A Heavenly Choir, A Party to Remember, Family and a Train Ride

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Sister Isaacson had an extra ticket to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert on the 17th and shared with me!  I wasn't able to get tickets, so was thrilled to get to go.  It was the choir, the orchestra, the bells, Laura Osness, 4 opera singers, an English actor and a stage full of dancers--what a program!

  Laura really does have an angelic voice, Richard Elliott was amazing on his organ solo, and I loved the English guy giving the scriptures from Luke 2.  The bells were in the aisles of the choir area and the dancers came down the aisles of the audience--just performers everywhere.  It was very magical.  As it turned out, with the Hosting Zone party the next night and Sister Isaacson and I in charge of cooking the chicken for the haystacks and the gravy for it, I should have been home cooking, but Robert did that while I was out enjoying the program.

We went in early Friday the 18th so that we could leave early to get ready for the party.  We came home and changed clothes and loaded up everything.  The Salt Lake Mission had the building until 4:00, so we started unloading just before that and ended up helping them with their clean up.  They had decorated trees and had lots to do.  I hated that they had to take all of that down.  We had lots to do and lots of good help.  We set up and decorated the tables, got the sauce/gravy made, emptied all of the toppings into various bowls, cut the raspberry/pretzel salad and the gingerbread--whew!  Good thing we had lots of help.


President and Sister Larson came and the Olivers and the Hinckleys!  It was great to have all of them. We had a good turnout. We set up 9 tables and pretty well filled them all.  After dinner we sang a couple of songs and then did the 12 Days of Christmas.

My personal favorite, "8 maids a milking..."

The mission presidency, "and a partridge in a pear tree'

We had the young elders come up front and each table was assigned a different day.  The elders led them in the words and actions and it was SOO Funny! We all loved it. Then we sang a couple more songs, had a poem, Elder Bergerud sang the first verse of "Silent Night" and we all joined in on the last 2 verses.  It was lovely.  All in all, I felt the party was a big success.  We had lots of help with all of it, the food was yummy, the entertainment just the right amount and lots of fun--yea!

It was a little hard to get up and go to the library first thing Saturday morning, but we made it and it was a busier day than some we'd had, so the day flew by.  We were very ready to head for home and the comfy chairs.

Sunday the 20th, we had good lessons in RS and Sunday School and a lovely choir program for Sacrament Meeting.  When we came home, I decided I needed to take a nap because Paul and Aimee were coming in at midnight and I knew I'd be a zombie if I hadn't had some sleep. I managed to bake Jayden a birthday cake, then I went to bed at 9:00 and got up at 11:00.  I went in to the airport while Robert circled outside.  I found them!  There were LOTS of people and dogs and skiies and luggage everywhere.  They got their rental car pretty smoothly, went out to meet Robert and found him in the process of getting a ticket for leaving the car!  Luckily he was able to talk the guy out of it, but it wasn't easy! We got home at 1:00, ate some cake and hit the sack.

Jayden turns 5 and flies for the first time on the same day

Monday Papa had to make the kids some pancakes--not Mickey Mouse this time, but reindeer and Christmas trees.

We didn't make it to the 7:30 devotional, but did get to the library in time for noon devotional. We're still getting used to the up and down, back and forth of the first and third floors. It seems pretty crazy, but guess we'll get used to it eventually.  Paul and Aimee came in with the kids in the afternoon.  We decided to go to JB's for dinner and then they walked over to Temple Square and looked at the lights. They got some good pictures.

We were off on Tuesday.  We did our usual shopping, then came home to put things away.  I lay down for a nap (ahhh!) and the rest of them went across the street to the church yard to build a snowman.

It snowed pretty well all day, but the flakes were so big and wet that they didn't stick to the roads. That afternoon, the 22nd,  we headed up Parley's Canyon to go over to Heber and ride the train for the Polar Express.  The roads up the canyon got a little scary in a couple of places.  They'd had way more snow up there than we had down here.  We got to Heber in time to go for dinner and still got to the train plenty early. The kids found things they wanted and their Memaw had given them money for that, so they each picked out something.  James and Jayden each got trains and Katie got a backpack with stuffed animals.

The train ride was very fun.  They passed out cookies, had us singing songs and then passed out hot chocolate.  They had lip sync contests, a talent show and dancing in the aisles.  When we got to the "North Pole" Santa got on the train, visited with each of the kids and they handed out bells to everyone.  We sang on the way back and enjoyed the lighted houses on the way.  It was a fun evening.  We were a little concerned about the drive home because of the snow and freezing temperatures.  We went slowly and made it home just fine.

Santa visits with Santa

The moms sang for us

Wednesday, the Ruggles and Gentrys came in to the library--Caleb is getting married on the 26th, so the whole family is coming for the wedding. Kim and Trent and Xander met them there. They came to the apt. for a visit and it was good to see them all and visit.  A fun afternoon.

The library is closed today and we're going to Richard and Carolyn's this evening for a big Christmas Eve get-together.  We're taking jalapeno pepper jelly, mac & cheese and Death by Chocolate.  It'll be a fun evening, I'm sure.