Our 2007 Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We had the biggest snowfall on Christmas Eve day this year. Even bigger than the first Saturday in October when we got eight inches. We got pretty close to a foot of snow this time. It snowed all day long we are told. The evidence was here when we got back from our daughter’s on the 26th. It was snowing hard when we left here about noon. We usually don’t like to travel in that kind of weather but figured that Blackfoot wasn’t really that far and we really wanted to be there. It took us over an hour to get from our house to theirs. We couldn’t go any faster than 45 mph. It was bad. If we’d had to go any further or longer, I’m not sure we would have done it. But the snow let up about three miles north of Blackfoot. The sky didn’t clear but we could see further than a block. At one time it was almost a whiteout and we couldn’t see any further than a car length ahead of us. We are thankful it wasn’t that way very long…about a minute or two was all.

Since Grandma was going to be alone for Christmas this year we had planned on going down to get her and bring her back with us. And the take her back home on the 26th. Well, she was able to be there with us but we didn’t have to travel to her home at all. She had told the kind people who take her to church in the wintertime so she doesn’t have to drive on those slick roads that we were going down the next day to pick her up and bring her here. They told her that they were coming up here then and would be glad to bring her with them. She wasn’t sure about that because she wanted her car to go for a run to charge up the battery. I told her it would surely help us out and Grandpa agreed. So we decided that was a good way to go. Then my BIL called us a little later and told us that he would be taking wife to up here for her dialysis treatment on the 26th and if we wanted to meet them there before 1:00 pm then he would be glad to take Grandma home with them. It worked out sooo well. And she thoroughly enjoyed being there too. She didn’t say too much but I could tell she was enjoying just sitting there watching everyone, the adults as well as the children. On Christmas Eve it was just us three and our daughter. SIL and their youngest daughter. So they invited two of their neighbors to dinner who had lost their wives. The one had to leave before our program to go to pick up his daughter from work. But the other one stayed for the program. He said he so much enjoyed it. And he isn’t even LDS. For our program we took turns reading the scriptures from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Our granddaughter played a beautiful piano solo, a medley of Christmas Carols. And Grandpa sang Star of the East and O Holy Night. This year it was a little different in that our granddaughter sang the whole song of the first one. (Last year she just did the duet the first time thro’ then the second verse.) Since Grandpa’s voice still wasn’t up to par from the cold he’s been fighting, she consented to sing the second one with him too…without any rehearsal. She had been telling me that she was a good sight reader so I asked her if she wished to really show us how good she was. She said, “Sure”. It has a high G in three places. The first time she came to it she just stopped and said, “I don’t know if I can do that.” But the second and third time she hit both of them strong and right on! It was beautiful. I got chills down my spine sitting there at the piano accompanying them. And their voices blend so beautifully. I told them both, “I don’t care which ward you sing in but you need to sing together for sacrament meeting. You need to share this talent with others.” Later I was thinking that they might as well do it in both wards because they will have it prepared and it won’t be that hard to do. They both agreed. So time will tell.

The next morning we got up a little before 7:30 and had opened about ¾ of our presents when our oldest granddaughter, her husband and little girl came. They came in their PJ’s and with their gifts unopened. That was surely fun especially watching the little one open her gifts and a few others as well. We were just getting thro’ with breakfast when our second oldest granddaughter her husband and children got there. It was fun with them too. Three of the four children really warmed up to me. They each gave me a hug as they were leaving. The fourth was a little more distant so we will give him more time. Their father said that all of them are doing so much better since they are now living there with him and his wife. They now have some consistency and structure in their lives which is so good for them. Their little faces are even brighter now. His wife is doing an awesome job in loving them, teaching them and disciplining them. She is doing so well having just jumped in with those children in her life. We were all there for dinner. There were 15 of us! Our only daughter’s family is growing!

I made some family group sheets (five generations of them) with pictures for everyone for our gift this year. When you get back I give some to you or you can copy off the ones I gave your dad and mom. I was sooo excited to learn how to do that at the family history center. I also compiled some stories that I found online of some of the pioneer ancestors in both Grandpa’s and my line. I took them to Zip Print and they bound it into a little book. It turned out quite nicely too.

We are so thankful to be alive at this time when the gospel has been restored. I am so thankful for computers. I can see how they will definitely help us to get our genealogy done and find our ancestors. Our mission is showing us new things all of the time. It is very evident to me that the Lord’s hand is in all of this and that this is all part of His plan. I am so grateful for this time of year which gives us a little more time (if we take it) to reflect on the birth and life of our Savior and what He has done for us so we can return to our Heavenly Father. I love the feeling of love and giving that surrounds us this time of the year.