On Monday, December 11, Gary made his weekly jaunt, taking Jena, Sara and Emily from Davis county down to their townhome in Provo. He started an hour early this time, so that he and I could make it to the Utah State Hospital to attend the Mountain View Unit Family Christmas Party. Traffic was terrible for me, so they were almost done eating before I arrived but there was plenty of food and it was fun to share a meal with Ben and some of the staff and clients he is with every day. Ben has been doing better lately so it was a good visit and the food wasn't bad either.
On Friday, December 15th we attended our ward party and enjoyed a good meal and a sweet nativity scene (which was made a bit more memorable by the tall cow in the back...and a tiny sheep (boy) who was very interested in the tall cow's udders.)
Jena and I had continued to usher every Saturday afternoon matinee the month of December at Centerpoint. They were performing "The Christmas Carol" which I have seen in a variety of forms over my life time and didn't really care if I saw it or not. Jena, forever, did want to see it, so on December 16th, we ushered and then stayed for the performance. Not surprisingly, I was so glad I did. It was "The Musical" version and had several numbers that I had never heard before and a couple of them were amazing (and I cried, of course.) It is a compelling story and serves to remind us all of the power of love, family, Christmas, and forgiveness. It reminds us the importance of our choices as we go through life and what those choices really should be centered on.
That evening, we had a Hong Kong Christmas Party in Oakley, Utah, which is about 1 1/2 hours away. Looking at our plans and what we had ahead, we decided not to attend which turned out to be the best decision for us, but we missed being with our friends who are so near and dear to us. Next year.....
Sunday, the 17th, was a special day as Rance Woodrow, the youngest child of our dear friends-Scott and Debbie Woodrow, spoke in Church and then we gathered with his family and dear ward friends to honor him. Debbie made this cute porch decoration for the occasion. Elder Rance enters the MTC this week...that is a good way to start a new year.
And then we had three parties in a row---"Christmas Eve" with our kids on Sunday, Hall Extended Family Christmas party on Monday, and the "Special Olympics Girls Annual Christmas Party" on Tuesday. The first and third ones were at our house and the middle one we were in charge of the Special Visitor and his gifts. Since each party was unique, they each have their own post.
My motto all December was "One day at a time and enjoy every minute!"...and it worked! (And that was before I knew that we would have Tosha and family here to celebrate with. That just upped the whole craziness to higher and more amazing levels.) It has been amazing so far and only on one night did I stay up until 1:15 a.m. getting things ready for the next event. (Of course, I still have Christmas cards to do and presents to wrap tonight on Christmas Eve.)
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