Approaching Christmas

I'm writing this entry on the 23rd of December and it is very cold outside. We wished we had a lot of snow to accompany the cold, but we'll take what we have. The mountains look pretty good and they have gotten hammered up north. The following pictures detail what's going on around our home.











Inside we've had the tree up for some time but it's getting a few packages strewn around the base. It certainly won't be like Christmas' of the past when the family is all home. Erin and Weston will join us on Christmas day after they have their Christmas morning in American Fork. So we're anxious to hear how that goes as we are with are other children.



Pam has been busy making treats to take around to our friends. She has made about two dozen loaves of bread and perhaps 3 dozen bags of these chinese chow mein noodle cookies. Fortunately we have given most of it all away.



Last Friday Pam and I drove north in good weather and ended up in a blowing snowstorm in downtown Salt Lake. It was wonderful! We went to see the Body World 3 exhibit and it was quite interesting. While we both knew the complication of the human body, but never to this extent. What a witness to the divinity of Heavenly Father and His creations. The next day we spent 3 hours with my sister Dixie and that was very enjoyable.

Yesterday we had an interesting experience. We got a Christmas card returned from very old friends from Hawaii, The Kinimaka's. Travis and Johanna might remember Danny and Leilani. Well I wondered where they were and did a google search on the name and didn't get anything conclusive with James Kinimaka, but when I searched for Elma Kinimaka I got a hit in Montrose Colorado. Following that up with a white pages search I was pretty certain I had found Elma. I called in the evening and sure enough it was our old friend. Pam spent a couple of hours with her and it was such a wonderful Christmas present to us. Unfortunately she and Jim divorced quite awhile ago and he has since passed away. So now we have another location to visit in Colorado.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and enjoys the spiriti of the season. President Monson summed it up this way:

"This is a glorious time of the year, simple in origin, deep in meaning, beautiful in tradition and custom, rich in memories, and charitable in spirit. It has an attraction to which our hearts are readily drawn. This joyful season brings to each of us a measure of happiness tha corresponds to the degree in which we have turned our mind, feelings, and actions to the spirit of Christmas."