December 1 to December 14: Beginnings of Christmas (and Happy Birthday Yuli)

Our house looked amazing after returning from our short trip to the Gorge the last weekend of November. Caitlyn had come and put up all our Christmas decorations. One year I threatened that I was getting too old to put the tree up and she has done our decorations ever since.

Crista spent the night Sunday night (Nov. 30th) in order to be able to get to Primary Children's Hospital by 5:45 AM. Zack had his appointment to get the prosethis out of the top of his mouth in anticipation for his pallet surgery in January. His mouth needs time to heal before they can operate.

Zack at the hospital, waiting for the doctor. (Surgery is scheduled for January)

Happy Birthday Camden! We finally caught up with Camden and took him out for his birthday. He was 5 on November 11. We took him to Chick fil A and got him some nuggets. He said dinosaur nuggets are better than Chick fil A nuggets. I have to disagree. A few days after our date, Jennie gave Camden a haircut. He looks so handsome!

Wednesday night we took Ila and Adrienne to Frozen at Hale Center Theater. We stopped for dinner at Ti Amo first. It was a delightful evening.

We always look forward to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I loved the talk, "Accept the Gift" by Timothy L. Farnes (Young Men's General President) He told this story about his 2 year-old granddaughter. He says,

"Every year at Christmastime, Blakely and the rest of the grandchildren come to our home to share in one of our favorite Christmas traditions: enjoying beautiful Christmas crèches. My wife and I have a collection of crèches from all over the world, and every Christmas we set them up around the house for the grandchildren to find...
One year, I noticed something odd about our crèches. Someone had gone throughout the house and rearranged them. Every figure of every crèche had been turned in a circle to face the baby Jesus. I later discovered that it was Blakely who had made this brilliant modification to our Christmas decorations. With this simple act, Blakely taught me a profound lesson: It isn’t enough just to be in the same general area as the Savior. It’s not enough to be slightly tilted in His direction, or next to someone who is close to Him. To fully accept Christ’s gift, we each need to fully turn toward Him."

He shared several pictures of his nativities with all the figurines facing the Savior. I loved this! Elder Farnes went on to tell us how we can turn towards the Savior.

All of the figurines in this nativity have been rearranged to look towards the Savior

Elder Farnes continued by telling us how we can turn more fully towards the Savior:

"I believe the answer is found in this counsel from President Russell M. Nelson: we need to “discover the joy of daily repentance.”
It really is that simple. We accept the Savior’s gift by repenting, by turning to Him. He offered His life so that we could change, improve, be healed, and be redeemed. So we accept that offer by changing, improving, and accepting His healing power into our lives.

We've spent much of the 2nd week of December attending various events featuring our grandchildren, starting with Doyeon's band concert. She plays the trombone. It was fun to hear her concert, and to visit with Dojin, Yuli and Dan in the audience.

After Doyeon was finished playing we found her to take a picture. We had to pull her away from the middle of a group of several young men. And she tells her mom she's not popular.

Thursday evening I taught my last institute class of the block. I have to admit I was relieved to be done with all lessons between now and the new year; however, I received next year's gospel doctrine class schedule and I have to have a lesson prepared for the first week in January. Old Testament coming up...I think it's time to reread my dad's book, "The Time of Jacob's Trouble."

The weather has been so warm for December. We've been sleeping with our windows open and when we wake up, it's less than 60 degrees in our room but so warm and cozy under the covers. I only feel badly about warm weather because I know my grandkids from Georgia are looking forward to coming to Utah to play in the snow. It is supposed to rain a lot next week, but it's still looking too warm for snow.

We had a fun breakfast out one morning. Roy needed to meet with the NUATV leaders (he's vice president) and work out some issues. The wives came along and had a great time.

Breakfast with some of the NUATV members (Roy is at a table with the men)
Amy, Cassie, Me and Linda

We were privileged when our ward Christmas party came along to be able to take Yuna, Dojin and Yuli with us. They seemed to have a great time. There was a craft table and a coloring table, and the primary children all got to take a gift home. One fun activity was when we were asked to put a paper plate on our head, and then told what to draw on the plate: a line (for the floor) a Christmas tree, a star on the tree, a fireplace, and a present under the tree. Roy's and Yuna's actually looked like trees. Dojin and Yuna won a prize for getting a lot of points. You got points if the star was on top of the tree and if the tree touched the floor, if you had ornaments on the tree, if your fireplace did not touch the tree, etc. Mine was pretty terrible; but in my defense, it's hard to draw on the top of your head.

Catharine, Dojin, Roy, Yuna and Yuli in front

Dojin's creative. He made eyeglasses with his "stable" ornaments. He told me his friend copied him afterward. He said he didn't like her to copy him, but we told him it was a great compliment.

Our next event of the week was Camden's preschool program. He goes to Ninja preschool which means they do the traditional preschool stuff along with tumbling. He seems to love it.

Camden stood out (thankfully, so we could find him) because he wore Avie's shirt from a few year's previous at the preschool. Sara took our picture by the tree afterward.

Later, on the same day as Camden's event, we had Avie and Effie's tumbling program. It was warm enough that Roy and I rode our bikes to the event.

Nick, Ori, Avie, Roy, Catharine, Sara and Effie

The last program of the day also featured a grandchild from the Nick Rasband family. Ori was in the ice skating show at the rec center. This was her first time doing a show without Caitlyn participating also. Ori performed to Lindsey Sterling's "Carol of the Bells." She did an excellent job. This year Ori had to get a new teacher as Caitlyn is no longer skating; mostly because she was so sick in the first few months of her pregnancy and is now a little too far along.

Ori, Sara, Nick, Cam, Effie, Avie

Catharine, Avie, Roy, Camden, Ori, Caitlyn and Nick

Ori

In Relief Society we discussed Elder Uchtdorf's talk, "Do Your Part with All Your Heart". Cammi Clapier led the discussion. She's a new member of our ward with a young family. She did an excellent job. She brought Luke 2 into the discussion and spoke how the shepherds, the wise men, and the angels, all took their gifts to serve in the way that they were able. Her two young sons (about 8 and 10 years old) came in towards the end of class and sang a beautiful song called, "If I were a Shepherd." I felt the spirit of their sweet words. Here are the lyrics and a link to the song on Youtube.

If I were a shepherd, I'd kneel before the manger, though lowly and a stranger, my gift would be my heart.
If I were a shepherd, I'd find the babe asleep there and say a humble prayer. If I were a Shepherd...
If I were a wise man, I'd travel from afar, I'd follow that great star, until I found the child. If I were a wise man, I'd bring my finest gift, my vow to follow Him. If I were a wise man...
If I were an angel, oh how I would rejoice, I'd sing with my best voice, all glory be to God. If I were an angel, I'd join the heavenly chorus. Praise God. He sent Christ for us. Hosanna to His name! If I were an angel...
I'm not a shepherd. I'm not a traveling wise man. I'm not a singing angel. I love Him just the same. I'm a disciple, I choose to love and serve Him. to follow His commandments, to take upon His name. I'm a disciple...

If I were a Shepherd song

The last program of the week was a piano recital on Sunday evening at the Grand Ballroom in Bountiful. We heard from Ila and Finn and Gunnar. Gunnar wasn't feeling well (he had a flu shot yesterday, so maybe it's that) and was anxious to get his family home. All the kids had practiced and it was an excellent recital. Ila and Finn both played solos plus a duet with there mom. Gunnar had a more difficult piece, so he just played a duet. Ollie and Cub sat by me. I felt privileged because in previous recitals, Cub has stuck with Lisa, his other grandma. It might be that he knows I carry candy in my purse, but I'll take the win anyway. Ollie likes to sit by me because he knows I'll tickle his back.