Christmas 2020 Came--

Christmas Eve we headed to Panda Express which has been our new(er) tradition now that the kids are adults.  On the way to the restaurant, Gary took a couple of detours to show us some houses whose lights had made the news.

The first one was way to overdone that I didn't even take a picture, but this house was quite amazing and enjoyable to observe.  They also do a musical performance which you could listen to on the radio but we didn't arrange to be there at the right times for that.

A corner house, they put lights all the way down their side/back yards as well.......

Some people really give an extra effort on their displays.  We enjoyed looking at the lights, but you wonder how the neighbors feel about the lights and the extra traffic they bring.

We ate our Panda Express and watched a Christmas movie or two.  We then read the Christmas story together, each reading a verse.  Reading the story with Jena is quite a treat and I appreciate the work she put in to learn to read.

And as tradition allows--one present for the children to open from Mrs. Claus. But surprise, this year she left one for Gary as well.

A pair of train pjs for Gary--in honor of some of his favorite pjs as a kid--train pjs from his grandma (that started our whole Christmas pjs. tradition.)

We lined up for the traditional "Christmas train" hanging up of the stockings.  Gary made so many train noises that it got the dogs barking and following us around the house until Gary finally got to the fire place to hand our stockings.  We leave the other four stockings hung up in honor of our other four children and their families who are celebrating in their own homes this Christmas.

Christmas Morning---

the tree is ready

the stockings are stuffed (Gary's is covered up because he filled my stocking after I filled his and no peeking is allowed.)

We used our timer to take a family shot to share with our kids--

i

n the piano room with our new thin Christmas tree.....

Lined up in the kitchen to retrieve our Christmas stockings---

We took a break between our stockings and opening presents because the breakfast casserole was done.

And as usual, one of the highlights of the morning is reading the tags that Jena puts on my presents--

The man???

Did you get a present from the tooth fairy?

Gary said that Jena is only following my example---

And she does do some "traditional" tags----

Gary got into the act this year as well with a couple of gifts that he wrapped himself.

Jena passed out the gifts this year.  She likes us each to have a present and then all three of us unwrapped our gifts at the same time.  It is fun but we will need to plan for that in the future and get our present count similar.

Jena had asked for a purple shirt for Christmas.  She looks great in purple and often gets comments when wearing purple so it didn't surprise me.  So she got two new purple shirts.  Here is one of them.

When she opened them up, she said, "They will remind me of Uncle Lance."  Purple is Lance's favorite color.  How sweet is that!  Now they will remind me of him each times she wears one of them, too.

Christmas afternoon was spent cooking as we were going to have Christmas dinner with Jessica, Elessia, and their kids including baby Ezri.

Earlier in the day, I had looked on facebook and saw people's pictures of their Christmas dinner table and thought I should do the same--but I forgot so this is what you get--rib bones and potato salad.  The food was good, even though the kids were more excited to be at Grandma's house than eating.  The adults enjoyed it.

Trying to get a family photo with five little people.  I took about 20 shots but none that were good---but this is life!

Brothers by the Christmas tree--

We were so glad to spend some time with them on Christmas day!

Despite the niceness of the day and the fun of the evening, it was hard to not have Ben with us.  We weren't even able to talk to him as no one answered the patient phone when we called earlier in the day and then when I got through in the evening, Ben was already in bed (at 8:30).  This is our first Christmas without spending part of the day with him.  Even when he was in the state hospital before, we spent the night in Provo and spent time with him on Christmas eve and Christmas day.  We aren't alone in this, of course.  Because of the pandemic, people are alone in hospitals, assisted living places, and in their own homes to keep themselves and others safe.  I know that and I understand it.  I am grateful for the state hospital for being so cautious because that protects Ben as well.  But it doesn't mean that I miss him less.  I miss Scott and Tosha and their families as well, but that is a different kind of missing--they are surrounded by their own children and working to make the holiday special for them.  That is what I want them to be doing.  And it was fun to see their messages and photos of the day on my phone.  Not quite as good as being there--but great anyway.

Tosha and Austen's Christmas---

These were part of the matching pjs set that Tosha got for their whole family---they wear their Christmas pajamas all month long which is such a great idea--because the fun of actual Christmas pajamas is wearing them during the holiday season.  I have enjoyed catching them in their pajamas as we facetimed during the month.

Two of the three of them in pajamas from us--Niki had the more grown-up sharks on his.  They are standing in front of their kids Christmas tree in their upstairs landing.

Scott/Chantel's: Unfortunately, the Christmas box didn't arrive in time for James and Scarlett to get their pajamas on Christmas eve.  I haven't heard if it has even arrived now.  However, they had a great Christmas without it.  They made cinnamon rolls together on Christmas Eve--one of their new traditions, Chantel said. Scott said they had a great Christmas.

Jessica and Elessia's:    pjs from us on Christmas Eve----

I think it was a success in Salt Lake, Oro Valley, Tacoma, and Syracuse.  Despite the pandemic and worries of the year--we did it anyway!

Merry Christmas to all and to all, a good night!

Some Trips to Salt Lake and Beyond for Christmas

Wednesday, we had been invited as zone leaders plus one to attended the Boxed Christmas lunch for all of the full time missionaries living in downtown Salt Lake.  It was hosted by the mission presidency and held in the lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building--directions- come in the west door and out the east door wearing masks, and do not congregate along the way. 

We actually had to arrive early into Salt Lake.  We first made our first pick-up of a donation for the Church History Library--a collection of papers and journals from three distant relatives of the donor.  This had been arranged by one of the missionaries in our zone and since we were going to Salt Lake anyway, we got to pick them up and deliver them to the Church History Library. After the pick-up, we headed to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and up into the mission office.  We had made arrangements to use a computer there so that we could attend our zone devotional at 10:00.  It was nice to walk around the mission office, learn where our box was and get our parking pass, and meet more of the people there who we have interacted with over email.

outside of the Church History Library

We then headed down at the proper time, got our lunches and treats and then waited at the end of the line to meet any of our zone who might have attended.  We were able to meet Elder Peterson from our zone plus have short conversations with other missionaries.  

In addition to our lunches and chocolates, we also got this missionary photo which we are in.  I think they were putting it together during our first weeks in the mission.

I have it on our mantle at the moment--

Like finding Waldo--can you find Gary and I?

We then dropped the box off along with Gary to be delivered to the Library.  Gary got a couple of quick things done and then joined us in the car to eat our lunches together before we headed out in different directions--Gary headed back to the Church History Library to help another missionary set up her new laptop while Jena and I headed to Provo to drop off some clothes and Christmas gifts for Ben.  The timing was almost perfect--Gary got done shortly after we arrived back to Salt Lake.  Jena and I were able to use our parking pass for the first time and figure out the best places to park to access the Church History Library.  Of course, once we move to Salt Lake, we will usually walk from our apartment to the Library but for now it is useful.

After a "fruitful" trip we headed home to complete some missionary/zone stuff before trying to finish up our Christmas preparations.  I was very proud because I completed all of my wrapping on Wednesday night--except for the one package which arrived on Thursday.  That is probably a record for me! It sure made Christmas Eve peaceful.

Christmas Eve (Thursday) Gary and I headed back to Salt Lake Valley to pick up lunch at Red Robin and share it with Dad and Karla at their house.  It was good to see them and spend an hour or so talking and eating.

Okay, I know it is not a "social distancing" photo but as I stood by my dad for this photo, I was struck by the feeling that we didn't expect my dad to make it to this Christmas and to the year 2021.  With all that has happened this year, I am so glad that he is still here, that we have time in between goodbyes and with all of those feelings, I just had to put my arm around him and be grateful for this moment!

We then stopped off at one of our zone members who is living downtown at her apartment to help set up her new computer at her house.  We had a nice visit with her as well.

Finally we got home and the time for celebrating began in earnest--

Zone Zoom Christmas Party

Despite the challenges, we decided that we would give it a try to have a Zone Zoom Christmas Party.  December is a typical time for gathering and we felt our Zone deserved a chance to gather and have fun even in a virtual way.  We did some research and talked to another set of zone leaders to see what they had done using zoom and we made our plans.  And all in all, we are very happy how it went.  I neglected to take a screen shot of the attendees at the party in their Christmas attire which was too bad.  We had about 18 people attend and I think they had a good time.

Invitation minus the cute clip art which won't download into this post and the actual link since it doesn't work anymore.

Collections

Zone Zoom Christmas Party

Monday, December 21, 2020

Starting at 6:30 pm

Join us for an unusual Christmas Party with the Zone on zoom.  Our gathering might be virtual, but the fun, laughter, and memories will be “Real” 

Click on the Link to join. 

Come prepared with a paper and pencil and bring your own snacks and drinks for the evening!

Hope to see you all there! 

Hosts: Elder and Sis. Hall

This was our schedule--in case you want to do your own zoom party--

Welcome and Opening Prayer  (because we are a zone of missionaries)

Game #1:   Guess What Christmas Song   (on PowerPoint)    That is why they had to have paper and pencils.

A clue came on to the screen after about 3-5 seconds. For some reason, blogger won't hold the powerpoint picture I tried to post.

Sister Unger skunked everyone in the game scoring 36 out of 40 points in the game and won our prize.

Breakout Rooms:  We divided them into breakout rooms randomly and they had three minutes to find ways that they all had in common.  Then we gathered back together and they reported on the things that they had found--i.e. all ridden on horseback, all had a Sams Club, all had grey hair, all graduated from college, etc.  We did that three different times.

Snack break and Story time:  Gary and I read Twas the Night Before Christmas with commentary written by my dad back in the 1960s, adjusted by my sister, Valerie in the early 2000s, and further adjusted by us for Utah.

        Sample-  Twas the Night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring             not even a mouse"

        That is not quite true.  Our cat caught a mouse and there was quite a bit of stirring downstairs.

We then had each of the zone members share their favorite Christmas ornament and tell what made it special.  That was quite sweet.

For the finale, we played the last song of Jena's Friend to Friend program- "O Holy Night" which they did in sign language.

We then ended but offered an "After Party Game" for those who were interested and two single sisters stayed and played that which was fun as well.

I am glad we tried it and I think those who attended were as well.  We will try it again in February and see if we can get more people to attend.  It was quite as fun as being together, but it did have a bit of that Christmas flair, we laughed together, and know each other slightly better than before.

It is starting to feel like Christmas.....