No fond farewells here

It is the last day of 2010. I'm glad to see it go. I have a friend who blogs about her cancer, saying she is grateful for what it has taught her. She comments that she has had an "interesting" life. She is truly an angel. I am made of much less seraphic material.

2010 has been a bad year for a host of reasons one doesn't post on their blog. As we drive out of 2010, I'm glad to see it in my rear view window.

Think to Thank

As I sorted through the small pile of Christmas cards and letters that were sent this year, I was impressed with the ones sent just to thank.


A letter from a family we had helped by donating to their son's mission fund.  [I actually had no idea they even knew we donated.  It must be a policy of the new bishop, as we've donated lots of times and never been thanked.  I thought the donations were normally anonymous.]

A card and gift certificates from a family we gave money do when the Dad was out of work.

A thank you from a neighbor we had recently brought treats to and visited in the hospital.

A letter from a family we had supported by sending letters to their son who is in youth facility.

We also got this cute beaded Santa Claus as a Thank You from a Chinese student whom Steve had helped. Her mother had made it.

One of the cards I get each year is from a former Young Woman of mine.  I'll call her Anne.  She is an amazing woman.  She is bright, athletic, loving, talented.  She used to babysit for us and was the most favorite babysitter.  Because of my connection to her in Young Women, I was aware of some social challenges she faced. I never think of her without thinking of the (holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner) Elie Wisesel quote, "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference."  When she was in Young Women's, the mothers in the ward took turns driving the youth to early morning seminary.  With Anne in the car, the others would talk about dates, parties, and social events that did not include Anne.  While she was never actively mistreated, others were just indifferent to her feelings.  It was a very tough time for her.


So in the spirit of thanking and noticing ...

Thanks to all my kids for traveling to Boise for Christmas.  Kim was unable to travel because of her intense back pains, but the kids volunteered to travel to Boise, lugging gifts and Santa's bags with them.  It was a very sweet gesture.

Thanks for the lovely and thoughtful gifts - a food processor, knife set, universal remote, clothes, computer bag, a beautiful calendar, handmade ornaments.

Thanks of the friends who have listened to and supported me through my many melt downs.

Thanks to the amazing people who made the ward Christmas party happen. 

Christmas Morning

Ben, Chelle and Greg displaying the chapstick secreted into their stocking.

Halle loved unwrapping.

Trisha with her new "travel" camera.

Prissy in her glory.

Halle the diva.

Christmas Eve

Halle glamour shot.

Who needs a gingerbread house with all this candy?

Brandon, David, and Zach plan their architecture.

Kim and David the finished product.

Chelle and Ben with gingerbread home and car...

Minute to Win it. Steve and David in hot competition.

Ward Christmas Party

Steve was in charge of the ward Christmas party. The directions were to have a dinner party for families with Santa there. That is a tall order as we have an older ward. Lots of people aren't wild about coming to a dinner with kids, let alone one where Santa is invited.

We were given an amazing committee. Cheryl and Sue did the decorations. Sue did advertising. Wendy was in charge of the program. Dan and Lana arranged for Santa Claus. Judy planned the craft room. Hank (from the bishopric) offered great organizational tips. Steve and I were in charge of the food.

The internet lies. I guess I should have known that, but it does. We had decided to have bone-in spiral cut ham, baked by ward members with a special pineapple glaze. The internet said we should plan for three fourths of a pound of bone-in ham for each person. Our sign-up lists said 212 were coming. While we knew the sign-up list wasn't entirely accurate, we assumed the "no shows" would be compensated for by those we didn't reach - plus you can hardly afford to run out of food at the Christmas dinner. Only about 150 actually came, though the room looked full. We had purchased 17 half hams. Between an over estimate of the attendance and an over estimate of the amount of ham needed, we had "ham for the thrashers" (as Mom would say). We had five hams and at least that many pies/cakes that we didn't even touch. We had additional ham that was cut off the bone to serve, but wasn't needed. Our good bishop was so cute. He personally delivered the untouched hams to ward members who were going through hard times. We had the foresight to buy "take out dinner boxes" like you get in restaurants, so many of the left overs were carried out by attendees. Some took a dinner to a neighbor who had surgery or just took a plate for themselves for the next day. The ham turned out great. The pineapple glaze made it great to keep warm as well as filling the hall with a wonderful scent.

Santa was a hit. We have so few young children in our ward, each got special attention as well as numerous photo ops.

The crafts were popular.

The decorations were absolutely amazing. Balloons ascending from each table. Large styrofoam gingerbread men and candies adorning the walls. Large presents with gorgeous bows livening up the tables. Christmas lights festooned from the corners of the hall. Garlands of greenery cascading from the stage. Snowflakes suspended mid air. Large candy canes gathered like a bouquet from the middle of the room. A friend sent me a few pictures - so you can see the amazing decorations.

Afterwards, we had so much help cleaning up. We got so many wonderful comments. It was a great experience.

Reflect on Christ

Each year in Relief Society we have the desire to give a Christmas gift to everyone, but have few funds. This year Kelly came up with making luminaries for everyone with the message to reflect on Christ. We spent the afternoon putting these together. They have a small artificial flame in the bottom, but it doesn't show up much. My role was gluing on the beads and gluing the canning ring to the lid.

I would never think of creating such a thing. Crafty I'm not. Kelly is just so creative. I'm just glad it wasn't like the project for last year where we tied handkerchiefs to look like dolls! They were a headache. After three hours we had all of two created. Luckily, we discovered the trick (rubber bands) and eventually got them completed.

Soup and Bread

As a Relief Society presidency, we decided to take soup and bread to the widows and widowers in the ward. I stayed home from work in order to make the bread. At the last minute, I remembered I had small gift bags from last year. I filled them with caramels to include in our deliveries (as I hadn't yet done my dipping, but had the caramels made). We divided into twos to make the distributions. What a fun time. I wish we could have spent more time visiting. It was definitely an activity I would choose to repeat.

The next Sunday, I got the sweetest thank you from one of the widowers we visited: "Thank you so much for the soup, bread, and butter caramels. I have never before been greeted at the door with angel bearing gifts."