Today is Tuesday, December 21, 2010. It is too early in the morning to know if the sun will shine or not. It looks clear and cold - well, only 32 degrees cold. That is balmy compared to some days here in Nauvoo.
Last night we had a special family home evening with the Temple missionaries at the Mission President's beautiful home. The house was decorated beautifully. A tall Christmas tree decorated with handmade balls, each with a folded star design. There were several huge, and I do mean huge, pots of poinsettas. Magnificient!! And many other beautiful symbols of Christmas. Our Temple President presented a most interesting lesson. And our Temple Recorder sang "O Holy Night" to begin the whole affair. Oh, he has a marvelous voice.
An interesting part of the whole evening was that when I sat down, the Temple President asked if I would accompany "O Holy Night." He had practiced with the soloist (and he is a wonderful pianist) but didn't want to be the "whole show." Oh, my!! Well, I looked at the music and said I would. Then I prayed like crazy. It was in a good key to read - B Flat Major. And after all, I am very familiar with that song - having sung and played it many times myself. But I felt some pressure. It went quite well, I thought. Probably not as beautiful as it was practiced but at least I didn't feel like I made a total mess of it. The soloist is so good I think nobody noticed much what I did. And I got to play the lovely grand piano. It is a gorgeous looking instrument as well as having a fine touch and grand sound. Wow! That will be my Christmas treat for 2010.
We have spoken much about the birth of Jesus Christ over these days in December - in Sacrament Meeting as well as in Preparation Meetings in the Temple each day. The Prophet Joseph Smith was born in Vermont on December 23, two days before the world celebrates the birth of the Savior. We learned some special things about him with this Family Home Evening Lesson. The President read Joseph's testimony from the Pearl of Great Price. He told about an extremely well educated man who said that when he read that testimony, he knew that Joseph was not a charleton. That he was a humble truthful man, sharing his special experience with God the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. I am very grateful that I have a testimony that he did tell the truth. And I am so grateful for all the feeling that I have for the restoration of the Gospel to the earth in this dispensation of time.
After the touching lesson, the Mission President's wife shared a favorite part of every family home evening, the refreshments. Yummy "apple blossoms" with ice cream. And there was much visiting before we all headed for our humble little apartments.
The beginning of this week has been joyous. Sacrament Meeting on Sunday with the songs and stories of Jesus's birth and mission. And the privilege to partake of the Sacrament. Then this special family home evening. Now we look forward to two days to be in the Temple, another day at the Information Center, caroling on the Temple steps on Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day Dinner with all the missionaries in Nauvoo. It will be a special Christmas. We all will miss families, of course. Will they miss us? Probably, but Glen and I are much closer than the Christmas we spent in India and the Christmas we spent in Greece. Phone calls and e-mails are much easier.
I just have to add the words of one of our family caroling songs -
C is for the Christ Child, born upon this day.
H for herald angels in the night.
R means our Redeemer,
I means Israel.
S is for the star that shone so bright.
T is for three wise men, they who traveled far.
M is for the manger where He lay.
A's for all He stands for.
S means shepherds came.
And that's why there's a Christmas Day!
That's all for today.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Random Holiday Thoughts
Today is Friday, December 10, 2010. The sun is shining but there is frost on the ground and it is about 22 degrees here in Nauvoo, Illinois. That is not as cold as it was the other day - 11 degrees and that day the sun was not shining.
I can't believe I did not post anything in November. I have written a blog - inside my head - almost every day. But somehow I did not get it put on this blog spot. Oh, my!!
Many things happened in November. The first thing was that we left Nauvoo for two weeks while the Temple was closed for maintainance Theoritically, it was to go home and get our winter clothes. Since we don't have "winter" clothes in California, it just gave us a chance to go home to visit family for a few days. Before we went to California we stopped in Denver for a reunion with my husband's brothers and the wives. We had a wonderful time together. We always do. We missed the two brothers and the one wife who have died since our last big get together. Who knows, from time to time, how the family dynamics will change? Only the Lord knows, I think. After those few days, we traveled on to Citrus Heights.
Home was good. Here in our apartment in Nauvoo, our bedroom is larger than our little bedroom at home. We joked some about that. Of course, I love my kitchen and miss the pantry and cupboard space but I can adapt for a year. And if I think about the places we lived in Pakistan and India and Greece, this little place in Nauvoo is just fine.
It was wonderful to see the family. We didn't get to visit with all of our children and grandchildren but our youngest daughter came with her two cute boys and the others that live close to us got together on Sunday. The members of the Ward seemed glad to see us and said they will miss us during the coming year. (Nice thoughts expressed.)
We were back to Nauvoo in time to prepare for Thanksgiving. The Temple opened on November 16 with our new winter schedule. Monday is our preparation day - we shop for groceries, wash our clothes, clean our apartment, and whatever else we need to do. There was shopping, of course, for Thanksgiving food. All the missionaries met together to have Thanksgiving dinner. Each of us had assignments. Mine was to bring four pies. I like to make pie. In fact, we volunteered for what we wanted to bring. I made pumpkin pie and cherry pie to take to the big dinner held at the Stake Center. And I made a cherry pie and a mincemeat pie for us to have a home. I was lucky to find Borden's Nonesuch Mincemeat at the Wal-Mart in Keokuk. The plain kind, not the one with brandy. Yeah!! I was so excited. Anyway, Thanksgiving Day reminded us of all the things we are grateful for. There would be pages and pages if I wrote them all down.
Now we are into December, anticipating this special time of the year when so many people remember the birth of Jesus Christ and all the He has done for the world and the teachings He has given to all the people of the world. Hearts are turned with more thoughts toward others and helping others. Isn't it wonderful? There are Christmas carols in the air and decorations on all the streets. Here in Nauvoo there is Christmas Walk on the first Saturday. All the businesses in town have decorated trees outside their buildings. Certain trees have angel tags with special requests on them. It's called the bright angel program and gives townspeople and missionaries the opportunity to help someone in need. On that day the Clydsdale horses pull the wagons filled with guests to some of the Old Nauvoo sites and back and forth up and down the city streets. Well, I guess you can say city - Nauvoo has population of 11oo people. That includes all the people in town and out on the farms.
The missionary numbers are about 250 for the winter months. In the summer that number will increase because Nauvoo has lots of tourists in the summer, especially at Pageant time in July.
The leaves have all fallen from the trees and it makes the Mississippi River seem very close to us. We can see all the houses on the next block and even the brick yard. We have an eagle's nest down in one of the trees by the river and the Red Brick Store. And there are hundreds of geese that settle out on the ice in the river. Such a strange site on the cold, cold ice. Once in a while we see a deer or two and someone said yesterday they saw a coyote out on the green.
The women's monuments are easy to see now that the trees are bare. I want to go take some pictures of them but I haven't done it yet. Morning time fills up and then when we are finished with our Temple assignment it is dark as midnight - even though it is only 8:30 PM. It gets dark, really dark, about 5:30.
We manage to keep busy and we are never bored, that's for sure. Each day we have one or two very special experiences, sometime more than one or two, but always something special about each day.
This is why I need to write more often. It makes a long blog when I write so seldom. My plan is to do better - to actually blog, not just in my head. I think that is all for today.
I can't believe I did not post anything in November. I have written a blog - inside my head - almost every day. But somehow I did not get it put on this blog spot. Oh, my!!
Many things happened in November. The first thing was that we left Nauvoo for two weeks while the Temple was closed for maintainance Theoritically, it was to go home and get our winter clothes. Since we don't have "winter" clothes in California, it just gave us a chance to go home to visit family for a few days. Before we went to California we stopped in Denver for a reunion with my husband's brothers and the wives. We had a wonderful time together. We always do. We missed the two brothers and the one wife who have died since our last big get together. Who knows, from time to time, how the family dynamics will change? Only the Lord knows, I think. After those few days, we traveled on to Citrus Heights.
Home was good. Here in our apartment in Nauvoo, our bedroom is larger than our little bedroom at home. We joked some about that. Of course, I love my kitchen and miss the pantry and cupboard space but I can adapt for a year. And if I think about the places we lived in Pakistan and India and Greece, this little place in Nauvoo is just fine.
It was wonderful to see the family. We didn't get to visit with all of our children and grandchildren but our youngest daughter came with her two cute boys and the others that live close to us got together on Sunday. The members of the Ward seemed glad to see us and said they will miss us during the coming year. (Nice thoughts expressed.)
We were back to Nauvoo in time to prepare for Thanksgiving. The Temple opened on November 16 with our new winter schedule. Monday is our preparation day - we shop for groceries, wash our clothes, clean our apartment, and whatever else we need to do. There was shopping, of course, for Thanksgiving food. All the missionaries met together to have Thanksgiving dinner. Each of us had assignments. Mine was to bring four pies. I like to make pie. In fact, we volunteered for what we wanted to bring. I made pumpkin pie and cherry pie to take to the big dinner held at the Stake Center. And I made a cherry pie and a mincemeat pie for us to have a home. I was lucky to find Borden's Nonesuch Mincemeat at the Wal-Mart in Keokuk. The plain kind, not the one with brandy. Yeah!! I was so excited. Anyway, Thanksgiving Day reminded us of all the things we are grateful for. There would be pages and pages if I wrote them all down.
Now we are into December, anticipating this special time of the year when so many people remember the birth of Jesus Christ and all the He has done for the world and the teachings He has given to all the people of the world. Hearts are turned with more thoughts toward others and helping others. Isn't it wonderful? There are Christmas carols in the air and decorations on all the streets. Here in Nauvoo there is Christmas Walk on the first Saturday. All the businesses in town have decorated trees outside their buildings. Certain trees have angel tags with special requests on them. It's called the bright angel program and gives townspeople and missionaries the opportunity to help someone in need. On that day the Clydsdale horses pull the wagons filled with guests to some of the Old Nauvoo sites and back and forth up and down the city streets. Well, I guess you can say city - Nauvoo has population of 11oo people. That includes all the people in town and out on the farms.
The missionary numbers are about 250 for the winter months. In the summer that number will increase because Nauvoo has lots of tourists in the summer, especially at Pageant time in July.
The leaves have all fallen from the trees and it makes the Mississippi River seem very close to us. We can see all the houses on the next block and even the brick yard. We have an eagle's nest down in one of the trees by the river and the Red Brick Store. And there are hundreds of geese that settle out on the ice in the river. Such a strange site on the cold, cold ice. Once in a while we see a deer or two and someone said yesterday they saw a coyote out on the green.
The women's monuments are easy to see now that the trees are bare. I want to go take some pictures of them but I haven't done it yet. Morning time fills up and then when we are finished with our Temple assignment it is dark as midnight - even though it is only 8:30 PM. It gets dark, really dark, about 5:30.
We manage to keep busy and we are never bored, that's for sure. Each day we have one or two very special experiences, sometime more than one or two, but always something special about each day.
This is why I need to write more often. It makes a long blog when I write so seldom. My plan is to do better - to actually blog, not just in my head. I think that is all for today.
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