December 23, 1984 Billings, Montana

Dearest Roy; Bob, Claire, Michael & Laura; Rick, Jean, Ricky, Barbara Jean & Mary Ann; and Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie, Russell & LeeAnna;

Wow!!! Is it ever a Winter Wonderland outside this morning - we're so happy we don't have to worry about traveling or having anyone else travel to get home. The wind chill factor was 20 below this morning and the snow is drifted up high in the breezeway between the pantrys and the kitchen. Daddy & Johnny went duck hunting yesterday and they said they must have shot about twenty ducks (they just brought three home because they gave the rest to the man who took them in his truck) - they had a wonderful time but Johnny thought they stayed too long - they left about 6:30 in the morning and didn't get home until about 6:30 in the evening. When they went duck hunting in Arkansas they would leave the house about 3:30 in the morning and get home about noon and Johnny Says "That's the way to do it!" It was really cold but it wasn't snowing and they said the area was just beautiful - Johnny had brought the "duck callers" from Lehi along with boots, etc. so they were prepared. Anyway, Daddy is in the kitchen frying the ducks, Johnny is still asleep and I'm writing my letter. Our ward doesn't start until 1 o'clock and that's heavenly on a day like this!!!

Johnny came home Tuesday afternoon about 5 o'clock - he had left Provo about 7. We had watched the weather really close and called all over to get the road conditions and as it turned out he just barely made it between storms. He is really good friends with a Resident Assistant from Deseret Towers and he called to make sure Johnny had made it okay. We're just holding our breath that he will make it through the Winter without an accident and then when he leaves for his mission he will probably sell his car and the next one will have the front wheel drive that handles so much better on icy roads. It's great to have him home - he has spent a lot of time taking one of Daddy's old guns apart and cleaning it and re-finishing it. He is definitely an outdoors kid - loves hunting, fishing, etc. - Daddy thinks he is an absolute "clone" of Bob. I think Roy will be more like that when he has the opportunity - he moved away to go to school at the age when that is most fun. I am really looking forward to the time when Daddy can do all that he wants to without the pressure of taking care of missionaries or work, etc. It's so funny - on "P" day he gets dressed in casual clothes and is in seventh heaven - he is so tired of wearing suits and white shirts & ties twenty-four hours a day.

Well - we had our BIG open house and I can honestly say I have never worked harder!!! The house just looked beautiful - we finally got the tree so it looked really pretty. I found some gold bows that had been used with red satin ornaments and I took them off the ornaments and put them on the tree. I used the gold bows and then red and gold ornaments and a soft gold & white tinsel rope wound around the tree and then those little lights - it is really pretty. We also put gold tinsel rope framing the entrance to the kitchen along with the little lights and of course we have a lot of Christmas dolls and handmade things all over the house that really put the finishing touches on everything - most of the things we have you all have made for us and we really cherish them!!! We have the silver artificial tree up in the foyer along with red candles and then Johnny put some artificial holly rope all along the ceiling light fixtures. The Elders have decorated their offices so tastefully too - they strung gold rope all along the ceiling light fixtures and then decorated the beautiful live Norwegian Pine tree that is in there. In all the three years we have lived here this is the prettiest the home has looked - Daddy has lights all over the house outside too and also holly wreaths on all the doors. It will take me forever to take everything down and put it all away. I bought a bone china nativity set and it looks beautiful on the black piano. Carol & Elly and Ann and Art sent a beautiful poinsettia plant and then a friend in town made us a gingerbread house and they look so nice on the coffee table. Wish you could all see everything.

We had the best food at the open house - really the best over all that I have ever made. AND e have a lot left over!!! I made rolls the morning of the open house so they would be good and fresh and Daddy fixed the ham platter - it had been sliced wafer thin and then we made a special mustard that was so good. I made a HUGE cheese mold and then we had all kinds of cheese & crackers. We had a fruit cake that I made with maraschino cherries & dates and nuts that was so special, those orange & coconut balls, fudge, mixed nuts, cashews, and I'll have to tell you about some fruit candy I made. I used to make it years ago and just love it so I looked for the recipe and found it - I ground up dates, raisins, figs, nuts and coconut and then made a fondant to mix with it to hold it together and then you roll it in powdered sugar. Well - this one lady whose husband is a Bishop kept eating it and I could see she really liked it so I came upstairs and wrapped up a roll to give her to take home. When I handed it to her she became all flustered and was so embarrassed - she and her husband had all their pockets filled with it that they had wrapped up in napkins. I have wanted to have a big open house like this since we first came so now I can forget it - we had a few neighbors come in and they were so sweet and I wish I had known they were this friendly before because now we will feel comfortable around them. They really enjoyed going through the house. We had the missionaries sing Christmas carols and everything was so well done - we were really proud of it. I have also wanted to have a Christmas card with all the missionaries pictures on it and we "pulled that off" so now we can go home. That was no small "feat" - we had to take individual black & white pictures of the missionaries scattered all over Montana and Wyoming - some of them didn't turn out very good but over all we feel good about it. I'm sure Elder Dunn will criticize it for taking too much time away from missionary work - Ha!

YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE THE EXCITING THING THAT JUST HAPPENED. The doorbell rang and the Elders are all out to church and Daddy & Johnny had the television going and they couldn't hear it so I ran downstairs in my house slippers and no coat!!! It was the postman (actually it was a lady) and she was so excited - she said, "I have a big package for you". I waited in the snow while she got it out of the truck and I couldn't believe it - fresh seafood from Boston!!! We brought it upstairs to open it and I wish all of you could have seen it - it is packed with fresh seaweed and there are three dozen oysters still in the shell, three pounds of large gulf shrimp,. And four huge lobsters that are still alive. We have never received anything like that - there are specific directions on how to cook everything and then there are placemats, pinchers to get the lobster meat out with and even bibs. We will take picture of it and send them to you. Roy had called Johnny to tell him it would arrive on Friday so he could keep us from fixing anything for dinner - we thought it was kinda' funny because Johnny kept insisting that he wanted to fix dinner Friday night (we thought he just wanted to practice because he will be preparing his own food now) and finally he said he would just have time to scramble some eggs which was fine with us. Johnny says he has really been "sweating it out" because it hadn't come. Everything is fine though and it will be better today than on Friday - we're going to church now and will come back to a feast and we don't have any other obligations for the rest of the day. Thanks so much Roy - we really do appreciate it!!! We may give the duck to the Elders - Ha!

-----Now it's about 10 o' clock and I hope to be able to finish this before going to bed.

This has been a fun, fun day!!! We came home from church about 3 o'clock and fixed our seafood dinner and for the first time in our lives we had more of that than we could eat - we have never had anything so good - in fact, it is like comparing fresh fruit right from the tree to that in the grocery store. Johnny and I laughed at how much Daddy enjoyed the oyster from the shell - they had fun cracking the shells and have wounds to prove it. The shrimp were out of this world and we ate every part of the lobsters - even the part in the body that is hard to get to. That was the first time I had ever cooked live lobsters and it seemed so cruel but we did it and they were wonderful. We took lots of pictures - we had one of the Elders take a picture of us holding the lobsters out in the snow - I hope they're good. The Elders were envious but we didn't let it bother us.

After dinner we went to the Stake Center for the Church devotional and it was really fun to see Joanne Doxey on the program - I have a wedding gift wrapped and ready to send for her daughter's wedding this weekend. We had just come home from that when the phone rang and it was a Lamanite (Indian) woman with a young child who was stranded at the airport. Daddy and I went up to get her and they are here with us now - hopefully they will be able to get a flight into Wolfpoint tomorrow - if not, we'll have them for Christmas. This same thing happened to us last year only they were able to get out Christmas Eve. Daddy had a phone call from Wolfpoint tomorrow - if not, we'll have them for Christmas. This same thing happened to us last year only they were able to get out Christmas Eve. Daddy had a phone call from Wolfpoint today and it seems that one of our missionaries serving up there had written to her home in California and told them about the poor conditions of the Indians living there so their stake sent two truckloads of food & clothing to them yesterday - they are thrilled!! We also have a new missionary coming in tonight who had problems in Mexico so they have sent him to our mission - we will definitely have him for Christmas. I have a big dinner for the local missionaries tomorrow night and then a big breakfast on Christmas day - ugh!

Claire - thanks so much for your sweet letter - we are so happy that Steve is engaged - We hope each one of you has a wonderful Christmas - we love you very much * PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO - Let us know how we can help you!!!!
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