Dearest Family,
I am SO excited about the GREAT news Jessie
has for all of us. I am VERY proud of her for being able to go to San
Diego to present her Master's Thesis to her faculty at the University
and also her fellow students. I hope she will have time to tell us ALL
about her trip - it is her news to tell!!
This is such a BEAUTIFUL time of year and we
are having perfect Wintry weather except that I would like some more
snow. We have had alot of snow and then it rained in the valleys and
washed all the snow away - I'm sure we will have plenty of snow and
ice but right now it is bright and sunny. They keep saying on
television that we have had alot of help with the drought and that's
good!!!
Susanna, Steve, Jackson & Caroline - I LOVE
your beautiful picture Christmas card. I can't believe how much Jackson
has grown and his expression has even changed and that little Baby
Caroline is a little doll. I am SO excited to see all of you on
Christmas Eve and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Caroline will like
me - Ha!!!
It was SO much fun to be with Jeannie, Rick,
Sarah and her friend, Greg Baumgartner last Sunday night at their home
watching the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional on television.
Greg has just been home from his mission to Mexico for about two months
and the cultural change is still sinking in - I can relate to that. I
don't know how many of you know about Sarah's "hair extension" and I
hope she won't be angry at me for writing about it. It is really just
gorgeous - VERY long - and I can't keep my eyes off her!!! I thought
maybe she would tire of caring for ALL THAT HAIR but so far she likes
it.
John - I loved our visit on the phone -
thank you for calling me. I never know when is the best time to call
him so I really appreciate it when he calls me. He is doing fine but I
don't believe I talked him into having a Christmas tree - he said, "Mom,
I do have Christmas lights on my house outside". I don't blame him but
I hate to think of anyone in a home without decorations at this time of
year. He has been traveling to San Francisco and a few other places but
he doesn't travel TOO much. We talked about Tar and Sammy and he
decided that Sammy got the calm genes in that genetic union - he says
that Tar is high spirited. I think it is because Sammy spends most of
her time in the house and Tar is outside alot.
Bob - I'm sorry I missed your visit
yesterday. I coaxed Bob into bringing his trailer over to keep in my
garage and he brought it over yesterday. My neighbors think they can
use my garage for their storage things. Most of the people in the
condos have two cars and since I only have one they know I have room for
their things and if his trailer is here they get the message - I
THINK!!! Bob is busy with tithing settlement interviews at their ward -
Claire has invited me to go to their Stake Musical program tonight and I
may drive over there later.
Annie - I love to hear from you about all
the things going on in your family's lives. You will have a very large
group during the holidays and I'm SO glad you have such a wonderful home
to accommodate everyone. I hope Ron's Ward Open House goes well today -
I know how much that means to all the students. This is a lonely time
of year for young people when they don't have family close by. I
remember all the hard times getting all of you home to Little Rock for
the holidays - I have those "SPECIAL" holiday chicken wire Christmas
bells you brought to us from Provo one year decorating my family room.
I will never forget that time!!!
Emily - I love to listen to the Mormon
Taberncale Choir orchestra play. This morning in the broadcast they
used many flute soloists and I thought of you. I also love to watch the
violinists. We could have our very own family orchestra with all our
excellent violinists, pianists, Timothy on the saxophone, Russell on the
guitar, etc., etc.!!!
I went to the Joseph Smith Building
Restaurant last Monday night for our annual condo Christmas family home
evening. This restaurant is on the top of that building and the view is
spectacular - the food is also spectacular and I always eat too much.
We walked around Temple Square after the dinner to see the Christmas
lights and they are just beautiful along with the large nativity scene
accompanied with a narrative. We walked across the street to see the
windows of the O.C. Tanner building and they are just WONDERFUL.
I went to the "Nutcracker" yesterday
afternoon at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake. I just love that ballet
and the news reports about it in the paper have been quite negative - I
certainly am not a very good critic because I thought it was just
excellent. I always think of the times we went as a family when Barji,
Mary Ann & Sarah were dancing in it and they are such happy memories!!!
After the program Margaret, Patt and Jackie (a friend from Brigham City
who lives in Zion Summit) and I went to the Macaroni Grill for dinner
and that was excellent. It was fun to walk around Salt Lake at night
with all the Christmas lights on - EXCITING!!!
I have spent two days at the temple this
week - I substituted one day for a sister who had filled in for me
during November. I will probably be doing more of that in the next
couple weeks. It is amazing the difference in the traffic on Friday &
Saturday mornings - Friday I didn't have to be there until 7:30 but I
left home at 6:45 because I expected heavy traffic and I just barely
made it in time. Saturday mornings I leave at 4:30 and there is hardly
any traffic.
I'm watching television coverage of the
avalanches in Little & Big Cottonwood Canyons over the weekend - three
young men have been killed and another one is still missing. SO
SAD!!! One of the young men was a medical student at the University of
Utah.
That's all the news - I think!!! PLEASE BE
VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO AND TAKE TIME TO ENJOY THE REAL
MEANING OF CHRISTMAS. I LOVE YOU SO VERY, VERY, MUCH-Grandma B
XXXXXOOOOO