DECEMBER - A MONTH OF CELEBRATION

December is always a month of celebration. This month we had much to celebrate with the blessing of our new grandson, Ledger, the announcement that we would be great grandparents in June, and being with family much of the month. Of course, December's main focus was on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are so grateful for His infinite love for us. We have felt it throughout this whole year as we have struggled with the death of Jaron and Paul's surgery and subsequent recovery. We have relied on His merciful arms lifting us in these difficult times. We know He has orchestrated many miracles on our behalf to help us maneuver through hard things. We love Him.

Our new grandson was blessed on December 1. Todd gave a most beautiful and insightful blessing. We were in attendance along with the Westover's and most of Kailee's family. Todd and Kailee put on a beautiful luncheon afterwards at their home. I baked 72 parker house rolls for the ham and they were all gone. We enjoyed sitting around visiting and hearing the Westover girls sing a couple of Christmas songs. They did this only after the insistence of Kailee's Dad, Reese. 

After Thanksgiving, the Westovers stayed through the weekend. Casey and Lydia flew home on Monday, the college students returned to their respective apartments, and Andrea stayed with us until Jillian finished her student teaching at the end of the first week of December. During that time, we got the exciting news that Maggie and Kasey were going to have a baby in June, making us great grand parents. She was very tired but not too sick while they stayed with us. We can't wait for this blessed event. Of course, they will have the baby in Oregon where they go to work for the summer so we won't get to hold him or her till they return to school in September. Hopefully, they will still come up each Sunday for dinner so we can snuggle the baby then.

While Andera was staying with us, she helped me decorate the house for Christmas. It was so great not to have to do it all by myself. Of course, Paul always helps put up the tree but decorating it and the house falls on me.  On the other days Andrea was here, she was on the other side of the mountain shopping with her girls and helping pack up Jillian. She wanted to leave for Oregon right after Jillian's last day of teaching which was Friday. It was so wonderful to have Andrea here for a few extra days after Thanksgiving.

Two things are a given during this Christmas season - tea rings and the Giving Machine. This year I made 20 tea rings to give away. I started early so we could have them all delivered before Jon and Mindi got here to celebrate Christmas with us. We also made sure we went to the Giving Machine at the University Mall to make our yearly contribution to a worthy cause. This year we gave 200 meals to the needy. We love this wonderful way to give during the Christmas season.

Besides tea rings, we bought popcorn to put
in Christmas tins to give away.

We were saddened to hear of the passing of one of our dear friends from Spokane, Susan Humphreys. She and her husband, Dee, moved to Woodland Hills, Utah a couple of  years before we moved here. We used to get together with other couples from Spokane several times a year. We would also see the Humphreys at the temple every Friday as they worked the shift just after ours. We attended her funeral and had a nice visit with Dee. It was a lovely service to honor a special lady. A few days after the funeral, we got together with the Bob and Janet Rands, Janet Harmon, and Dee Humphreys for lunch at Olive Garden. It was nice to visit with old friends from Spokane and catch up on the happenings in their lives. Dee brought his daughter, Kristen, who will be staying with him for a while.

For the first time in 3 years, we attended a ward Christmas party that we didn't have to plan and carry out. We were so grateful we had been released from our calling as Activity chairs so that we didn't have to be stressed about a big ward party. Paul's recovery has taken a lot longer than we thought it would and the added pressure on both of us would have been really hard to say nothing about Paul not being able to set up in anyway. He was not to lift anything until after the first of the year. We so enjoyed just sitting back and watching everyone else serve the food and put on the short but sweet program.

The theme was JOY and the food was soup and
salad from BYU Food to Go. Everyone brought
desserts to share

This month, we enjoyed the annual Christmas devotional which was broadcast the second Sunday of the month. It is always wonderful to listen to talks and beautiful music to put us in the proper Christmas spirit. This year was no exception.

Of course, December brought more BYU basketballs games. We even attended the one played at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. BYU played Wyoming and beat them quite easily. We went to PF Chang's for dinner before the game. The Fullers joined us for a fun night out.

We were so happy that Jon and Mindi decided to spend Christmas with us again this year. With Olivia and Clark living in Orem it was easier for them to bring Christmas here. Of course, Carly came with them.  We loved having them here and not having to spend Christmas alone, as we have done on many Christmases. A couple of day before Christmas, we joined Jon and Mindi and family at Little India for dinner. He had invited his boys to come join us but unfortunately only Braydon came. Jaiden was recovering from having his wisdom teeth removed and Taylor was out of town. Gavin didn't even respond to his dad's invitation. (Luckily Jaiden and Taylor met with Jon and Mindi for breakfast just before they flew back home to Florida.)

For Christmas eve dinner, I served filets, baked potato, stir fry vegetables and, of course, a sugar plum.  It was yummy except for the two filets I have spent $26.00 a pound for. They we not very good as almost every bite had gristle in it. The cheaper filets seemed to be a lot better. 

Christmas morning brought lots of presents for Clark, Olivia, and Carly. Their tradition is to give each person 3 gifts representing the 3 gifts from the wisemen to the Christ Child. The three gifts are in huge boxes and are filled with many smaller gifts inside. They came away with quite a haul as they always do. After presents were opened, we had breakfast of scrambled eggs and tea ring. The rest of the day was spent relaxing. Later in the afternoon, Todd brough his family up so his kids could open the presents we had given them. It's nice that Todd and Kailee could spend some time with us on Christmas day.

Christmas morning

I was excited for the present the Westovers gave me.
It was the glitter lantern of Santa admiring baby Jesus.

Kailee was so exhausted. Her whole family comes to town
every holiday and she and Todd end up being host
to every meal and activity. This Christmas
was no exception.

We got Jon and Mindi this puzzle of St. Augustine, Florida.
We enjoyed putting it together with them and remembering
our trip with them to this historic city.

This meme sums up our feeling of this Christmas.....

Just one more meme that bring joys to our hearts.......

Side note: A few days before Christmas, I got a call from Shem, a counselor in the bishopric. He asked me if I would speak in Sacrament meeting on the last Sunday of the month. The topic was the Come Follow Me Lesson for the week which was on Christmas and how the study of the Book of Mormon increased our testimony of Christ. I immediately knew what I needed to talk about....The many miracles we had seen during this very difficult year - evidence of Christ's love for us and his helping us through tough times. Truly our testimony of Him has increased.