December 9, 1991 Orem, Utah

Dearest John; Roy, Patrice, Emily & Timothy; Bob, Claire, Michael, Laura, Brett & Katie; Rick, Jean, Ricky, Barbara Jean, Mary Ann & Sarah; and Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie, Russell, LeeAnna & Jimmy:

A beautiful day here in Orem - cold but beautiful!!! I love this kind of weather and this time of year - our neighborhood is just like a fairyland at night with all the Christmas lights on the homes and yards. I believe this year everyone has tried to out - do his neighbor!!! We have put our tree on the little table next to our grandfather clock and when we open our door it looks so pretty from the outside along with all the other lights on our house. The UVCC President's house is all decorated and we can see that from our home too. I believe I have told you about the "thing" they have built on top of the library at UVCC. They kept telling us they weren't going to put another story on but they did and then they put this "thing" on top of that and we thought it was an elevator shaft but it has turned out to be a cement decoration and it is very tall and they have put a Christmas tree on top of it and it is lit up at night - we think it's kinda' cute but wonder what is coming next!!!

Daddy is outside now stringing some lights on our porch in the shape of a Christmas tree. He has a lot of energy in the mornings so he tries to have some projects lined up. He made mints just about every morning last week - we're going to give them to our neighbors for Christmas treats.

Annie is having the Christmas party at their home tonight for Viewpoint - the company John works for. Daddy volunteered to cook the brisket for it - he browned it last night and then it cooked all night and our house smells SO good. I believe she is going to serve those potatoes in the half shell and some vegetables with it.

Jeannie called last night and they are leaving this afternoon to go to California - they are driving and will go through Las Vegas and plan to come home on Friday. She said the children were all SO excited and we know it will be a wonderful trip for them. She said it reminded her of all the million trips our family made in our car when you were all little - and even when you were big!!!

We have talked to Patrice this week and she said they had a wonderful trip on Thanksgiving - the weather in Connecticut was good all the time they were there and the children were well and everyone had a good time. The phone connection was bad while we were talking but she said she had taken Emily to a musical of some kind and she had really enjoyed it. I remember all the special Christmas programs they had in Little rock at all the churches - Roy, you used to go to a midnight candlelight program on Christmas Eve that was televised - do they still have that? I believe it was at the Pulaski Heights Methodist church.

We have also talked to Bob this week and they are fine but busy. Claire's Mom had surgery just before Thanksgiving and she is doing fine. It seems so funny that the Mellor children are all still in school but the Weinerts are out for the entire month of December - I don't know how I feel about the year round school program - I guess it doesn't matter since we don't have children in the school system but it surely seems to foul up the family vacation schedules.

John is doing fine too. He went to Mesa on Saturday afternoon and came home late last night - he left for work this morning before I saw him but Daddy said he had a good trip. I promised him I wouldn't even say the word "Gayla" - I didn't think we had "bugged" him about her but he thought we had. I know this is a stressful time for him but I don't know of anyone who doesn't have stressful times - do you???

Our neighbors own a pizza shop and they brought over a gallon of root beer for us last night. We drank root beer and ate popcorn and it was fun!!! The young woman whose guilt I worked on brought over a plate of cookies early in the week - we really do have some special neighbors. We went to our Family Home Evening party last Monday night and that was fun too - some of the couples had illness so there were only six of us but we still had fun singing Christmas carols and playing "OH Heck"!!!

I can't think of any more news. We know this is such a busy time for all of you and we hope you'll slow down and be careful and enjoy the really meaningful things with your children. We love each one of you so very much and we're SO proud of you - Daddy brags about you all SO much that I get a little embarrassed - Ha!
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