When Chrissy Comes to Town

My sister Chris decided to make a quick visit

to see Mom before Christmas and to

deliver her present first hand. As I have said before,

one of the big up-sides of having Mom close is that I

get to see more of my siblings as they come to see her!!

And it was a GRAND visit!!

At Chrissy's suggestion, we decided to
make sugar cookies at Sunrise so the
residents could have the "smell" of Christmas
permeating the air. So we whipped up the
dough and frosting at my house and hauled
up the fixin's and away we went!

These ladies were making a craft at the table in
the resident kitchen but they were happy to share
the space with us.

Then we took our finished product down
to the game tables by Mom's apartment
and had a frosting party.
Paige asked when the last time was that
Chris and Mom and I had frosted
cookies together. I'm thinking about
1967!!

It was great fun, the place smelled scrumptious,

and Mom was the most popular gal aound when she

shared them with everyone in the bistro.

Mission accomplished! It's always fun when

Chrissy comes to town!

She even got a quick visit in with

all my local kids and grandkids.

She's one of a kind!

Thanks for a great time, Sister!

XOXO

David and the MoTab

When registration opened for the Tabernacle Choir

Christmas Concert tickets, I went online and

registered all of us for ANY day and we

were lucky that Brooke drew out 4 tickets.

The tickets were for Sunday morning at 9:30AM

so that meant early rising and in your seats

by 8:30AM. We were expecting to see this....

Instead we saw a combination of these two...

Music and the Spoken Word AND a mini-

version of the concert.

Mike and I went and Brad was supposed to
join us, but his girls were up all night so he
baled at the last minute.
Brookie went too but Dustin stayed home with
the girls so she could go. (Way to go, D-bin!)

This was Mike while they were setting up
and rehearsing for the broadcast....well
and for some of the actual concert too.
(He was a very tired guy!)
So basically, Brooke and I went!!

This venue is fantastic....21,000 people in attendance!
The set was gorgeous, the orchestra superb,
the dancers and choreography beautiful, and the
bells add such a great quality...
they've come a long way from the old concert
days. This is a PRODUCTION!!

Michael York, the famous actor, was narrator and
was truly amazing with his British accent.
But the highlight was definitely David
Archuleta. He was so sweet and is such a
gifted young man with a great deal of poise for
being so young. He brought a real sweetness
to the production.

We had great seats but the venue is so large that
they do close ups on the jumbo tron which makes
it great. You feel like you are front row.

President Monsen and his daughter Sis. Gibb were
there. I always love it when the Prophet enters and
everyone stands up and the HUGE concert hall goes silent!
They made a presentation to the artists at
the end of the concert. It was a great experience!
I wonder who will perform next year????
Hope to make this a holiday tradition...
I guess we will see if we get tickets again!!

Sweden Revisited

Brad and Vanessa had a late night holiday party

to attend Friday night, so we had the pleasure

of having Gabi and Bella overnight.

It was fun to take them with us to a wedding

reception and show them off.

They are always delightful company!!

In the morning, they found some of

Brad's souvenirs from his mission in

Sweden....the Dala horse handmade by a

dear old man, the reindeer skin slippers,

and the Lap hat.

These are really cute souvenirs,

but pretty much whatever these two girls

put on looks REALLY cute!

Fun girls.....fun times!

XOXO

Christmas is for Young and Old Alike

Thursday night was the Sunrise Christmas Party

for residents and their family's so Mike

and I were thrilled to be able to

join Mom for a fun evening.

(in spite of the root canal I had done earlier in the day!)

This is the entry to Sunrise...they

always have things decorated so

beautifully for each season or holiday!

We made sure Mom's room has a

touch of Christmas too....eventhough

she says she doesn't do Christmas anymore.

They served hors d' oevures upstairs with some lovely displays.

Sorry...crumby picture but at least you can get

the idea....then they served a lovely prime rib dinner

and we were joined by Rowene who is a new

resident and is 95 years young.

Here is Beth who was helping

get everyone in the holiday spirit.

(She recently lost her husband and has

a new job as head of the welcome committee)

Finally we were entertained by the resident

choir singing Christmas songs.

All in all it was a really fun evening.

You should feel sad you didn't get to join us!!

Mom has gotten lots of Christmas greetings,

so even if she doesn't "do" Christmas anymore...

Christmas is finding it's way to her!
____________________________________

Then today I got to be present for

Jude's preschool Christmas program.

I was SOOO glad to get to go since

I haven't been able to see any other

programs this year!

And let's just say....I wasn't

disappointed!!

This darling boy knew every song and every

poem or verse PERFECTLY, not

to mention he was the cutest, most

handsome guy there....by a long shot!

Greta was so proud of big brother

and was struttin' her stuff in her

Jesse boots and fancy curls!

The guy in the red suit made an appearance...

naturally!!

Jude's teacher LOVES him!

And of course, his two biggest fans were there

cheering him on. (Love Ya-Ya!)

Adorable family...thanks for including me!

This was the first of many more grand
Christmas programs to come.

Can't Wait!!!

XOXOXOXO

Cookies and Curlers

For FHE we invited all the littles down to make

Gingerbread men. The fellas retired to the

basement to watch the Jazz play and we

ladies assisted in baking and decorating

our little Gingerbread men.

Here's a shot of the before....

And here is a shot of the after!
In between was a really big messs and
whole lot of fun! Let's just note that
the kids were basically done after
two cookies...with the exception of
Gabi who stayed to the end and
recited the Gingerbread Man Story
word for word!


This baking session was followed by a
tutorial in sponge curler setting
and Greta was thrilled to be the model!


Here are Jude and Greta displaying
the night's events.

There were enough cookies for everyone to take some home.

I think it was a success. What do you think?
XOXO

P.S. This is the best Gingerbread Cookie Recipe I have ever found.

LOVED IT! So I thought, I'd share....

NAUVOO GINGERBREAD COOKIES

1 cup white sugar

1 cup molasses

3/4 cup lard (I used Crisco)

1/2 cup hot water

2 eggs

6 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

In large bowl, ix together the sugar,molasses, lard and hot water until smooth. Stir in eggs. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Stir into the batter to make a soft dough. Cover the bowl and refrigerate dought for at least 1 hour, or until firm.

Preheat oven to 350. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cookies apprea dry in the center but still soft.

Makes about 72 cookies.

Christmas Angels

Sunday brought the Jackson and Williams

families down for dinner and some serious

girl time. These four darling girls

have a terrific time together and it's

only going to get better as the years

go by!! Here they are enjoying

dessert together.

Gabi came "decorated" for Christmas

with some mistletoe face painting.

All the more reason to kiss her!!

And Bella was sporting a

red-nosed reindeer on her cheek.

Minie and Poppy were NOT to be left out

so Brooke got some of my make-up out

and did a number on their cheeks as well!

Then I got out the Swedish candle set

and these little angels were enthralled

by the candles and the tinkling

sound the angels make as the heat

causes them to spin around.

I'm so glad I captured this moment

with these little angels of ours.

What a sweet little Christmas image!

My cup runneth over....

XOXO