December 9, 2001 Farmington, Utah

Ron, I was so excited to receive your e-mail today saying you had heard from Russell BUT I couldn't access it. I don't know if anyone else in the family had the same problems but I kinda' hope so!!! John sends me things like that occasionally too and I don't know how to get them. I am SO happy that you have heard from him and I think you are right in assuming the anthrax thing has completely fouled up our mail system. The tragedy of September 11th has affected EVERYTHING hasn't it??? I expect any time now we will get news they have captured Osama Bin Laden and that will be very, very exciting!!!

"Christmas is in the air" and everything is just beautiful! I have worried about the weather because I had asked Jeannie and Rick if I could have my D.U.P. Christmas party at their home last Wednesday. It has snowed like you wouldn't believe and most of the ladies in that group are very old and have a difficult time getting around. The forecast was for more snow on Wednesday morning and I was prepared to cancel the party - I believe I got up ten times during the night to check on the weather and by the time it was about 10 a.m. and there wasn't any new snow I decided we could go ahead and have the party. Jeannie had her home decorated just beautifully with tables and Christmas china and silverware all set for 22 people - I was SO thrilled because the ladies had all wanted to come so badly. It was a WONDERFUL party and I am SO glad it is over. Thank you, thank you, thank you Weinerts!

The "condo group" has a tradition of getting together for dinner at the rooftop of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on Temple Square each year to start the Christmas season and we went last Monday night. We usually walk around Temple Square and see the Visitor's Center and all the decorations but the weather wasn't very good so we didn't do that this year (at least the car I was in didn't). The food is just "out of this world" and our tables were right by the windows so we saw all the lights and it just couldn't have been nicer.

I want Annie to know that I know her birthday was last Monday instead of on Sunday - I just made it a day early - Ha!!! There are many things going on and I can't keep them all straight. I have things on almost every day this month - that's fun but it's hard to keep track of everything.

I had four tickets for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Program on Friday night so Jeannie and Rick went with me. Try to imagine 20,000 people in one place listening to beautiful music and also Angela Lansbury as she narrated the Christmas spiritual story from the Bible and hardly any noise and you get the picture of how wonderful it was. She also sang many songs and told stories and she really captured the audience - they just wouldn't let her go and she came back for an encore and sang "Beauty and the Beast". The Center was decorated absolutely beautiful. Rick let Jeannie and me out right by the door while he parked and it made it so easy and we didn't have problems getting home after the program. I talked to a man at the temple the next morning and he said they didn't get home until almost midnight because of the crowd so we "lucked out". She was on the regular Sunday morning broadcast from temple square this morning and I heard she was very, very good but I didn't get to hear her. I had worried about our seats because all I could get were in the balcony but I believe I would prefer them to the ones down below. Salt Lake is surely "all lit up" for the holidays and it will stay that way for the Olympics. I was surprised when we went into the conference center because they had such tight security and even had to go through my purse.

I had to go into the temple this morning for a training session and those of you who go regularly know that you must show your recommend at the recommend desk. Well - this morning, they had the top parking area all closed and the door where many people can go in without recommends was guarded by a security guard to see your recommend before you could go in. This might be regular practice for training sessions but I don't believe I had seen it before. I just read this and it sounds very confusing - I guess you had to be there - Ha!!!

I think about Michael and Russell SO often. They are experiencing very different Christmases for them but I know they are very happy and will look back on these times as some of their best holidays. I hope they will tell us about what they do on Christmas day. I imagine Russell will be teaching the people in Madagascar about Santa Clause - the Italians probably celebrate much the way we do. My Thai friends will celebrate New Year on January 1st and it kinda becomes like our holiday here in America.

It will be a different Christmas for me too but it will be a fun one and I'm getting excited about our cruise. It will be different for John but knowing him, he will make it a fun one. I am enjoying hearing from friends via Christmas cards - I hear from people we were friends with in Wyoming, Arizona, Arkansas, Montana and of course Utah. I have lost touch with our friends from North Carolina, and Colorado - they're probably all dead!!!

Bob came over one night last week just to visit and that was SO nice!!! He and Claire came over yesterday but I guess they saw me taking a nap and didn't awaken me. I had the Hawaii/BYU football game on the radio and it was quite loud so I didn't even hear them come. I get so tired after getting up early on Saturday morning!!! Katie had a piano recital Friday night and Bob said she REALLY did a good job - she's a WONDERFUL little pianist!!!!

Jeannie had a dinner party for Sarah's D'Ette group tonight - their home is all decorated and a wonderful "party home". They are having a Relief Society party there some time this week. I can just imagine the excitement in the Roy Mellor home - I wonder what Timothy, Jesse and Emily are "hoping for". I see LOTS of Harry Potter things in the stores - that has been such a BIG thing this year. I can just see Emily all dressed up for Cotillion - that is a BIG thing in Little Rock and she is SO pretty!!!

I'm going to give you the ingredients for a "candy pizza": 1 lb. Baker's Semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 lb. Baker's white almond bark, 2 cups Kraft miniature marshmallows, 1 cup Rice Krispies, 1 cup dry roasted chopped peanuts, pecans or walnuts. 6 oz. red maraschino cherries, 6 oz. green maraschino cherries chopped, 1/3 cup Baker's coconut flakes. Melt chocolate, add marshmallows, nuts and Rice Krispies. Line desired pan with waxed paper - put mixture on top. Top with cherries and coconut - melt 1 teas. oil with a little almond bark to drizzle on top if desired. Peel off paper when cooled.