The Atonement is the vehicle to solve life’s major problems. With the Atonement, God puts us in the driver’s seat of our divine destiny, provided we follow His will.” Elder Tad R. Callister December Ensign
Dear Children,
What a Christmas season this has been. With baby Jack’s passing, the birth and subsequent life and Atonement of Jesus Christ held so much more meaning this year. While I ache for the sorrow and emptiness felt by everyone in the missed opportunity to hold and raise that darling baby boy, I love the knowledge of Heidi and Bill’s temple sealing to know that this little boy is part of our family forever. Such a perfect baby boy lay in the miniature little casket, it seemed to me he only needed to open his eyes.
Dad and I felt so lucky to be able to join with the Brady family and many other Payne and Bitter family members at John Robert’s graveside in Provo. Morty also traveled to Utah with us. Thank you Katie for the flight privilege!
She had hoped to go but couldn’t get all of her shift covered. It was a perfect day. Dad gave the family prayers and Heidi shared her feelings about Jack being such a gift to their family. Bill dedicated the grave. It was a very sacred experience.
Early in the week our holiday celebrations included time in Seaside with the family that was here early for Christmas. The trip was strategically placed in between holiday Trailblazer games. We tried our hand at crabbing off of the bridge but had no luck. Dad and I will have to pra
ctice our crabbing skills by going to the coast more often. We played a ton of games and ate equally that much food. Grandma and Katie joined us for the first night but Katie had a heavy work schedule with holiday travel so they returned early.
We all gathered back in Beaverton in time for Christmas Eve day and planned an early evening for Bryson and Gregory. We added shrimp cocktail to our traditional clam chowder and spinach salad dinner which I think we should keep each year. Adrianne added the most delicious smelling homemade rolls which is another keeper if we get to have her for Christmas next year! Gregory was so cute to leave cookies for San
ta by our fireplace. And then, surprise, we found some time for more game playing before we headed to bed so Santa could visit.
Aaron came in late Christmas Eve so Katie brought him home from the airport and guess what; they opened their Christmas Eve gift also. Morty and Aubrey were campaigning to open all the gifts so Katie wouldn’t have to miss it! Luckily for all of us purists, Katie reminded us that it was not Christmas yet! Katie had a 12 hour day on Christmas so we got up earlier than we normally would have so she could see what Santa brought her, eat breakfast with us and then open up her other gifts. The rest of our day was fairly relaxed and our gift opening lasted surprisingly quite a while. It was a fun filled but also relaxing day.
The rest of the holidays were spent playing lots of games and doing a lot of eating. With the food carts getting so popular in Portland, most everyone wanted to try several of them and there was also a stop at VooDoo Doughnuts of course to be reminded of the famous motto of our fair city, “Keep Portland Weird”! I preferred the stop during the holidays for warm doughnut holes at Sesame Doughnuts!
Except for not getting to the Encore fireside, I think we did just about everything we had hoped over the holiday. Christina Brandt held a benefit concert for Risa Whitaker. The doctors have turned Risa over to an organization that
helps families prepare for death while Risa has been trying some alternative medicines and feelings some strength, having better days. The concert was fabulous. Christina is ready to go back to school as a continuing voice student after having her TMJ jaw surgery this fall so the concert was a validation that she is ready. It was beautiful. When she sang “Think of Me” from the Phantom my mind went to Nate as a very young boy. Phantom had come to town and we took some of the older children. In his school assignment to draw something for which he was thankful, he drew ears and labeled it: “I am thankful for ears to hear Phantom of the Opera.”
We were able to say goodbye to the Dougall’s over the holidays. They left this week for their mission in Washington D.C. Their son will live in the home while they are gon
e.
We played games on New Year’s Eve at the Stangers with the Waltons from Summerlake Ward. We took Grandma with us. She wasn’t going to go at the last minute since she didn’t want to stay late but we convinced her to go for an hour promising that we would take her home. We kept asking if she wanted to go home all night. She lasted until 3:00am! We broke our rule of not starting Progressive Rummy after 11:00pm!
So, I AM the reigning ping pong champion of 2011 of our ping pong table. Before we put up the ping pong table, Dad and I played a 2 out of 3 match for the championship. Hopefully, next item you all visit; the table will not be covered with projects so you may try your hand at beating me! HA!
Have a great week and DO YOUR BEST! I love you, Mom
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