November 30, 1980
Little Rock, Ark.
Dearest Ron, Ann, Susanna & Jessie,
Rick, Jean, Ricky & Barbara Jean,
and Roy,
It's really a beautiful crisp Fall day and we have just finished all the left-overs from a wonderful Thanksgiving. We appreciated hearing from each one of you and we know you all had happy Thanksgivings too - we had worried about you Roy, when you didn't call and give us Patrice a phone number so your letter was welcome. I just feel better if I have a number or a name where I can call you if I have to for some reason. Bob and Claire came over the morning of Thanksgiving and spent the day with us - we ate and ate and ate and then had a nap and went for a ride and came home and ate some more - really we were almost ill. Claire made mince meat and pumpkin pies a strawberry salad and cranberries and then we had turkey, dressing, potatoes, yams and TURNIPS from our own garden. Daddy and Bob and John went duck hunting Friday and Saturday mornings and they have had pretty good luck - they were duck hunting Friday and Saturday mornings and they have had pretty good luck - they were going Thanksgiving morning but we had a sudden snowstorm Wednesday afternoon and there was a lot of ice on the road. I believe they are going again in the morning - I will never know the big attraction that gets them out of bed at three o clock in the morning when it is freezing cold to go blow those duck calls. I forgot to tell you in last week's letter, but we have a new car and it has 700 miles on it already and it is only a week old - all of it going duck hunting!!!! It is a pretty little car - that new brownish color with an orange stripe down the sides - just like our old one except it has the fabric seats and a better radio - John says it's "plain vanilla".
We are anxious to hear how Beverly and Russell and Mimi are - we can just imagine how much fun Susanna had with all the animals and cousins and all. Our table looked so pretty with the pineapple turkey - we haven't eaten the pineapple yet but I'm so glad that I can save the "head" for other years.
I am so proud of you, Jean and Rick, for decorating your home for Christmas already - I kept thinking of you being the only ones on your street that were home for Thanksgiving. When we told Bob and Claire that, they said "everyone in Utah goes to their parent's home for Thanksgiving " - they said it was really a lonely feeling when they were in Utah. We were quite snobbish this year and didn't invite anyone - the missionaries came by the next day and I fixed them lunch but they were all invited to homes by the time we realized that the men weren't going hunting.
We have some new people in our Ward - he is a former military colonel and is now in the trucking business and they have lovely new home out in Pleasant Valley. Last week the lady came up to me and said she wanted me to meet her Mother-in-law and her new husband, Joseph Smith Jarvis - well, the mother-in-law is 84 years old and had just re-married. They were at Sunday School today and I kept looking Bro. Jarvis and he looked familiar so I went up to him and said, "Are you related to the Arizona
Jarvises?" He said, "I am the Arizona Jarvis", so I asked him if he knew Jarrett Jarvis and he said, "Oh yes, he's my son". I believe he is close to 90 and he is quite the man and we had the best visit - he said that Alice is practicing attorney in Phoenix with her husband and the oldest Jarvis boy is studying
architecture in school in Washington (that isn't spelled right, I know). It was really fun to visit with him - he said that Jarret has an office complex on 40th and Camelback that evidently has just been built - he said he had owned 7 acres there for some time and the city council finally agreed to let him build some offices on it. Can you imagine marrying again at 84 years old!!!!
I finished up my teaching job at Brady last Friday - I never could get that class on my side - they asked every day when their teacher would be back. The principal from Horace Mann called and asked me to take a maternity leave for their Reading teacher -I was happy for the opportunity to leave third grade so I said I would. It will be for the three weeks in December and I am looking forward to it - it is 7th, 8th and 9th graders but I will have an aide and there are only 15 students per class. Annie - if you have time, I would really appreciate any suggestions for books for them to read. The regular teacher called me and said she would like me to emphasize reading and book reports while I am there. Daddy has had some had experiences at Mann and if that happens tome, I'll not do it.
I think if you are brave enough to reach at that Boy's school in Provo at night and the only woman, I should certainly be brave enough to teach at Mann with an aide, during the day and with the principal within seconds from class - really I'm not anticipating any problems. I worry about you at that school, Annie - that would be an "unheard" of thing here in Little Rock so be really careful. We are living in a violent society and you just can't assume that everyone is good anymore and isn't that sad!!!!
Johnny has just been called as Teacher's Quorum President - he is such a responsible young man and everyone likes him. His hair has
kinda' been long and scraggly so Bob took him to his barber yesterday and they both got hair cuts - he had Cotillion last night and he looked so sharp - he has grown a foot in the last month - we're "eyeball to eyeball" now and that makes me sick. Bob has a "scraggly" beard and now I told John to tease him about that to see if he would shave it off but he wouldn't.
Will there be snow in Utah for skiing in a couple weeks? We surely hope so because that could be a wonderful band relaxing vacation for Roy and Ty - we have watched the weather reports and they have said a lot about snow in Idaho, Colorado and Wyoming but they haven't mentioned Utah. I called Carol Ann Willardsen yesterday morning to get some addresses - Georges, Jimmys and Carol Ellys - and she said they were really looking forward to their Christmas in Utah when they go snow mobiling so hopefully there will be some snow. Did I tell you that Jimmy and Kaylene had another little baby girl - Emily Caroline.
Claire is a little worried about her jewelry business at Cohns - it isn't selling as well as she had hoped - that is a big responsibility for her - I think it is beautiful but it is so expensive. The stores were all so crowd yesterday - the first official day of the holiday season but she said that not many people were buying jewelry.
We are all looking forward to Christmas and noone is spending very much money on gifts and if you feel that you can't do gifts this year that is just fine with everyone, isn't it?? I just can't emphasize enough how important it is for you to take time to enjoy the real meaning of Christmas and spend your free time making life happier for someone else and not by doing monetary things for them - go visit a lonely elderly person, have some little children in to hear a Christmas story. One thing I am determined to do this year is to go get Mae Garrett and have her come to our home and see the beautiful table cloth she made for us - we have used it for at least ten years and she had never been in our home. I find myself missing the time we went to the Nursing Home - we enjoyed being with Aunt Marvel but it was also good to visit with the others there.
I have told you all the news and I'm sure you have read enough of my preaching so I'll close for now. WE love each one of you very much - please be careful in everything you do and let us know what we can do to help you - thanks so much for your Thanksgiving notes and phone calls.
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