I always love going to the temple with my amazing granddaughter.  Always spiritual and usually there is a funny moment.  After the session we asked someone to snap a picture of us.  You can see the wind was active that day, but the picture turned out perfect anyway.

I snapped this picture of Sprout and Brinkley in the back of my car.  Mallory and I ran a couple errands and the puppies got to go with us.

Thanks, Mallory, for keeping me on the straight and narrow.  I hope we have years ahead of us of going to the temple together.  I always look forward to those outings.

A Little Behind

 I have to go clear back to December 1st.  Neal had his 82nd birthday.  He is actually pretty healthy for 82 but is dealing with sciatic nerve issues.  He has been to a doctor who ordered a steroid shot which has helped a bit.  He has also been going to a chiropractor and today is going to acupuncture.  All of which a kind of band-Aid deals.  Some days he does really good, can even play a game of golf and other days he can barely walk around.  Not sure if he is going to eventually give in and have surgery, but that will have to be his decision.  I guess he will put up with this until he finds that nothing is going to "fix" the issue except surgery.  But the day of his birthday was a good day.  We celebrated by going to Market Street for lunch.

When we got home, his birthday present was on the front porch.  I had ordered him a puzzle table.  It is really nice and has drawers on both sides.  The top can be tilted and the puzzles pieces don't slide because of the covering on the board.

Yes we had to assemble it but it went together very quickly and easily.

We both really like it and it will get a lot of use.  We both love putting puzzles together.  

Happy birthday Neal!!