Millar Moments: CHRISTMAS BRINGS MANY CELEBRATIONS OF OUR SAVIOR'S BIRTH

December's celebrations started with a bang this year. On December 3, our ward Christmas party was held. After weeks of planning and following up on assignments, the committee came through with a wonderful birthday party for Jesus. We couldn't get into the building until 3:45 on the day of the party so we had to have lots of help transforming the cultural hall into a Christmas birthday party. We blew up 100 balloons, set up 30 tables, and decorated the hall with poinsettias and glittery lighted trees. The hall looked festive and once the food was set out we were ready for the ward members to arrive. We had about 180 people come to the party and everyone seemed to appreciate the focus on Christ. After dinner of ham, 2 ham sauces (which the people went crazy about), baked potatoes, mac and cheese (for the kids), and vegetables and dip, we showed a short nativity video. The bishop then spoke for a little while. After handing out an ornament with a list of service activity ideas attached, we served birthday cake and hot chocolate for dessert. We were so tired when it was all over and cleaned up but happy that it was such a success.

The wonderful Carver hams from Costco

Paul slicing 70 pounds of ham which we were
then able to warm in our two ovens on the day of the party

Santa in the Primary room waiting for the children
to arrive before our party began.

The hall all decorated

After the party was over, hot chocolate containers returned, and birthday cake divided up and given to a few members of our ward, it was time to start doing Christmas at our home. We hadn't started any decorations or tea rings as of the second week of December which is not the norm for us. Once our tree went up and all our Santas were on the shelves, it was beginning to feel like Christmas here.

The new Santa Jon and Mindi gave us.
It a Florida Santa sporting seashells and fishing nets.

Tea rings were begun the next week which, by this time in other years, I would have at least a dozen in the freezer already. Kathy Bulkeley wanted to learn how to make them so we had her come up one day to learn. I had dough ready to roll out, a tea ring baked and ready to frost, and ingredients to make more dough. I wanted her to see every step of making these. We made the dough, rolled out three tea rings, and frosted one for her to take home. Sam had driven her up to Heber because of snowy roads and we had a great time afterwards visiting and laughing with them. Later that day, we decided not to go the Provo to the basketball game and transferred our tickets to Sam and Kathy so they could experience the BYU cougar basketball game. They enjoyed it very much.

The tea rings ready to frost

Sam and Kathy at the basketball game. They
even caught a small basketball tossed up to our seats
by the cheerleaders. They gave it to a little boy sitting in front of them.

During n\the next couple of weeks, I continued to make about 24 tea rings to give away. Half way through the process, we decided to go to Costco to buy some yummy popcorn mix and then to Hobby Lobby for Christmas tins. We thought there were a few people to whom we would just give popcorn in the tins instead of a tea ring. Good decision as it cut down on my work.

The weekend before the Christmas weekend, Ryan and Nathan came to Heber. The purpose of their trip was to watch Julia in a dance competition at UVU. We went there on Saturday in the early afternoon and watched her dance one of her dances. We, then, we took Nathan to dinner and to the BYU vs Utah basketball game. Nathan was so excited to be at a game and loved it when we won. Ryan was supposed to join us by half time but decided to wait and watch the awards ceremony for the competition and talk with Julia before he joined us. He didn't get the BYU until the game was almost over so we met him in Heber for dinner at the Junction. When we got home, we watched the BYU football bowl game in which they won, too. A good day to be a Cougar fan. Ryan and Nathan had to leave early Sunday morning but it was fun to be with them for the short time we were together.

The dance we saw of Julia's

Nathan playing around with the pompoms
to make dreads.

At the game with Nathan. He was so excited to be there
especially when BYU beat Utah.

More dreads this time with white pompoms given to the
fans at the BYU game.

That Sunday, we served the girls birthday cake from
our Ward Christmas party for dessert. We let
them know it was a birthday cake for Jesus.

The next BYU game was on the following Tuesday. We drove with Deon and Gary and went for a quick dinner at Culver's. Afterwards we stopped at University mall to make our annual contribution at the Giving Machine. We bought 200 meals for people in need. We love this tradition of helping people around the world. It was then on to the BYU game for a fun evening.

Our wedding anniversary is on the 22nd of December. This year, Paul surprised me by asking what I'd like as an anniversary/Christmas gift. He asked if I would like a new computer or a new I-phone. Of course, I told him I'd want a new I-phone. I've wanted a new phone for a long time so this was so sweet of him. We went to our local AT&T store and purchased an I-phone 13 Pro phone in forest green. It had to be ordered but was to be here soon. The next day I asked Paul if he had something he would like and, to my surprise, he said he was thinking of getting a smart watch. He has had his Timex watch for 25 years and I thought he would never part with it. It is now in the garbage as we went to Best Buy that very day and bought him a Fitbit Smart Watch. We ordered a black magnetic band and he loves it and the watch. He is continually telling me how many steps he's taken and what his heart rate is. A fun Anniversary/Christmas for both of us.

This is the watch band we ordered so his watch
looks just like this one.

A side note about my I-phone. We got word that the 13 Pro would not ship until the end of January so we went back to the local AT&T to see what they could do for us. We ended up getting a blue I-phone 14 that they had in stock. The camera is the same as the Pro except it doesn't zoom in as close. The reverse camera is a little different but other than that the phone is the newer version of the 13 Pro. I'm thrilled. It has already taken much better pictures than my old phone would have.

This brings us to Christmas Eve. Because Christmas day would be busy getting dinner ready for Todd's family, we had our Christmas breakfast on Saturday instead. Then, as had happened for the past few years, Paul and I had our traditional candlelight dinner for just the two of us. This year, we bought filet mignon steaks at Costco and had Steak Oscar for dinner. We added a new tradition this year when we watched last year's Tabernacle Choir Christmas program while dinner was cooking. We will do that every year now as it added a wonderful spirit to our celebration. After dinner we opened presents from the children and watched a Christmas movie. A great way to spend Christmas Eve.

Watching the Tabernacle choir Christmas program

Our candlelight dinner

Our traditional Christmas breakfast eaten on
Christmas Eve morning

We loved having Christmas on Sunday. We went to church and listened to an incredibly beautiful Christmas program complete with narration and many songs sung by the ward choir. We came home to get dinner started as Todd and Kailee and their family were coming up to share the rest of the day with us. After a ham dinner, complete with a traditional sugar plum, we all opened some presents. We watched the girls and Lincoln open up what we had given them and then we opened up the presents Todd and Kailee had given us - a funny t-shirt for Paul and a Shark vacuum cleaner for me, which I love. We gave them the caramels which we give them every year along with a check for $400. We were so grateful they brought up some gifts so we could share a bit of their Christmas with them.

More LOL toys from Grandma and Grandpa

BYU balls for Lincoln

Dad's hilarious shirt - so right for him

Looking good Santa

On Wednesday after Christmas, I got a surprised call from an old college friend, Glen Overton. He married another college friend, Kim, whom I performed with as we toured the Middle East and Europe. He invited Paul and I to dinner and a musical in Park City. He owns the Hotel Park City where the restaurant Ruth Chris's is located. He treated us to a fantastic dinner of a salad, filet, many delicious sides, and dessert. We, then, got into a 10 passenger van which took us to the Egyptian theater where we enjoyed the performance of 'Forever Plaid.' We have seen that musical advertised at the Hale theaters but had never seen it. We thought it was a great production with lots of oldies sung. We'll have to invite the Overton's to our home for dinner when the weather settles down.

On December 30, we drove to Highland to attend the funeral of Jan Holiday's husband, Bob. He has struggled for many years. He had to be on oxygen constantly and had to stay at lower altitudes so he could breath easier. Jan had spent a few years traveling from St. George to Highland when she had family things to attend to. The funeral was a beautiful tribute to a great man, although the two speakers who did his life sketch took an hour and a half. Hence, the rest of the program had to be scratched. The Stake president did say a few words at the end but he was very brief. The funeral party had a deadline to make in Centerville where Bob was to buried. He was a veteran and the family had arranged a military burial at a specific time so they had to hurry to get to Centerville on time. We were glad we went to support my dear friend.

One other very special thing happened this month. On December 1, we were able to watch Charlotte's original musical done as a reader's theater at BYU. She had revised her original script which we has seen earlier over You tube when it was done in Oregon so we were excited to see the changes she had been working on this whole semester. It was performed by herself, her sisters, her brother in law, and a former missionary companion and was incredible. The changes helped the message become much clearer and connected the pioneer family with the the modern day family even better. That Charlotte had written the script as well as the music amazed us and the audience. She is so talented. This play should be preformed for all to see as the message is so vital to our day and the problem many are experiencing with pornography.