Feliz Navidad (12.7.25)

Royalty joined us for our Feliz Navidad dinner on December 7, 2025.  Mike's daughter, Audrey, had a "Bibbibity-bobbity-boo Makeover" at the Japanese Disneyland last month, and she emerged as Cinderella, a princess.  Audrey wore her Cinderella dress to our dinner.  She read books with her grandpa as I finished cooking.

Each week during December, I feature a different country's Christmas celebrations and food.  At our Feliz Navidad, we feasted on cheese enchiladas and posole, a Mexican soup made with roast pork, hominy, and tomatoes.  We drank homemade horchata and ate passionfruit cheesecake for dessert.

Mike's wife, Heidi, sometimes wears "fascinators" in her hair, like the royal family in Great Britain wear.  Heidi excels at crafts and appreciates fine handiwork, like the knit sweater and scarf she bought last year during their family trip to Latvia.  

Lisa's son, Michael K, and his family were also special guests.  They live in Kaysville, which is a 40 minute drive from our home, so we are delighted to see them whenever they can join us.  

Rebekah has a new job at American Express.  She is a compliance specialist for financial transactions.  

Michael K and Rebekah's son, Soren, checked out the Christmas ornaments--our wooden nutcrackers.

Michael and Rebekah's daughter, Lily, was dressed for Christmas in her red velveteen dress with white trim.  She looked like one of Santa Claus' elves!

Baby Willardson (12.1.25)

Tiny pants and shirts, a Play'n'Pak portable crib, and a complete "baby transportation system," including stroller and baby seat.  Those were just a few of the presents Emilie received for "Baby Willardson," who will be born next February.  On December 1, 2025, Emilie's sisters and sister-in-law treated her to a baby shower.  Since Emilie was in town from Dallas for just a few days, the shower included some 50 well-wishers, including relatives from Emilie's Ebert and Spendlove families, Jake's Willardson family, and Emilie's friends.

Hostesses Sarah, Sophie, and Mia welcomed the guests.

After a soup and salad supper, Emilie opened her gifts.  Some were family heirlooms, such as this afghan from Jake's family.

Each guest told about a favorite family tradition that Emilie might consider adopting.  I told about my weekly ethnic dinners, and about saying "nice things" about different members of the family on birthdays and other special occasions.  Emilie grew up in a family that already adopted the "nice things" tradition.

We couldn't leave without pictures of each segment of the guests.  Baby Willardson will be Camille's first grandbaby.

Another segment of the guests was Emilie's Ebert cousins.

Emilie's Ebert aunts were another segment of the very loyal Ebert clan.

And, of course, Emilie's mother and grandmothers.







 

Das Fest (11.30.25)

Each of my Sunday dinners has a theme.  On November 30, 2025, we had a "fest", or German banquet.  We celebrated with rouladen, spaetle, rotkohl, cucumber salad, rye bread, and even the German red berry pudding, rote grutze.  We had lots of special guests, on the tail end of Thanksgiving weekend.  Lisa's children, Kirsten and Bryce, joined us, as did Lisa's son Grant and his family, my brother Scott and his daughter Liz, Mike's family, and Shauna (the widow of Dave's brother Alan) and her friend, Susan.

Lisa's son, Grant, graduates from medical school next spring, near the top of his class at Dallas Southwestern Medical School.  He also won the award from his classmates as best showing the values of a patient-centered, empathetic doctor.  

Grant and Meg's Junie has turned one, and she now has a little sister, Rose.

Scott pronounced this the best dinner he had ever eaten at my house.  The appeal was partly because he speaks German and spends many vacations in Switzerland.

Liz introduced me to rote grutze (red berry pudding), which is sold at grocery stores all over Germany.  Liz enjoyed it during her north German LDS mission.

Shauna and Susan come 45 minutes early to dinner and help with last minute preparations.  "The help is here," they call out, as they arrive.  Those are welcome words to my ears!

I am all business, as I prepare Sunday dinner.  I am even willing to be on time to Church in the morning, which is the price David exacts for giving me two hours as a sous chef on Sunday mornings!

Some guests snooze during Sunday dinner and others, like me, crash afterwards!

Thanksgiving for All (11.27.25)

Our family began gathering from across the state for Thanksgiving weekend.  On Wednesday, November 26, 2025, Bryce drove up from BYU, where he is studying information systems.  He and David spent the day together visiting our cabin and eating at the Oakley Drive-In.

Since Jonny needed me to move Thanksgiving dinner forward to 11 a.m., so he could drive with his family to central Utah by sunset, he dropped by on Wednesday night to help cook.  Seven-year-old Thomas came along, wearing his own apron marked "Thomas."  Thomas loves to cook, and we put him to work chopping up bananas for our raspberry slush.

As Jonny and I mixed pastry dough and prepared the turkey, Jonny told me about Thomas' latest project.  Thomas loves "plushies," or stuffed animals.  He inventoried his collection by pressing them face-down on the family copying machine and taking their pictures.  He then organized the photos into "The Plushy Book by Thomas."

We met Jonny's ambitious schedule and sat down to Thanksgiving dinner at 11:05 a.m.  Our guests included Jonny's family and Lisa's children, Bryce and Kirsten. Camille's daughter, Sophia, later joined us.  She had to work at her two jobs in Salt Lake City, and so she missed the Ebert family's parties in St. George. 

Thanksgiving is all about tradition, for me.  I don't mess with my decades-old recipes for roast turkey, sweet potato casserole, cornbread stuffing, homemade rolls, and pumpkin pie.  I added a traditional appetizer this year--raspberry slush.  When Dave and I were married in 1970, women prided themselves on their "slush" recipes--fruit cooked in syrup and frozen, then served with a dousing of 7-up.

Family members who couldn't join us reported on their Thanksgiving dinners across the country.  Kyle and Lisa, in Seattle, ate Thanksgiving dinner at Scotty's, an elegant restaurant on Puget Sound.  Unlimited crab legs and shrimp were the stars of the menu, in addition to turkey.

Camille's family gathered at our St. George house with their friends, the Hooles.

And Jonny did arrive in Moab, during the Thanksgiving weekend, in time for sunset.

Grandma Margery (12.24.25)

One of Dave's and my great pleasures, now that we have more time, is to do LDS temple ordinances for our ancestors.  On November 19, 2025, we attended the new Layton, Utah, temple.  I completed temple ceremonies on behalf of my 22nd great grandmother, Margery de Hulgreve, who was born in Cheshire, England, in 1241.  We believe everyone born on earth will have a chance to participate in temple ordinances, whether personally or through others acting as proxies.  They can accept the ordinances or reject them.  The ordinances bind families together forever.

The LDS Church has more than 350 temples built, under construction, or announced.  Some of them are described by temple workers as "work horses," since the volume of people attending their temple sessions is so great.  Dave and I visited the Layton Temple open house last year, and it seemed destined to become a "work horse," since it is so large and located in an area with a steadily growing LDS population. We realized the huge volume of temple work being done in the Salt Lake area when I searched the LDS Temple Appointments database for an appointment, on the morning of November 19, and learned that none of the five closer, Salt Lake area temples had an opening!  Layton is a forty minute or longer drive from our home.

I tried to picture what Margery might have looked like or how she lived.  I was intrigued by her French name, although she lived in England.  I imagined that her family might have emigrated from France, with or after the Norman Conquest of 1066.

I also marveled at the temple gardeners' ability to keep the temple grounds beautiful, even in November!  Pansies and ornamental cabbages substituted for the roses of the summer!