On December 11, the ward celebrated Christmas. It was a wonderful event. Instead of doing it in the evening, we did it in the morning with breakfast. After breakfast, the various ward organizations decorated Christmas trees to take to the elderly. It was a really neat way to celebrate Christmas.
The next evening, we went to the Madrigal Choir Concert. It was very good. They did a tribute to both Kim Thomas and Jeanine Davis. Both were such important parts of the choir for years.
On the next evening, we went to the Marsh Valley Performing Arts Center for the annual Christmas music program. Angie performed with the MarVals. It was a really good concert that featured bands and choirs from both the middle school and high school.
Inkom Elementary did their Christmas Program at the Marsh Valley Performing Arts Center on December 16. The kindergarteners did really cute songs. Deb was pretty proud of her students.
Deb and I went to the temple to do endowment proxy work. We were asked to be the witness couple. It is so wonderful to go to the temple.
Christmas week started very eventfully. Deb, while taking the garbage out Monday morning, slipped and fell. She hit her head on the window well. I took her to the emergency room in Preston. It turned out that she had a "non-displaced rib fracture." The huge bump next to her eye turned out to be only a large hematoma. Eventually, her eye turned black, but she has not been moving very fast. There is nothing that can be done other than relaxing. They do not brace it anymore because they had found out that people do not deep breathe enough and get pneumonia. It will take about six weeks or so before she will not feel it anymore.
On December 22, I went with the ward to clean the Pocatello Temple. It was an awesome experience. It was as joyful as doing proxy work. Deb was supposed to go with me, but her broken rib kept her home. I was assigned to work with one of the temple custodial employees. We cleaned the workers' break room, then cleaned the rest rooms downstairs near the laundry. We then went to the Bride's room and cleaned the dressing tables and rest room there. I then wiped down the water and oil container in the initiatory rooms. Finally, I went with Lorraine Wheatley, Melissa Wakley, and Robin Nielsen to dust the oxen under the baptismal font. We started and ended the assignment with prayer. It was really neat.
The next day, I was offered the position of financial tech for the department. I am really excited to get the job. It will mean a little more pay and a lot more freedom. Susan Fuger, who is the tech now, is retiring on January 31. I will move into her position sometime before then as I get trained from her on what I will need to do. With Susan's retirement, I am the second longest serving employee in the department. The women's basketball head coach, Seton Sobolewski, is the longest serving employee.
Christmas Eve we did our traditional meal. Mom and Todd came to be with us. It was a wonderful evening. Christmas Day was very laid back. It was a great way to celebrate the birth of the Savior.
Lilli turned 15 on December 27. Her birth mother and grandmother came to visit her. Lilli was very excited to see them. Unfortunately, it was storming so they did not stay as long as they wanted to (Lilli wanted them to stay longer too).
Deb and I went back to the temple twice more. The first time was to be with Deb's friend, Connie Walter, as she was sealed to her deceased husband and daughter who died as an infant. Bill was proxy for her husband, and Connie was proxy for her deceased daughter. It was a beautiful ceremony. Afterwards, we went with her and Connie and Bill to Sizzler for dinner. Then the next day we went back to the temple to do sealings for some names that Dick had sent to us. Lynn was working at the front desk when we got there. It, too, was a wonderful time although it really hurt Deb to kneel and get up from the alter.
We spent the New Year celebrating with family. Sid, Tracy, and Jaydon came so we went to see them. They left then Shauna and Scott came. We also went to see them. We rang in the new year with them at Mom's. On New Years Day, we went with the Anderson family for their Christmas party--first swimming at Lava then dinner at the Arimo church. Later, we went to Mom's to be with family.
We started our new schedule for church today. Sacrament Meeting starts at 11:30 am this year.
After BYU's wonderful November, they struggled a bit in December. The women's soccer team lost to Florida State in the national championship game. The women's volleyball team blew a lead in the fifth set to get beat out of the tournament. The men's basketball team lost to three teams they should have beaten, and the football team really stunk it up at the bowl game and lost to a much inferior UAB team in the Independence Bowl. Here's to repeating November in January.
