Wow, its been a busy month! As I grow older, my enjoyment of Christmas increases and deepens. We made many happy memories. Our family Christmas party was a lot of fun. Deb was our hostess. She made special hats for all the children and taught them a Christmas tradition from Sweden. In Sweden, one girl is chosen to be St. Lucia and leads a procession. At our party, all the girls wore a St. Lucia crown. All the boys were Starboys. It is a beautiful tradition encouraging children to be of service throughout the year. We had our usual snack food dinner and opened gifts. The children acted out the nativity and then each of them performed a talent. We just enjoyed being together. It was so nice of Deb to host it.

Christmas Eve morning, I fixed pumpkin pancakes, sausages and eggs for us and our guests, Brent and his family. I wanted Dad to have a nice breakfast on Christmas Eve,because he would be working on Christmas. Around noon on Christmas eve, Dad and I went for a walk. Snow had been softly falling throughout the morning. The sun came out while we were walking and it shown through the snowflakes and made them look like diamonds. We had a lovely, peaceful walk. On Christmas eve, I made chili. Our three youngest children and their families were there to enjoy it with us. The grandchildren played out in the snow after dinner, while we lit the luminaras. On Christmas day, I watched Zoe open her presents. Just before noon, I drove up the canyon to meet Dad at work. The canyon was white with snow, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. It was a perfect day for a drive. I ate a delicious ham dinner with Dad at work. I came home and prepared a turkey dinner for all of our family. Miss and Brian came early and helped me. We opened gifts, everyone had fun visiting, and most of the children ate little or nothing of their dinner. Brent and Danica helped clean up after dinner. I was very grateful for their help. It was pandemonium of course, but it was fun.

Some of our usual ways of doing things changed this year, but it was a good change. Through it all, I rejoiced in the reason we can have times like this-the gift of God's beloved son, Jesus Christ.