OUR FAMILY: Wednesday, December 25th"

Albuquerque, New Mexico

73rd operating temple

Dedicated: 5 Mar 2000

By: Gordon B. Hinckley

Jesus Christ, Jehovah is my strength

Isaiah 26:4

Trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:

Book of Mormon

Mormon 6:1-7:19

New Testament

Merry Christmas!

Luke 2

Oct 2019

"Holiness and the Plan of Happiness"

President Henry B. Eyring

"My prayer for today is that I may help you understand that greater happiness comes from greater personal holiness so that you will act upon that belief. I will then share what I know for myself about what we can do to qualify for that gift of becoming ever more holy.

The scriptures teach us that among other things, we can be sanctified or become more holy when we exercise faith in Christ, demonstrate our obedience, repent, sacrifice for Him, receive sacred ordinances, and keep our covenants with Him. Qualifying for the gift of holiness requires humility, meekness, and patience."

Merry Christmas!

We were up earlier than the kids, which was surprising to me. They were up around 7:30. They checked out their stocking gifts and I don't even think that Ruby noticed the two sleeping bags draped over her big gift, a bicycle. Lola got earrings and a Barbie just what she asked for. She also got a flying fairy and a mouse that lights up and crawls, and some art supplies. These were the main gifts that I saw. Rowan got a Suns hat, an ASU hat, a Suns jacket, some T-shirts and a laser sphere. Addy got a bluetooth record player. It uses bluetooth in case you don't have any vinyl records. She also got a running bag and of course books.

Darrel's ASU socks. I wonder if he will

wear them to church?

Darrel and Trina gave us an Olive Garden gift card. We always appreciate, but of course don't expect, gift cards. These are some of the things we got from Lois and Dawn. Dawn gave us a $50 gift card to Lucille's. James and I each got $40 gift cards from Amazon. Lois made me some dishcloths embroidered with fruit. She also gave me a sewing kit and some coasters she had painted. From Rebecca we got coasters with birds she hand -painted on them. James got some new Levis which he needed. They will go along with the five new shirts I got him. I was surprised to see a wrapped gift to me from James. I thought I got my gifts last night at Deseret Book. I unwrapped the pink banded watch I had admired last night at Ross. Thank you Honey!

Picture of watch in a later post

Around 8:30 we left for Christmas breakfast at Sheri's. It is raining so hard on the freeway that the windshield wipers are not able to keep up. It's difficult to see but we go slow and there isn't a lot of traffic on Christmas morning.

Ben's Letter

This is the first time in a long time that James hasn't made venison gravy for Christmas breakfast. We were assigned to bring paper goods instead.

When we arrived Sheri was cooking bacon and asked if someone would cook eggs. James stepped right in to help. Stacy's organic biscuits that she found last night after 9 pm at Target, were in the oven. She had desperately text me last night wondering where she could find biscuits because that was her assignment and she had forgotten. Thank goodness for Target. I guess you could call this our Christmas emergency. There seems to be one every year.

Trina and Darrel brought an ample supply of orange juice and Kim and Brian brought Pioneer Woman sausage gravy in a crockpot to go over our biscuits. It was delicious. James blessed the food.

Brian had made the gravy and Kim brought a pan of Martha Stewart bars she had made especially for me. I shared although I could have probably eaten the entire pan by myself because they were so good.

This is the one picture I took at breakfast featuring

Barbie, dirty dishes, part of the mess, and Kim texting.

Nice....NOT!!

Sheri and Ian gave me a Deseret Book gift card, James a Bass Pro Shop gift card, and an Olive Garden gift card for both of us.

Thank you so much!

Those who attended our Christmas morning feast: Stacy, Paul, Adam, Jared Ammon, Dallin, Michael, and Joshua. Kim, Brian, Joe, Ian, Sheri, Alex, Ben on the phone, Max, Evan and Darrel, Trina, Addy, Rowan, Ruby, Lola and James and I. Oh yes this year there were only two dogs, Ollie and Ziggie. Stacy and Paul left theirs at home. All of our Arizona family was here. We do miss Jared and Kacey's family and hope they had a wonderful Christmas. I am so grateful for them for serving at the Salvation Army Christmas Eve dinner.

Kim and Brian did a lot of service too. They took a Christmas Jar (an explanation will be given after I watch the "Christmas Jars" movie with Sheri on New Years Eve), to a sister in her ward who is legally blind. They also did service at some kind of organization that distributes food to the needy. Of course lots of people in their ward got Kim's wonderful goody plates.

James and Brian had already loaded our new TV into the back of the car. We said our goodbyes to everyone and headed back to Darrel and Trina's.

Ruby and Lola are sitting at the table working on puzzles. Ruby can't ride her new bike because of the rain. Of course Ruby got lots of new games. She is the game meister. She told me that she loves her kitty blanket.

James packs the car and we are ready to go. We say goodbye to Darrel's family and thank them for the gifts and for the nice place to stay and the good company.

Since we are out this direction we went home the Globe way. We stopped at the McDonald's in Globe for some chicken Mcnuggets. They are open on Christmas Day and they do a booming business.

I fall asleep for much of the ride. The one thing I do remember is how beautiful the snow looks in the pine trees as we come in to Show Low. We did not get as much snow in Vernon as Show Low which is rare. It is usually quite the opposite.

My friend Pam had texted me yesterday. She was at our house trying to deliver a bouquet of flowers but of course we weren't home. She told us to stop by her house which is close to the highway, on the way home and she would deliver the flowers to my car. We stopped and she delivered. They are beautiful!

The calm before the storm. I won't see my kitchen countertops again until New Years Day.

Unloading and putting away is a major task but we managed to finish before Stacy, Paul, Joshua, Dallin and Sarah arrived with their three dogs, Shipley, Vader, and Charles Barkley who goes by the name Charlie.

Paul, Dallin and James put in the new TV in the family room and then "try it out." I go into the bedroom and watch the "When Calls the Heart" Christmas special. James will put the old TV from the family room in our bedroom when we get a mounting bracket at the store.

James and I went to bed before anyone else. It has been another wonderful and joyous family Christmas. We are so grateful to our Savior who brings us all together and reminds us of what is really important in life... the family, and His gospel. We are so blessed and filled with gratitude. We are so grateful for Ben and one of the highlights of the day was getting to talk to him and see his face on the phone. He is doing great and the work moves forward in gathering Israel before the Second Coming of the Savior.