Friday, December 4, 2009

Holiday Happiness!








Like most Americans, we celebrated Thanksgiving last Thursday. Boy was it fun! Everyone who came brought food to share, their funloving personalities, and their love. Jennifer and Daniel arrived on Wednesday night. It was so good to see both of them. I had not seen Daniel in a couple of years, so that was particularly exciting. Jennifer looked gorgeous, as usual, and we had fun together. It seems so good when your house is full of people you love.






Thursday brought the rest of the clan: The Hudsons (Nicole, Jon, Celeste, Benny, Chariy, Jakie, and ?), Kathy and Roger, Joey and Ben, and David and Missy. Second only to my love of the gospel and my Savior is the love I have for my family. While I miss my siblings, we got to enjoy the company of my parents as well.






Can I just say that Roger is AMAZING? He ran around doing everything he could to help me, which meant that Thanksgiving was more relaxing than it has ever been. Kathy made her legendary Yams, Fruit Salad, and Green Bean Casserole! She worked so hard on them, and it tasted like it. David and Missy their famous mashed potatoes. Mom made a turkey, rolls, and yummy gravy. Nicole made 4 amazing pies!!! They were so yummy!!! Jim fried two turkeys and we cooked a ham! We had so much food, it was ridiculous, but it fed the masses! I think we'll do it just like that again. (I made the stuffing too, but it was too sage-y).

That night we played games, laughed and sang together. Sadly, David and Missy had to leave on Friday, but we loved every minute they were here and will mourn their loss back East once David graduates from Penn State. :(


I think some of the best times were with Jon and Nicole's children though. Charity doesn't remember me from last year, so one night when she was supposed to go to sleep. She was leery of me being there, so I decided to help her get to sleep my telling her a story. Well, the story was supposed to be short and sweet, but she was listening intently, so I would imagine I said 'beautiful' at least 200 times as I made up a story that I thought she would like. Needless to say, I made a friend, but I did little to help her sleep. I just adore Celeste, Benny, Charity, and Jakie.
We had a good attendance for our concert that was held on Saturday night. The activities committee did a wonderful job with the refreshments afterwards. The concert was full of those gems of "live" performance. We touched people, and they touched us. I guess that means that we did what we set out to do. :D We appreciated Matthew Parry playing for 3 of our numbers. We did a new number that was found my Jennifer: O Magnum Mysterium. It was wonderful to incorporate something new. I is such luck and a privilege to be in this family. I love you all so...

After the concert, we took a couple of really funny photos: "Awkward Prom" with Daniel and Jennifer, and one of the whole group thinking of the weirdness that occurred in the concert. ("tell me how you REALLY feel") Oh well, no live performance is ever perfect.

As you can see, we're all at our best here!

I want to express my gratitude to all who attended, and for my in-laws, Beth and Leonard Moore. Even though they have passed away, their influence is still felt! Oh, and Lind,Terri, Briana, Justin and Rachel, you need to sing next year!!! (I hope it is possible.) We missed you a lot!

I'm just so grateful! The Lord truly does give us tender mercies!