David and I had a very good Thanksgiving day. In the morning we worked on projects around the house - David on the dorm in the basement and I on Christmas gifts. I put current pictures of the progress on the dorms at the bottom of this blog, but I didn't put pictures of the gifts I'm working on. Sorry. No peeking. At mid-day David and I went with Susan Horwith (a single sister friend from the Ward) and served food at the Community Thanksgiving dinner sponsored by the Salvation Army. What a great experience that was. My table was filled
with men from City of Refuge, a men's shelter and rehabilitation center. They were great. Later in the day we went over to my folks to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. We invited Susan along again and she brought the homemade cranberry sauce - very good!
We had a good Thanksgiving meal with Mama and Daddy and lots of good conversation. Then Shanalee, Josh and Clark showed up for a visit. It was just very enjoyable. When we got home, David turned on our Christmas lights for the first time this year. What a surprise. Brett had come and put up lights along the roofline. I had told David I didn't want him on the roof this year (He is getting too old for such shinanigans) so he only put them around the windows and door in front. Brett did the rest for us. Thanks! it looks great!
Below is the dorm as it looks now
and looking at it from the TV room.
I am very grateful for David - and not just because he is building my dorm! David is wonderful. He is a super dad, a fabulous husband and just a very very good man. He, my children (all 12 of them), my grandchildren, and my testimony of the Gospel are my greatest blessings.
The first video is Clark crawling in my folks dining room. The second is Clark helping his folks look through Black Friday ads. The last one is of all those at Grandpa's house that night.
We started out the Christmas season this year with a "Journey to Bethlehem" Ward party. David was the tax collector (food for the I.F. Food Bank) and I was the tax collector's wife. (go figure) Josh and family came with us. It was a fun night as we visited different food stalls in Bethlehem and saw the angels and shepherds and wisemen. We even saw the Babe in the manger. The best part was that the party was on Dad's birthday so the tax collector's stall was decorated black.
Then we went to hear Addie's class Christmas program. She really gets into the singing. She even had a special roll in the song "I'm getting nothin' for Christmas". She got to open a gift and make a sad face when she found nothing in it. Kyle played the piano for them.
Of course we made chocolates. This year I taught a friend, Malane Anderson, how to make and dip candy. Shanalee came and joined in too. With three dippers, we kept Dad and Malane's husband very busy melting chocolate. Shanalee and I both tried some new centers and they are yummy! Yesterday Malane brought me a box of chocolates she made and dipped at home this week. They were very good. I must be a good teacher. :)
This year I also taught a group of 9 ladies (and several of their daughters) how to make rock nativities. I called them the "rock stars" and we had a great time gluing, breaking, reglueing, painting, breaking, reglueing etc etc. Above is a picture of my counter on the day we resined the finished sets. 
I made the rock nativity set this year for Bethany, and on the day I presented it to her, she and Todd presented this beautiful nativity set from the Phillipines to me. It is really pretty. I think I got the better of the deal. (Thanks Todd and Bethany)
