Happy New Year!

Dear family and friends,

We hope this letter finds you well and happy as 2017 comes to a close. Since last week was our Christmas letter, I’ll just summarize the last two weeks:

On Monday evening, December 18, we volunteered at the Manor House, an assisted living facility, and served Christmas dinner to the residents, cooked by one of our ward members. It was much like the place my own mother lives right now, and I was able to feel a connection as I served those in her same situation. Pay it Forward came to mind, as I appreciate all those who are taking care of Mom right now, both paid and voluntary. One woman there offered to pay Ron if he would just sit and talk to her because she loved his accent. Another lady was hitting on him, not realizing I was his wife. Her friend said to me, “You need to watch your husband around her . . . “ Too funny.

Tuesday we attended the third of three Zone Conferences, met more missionaries and had our spirits buoyed once again. We got to hug Sister Crandall and pass a photo of her to her mom. It was great to see Sister Speranza too! One funny thing that happened at one of the Zone Conferences . . . when we broke for lunch, the Mission Presidency changed into their Christmas jumpers (sweaters) and crazy hats and passed a bag of treats and a Christmas card to every missionary. President Gardner, one of the counselors, had a Christmas t-shirt on that said, “Merry Christmas, you filthy animals . . .” Most will recognize the line from the movie ‘Home Alone”. So as he passed out the treats, he said to each Elder and Sister, “Merry Christmas, you filthy animal” and got a laugh. When it came time to give a treat to the senior sister missionaries that were sitting next to me, President Gardner’s line was no different. “Merry Christmas, you filthy animals . . .” he said to them. Neither had seen the movie, or didn’t remember the line, and looked at him with eyes as big as saucers! It’s good I was sitting next to them and could quickly explain. It was a good laugh for us.

We cut out of Zone Conference a bit early to head up to temple for our “White Christmas”. About 30 minutes into the two-hour trip, I checked the website to see when the sessions were for sure. And the message said, TEMPLE CLOSED THIS WEEK. So no White Christmas for us.

We debated on what to give our office friends for Christmas, and we decided to share with them one of our family’s favorite traditions, that of watching Christmas movies together. So we purchased a variety of our favorite Christmas movies and Thursday we walked around, wished everyone a Merry Christmas, and let them choose a movie. For Malcolm, we made a large gift basket for his whole family with movies, popcorn, popcorn cups, candy, peanuts, drinks, etc. . . . so they could spend time watching movies together over the holidays. He was so appreciative. We got that one right.

The funniest gift we received, and it wasn’t meant to be a joke . . . Partridge Paté. ☺

Friday we took the day off and went to London to attend a sing-a-long at the Royal Albert Hall with the Parrishes and all the senior missionaries in the London mission. We were able to find pumpkin ice cream at Four Winters again, and after the concert we went with the Parrishes and the Phillips (they are the Self Reliance Missionaries from West Valley City) back to Durbar, the fabulous Indian restaurant we found with Sam and Alisha. It did not disappoint.

Saturday we went early to Costco and Morrisons to purchase food for Christmas Day. We also purchased some staple foods to wrap up and put under the Christmas tree for the missionaries (Skippy Peanut Butter, Pancake Mix, etc.) We spent the day preparing for Christmas. Let the fun begin.

Christmas Eve Dinner

Once a grandpa...

Christmas Eve we attended Sacrament Meeting. Everyone was in such good spirits. I was feeling homesick, but being around people sure helped. Our little Ferguson girls came to us during the meeting, and it’s like they knew just when I needed a hug. It was a tender mercy from heaven for sure. After Sacrament Meeting we went to Mark and Anna Abbott’s home in Bedworth and shared Christmas Eve dinner with them and the Elders Carr and Orr who serve in their ward. We had Christmas enchiladas that were so yummy, and pumpkin and pecan pie and profit rolls for dessert. We then helped the Abbotts deliver Christmas goodies to their neighbors by singing “We wish you a Merry Christmas” to each of them. The Elders are a cute, witty companionship, and we enjoyed ourselves very much. It was a great Sunday and we are so appreciative of Anna and Mark for taking such good care of us.

Christmas morning we had the Sisters over for breakfast. I made our traditional breakfast casserole, and we had scones with jam and clotted cream (English biscuits) and fruit. They hung around for a while and took advantage of the Wi-Fi to do their Monday emails. As quick as they left Ron took off to pick up the Elders, and I prepared round two, so the Elders had brunch

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

with us and we ate the exact same thing for the second time. We had a fun afternoon with them teaching them how to play “Golf – the card game” and “Rummicube”. We also Face timed with some of our family. They stayed until just before 5pm when it was time for their dinner appointment. Then we Face timed some more. It was a great day, especially the part where we talked with the kids. For dinner we ate leftovers from breakfast and lunch . . .

The day after Christmas is Boxing Day! So I did as I should and boxed up Christmas and had our flat back to it’s old self in about an hour. Then we went to the cinema and saw “The Greatest Showman”. Fun day. That evening we had dinner with the Sister missionaries at a members home and played games. It was a great day.

Tuesday through Friday were office days, but only four of us were working. Very few emails came, and the phone was quiet. We caught up on things; I worked on bios for an upcoming event, and accomplished everything we needed to, working only about 6 hours a day. I could get use to that . . . 4 days a week, 6 hour days. Oh yea.

Saturday night we had our first dinner guests other than the missionaries. Chris and Jeannie came over. We had a nice dinner and a visit, and enjoyed ourselves so much that we decided to have FHE every Monday together. I can’t wait.

Today is New Year’s Eve. Ron has already begun cooking his black-eyed peas. 2018 is sure to be a lucky year. Church was sparse today. Lots of people out of town. We had only three families represented in Primary today, a total of seven children. But none of the ‘attention seekers’ were there, so singing time was just fun fun fun.

I love the prospect of a new year. I relish the chance for a fresh start, a new beginning. Like many of you, I reflect on the past year . . . the good, the bad, the ugly . . . and what I can do to be better. Last week in Church, our Bishop quoted this:

      “It is better to be kind than it is to be right. If you are kind, you will always be right.”

I have thought about it so many times, and it has helped me already to bite my tongue more than once. So I am adopting that as my mantra this year. Have I told you how much I adore our Bishop? Still true. I’m sure he was speaking just to me when he said it.

May I just say thank you to everyone who reached out to us during Christmas with packages, Christmas cards, emails, texts, Facetime . . . we were the most popular in the office and had the most mail each day. Our credenza in the office as well as our wall at home is loaded with your well wishes, family pictures, family updates. Thank you for remembering the missionaries! I will be much better at it when we are home. You can bet on it.

Happy New Year everyone!

Much love,

Ron and Marie