December 7, 1992 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 & Sarah:

WOW - it's the busy season!!! I just love Christmas and all the beautiful lights and decorations but sometimes I wish I could learn to say "NO" so I didn't get so involved. It's the story of my life that I work with women in the church who works outside the home so I do things for them that I would prefer not to do. The President of our Mutual works outside the home and yesterday she came by with an invitation to her home for my mutual class - she's having a little party that I didn't have anything to do with and as she was leaving she said, "Oh, please bring a cheese ball with crackers and a batch of your delicious cookies". Part of me resents that!!!

This has been a "negative" week for me and I do everything in my power to avoid things like that. I told you in my last letter about the concerns of the neighborhood with the prospective sale of the Broderick's home to UVCC. Well - that got ugly!!! Some of the neighbors who have been more involved in it than I found out that the deal was supposed to be final on Thursday, SO, there was a meeting at one of the neighbor's home on Wednesday night - DeRay Broderick came to the meeting and he cried so hard that he couldn't even talk. His business partner and also next door neighbor, Leland Howell, spoke for him. DeRay promised the neighbors that he as withdrawing his plan to sell his home to the college but Leland ended up scolding all of us for not trusting DeRay to do the right thing. Most of us believe that he would have gone ahead with his plans to sell if we had not intervened and Leland made many people, including me, angry!!! Ann reminded me last night that I had said I hoped the covenants would be broken so I could rent my downstairs to some college boys so they could help me with the yard. I did say that and that would have been nice for me but it would have been devastating to the neighborhood for UVCC to turn that home into a fraternity house or some other thing that would devalue our homes. They expect the enrollment at the college to go to 26,000 within the next ten years - I am excited about that and love living here but many people have much more invested in their homes than I have and are very concerned. I believe the covenants are going to be very closely monitored from now on.

I went to the Orem Women's Club meeting last Wednesday and I have never been so impressed with the entertainment that was provided. There is a woman here in Orem who used to entertain professionally but with their six children she chose to give it up and stay home. She sang, played the piano and told stories from memory for over an hour and it was WONDERFUL. She and her husband also compose music - she says they just give their music away rather than publish it. Her name is Gay Beeson.

I had a funny experience last week. I was cleaning downstairs and put some water in the sink in the bathroom. I went back in their a few minutes later and there was water allover the floor that had drained from the sink. I was SICK!!! I cleaned it up and tried to discover where the water was coming from. I thought there was a hole in that elbow beneath the sink so I called the plumber and his wife said she would have him get back with me as soon as possible. Later on John came by to check his mail and I told him about it. When he looked at it, he said, "Mom, you don't need a plumber, I can fix that". I couldn't believe that he knew what was wrong. We needed to replace the faucets and we went to Ernst and within an hour it was all fixed.

Patrice called while he was fixing it and she said, "Boy, Lynn taught his boys right. Roy can fix anything too". She said Roy went under their house to fix something to do with their cable television and discovered their washing machine was draining under their house and he fixed it. I would like to say though that it is something smarter to hire things done than risk getting hurt doing it.

Emily - I loved your sweet letter and I can't believe that you can write all by yourself. I am SO excited to have you come for Christmas and if the weathermen are right we may have snow for you to sled on and made a snowman. Timothy will be able to help us this year, won't he?

Bob - thanks so much for your call the other night. I feel bad because Ann told me that you & Claire understood from my last letter that I wanted to have you come on Christmas day and not do anything on Christmas eve. I wouldn't change our Christmas Eves for anything in the world. I certainly understand why you will spend Christmas day with the Ezells and I want you to know that. We will love coming to your home on Christmas Eve and I hope Claire will make her clam chowder. Patrice & I will bring a big dip with crackers or vegetables and anything else you want.

I haven't heard from the Weinerts this week but I know they are very busy with Christmas preparations and I'll bet that Barji is involved in the Nutcracker presentations - we are looking forward to attending her performance on the 18th!!!

I LOVED having the Woolleys come over for Family Home Evening last night - they kind of give me an anchor in my life and I appreciate it SO much. Sometimes I think I "unload" on them too much but they are good listeners and I get tired of talking to myself in the mirror - Ha!!!

I am sorry this printing is so light - I have had the box of the computer ribbon in my car to replace it for two weeks now and keep forgetting to do it. This is funny - I sent the check in for my Camry taxes and registration but I didn't have it safety inspected - there are just too many things to remember - Ha!!! I Love each one of you so very much - PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL!!!
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