This year Brad and I limited the Holiday Decorations for our home. I was down ill for several days and just did not have the energy for them all. So just one tree --- but we do enjoy it. We have filled it with many beautiful stars which to us represent the star telling the world that He is born. Our lovely nativity set was placed on the piano in the music room with a beautiful statue of Christ as a grown man. He is our Redeemer and our true friend.
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| I really enjoy the beauty and reason for Christmas This year we wanted to share our love with others so we were able to do the twelve days of Christmas for two friends. With help from Tonya and Teresa's families we planned and prepared to surprise and share with our friend DeLora in Bothwell and Robin in East Tremonton. It was so fun and so special. Grandpa and I are not too swift on our feet so MacKenzie was our official "Doorbell Ditcher". Brad and I had been shopping at Wal-Mart about a week before we were to begin and Brad found a small BYU stocking. Now he just could not resist buying it so he could continue to tease MacKenzie about BYU. Since she has this thing about not liking the school. We had asked Tonya if she could please hang it on MacKenzie's room Christmas tree without her knowing where it came from. We filled it with some of her favorite items---- Altoids, gum, and rolos. So on that first night of our deliveries Brad went into the Woodruff home and slipped it to Tonya to place on her tree. We then went and began the twelve days of Christmas with MacKenzie doing the running. Well this was going to be a one time tease for MacKenzie but she was so puzzled and so concerned that she would have to put up with it for the next eleven days that Grandpa and I decided we would definitely have to taunt her for the full twelve days of Christmas. The next day I made a huge bag of BYU BLUE Mother Goose Popcorn. That night as we went to pick MacKenzie up to help us make deliveries we slipped to the back garage door where Tonya met us to get the popcorn. We then drove to the front of the house and honked for MacKenzie. At this point she really was sure that it was Grandpa and I. But when we got back to her house and the bag was hanging on the front door she knew that it could not be us because she had been with us making deliveries. We really chuckled on our way home. She was stumped. Tonya had meetings in Provo so she picked us up some BYU items and I ordered some on line that would arrive for the last five days. What fun. We mailed BYU postcards which puzzled her even more and each day at a different time a new delivery would arrive. On the very last day Brad and I got up at 5:30 to make the delivery so she would still be asleep. We had so much fun. Our dear friends that we were able to help make Christmas a little brighter for also enjoyed our Holiday deliveries. DeLora had lost her sweet companion Donnell this year and I remember how hard first holidays are. She said that it was so special for her to look forward to each night and the surprise that would arrive. Robin is also struggling from the loss of her companion from a tragic car accident a few years ago. She has faced many hard challenges and we do hope that our gifts of love helped to brighten her holiday. I am also very grateful for my family and the support and help that they give to serve others. During this time Brad and I also made six batches of English Toffee, one Peanut Brittle, eight loaves of Banana Nut Bread, and planned our menu for Christmas dinner for the family. December 19th was my Sunday to teach the Relief Society Lesson. It was lesson #22 "Gifts of the Spirit". I so enjoyed studying and preparing. I am always the one who gains the most. The love I feel for my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is so great. The more I study and learn the stronger my testimony of them grows. They live and they love us so much. Gods plan for His children is flawless. Oh, how I pray that I can "Return with Honor". Apostle Hales has an article in an Ensign about the gifts of the Spirit. As I studied it, he told of a saying that his wife has in their home. "I will lift Thee and Thee will lift me and we will ascend together." When we are blessed with the beautiful gifts of the spirit they are not only for our benefit but for us to share with and help others. I prepared a small card that I tied to a candy cane as a hand out for the sisters. I had taken my nativity set and talked about Gods greatest gift to us His Son Jesus Christ and how the Shepard's staff can be used to lift and support us in our lives. As an object lesson about Gifts I took my Grandmothers yorkshire pudding pan. This pan is now probably one hundred and forty plus years old. I told the sisters that I had never been able to know my Grandmother in person because she passed away the December before I was born the next May. However, when I used her pan I was so reminded of the many stories that my mom and others shared about her with me and I could see her preparing her yorkshire pudding with love for her family. Sharing with them its wonderful bubbly golden brown squares with brown gravy. But this pan needs to have very special care ---- if after I use it I do not wash it thoroughly and then place it in the hot oven to dry it will rust. Then it will be of no use to any one. I have not seen the face of my Father in Heaven but I know that he is real because of the testimonies of others and because of the witness of the Spirit to me. I know that through the Spirit he will bless me with special gifts to help me and that I must use these gifts to serve other. Also these gifts are sacred and should be given special care. They are not for boasting or for self gratification. If used with care and love they will stay with us. SO MUCH FUN WITH BRITTANI Brittani had asked me in November if I would help her make some quilts for Kevin's mom, dad and sister. Wow!!! I just about spaced this one off. I guess old age gets you once in awhile. Plus Brittani is one of the most polite and sweet granddaughters. She would never say "Grandma what about those quilts"? She knew I had not been feeling well. Well! when it finally hit me that we had a project to do we did get right on it. I think they turned out very nice. Brittani did a fantastic job of picking out the fabric and getting all of the supplies ready. Brad and I made a quick trip to Stansbury Park to pick up my quilting frames and soon the quilts were done. We prepared one with the back turned over on the front as the binding and then Aunt Tonya would do a fancy stitch on her sewing machine. The other one had enough fabric to make a binding and sew on. Tonya would do this part also. She is a wonderful seamstress and shares her talent with such kindness and love. It was so nice to spend this time with Brittani and visit with her. It seems like just yesterday that she was just a newborn babe. Now she is a wife and mother. Where do the years go.  I am sure that every mother remembers those special Christmas gifts that her child makes in school for her. This year Clayton surprised his mom with this very special arrangement. She has truly enjoyed it during the Holidays. Some amazing Room Mothers help 30 plus children accomplish this task. Clayton was so excited to give it to his mom.  We enjoyed the beauty of an early December snow storm. The mist was hanging close to the ground and everything looked so pure and magical.  |
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