The Love of a Ward Family

I was thinking about the blessings of not having ornaments on your tree. First, there is nothing to box up at the end of the holiday. Lights off tree, tree outside. Perfect! Second, there is nothing to be worried about the kids breaking. Third, we don't have to consider placing certain ornaments low for certain reaching heights and certain ornaments higher for other heights. Then last night, there came a knock and some carolers at the door.

Shae held the door wide open and I circled around and what did I see? Many, many members of my ward family looking at me. They were singing, "We wish you a Merry Chrismas." I smiled and waved. How thoughtful I thought. Then two sisters came forward with their arms loaded. One sister, Brenda, said that as a family, we as sisters share in the happy times and when things fall down. She said we heard about your great fall of 2007 and wanted to do something about it. Each of the people now singing to me, had gone to their own homes, or purchased ornaments to share with me. They explained how I had touched each of their lives and that they wanted to show their gratitude. My eyes welled up with tears (they are now too -- I'm such a sap!). I thanked them so much, and started to cry. I hugged Brenda and Lou Anne and saw all of the faces I had brought meals to, visit taught, spent time with and thought about the Christmas spirit. This is what it is all about. Giving of ourselves to others. My ward family came together to give to me. I am so totally blessed. I hope you all feel the love this Christmas season. I know I have!!

Cookie Extravaganza and "The Great Fall"

April hosted her annual cookie exchange this last week. I love it! So many cookies, so little time.

On the less exciting side of life, we were having dinner last night and everyone heard a tremendous crash. We jumped up from the table to invesitgate the sound and found our lovely Christmas tree had fallen over. We had a 3% survival rate of the ornaments. The only group to have a high rate of survival was the Candy Cane grouping. Sadly, some of the most cherished ornaments were lost in "the great fall".

All that was left was a pile of broken ornaments, needles, and tears. Actually, the tears didn't pile up because we just had to laugh and clean it up. Turns out that the lower part of the trunk is totally rotten. We cut it off, reset the tree and are lucky enough to get to spend ANOTHER evening decorating the tree -- it is like a bonus.

The Christmas Parade

We had a great time with the 41st annual Starkville Christmas Parade. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with a group of MSU students thought April's Day One program who worked with the organizing committee. My group got to help advertise for the parade, put the line-up together, work with the television production, and assist in running the event.

April and kids arrived early to stake their claim on a veiwing area -- trust me, you have got to get there early. They then got to the three bands. Our favourite quote was from Shae as the third band went by: "Oh, I love these guys! they changed their outfits again!" Apparently we failed to let her know that there was more than one band in the parade -- not the same one three times.

Santa even made an appearance to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Shae's own American Idol

Shae is at that age where she loves to sing . . . and dance. She can make up her own songs or she can sing the songs she learns in primary or school or . . . on the radio. Emoree and Bryton both have their own CD players that they listen to; Em likes to sing along and like all of us, sings a bit off key.
Shae is a total trip to watch so we thought you should all see this.