December 19, 1999 Farmington, Utah

What a FUN time of year - I love to receive Christmas cards and read news of friends that I haven't heard from for a long, long time. I read one today from Joan Corbitt - I'm sure Ann and Jean will remember her and possibly Bob. She and her husband Don were good friends of ours in Phoenix during the 60's and Don died about five years ago. Joan has remarried after her mission in Missouri and she sent a picture of her and her new husband. She had some sad news though - her son Don was killed this past year in an airplane accident and they are helping his wife with her five children. Joan had a beautiful home in Phoenix at the base of Camelback mountain and after Don died she moved to Gilbert and they're living there now.

I just came home from having dinner with the Weinerts and I was THRILLED to drive into my garage and find that someone had fixed my garage door opener - I had left it open because it was too much of a hassle to pull it down. Last Thursday about 4 p.m. I was already to go visiting teaching and my power went off. I couldn't get my car out of the garage so I was going to walk to do my visiting teaching and then hope the power would be back on in time for me to go to work. When I went outside Margaret and some of the men in the condos were talking about the power going off and Margaret suggested that one of them come in and "unhook" my electric opener and open it by hand so they did. Well - when I came home from work the opener wouldn't work so I had to open it by hand - it is really easy to do but a hassle because I have to come in through my front door to get to the garage so I have just left the garage door open. When I was talking to John on Friday I told him about it and asked if it were a "big job" to get it working again - he said it wasn't and he would fix it when he came up on Christmas Eve. Today when I came home from the Weinerts it was fixed and John had come to do it - THANKS SO MUCH JOHN!!! He left a message and said he had met friends in Salt Lake for dinner and then came on up to Farmington.

It is fun to be with the Weinerts and Jeannie's dinner was SO good. They had had a dinner for Mary Ann's friends last night after the High School Christmas dance and served spaghetti with three different sauces and then they had hot rolls, green salad and delicious peppermint ice cream cake dessert. Matt and Mary Ann were there and Sarah - Rick was taking care of tithing settlement at church and Barji was with friends but she came home before I left.

PATRICE - Thank you for your letter. I'm SO glad you had a good time in Seattle for Liz's wedding. I'm sure a big trip like that at Christmas time makes a crimp in your plans even though you have known about it for a long time. It is amazing to me how busy everyone gets almost the entire month of December no matter how hard you try to make things simple and plan ahead.

ANNIE - Thank you for your letter too. You will leave on Wednesday and return on the following Thursday - I am SO happy that you are able to make a trip like this before your family starts going in all different directions and it is something you all will remember the rest of your lives. I hope you will stay well and enjoy all that Hawaii has to offer. I'll bet Jessie is happy to be home from Utah State - when do they have to go back?

BOB MELLORS - I hope you have had a FUN weekend in Salt Lake at the Marriott Hotel. I'll bet you spent time walking through temple square and looking at the beautiful lights and nativity scene. That has been a tradition for your family for many years and I'm sure it is something your children will always remember. CLAIRE - thank you for your messages - it's SO good for me to know where you are - Ha!!!

JOHN - Thank you SO much for your Christmas gift from "Harry and Davids". I have always wanted one of those and it amazes me that they can get the delicious fruit delivered in such good condition. John told me that he had ordered one for each one of you too so that's why I can mention it. I have wanted to save mine for Christmas morning but John says the pears need to be eaten right away or they will spoil. I can hardly imagine fresh pears in December in Utah!!!

I have had a choice experience working at ZCMI. My desk has been right by the "Angel Tree" and it has been fun to see the little children and their parents as well as church and school classes come in with their gifts all beautifully wrapped to put under the tree. The lady who has been supervising it told me that one little "Angel Girl" had received over $400 worth of gifts and there have been about 6 mountain bikes brought in - people are SO charitable in this area.

The little group of women with whom I work had a Christmas party on Saturday afternoon. We all took food and our "boss" had one of those long sandwiches sent in - it was fun but quite embarrassing for me because they gave me lovely gifts for my birthday too. We had drawn names for gifts and I bought a darling "furry" hat for the girl whose name I had and she did not like it one bit - I was glad I had bought it at ZCMI so she could exchange it - Ha!!! This girl is about 19 and she is quite heavy and wears very, very tight and very, very short skirts so I guess I should have bought her a bigger long skirt. ZCMI is getting kinda' sad - they have liquidated so much of their inventory and the May Company is going to start doing some remodeling next week. It isn't as hard on me as it is on the long time employees - they feel like it is their home and they don't want it changed. I have been working from 6 'til midnight and you wouldn't believe how busy it is even that late. That will all change after this week and I don't believe they will need me anymore and that is fine but it has been good for me.

I received a Christmas card from Ed and Marge Lucas and Marge has cirocis of the liver. I had heard she was very ill. I have also heard from the Wings in Little Rock and they have two children living in Orem. Carlton is a sports announcer in Little Rock and Shelly's husband is an Assistant Professor at BYU. It's fun to think back on when they joined the church and the influence it has had on their lives. I have lost some of my addresses and I hope to hear from friends like the Wiggins so I can have their addresses. I also heard from Marge Mower and one of her daughters is Stake Relief Society President in an East Provo Stake. Jim and Mary Nance are doing fine and spend a lot of time with their daughter Laura in her Spanish Fork Canyon home. I continue to hear from MANY of my Thai friends and I think it is SO neat that they will send me Christmas cards even though they don't celebrate it - the one I just received is about their King and his birthday celebration.

Chris and Wayne called me this afternoon - they are in Plainview, Arkansas where Wayne's mother is in a resthome. They make about 50 lbs. of candy each year for the employees there. They will leave to go to Dallas soon and stay with Suzie and Ken and their family - did I tell you that Suzie fell while decorating her home and broke both her ankles so Chris will stay and help her? Jamie just graduated with her degree in occupational therapy and they went for her graduation before going to Plainview. Suzie and Kens' other daughter, Jennifer, was in school at Texas A & M when that terrible accident with the logs for the bonfire collapsed and her friend from California was killed. Linda and Rick will move back to Florida the last of December - I guess they offered Rick such a big salary he couldn't refuse. - he must be a good attorney.

We will spend Christmas Eve at the Weinert's home. Jeannie said today that we would have some kind of outdoor activity - sleighing if there is snow and hiking if there isn't. THEN we will do a serious job with our mint making and try to do it right - Ha!!! You are all invited to my condo on Christmas whenever you get up and want to come and I will have choices: omelets, pancakes with fruit and whipped cream, bagels and meats and cheeses for sandwiches, etc., etc. John is going to spend Christmas Eve at my condo and he said he will try to show some family slides if he can get the projector to work.