We have been the recipients of gifts from elves (Historic Site Missionaries) this past week. It is very nice to be thought of and to receive something special. Gift giving doesn’t have to be grandiose but can be something that just lets the recipient know that they are seen and loved. The baby quilt that I showed a photo of last week was admired and appreciated by the new mom and her family. Grandma shared photos of her dear new grandson and he is thriving!

Our family has many Christmas traditions and I think of them at this time of year. In the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, Elder Holland made mention of the 85,000 plus missionaries who are serving away from their families. The holidays can be difficult but my perspective leads me to think about serving others and thinking less of myself and my imaginary boo-boo lip trembling with sadness. We will be having Christmas dinner next week with the other senior missionaries on Christmas Day and look forward to spending time with others in the same situation as ourselves.

Sometimes our Christmas traditions were born out of necessity. One year, Erik was between contracts and I didn’t think it prudent to buy anything large for the kids. That year Extra Foods opened a store in Olds (it’s now No Frills). You know you’re from a small town when you recognize your fellow shoppers in the grocery store. We had a Co-op store and an IGA, so when a new discount store opened, we started seeing “out-of-towners” coming to Olds for grocery shopping. My Spidey senses were on alert, haha! That was in the fall and one day I was shopping and a loss leader was toilet paper, large packs of 24 for only $6.77 each. My brain said, “Everyone needs toilet paper! Buy a package for each of your kids!” I loaded up my cart with enough packs for everyone including my son-in-law. Around our Christmas tree were all these packages of toilet paper. At first when the family started arriving, they were shocked and left wondering. That started a tradition and as the years passed, the kids made mention that they were hoping to receive their package of toilet paper each year. As they were in university, they told me how they brought their own roll of toilet paper to the bathroom for their constitutionals because there was at least one roommate who yarded off so much paper at a time that the rolls were empty whenever they needed to use the bathroom. It turns out that one large package lasts one person for a year! It was an annual event at our house for years until Erik and I started our nomadic life ten years ago.

Some Christmas traditions are not your usual “Merry Ho-Ho” type of thing but they can create lasting memories. Each year as I was shopping for toilet paper, inevitably someone would stop me and ask why I had so many packages of toilet paper. I told them the story and everyone loved it and wanted to do that for their families.

Christmas Eve is big in our family and we all contribute one dish each to our hors d’oeurves table. We dress up and spend the day preparing the feast. That’s when the “Great Candle Race” starts. I was informed of the Great Candle Race by my friend Mary Hatcher. Each person receives a small candle in it’s own holder at their place setting. Each candle is lit at the same time. The race starts and the candle that lasts the longest is the winner and they win the rights to open the first gift. Over the years the rule book is inches thick on the regulations.

1. No breathing on anybody else’s candle.
2. No re-lighting your candle if it goes out.
3. All candles are lit at the same time.
4. No adding wax to your own candle.

You get the idea! There have been years of crocodile tears that prompted daddy to re-light a certain daughter’s candle much to the dismay of everyone else. The annual photo of the winner generally has the losers gathered in the background giving sad faces and thumbs down, while the winner has the biggest grin. One year, Erik’s mom joined us and she couldn’t believe that she won the candle race! It’s a tricky feat to put food on your plate without burning your arm as the evening progresses.

We have learned to not give everyone candles that are too big because they take forever to burn. Birthday candles seem to last enough for our attention spans. One year, Erik decided to get a piece of wood and drill holes down the length of it for the candles. We learned that the holes needed a piece of foil placed in them otherwise a little fire is started when the candle burns low. It think that idea was chosen because we didn’t have enough of the ceramic candle holders for the family with the marriages that had added members to the ranks.

I’ll tell you about more traditions next week. It’s been fun to reminisce about the things we did when our family was near to us.

Cookie baking was a tradition that I loved. I don’t do much anymore but I want to share a recipe that I’m making tomorrow.

https://www.theconsciousplantkitchen.com/cranberry-pistachio-shortbread/

One of the first cookie recipes that I made shortly after getting married was whipped shortbread. I’ll take shortbread in any form and when I saw this recipe I was happy to try it.

Speaking with a fellow temple worker on Saturday reminds me that many people are experiencing strong emotions around the holidays. Her husband died three years ago after a massive stroke. Time doesn’t take away the feelings of love and wishing our loved ones were with us. Love is what binds our hearts together and it can be hard to have joy at special occasions. I often tell people that if you could only see what I see, you would know that your loved ones are so near to you and want you to have joy and live happily. Grief is a strange beast and navigating it brings out feelings that we often wish we could just pack away.

When we center our thoughts on Christ and what his life represents it can bring us peace. Whenever I ponder on the majesty of our Lord of Lords, our King, the Great I Am, coming to earth in a tabernacle of clay to dwell among man and then to give us his law and take upon us our sins, our burdens, our grief and rise above all, I am in awe and grateful that I can worship Him.

Wherever you may be on the pathway of life, this season gives us reason to think about our daily practices and where our thoughts lead. May you all find peace and joy in the coming days. As you bring precious gifts to your loved ones and maybe even to those who simply are in need, feel the love of the Savior in your lives as you work in compassion and charity.

There comes a time in our lives where we reflect upon friendships and how they affected us personally. I heard of a young man whose mother believed in the adage that most people you know will be strangers in 5 years. That perspective is meant to encourage people to chase their dreams without worrying excessively about the opinions of their current social circle. The idea is that many casual acquaintances and even some friends will naturally drift out of your life over a five-year span, so their potential negative judgment is not worth sacrificing your goals or happiness in the long run.

I like to instead ponder the thought, “Will this matter in 5 years?” I love meeting people and trying to have a positive impact on them. I love to give encouragement and compliments. When I see someone that looks like they took the time to dress up, I love going up to them and complimenting them on their look. I have terribly thin hair now and when I see a man or woman with a glorious mane, I will tell them how much I love their hair. One of the historic site missionaries has the most beautiful grey curly hair and she has a fantastic cut. It suits her so well and because I was brave enough to tell her how gorgeous she looks, we are fun friends now.

I want to be the type of person that touches other’s lives for good. This week I have had two friends pass away. Both of these ladies had very kind hearts and had lives of love and light. I shed tears for both of them because they are now leaving behind family and friends who will mourn for them and wonder about the what ifs.

I love this hymn because it makes me reflect on my friendships. It’s an interesting social life we have because of social media. I am able to check up on friends and see how they are faring. When I don’t see any posts from them in awhile, I worry and send a quick prayer that they are okay. Some of my children have eschewed social media. I know of people changing to flip phones to remove the distractions of social media and trying to focus more on their lives instead of what the world wants to impose upon them.

When you receive a feeling or inner prompting that you need to call a certain person or reach out to see how someone is doing, do it! Many years ago my first lesson in this was receiving a prompting to take a bouquet of flowers to a lady that I know. I thought to myself, “That seems silly; we’re not close friends but are good acquaintances.” I ignored that prompting three times (I shake my head over that). I was more worried about how I would be perceived bringing flowers for no reason. Well, that dear lady had a massive stroke after my promptings and was in rehabilitation in Calgary for 6 months. Afterwards, the next time that I saw her, I gave her a big hug and told her that I loved her. I never ignored those promptings again despite how awkward it seemed.

Another time, I was driving into Olds to check in on a class being taught at my store. As I approached the first traffic light, I received an impression to go to a lady’s house immediately. This dear lady’s husband had passed away not too long before. I drove to her home and rang the doorbell. She came to the door, saw me and burst into tears. She told me that she had been praying for God to send someone to her. In her loneliness, she was in utter despair. We visited for two hours and while I was there I fixed her kitchen clock. Her husband was the only one who had ever replaced the batteries and it was tricky but I figured it out. It was a little thing but huge for her and of course having someone to keep her company.

You get the picture, don’t ignore those feelings of contacting someone. You are exactly what they need at that moment. We are all God’s angels here on earth to be able to bless the lives of those around us.

We had a delightful evening on Saturday. After our double shift at the temple, we went over to the Stake Center and had a beautiful hour of music by the Erie Chorale, directed by Claire Nabrotsky. These talented ladies sang so beautifully and the last number they were accompanied not only by their pianist but by a young lad playing the cello. What a superb hour to be spent!

Then we headed downtown to the E.B. Grandin building and joined with the Historic Site missionaries as we caroled in front of the building. It was also a night of touring the historic buildings and homes of Palmyra and the Grandin building was on the tour. After an hour of that, we headed home to get warm and eat some supper. I lost my missionary name tag somewhere on my travels that night.

I did finish another quilt for a friend’s new grandson. We work on the Saturday morning shift together and I will be able to gift it later this week.

Choose your friends wisely and remember that we are not placed on this earth to walk alone. Be a good friend and serve others with kindness and compassion. Sister Sharon Eubanks said, “It’s hard to get the lights on by yourself, we need friends, we need each other.”

Have a beautiful week connecting and shining your light!

We are about to be hit with a “Bomb Cyclone” effect snow storm. The weather lately has been delightful for autumn with temperatures above 0C. The past couple of days, we are seeing negative temperatures. This hurts my brain as it took me 7 months to figure out the quick method to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit. Going into the negative numbers isn’t where my brain wants to go. Our entire mission I look at my watch and it shows the temperature in Celsius which I am comfortable with. But the look of horror on New Yorker’s faces when I exclaim that it’s a balmy +18 degrees…I quickly realize that I need to convert the numbers.

This past week was the first time that both Erik and I felt that we were missing our wood burning fireplace. We have a high efficiency fireplace that can heat the entire house. Watching a fire burning fulfills some primal desire to survive and feels like you can conquer the world.

This past week, Erik finally found the heated steering wheel button and I love it when I’m driving in the winter. We both discovered that we didn’t really bring long sleeved shirts or sweaters. I wore my mukluks to the temple one day and received a lot of comments about them. People were asking if they were a Native American type of footwear. I realized that mukluks aren’t something they are used to seeing. I brought both my short mukluks and my tall ones with me. Now, I’m madly trying to outfit myself for winter. The real winter coat is going to have to come out of storage and be put into use.

The excitement of the week was American Thanksgiving. We were invited to attend Thanksgiving dinner with the Historic Site missionaries. Many of those couples are newer to the mission and we haven’t met them yet. Sister Harris outdid herself with the decorations and the program. Each couple contributed two dishes. I’m not sure who was going to eat all the food because, when I do the math of Erik and I eating, we certainly are not going to eat everything from our dishes. There really was plenty of food left over and it makes us understand how truly blessed we are.

It is a very special feeling to be gathered with other senior missionaries, who also sacrifice so much to go out into the world to serve. Elder and Sister Moser, who sat at our table are from Idaho and I simply adore them. They have seven children and thirty-five grandchildren. I am in awe and also the special love that they have for their family. While we are missing our family, so are all of the couples here. The Moser’s are serving as Facility Management missionaries. They were a little (maybe a lot) concerned about being called to do this type of mission at their age. Elder Moser grew up on a dairy farm and his skills have definitely been put to use. Using a backhoe and tractor to fix a ditch and culvert for instance. There is definitely a missionary mantle that is given when we are set apart.

Our assortment of missionaries included, Historic Site missionaries, Temple missionaries, Facility Management missionaries, Distribution Center missionaries, and Camp Director missionaries. The skills in that room are immense!

I finished all the Christmas Pillowcases for our Branch and as well I was surprised to see the silicone bracelets showed up that I will give out to people. Thus Friday was head down, foot to the peddle and let that sewing machine fly. I managed to get the Christmas poem printed out in both Spanish and English.

On Saturday, the village of Palmyra had their Winter Light Up parade and Santa in the main park which is only a block from our house. Erik and I now work double shifts on Saturdays and we’re tired when we get home. We missed the beginning of the parade but Erik did run out to the street to catch a few sights.

With more people sniffling and sneezing, I start my day with my hot lemon/ginger drink. I juice one lemon and grate a teaspoon of ginger into a mug. Then I add a few shakes of cinnamon as well as a shake of cloves. The boiling water then is added and I let it steep while I read my scriptures. It is delicious and while Erik has come down with the plague again, I am still hearty and hale. He shakes his head and always says, “How come you never get sick?” I was going to head to church on Sunday by myself and as I like to do, I consult with the Lord about my day. His response was, “No, you need to stay home with your companion.” I was disappointed that I couldn’t take the gifts in but it was more important to be obedient and listen to the Lord. What if the man-flu overtook my love!?! I needed to be there for him.

We will see what tomorrow brings as the forecast has worsened and the warning has spread to five states. A true, winter Nor-easter is headed our way. We may be quite quiet at the temple tomorrow morning.

As we stay true and humble ourselves, exercising faith in Jesus Christ, the grace of Christ and His infinite atoning sacrifice make it possible to change. Even though I have questioning and rebelling attributes, I have based my faith in Christ and have learned that His ways are far superior than mine are. I willingly submit myself to obedience to the gospel precepts because I have seen the blessings and joy that come from that choice.

May we each look inward to see where we can change to bring ourselves closer to Christ. The month of December can be all about service. Find a “Giving Machine” close to you and see what service you can give to another person.

Stay blessed and well, my friends; sending love to you all!