Millar Moments: DECEMBER - A MERRY MONTH WITH LOT OF FUN HAPPENINGS

December was a busy month to include decorating the house, taking a trip to Boise, two Christmas dinners for family, and making tea rings for friends and neighbors. Let's start with the decorating.

When we returned home from Oregon, the first thing on my agenda was to put up Christmas decorations. I had bought a new hanging Santa in Oregon and was anxious to see where it could be put to show it off. For the past few Christmases, we have decorated with lots of Santas in our home so it was fun to add to my Santa collection. The new Santa was perfect above the fireplace, hanging from the mantel. I added a couple of other Santa's this year - a Santa flying an airplane and a Santa riding in a train. Every year I'll keep adding to my collection until I have a Santa on each shelf in the living room...about 4 more to go.

Our Santa tree

Christmas wouldn't be complete without several parties and we attended three. The first one was held at the park in our neighborhood. We brought new toys for a Heber gift store for the needy and enjoyed a warm fire and good neighbor friends. Santa even made an appearance for the children while the adults enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies. It was fun to visit with neighbors and friends around the fire.

Lisa Wade doing the narration of the
history of Heber.

Our ward had a party at the first of the month which spotlighted the history of Heber City at Christmas time. It was beautifully done with a narration and spotlight speakers that really gave us insight as to what it was like in the early days in Heber. Paul and I were asked to dance to represent how the early settlers used to hold dances often as a form of entertainment. We danced to 'Jingle Bell Rock.' We were a little intimidated as there were only ourselves and one other couple dancing, even though all were invited to come and participate. We got lots of compliments about our dancing even though we don't move as lively as we used to.

The last Christmas party we attended was a potluck dinner put on by the other Millers in our ward. There were about 15 couples who came to enjoy good food and good company in the beautiful, newly remodeled home of the Millers. It was a fun evening.

Of course, December always brings making and delivering many tea rings and this year was no exception. It's a three step process - making the dough and forming them into the tea ring shape, baking them when they've risen sufficiently, and then frosting them. I spread this out over about three weeks because I freeze the baked tea rings as they are baked and frost them as we want to deliver them. We made and delivered about 25 this year. On one day, Paul was off to a lunch with some brethren of our ward, so I cranked up the Christmas music and formed and baked several tea rings. It was snowing outside so it was a kind of magical time.

Just 5 of the 25 baked

On one Saturday, the15th, we were thrilled to pick up Katie and Ryan at a hotel in Salt Lake City and take them to breakfast. They had come in town the afternoon before to attend the Tabernacle Choir Christmas performance with Katie's family. Some how, the Thompsons had secured several tickets so that became their Christmas present to their children - the flight to SLC, dinner, the concert, and a hotel stay. We met Ryan and Katie the next morning for breakfast and to take them to the airport. What a surprise it was when Ryan announced that he wanted to stay a couple of extra days with us. Such a wonderful Christmas present. We dropped Katie off at the airport then had the rest of the weekend to enjoy Ryan, all too ourselves. We drove home via Jon and Mindi's new home to show Ryan what they were doing there. He was so impressed with Mindi's ideas and Jon's work as they completely redo this home. The rest of the day, we just hung out. Sunday was church and then a cordon bleu dinner "Christmas Dinner" with Ryan and Todd and Kailee and their family. We love having family in our home. Todd and Kailee brought up our Christmas gift with them. It was a trip to the Master's Golf tournament in Atlanta, Georgia in April - tickets and airfare included. Quite a gift, for sure.

Of course, Aria had to help Grandpa open our gift

We loved just 'hanging' with Ryan

Jaron found the umbrella hat
in the costume box.

The next Sunday we had a Christmas dinner for Jon and Mindi and their family. Eleven of the twelve of them were able to come. (Taylor had to work) It was fun to get together with them as we very seldom see them all. The next day, Christmas Eve, we went down to their home to deliver them a tea ring as we would not see them on Christmas Day.

The table all set with our Spode china just
for this special Christmas dinner

Other happenings before Christmas included lunch with Masha, from Russia, and her soon to be husband. She was married on Friday, the 21st which was the day we were leaving for Boise so we wouldn't be able to be with her. We, instead, arranged to meet her for lunch a couple of days prior to her wedding. She brought her fiancee and her dad with her and we had a wonderful visit. She has found a great eternal companion. They married on that Friday, honeymooned in Midway, and spent Christmas with his family in Salem. They, then, had to split up - him to Germany where his parents are stationed, and Masha back to Russia till they can secure the proper visas for Masha to come live in the U.S. full time. We hope it all works out quickly for them.

Also that week, we met Sandra Verbino at Misty's karate class. Misty was getting her brown with green stripe belt and we were invited to watch the ceremony. The ceremony consisted of each group showing off their skills to the judges, who then decided if they were worthy to advance to the next level. MIsty loves karate and so it was fun to share that with her and Sandra. Sandra told us she had begun an adult class in Karate. We love these two.

The picture's a little blurry but it
shows Misty in action.

On the blue turf -
a little strange for a football field

On the 20th, we traveled to Boise, Idaho to watch the BYU football bowl game. They played Western Michigan in the Famous Potato Bowl. We met Todd and Kaille in Melba and spent the night there with Kailee's parents, Reese and Susie. We went out to dinner at a Mongolian Barbecue restaurant because Todd and Kailee wanted us to try their favorite restaurant. It was good but we were glad Kailee made the sauce for us as we would have had no clue as to what to add the the meat and vegetables. After breakfast the next morning, we checked into the Holiday Inn Express, where we would spend that night, and then went to the game. Todd, Reese and Susie, and one of their grandsons joined us at the game. It was very cold but we were glad we had made the effort to come as BYU played incredibly well for the win. Kathy and Sam Bulkeley had driven all the way from Bakersfield to attend the game. At half time, I went to see them. It was good to visit for a minute or two. Kailee, the girls, and her sister, Kristina, all joined us for dinner at Good Wood Barbecue after the game. We traveled back home the next day on our wedding anniversary, which always gets overlooked because of all the Christmas festivities.

The wind made it even colder

Two

big

BYU

fans

Sam

and

Todd

Christmas Eve was a great day. I made a couple more tea rings, one for Jon and Mindi and family. We drove to American Fork for an In 'N Out burger, then to Lehi to deliver the tea ring to Jon's family. Olivia had told us the Sunday before that, in school, she was asked to draw her favorite Christmas food and she drew a tea ring. We couldn't let them go through the holidays without one, hence the Christmas Eve delivery. After visiting with them for a few minutes, we drove on to Salt Lake where we went to the 'Giving' vending machines in the Joseph Smith Memorial building. We stood in line for over an hour but it was worth it to know we were doing something of value. We donated a goat and two chickens to some needy family in a third world country. What a good feeling we had as we walked away. We, then, walked around temple square to take in the beauty of all the Christmas lights before returning home for a quite Christmas eve. After a simple dinner we watched "It's a Wonderful Life," the colored version. A wonderful way to spend the eve of our Savior's birth.

The nativity scene on temple square

Christmas day was quietly spent at home. We got calls from all of our out of town children and enjoyed visiting with them. We received lots of great gifts from them, too. Jon and Mindi gave us a pizza board and a jar of scented oil. Ryan and Katie gave Paul the movie, Christopher Robin, and me a kindle so I can download and read books on it instead of my phone...easier reading. Andrea and Casey sent a wall plaque for me and a clever 'Trump' cup with hot chocolate and a BYU ornament for Dad. We already had opened Todd and Kailee's present to us before they left for Idaho. We love that we are thought of by our children so lovingly.

After Christmas, we received a package we had ordered several weeks before. It was sent from China and was three canvas prints that we had hoped would hang above the bed in the downstairs bedroom we were redecorating. The designs were great but in purple and brown instead of black and beige as the online picture has shown. We, then, had to start looking again for something that would work in that room. On the last Friday of the month, we drove to Provo to find something. Our first stop was Tai Pan and we found exactly what we were looking for and for 70% off. We hung it the next day and loved the final look.

The last Sunday of the month, we had Sandy and Doug Heiner over for dinner. They are leaving on a mission in February and had lots of questions for us as to what needed to be done in order to serve a mission in a foreign county. They are going to serve in the office in the same mission where our former Bishop, Kyle Baird, is serving as mission president with his wife Melanie. That mission is Trinadad, Port of Spain which includes Aruba. We hope we were of help to Doug and Sandy as they prepare to serve.

One more thing - our granddaughter, Grace, has written a book. We ordered it from Amazon. It is a darling little book and we are so proud of her.