Two of my favorite Christmas times were the years I was involved with the singing group L.D. Singers during my time at Snow College. I think the reason I liked these so much was that we had many opportunities to sing in various communities. We did performances at senior centers, high school seminaries, church programs, community centers, the local prison, Temple Square in Salt Lake City and at the Cathedral of the Madeline. I loved spending time with my friends while getting to share the message of our Savior’s birth. And along with all the memories of singing there was memories of trips on a tour bus, hitting my head with the noise maker at one of the concerts, falling off of chairs during rehearsals, turning a poem I wrote into a song, playing in the snow in parking lots, and so many other wonderful things.
Here are some of my favorite pics from the 2 years of Christmas tours, concerts and fun times with good friends.
Thank you to President Willmore, J.R., Ben, Jeremy, Becky, Channie, Justin, Lynette, Kami, Wendy, Kendra, Bonnie, Jessica, Jeremy, Marnette, Erin, Rachel, Tiffani, Bryan, Shane, and all of the others who made those years so special and left me with so many wonderful memories.
One of my very favorite memories is something that happened on multiple occasions but each time we participated in this I came away feeling all warm and fuzzy.
My mom has a very big heart and likes to do for others. One tradition she has is that she takes her scrap yarn every year and makes up mittens to donate to the shelters in town. One thing we used to do each Christmas was to find a family that was less fortunate and who didn’t have the opportunity to have Christmas like others did. My mom would try to find out as much as she could about the family and then make dresses for the children in the family, purchase toys and gifts to go under the tree and buy all the things for a nice dinner on Christmas day. We would go on Christmas Eve night and leave the boxes of items on the door step and knock and run. I always loved watching the reaction of the person when they opened the door and looked around trying to figure out who it was. And if we saw the people at church or around town and they were wearing the new clothes it felt good too know that we helped them.
I am grateful that my mom taught me what Christmas is truly about.
I thought with it being December and the Holiday season is definitely here that I would occasionally share some of my favorite Christmas memories with everyone.
This first memory is kind of a funny one.
The Christmas that I was 9 we were living in Kornwestheim, Germany just outside of Ludwigsburg where my mother was stationed in the military. We lived in an apartment that was just across the street from the bahnhof (train station). The apartment had this beautiful glassed in patio area that looked over the bahnhof and mom put the tree in that glassed in area.
The night before Christmas I was given strict orders to stay in bed until mom came and got me the next morning. I woke up in the middle of the night and was so excited that I ran to the living room to check the clock on the VCR. I had totally forgotten the instructions mom had given me until I was on my way back to bed (having passed the Christmas tree on my way back) and noticed a beautiful red bicycle. I had just learned to ride a bike without training wheels (yes I was a bit slow learning that) and mom had bought me this beautiful bike. I quickly ran back to bed and was so excited I could not go back to sleep. So I just sat there anticipating the fun that would be had with that bike.
When I heard mom get up I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to sleep until mom came and “woke me up”. I did my best “surprised” reaction and quite enjoyed all the fun that bike had to offer.
This year as Thanksgiving has been approaching I have been trying to ponder on the things I am the most thankful for and have been sharing some of them on facebook. I decided to spend time focusing on those and a few more here.
1) I am grateful to be a daughter of God. I have learned to love being a woman and am so grateful for the many wonderful women who are apart of my life and are such amazing examples to me. I have an amazingly gifted mother who teaches me through example about developing your talents, about having a giving heart and so much more. I have adopted sister figures who are great listening hears and companions in laughter and memories. I have beautiful nieces who show me what love is all about and share warm felt hugs. I have wonderful friends and teachers who are good examples. I am thankful for the knowledge I have that I am a daughter of God.
2) I am grateful for my love of culture and the opportunities I have been given in my life to travel to different areas of the United States and Europe and more. My love of history stems from these opportunities.
3) I am grateful for my cats. Both Annie & Sammy give me so much love and company in my home. Neither of them were planned but I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
4) I am grateful for photography. I love taking pictures. I love that my talent of photography gives me the opportunity to look at the world in a little different light. It teaches me to appreciate the art of our father in heaven in both people & places. I am thankful I get to share this talent with others.
5) I am grateful for a warm home to live in.
6) I am grateful my ability to love. I have seen that as I get older that my heart grows to fit the love I feel for so many amazing people. Every time a new niece or nephew enters our family my heart swells and I am always amazed!
7) I love doing websites. I have been able to develop this talent as I work on my fansites. I have made good friends online through that.
8 ) I am grateful to know that I am gluten intolerant so that I can take care of myself. I am thankful for the advances that have come out recently to make living gluten free easier.
9) I am thankful for the color orange. It always makes me happy whenever I see it.
10) I am thankful to be alive.
Okay I must start this story with a little back story! As some of you know I like to do fansites and I run a couple for my very favorite celebrities. I have been running a site on Taye Diggs for almost a year now. One of the things we do as webmasters is connect our sites with other high quality sites that are related to the topic of our site. My friend Jill is the webmaster of a site called Idina Here which is dedicated to Idina Menzel … if you do not know who Idina is she is a talented singer and actress who has starred in many Broadway productions and films (such as Rent & Enchanted) she actually is the original Elphaba from the Broadway production of Wicked. Also Idina is married to Taye. So our two sites are partnered up. Through this connection I became in touch with Taye & Idina’s business manager and am building a working relationship with him.
Well Jill went to Texas for a weekend series of concerts that Idina was doing down there. I was so jealous as I would LOVE to see Idina in concert! I will admit as much as I love Taye I also love and admire Idina too! Well Jill asked for my mailing address because she had gotten me a cowboy souvenier. I was excited to see what it was and totally flattered that she would think of me. Well when the package came this week I was a bit surprised because the envelope did not contain a cowboy. Instead it contained one of Idina’s cds and it was also signed with a personal message to me! Jill told me that when she had Idina sign it and told her who I was Idina knew who I was and was excited to do it! Totally made my day … actually my week … it’s been a few days and I am still giddy over it!
Here is a clip of one of Idina’s songs … she has such a beautiful alto voice and I would love to one day see her perform live!
Okay going to stop having a fan girl moment!
Two weeks ago on Columbus Day I had the day off from work so I decided to do some things around my house and one of the things was to get hooks to hang up lights in my windows for Halloween (and Christmas). So I got in my car and headed to the store but I didn’t get too far ….
I am not sure if many of you know where I live but it is near a busy commercial area that includes restaurants and a movie theater well in the middle of the road was a tiny baby kitten which I almost hit with my car … I managed to miss him and pulled over to the side of the road. There were others cars coming and I was certain that little kitten was not going to survive his adventures in the road.
I got out of my car and tried to go and get him when another car pulled over and I asked if the kitten was his and he replied that it wasn’t, that he had thought it was mine and was helping me catch him. So between the two of us we were able to get the little guy. I couldn’t just leave him there so I put him in my car and headed to my mom’s work for some advice.
And that is how Sammy came to be in my home.
Sammy is a bundle of energy and loves to play … he likes to get twisted up in the blankets on my bed, play with the scratch post we have, and chase the balls around the house. He has recently discovered that he likes to play with paper and can be entertained for hours with it.
Whenever I am home he likes to be close by. He has taken a few naps curled up either on my shoulder when I am on the couch or lays out on my arm while I am working on the computer.
Whenever I sit in my recliner he likes to lay between my knees and play … it is so funny and makes me smile.
Annie is still adjusting to having him around but this morning the two of them were chasing each other around my bedroom playing so I think she is warming up to him as long as Sammy doesn’t try chasing her tail … that leads to a problem.
Sammy wasn’t planned but I am so glad that he is a part of my home.
