Christmas!!

Christmas this year was a wonderful time
With family and friends and feelings sublime.

Janessa and Jordan were honored to be
At a Christmas Eve feast with the Taylor family.

For her mother-in-law, Janessa made her first pecan pie
That was very good-looking but can I say, "SUGAR HIGH!!?"

For his dad, Jordan opted for something as sweet
Dan's favorite: week-old-stale-sugary peeps! (YUCK!)

Jordan's sister, Camille, came all the way here from D.C.
And found the cold, wintry weather not her cup of tea!

But she soon warmed right up, with her silky PJ pants
Sewn by her mom, for which sewing is a sixth sense!

Jordan's sister, Jessica, the last of the brood
Helped her mom wrap the presents and prepare the great food. (like that delicious cranberry jello thing!!!)

Jordan was delighted because all that night,
Jessica happily wore her gift: a knit beanie "done right."

Later that evening, as dessert came by,
Dan let us in on the secret to his great pie:

"I could say they're 'home-MADE,' but that wouldn't be true,"
But saying they're 'home-BAKED' Marie Calendar's does the work for you!

The night ended quietly as Dan thoughtfully told
A sweet Christmas Story of a young shepherd of old.

The next morning, Christmas Day, was equally fun
Though our "wishes for snow" were a bit overdone...

Early that morning, as yummy "ebelskeevers" we ate,
The men of the house had to take a wee break...

Brother-in-law, David and clan were a bit stuck
Well, a 7 foot snow drift is some tough luck!

But no worries with Jordan, Katie, Jade, and Dan
They pulled them out quickly, and to the house they ran.

Soon we snuggled inside and enjoyed watching all
Open presents from Santa, Mom, Dad, and Grandma.

A mess of giftwrap, but what a fun deal
To see little Ava in her pink automobile!

And to top it all off, Janessa really scored
With sweet outfits for Claire that we all adored.

I could go on, but my brain might turn to toast
Which would make it hard to finish up this blog post.

Suffice it to say, Christmas was great, no doubt
Snowed in, eating lots, and fun times hanging out!

I hope you have enjoyed this "Christmas Poem..." I'm totally NOT a poet, but that was fun. Stay tuned for next year-- it's Christmas at my parent's cabin!! Then we'll REALLY be snowed in!!

"Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow"...not DUMP!

This Christmas season has been quite...white! At least on my side of town!! However, we are very grateful for the moisture, as it was pretty dry last summer here!

My neighborhood a few days before Christmas

Taken from Jordan's parents' house on Christmas Eve (that's Jordan leaving to dig his brother-in-law's car out of a 7-foot snow drift!)

HERE is the 7-ft. snow drift...

The aftermath: Jordan's parents' neighborhood, day after Christmas

Final Christmas Concert at St. Thomas More!

Tonight we had our final concert of the season, held at the St. Thomas More catholic parish. It was a wonderful experience! I was really happy with it, especially since today, I FINALLY got my voice back well enough to sing some of the notes I've been mouthing for so long!! This pregnancy thing--gives me a drawn out cold, sinus problems, etc... glad for it to be over soon!!

At the last minute, I think we pulled it off--and I'm referring to the fact that we didn't really have our songs memorized--well, the lyrics memorized--very well even in rehearsal...oops :) But I remembered them a lot more during the concert. Pheww!

Thank you to all of you who came! I hope you enjoyed it!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!!

So, since we have this GREAT camera, I thought this year we'd take nice pictures of our Christmas decorations! And since Jordan is the only one who knows how to use it, I waited patiently until he had a few minutes to take some shots :) He took them in all different kinds of lights to see what would turn out best. I guess there are pros and cons to each different way of lighting it, but I think they turned out pretty good!

I have to say, I LOVE my Christmas tree this year. It turned out just the way I wanted!

Taken from the top of the stairs with the lights out

Then with the lights on

And up close

And focused in on our first pewter ornament...we get one engraved with the date every year. This was, of course, a "First Christmas" one...

And with our beautiful Nativity! (thanks to Jordan's grandma!)

And of course, the stockings at the fireplace...Jordan and I made these the first year we were married. Never noticed till now that mine is...bigger!! Haha... oh well :) Honey, you're filling it to the BRIM this year, right? (not!...well on secondthought, maybe the baby could fit in mine?)

Singing Some More... Beneficial Life Christmas Party

On Tuesday night, my choir, again, had the priveledge to sing for some pretty amazing people--the employees of Beneficial Life. (their Chistmas Party at the Marriott downtown) Makes me want to get a job there! And some or all (not sure which) of the board members were in attendance, and include some familiar faces! (again, not sure if all of these gentleman are on the board, but I didn't care-they were there!)

So, we sang about 6 or 7 songs from our Christmas music repertoire (including "Baby," Mainha!) and they were a very generous audience. I have to say, I looked down (we were on risers) at the table in the front, right at President Monson, and he TOTALLY made eye contact with me and smiled! It was very nice :) Hopefully I wasn't hallucinating and it really did happen.

After the performance, we got to stick around and listen to President Monson speak. It was great--he just has such a great spirit about him, and he mostly told stories about Christmas service and good will. One thing I really liked that he said was that each of us should be showing and telling our Heavenly Father that we are willing to "be on His errand" and help others... especially during this season. President Monson also has a big soft spot for the widows--he talked of delivering small chickens to each of the 8o+ widows in his ward each Christmas Eve, his wife Francis spending a lot of Christmas Eve without him, but fully supporting him. What a great man. He said it is a miracle, but he has been able to speak at ALL of these widows' funerals over the years...some 3 a day!

Anyway, it was a wonderful experience, as usual, and nice to sing for such a great group. I have had a bad cough lately, can't hit anything higher than an A, and just have had the worst breath support, but was able to sing my descant solo to "Little Road to Bethlehem" and I guess (at least they told me) it turned out good. Pheww... :)

No pictures of the night, but you'd just see what you see in the last post anyway--our lovely red dresses!!

Christmas on Temple Square Concert

This past Saturday, my choir, "The Salt Lake Symphonic Choir" joined "The Sterling Singers" for the first concert in the "Christmas on Temple Square Concert Series." They have all kinds of concerts going on at the tabernacle, and we got to be one of them!

Was great, I think we sounded good, but couldn't really tell, since from the stage, the acoustics don't really allow for...hearing yourself, it's weird. But, I heard that we sounded good from the audience's position. We sang some great songs like Mac Wilberg's "The First Nowell," which I LOVE, "Baby What You Goin' to Be," that my Mom loves (sorry you couldn't be there!), the "Hallelujah Chorus," "Some Children See Him," and "Come Thou Long Expected Savior" (Which is to the same tune as "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing")....to mention a few.

DON'T WORRY...if I didn't invite you, that's because we're doing pretty much the same concert on December 21st at the St. Thoma More Catholic church in Sandy, and that'll be JUST my choir...and I'm planning on inviting everyone to that one...let me know if you want to come!

My good friends Wendy and Michael came to this one, and said it was great, so there you have it...a good first review :) Thanks for coming you guys!!

P.S. This lovely picture above is of me with my good friend, Juliann, in our HIDEOUS...I mean, GORGEOUS choir garb... BOTH of ours had to be pinned in the back because the lady that sewed them made just look like whales--actually, Juliann, I'm sure you didn't look like a whale pre-pinning, but I sure did :) I need to go in this week and get mine altered. It was totally HUGE. I think she made me a "fat" person's top, rather than a "pregnant" person's top. That's what it was. Juliann and I REALLY would like to replace the ladies that have been on the choir dress committee for the past 30 years...It's time for a change, don't ya think?? Jordan summed it up perfectly--he said "You look like you're a guest on Oprah, but in the 60's." :) haha

At least the flyer looked good (above)... yes, Juliann and I are on the marketing committee.