A Relief Society Activity and A Christmas Concert at Constitution Hall

Due to scheduling conflicts, our Relief Society Christmas dinner and program was held on November 16th. It was actually nice to have it done before the month of December. The theme was "Angels Among Us". For the program I referenced Jeffrey R. Holland's talk in the October 2008 General Conference, "The Ministry of Angels".

"My beloved brothers and sisters, I testify of angels, both the heavenly and the mortal kind. In doing so I am testifying that God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face. “[N]or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man [or woman or child] upon the face thereof to be saved.”13 On occasions, global or personal, we may feel we are distanced from God, shut out from heaven, lost, alone in dark and dreary places. Often enough that distress can be of our own making, but even then the Father of us all is watching and assisting. And always there are those angels who come and go all around us, seen and unseen, known and unknown, mortal and immortal."

 I decorated with a gold and white color scheme, using gold wreaths, paper fans,

 and some ribbon angels I'd made.

 I always splurge to get nice paper napkins that fit my color scheme.

The centerpieces were a large angel surrounded by gold tulle with lights underneath.

I made these angel centerpieces with angel head ornaments I'd made about ten years ago, then used lacy fabric over a glass bottle as the body and a gold ribbon as wings.

I'm holding this one to show how big it was.

 I also made about forty of these small angels, which the women were able to take home as ornaments.

They were made with three kinds of ribbon and a painted wooden bead for a face.

This is the other side of the room after the activity, so the small angels had been given away.

 On the 2nd of December we attended a free Christmas concert given by the Army band at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall.

Kent and I went with Jim and Susan Burkett and Jennifer Johnson (center). Sadly, it was one of Jennifer's last outings. Just three weeks after joining us for the concert, she succumbed to the cancer she's been battling for many years, and passed away.

 The concert was fantastic, with a nice blend of instrumental and vocal Christmas carols.

 The Army Fife and Drum Corps even made an appearance.

And Santa took a turn leading the band. It was a very enjoyable evening and a great way to kick off the Christmas season!

Another Visit to Texas

Now that both our daughters are living near Houston it's easy to find an excuse to go visit. Just a few days after I got home from Oregon I was on the plane again heading down to Texas.

With the Stinson girls.

With the Lee kids.

 I made some mint brownies, and Carson was happy to lick the beaters afterwards.

 It seems like I rarely get pictures of the kids with their daddies, so that's why I took these photos of Russ with his girls,

and Jason with Savannah.

 Kiera hanging out in her kitchen.

 The Stinsons have a motorized carriage that's lots of fun for the kids.

 I love this picture of the three girls!!

 Speaking of three girls, it's been awhile since we had a picture of me with my two daughters.

 Loved this picture of Carson because it shows his light blue eyes.

Some day I'm going to do a blog post with just pictures of me with the grandchildren at the piano! I was trying to work with Sophia at the piano, but Grace wanted in on the action.

Last Minute Visit to See Our Parents

In October I received the bad news that my mom had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She'd been complaining that her stomach hurt, but nobody took her too seriously. We didn't have anything scheduled for the first weekend of November, so Kent and I decided to fly out to see our parents.

Kent spent most of his time with his mom, but didn't get any pictures of them together.

He took this picture of the garden to show the Japanese lanterns in it. We brought some of them over to Virginia and are growing them in our yard, too.

Jill and Brett came out the same weekend, so the "original six"(not seven, since Gates's death) were together. Reed and Myra hosted a nice family Sunday dinner for all of us. Kent and Brett's wife, Jill, were also there.

Kent came out on Sunday to go to church with my side of the family. It was testimony meeting, and I bore my testimony about "being born of goodly parents."

This shot is pretty much how Mom and dad spend their days. Even though the apartment is warm, Mom is always under that cozy fleece blanket.

I helped Mom put up the autumn decorations. The two autumn wall quilts I made for her are hung above the family pictures. Kent and I realize how fortunate we are at our age to have parents still living, and we're making an effort to visit our parents more frequently.

October Entertaining

On October 3rd I hosted a birthday party at my house for Nancy, one of the ladies in our Bible study group. 

I was glad that all five of us were able to attend, plus Nancy's daughter. (who took this picture). It was a good opportunity to use my autumn themed decorating ideas. 

This little bonsai maple tree I made in Japan has been one of my favorite autumn decorations for more than twenty years.

I bought these glass pumpkin ornaments in Germany.

 I found these small ceramic pumpkins at Tuesday Morning to use as holders for the place card names.

 I used my French dishes because they have nice autumn colors and pretty scenes on them, and my rust colored table cloth with autumn leaves on it.

 I created some napkin rings by tying a bow of wired ribbon and added a metal leaf and a bead.

I served Swiss chicken cutlets, sweet potato yeast rolls (they have a nice orange color) and green salad. As a take-home gift I made individual apple pies in mini-mason jars. I wrapped them up prettily after I took this picture.

At the end of the month I hosted my annual Halloween piano party for my students.

 Several years ago I created a scavenger hunt for our yard using music clues. I have mostly different students now, so I used it again this year. Because of the work it took to set up the scavenger hunt, I didn't get as much decorating done as I have other years.

 I also wasn't organized enough to get some group pictures with me in them, like I have on other years.

This picture and the one below were taken after the party was over.

 Bible study was on Halloween this year, so I decorated some milk bottles using haunted houses I cut from vinyl. They turned out very cute!

I filled them with an orange/pineapple juice with some coconut flavoring added, and a small amount of 7-up. It was very good.

I've gotten lots of use out of these treble clef glasses I found at the dollar store several years ago!!