Our Christmas card sums up what 2022 has brought to Roger and I -
Many Happy Family Celebrations!
Granddaughters, Anna and Londyn were married; Granddaughters Abby and Maddy graduated high school; Grandson Jake, granddaughter Sadie and her husband Joe, and Grandson Josh's wife, Jaylene, graduated from BYU; Jared returned home from his Church Mission in Arizona; Daughters Stacy, Missy and Mindy and Daughters-in-law Jodie and Emily, and Roger and I enjoyed a "Retreat" to Watercolor, Florida, and we visited Granddaughter Sydney and her cute family; Roger flew to Washington, D C on an Honor Flight with escort, Son Rick; Son Rick hosted Roger, Ryan and Josh in a Golf Get-away to Whistling Straits in Wisconsin; Roger and Pam attended Roger's 60th Weber High School Reunion; we held a Roger and Pam Stratford Family Reunion at Rick's home in SLC; and Roger and I went on a European Viking Cruise that began in Bergen, Norway, then sailed to Holland, France, England and ended in Barcelona, Spain.
I always look forward to hanging the glass stars on our home entrance chandelier, clustering the "sky" around the Nativity.
The fold-out and lit paper Nativity we purchased in the post office in Phnom Penh, Vietnam
I love my Prague jeweled trees and it is fun to watch the lit-up snow globe trees.
We have collected MacKenzie-Childs blown-glass ornaments through the years.
We've collected Nativities from some of the places we have traveled, including Russia, Chile, Spain, Mexico and Israel.
Amongst some of the hand-painted dishware we have collected in our travels, a touch of Christmas
Roger and I are all ready for our first Christmas party, which was an HOA dinner and program.
The program was a retired professional soprano who used to live at Sunbrook.
She sang lots of old favorites I loved and Roger took this pic, unbeknownst to me.
We knew we would be out of town when my sister, Kay's, group, The Keynotes, would perform their Christmas show in the Tabernacle. So we got to hear them when they performed in one of the nursing homes. They sing a beautiful Christmas program and Spring program at, I think, all of the assisted living and nursing homes in the area every year. They are really very, very good - their voices blend beautifully and they have some outstanding soloists. They learn almost all new music every year, and I love their selections!
Next was our Branch Christmas party. A 'rancher" in the branch gets us the most wonderful beef for all of our parties, so our dinner is always delicious and we enjoyed a lovely program after performed by a musical family.
Rick invited us up north to a Jazz game and dinner before in the boxes upstairs. There's so much excitement and something happening all the time at NBA games! The Jazz are a new, young team this year, and they won this game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Isn't this an interesting sky? Rog took the pic out our front door.
We were back home for about a week, attended the NAI Christmas party at Entrada and enjoyed a really delicious dinner and played games for prizes. It is always such a fun Christmas party! I got to sit by Mark Walter's (the owner) widow, Val, at dinner. What a truly lovely, warm lady she is! The sons are running NAI now and it has expanded into other states - a great family!
Sunday, December 18, was our Sacrament Meeting Choir Christmas Program and I planned and directed the music. The branch members were so supportive, coming to rehearsals in big numbers - we overflowed the choir seats and set up several extra chairs. We had really excellent musical accompaniment on the piano, the organ and the violin. We sang a gorgeous arrangement of, Joy to the World, accompanied by piano and organ and included choir and congregation singing; Away In A Manger, traditional version, accompanied by piano and violin; What Child Is This?, featuring a sextet and accompanied on piano and violin; and Silent Night, accompanied on organ, piano and violin and sung by choir and 3rd verse, by congregation.
And, I have to say, the highlight of the program was Roger's talk. He shared a personal experience of when he was a little boy and his family put up strangers overnight in their home, a little family who knocked on their door, stranded in one of the huge snowstorms in 1948. He also shared part of a Jeffrey Holland talk about the Christ child and quoted part of The Living Christ. There were two speakers, Jackie Fullmer was the other one, and hers was also excellent.
We headed back up north to spend Christmas with Jodie and Blake. Rick takes each of their kids on a trip of their choosing when they graduate from high school and his last one who will be able to do this, Abby, picked Australia and New Zealand. Jodie chose not to go, because, traveling so far away, they planned to be gone 3 weeks over BYU's Christmas break, and she didn't want to be gone that long from Blake, who really wouldn't be able to go. Katie, who missed siblings Sadie's and Josh's weddings while gone on her Church mission, got to go (Abby was thrilled!). So-o-o, Roger and I were tickled to get to spend Christmas with Jodie and Blake. We tell her mom and dad that they have to share being her parents with us; she is our daughter, too, and we adore her! We did so many fun things!
First night we arrived, Josh and Jaylene had us over for a Chinese dinner that Josh cooked (they are living in the pool house next door until they leave for Josh to get his MBA). He served his mission in Hong Kong and he cooks once a week, specializing in Asian dishes. We had cashew chicken and deep-fried rangoons with yummy dipping sauce.
Next day, Jodie invited our daughter, Mindy, and husband, Jeff, and kids over for lunch and afterwards, we had a little talent show. Addie is a talented singer and the kids took turns performing songs and dancing with Blake. He LOVED it! We gave each of them their Christmas presents, which we gave to all of our kids and grandkids - the memory books my sister, Patty, wrote and put together of our mom and dad, Dorothy and Lyman Gabrielsen. It includes their life stories, told by them and by Patty, with highlights through the years with many photos and tributes written by many family members. Kay, Joan and I helped type and edit it and it is a masterpiece that I know all of our family will be so happy to have, especially when the grandkids get older.
When we were up north the first time in December, it was our 55th Wedding Anniversary and we had reservations at a great seafood (my fav) restaurant, Current Seafood and Oyster House. We had to cancel because we left a day earlier than planned because of an upcoming storm and potential bad roads. So we enjoyed a delicious dinner there right before Christmas.
We spent a peaceful Christmas Eve at Jodie's. We stepped out onto their front porch for quick pics.
Stacy sent a box of some of their oranges grown on their property to Jodie's house so Roger could have freshly-squeezed orange juice on Christmas morning! He absolutely loves it! We were at their home last Christmas and enjoyed their OJ and that is just like Stacy to spoil us and want to treat us! Roger got the juice ready for Christmas morning.
Jodie made delicious cinnamon French toast with golden syrup on Christmas morning and I had to get a pic of Roger sipping the precious juice!
This is the pic Rick and the girls sent form the Great Barrier Reef on their Christmas day.
Jodie opened her gifts from Rick - Mikimoto pearl necklace, bracelet and pearl and diamond earrings. She was so thrilled and they are so lovely on her!
Roger so beautifully wrapped my gifts! He knows I love pretty packages! It was so fun to watch Blake open his presents from Santa! He got so excited and had to have every bit of paper and ribbon pulled away before he would open what was inside.
Kathie, Jodie's mom, invited Roger and I to come with Jodie and Blake to their family Christmas dinner and party with Jodie's siblings, spouses and grandkids at lunchtime. I can't believe we didn't take any pics, but Kathie has the most beautifully-decorated home I have ever seen! It is filled with many, many collections of pretty things that she has collected over the years and every cupboard, shelf and space is filled with sparkly, beautiful decorations, ornaments and extensive, collected treasures. She served wonderful food - turkey, ham, salads, dips and desserts - and we were treated like close family as we visited with Jodie's sister, brothers and spouses. Each of her siblings are very special people! We watched as they all opened their presents from Kathie - they each had a big box full of them - and Roger was wonderful to watch Blake while Jodie opened hers and interacted with her family. Such a fun afternoon, and then Jodie's two married kids, spouses and Caleb came over at 5 for dinner and to open gifts and spend the evening. We had barbecued ribs, a potato casserole, wonderful spinach salad, rolls and creme anglaise with raspberries and blackberries (a family fav), and we spent a wonderful evening together. We missed Sadie's husband, Joe, who came down with the flu. We love these people so much!
This little guy is so adorable and his Great-Grandma Pam adores him!
On Monday after Christmas, we met Roger's sisters, Chyrrl and Susie and their spouses, Glynn ad Craig, for lunch at Fuji Sushi in Centerville. Now that their mom is gone, we have to plan time to be together when we're up north. We had such fun catching up!
On Tuesday, we met our dear, longtime friends from Ogden, Karleen and Jan and Dave Noyes for lunch at Schmidt Bakery and Restaurant, where we had lunched with them about 4 years ago. Jan and Dave, now living in Texas near Houston, were visiting their daughter, Deborah in SLC. We had so much fun reminiscing and listening to Jan's drama stories (she writes and directs musicals in their retirement community and she and Dave both used to sing in the Tabernacle Choir). We laughed and laughed and laughed for almost 3 hours!
On Wednesday we drove to Deer Valley to Jerry and Vicki's ski home for their annual holiday party. This year it was a luncheon so we old folks could drive back down the mountain before dark! They have a live-in chef, who prepares delicious food each year.
Here are some pics of us visiting with some of Roger's cronies - I love his high school class!
There were 26 of us, which was a pretty good turnout.
We met for lunch in downtown Salt Lake at a gourmet hamburger joint, Rich's, before we headed home to St. George. All I can say is YUM! Sadie and Joe were invited, but Sadie came down with Joe's flu. What an absolutely wonderful time we had with this precious family with all of the fun events and just enjoying their company!
2022 has been a wonderful year for our family and Roger and I are so grateful we have been able to enjoy so many special moments with so many of our loved ones. Heavenly Father has blessed us immeasurably!
HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY!
