Christmas Morning

Breakfast! Presents! We had it all, starting at 10 a.m. on December 25. Lisa and Michael cooked crepes, as Dave chopped fruit, fried bacon, made the hot chocolate and whipped cream, and hauled out the orange juice and Nutella. After all the worldly stuff, we attended Church together at 1 p.m. and, through music and an excellent talk by James Bradway, concentrated on the "gifts" the New Testament describes.

I was upstairs, with Jonny as my helper, furiously wrapping our worldly gifts. "This does not have economic utility, "Jonny protested. "You're using all this paper and ribbon to hide things that the grandchildren picked out themselves and will pull open in half an hour." "Christmas is not about utility," I replied.

After breakfast, we opened the presents.

My compilations of journal entries always draw interest, as the Spendlove kids check to see if I have exceeded my usual standard of reporting 90% of the events correctly, and being wildly, outrageously wrong on the other 10%!

Kyle checked his computer to verify a disputed Christmas fact.

We found a "To Santa" letter written by Alyssa: "From the Flindt home: I love you, Santa!"

Our children chose wonderful treats for Dave and me. There were photographs of Jonny and Jenny that Dave promptly hung on our wall; a gift certificate for our favorite restaurant, Market Street Broiler, from Michael, that we promptly used; a photobook of "Notable Quotables" from Kyle and Lisa, with cute pictures and sayings of their children over the years, which we promptly read and laughed over; and running gear for David and "cocotte" French baking dishes for me from Camille and Steve which will be very fun to use.

The Flindt kids picked their own unique gifts for Dave and me--a CD of romantic Christmas music from Michael K and a CD of "Built on a Rock" from Grant. "Built on a Rock" is the musical written by a woman in the Flindts' ward which Lisa's stake performed last fall. Its songs are now sung by BYU's Young Ambassadors.

Spencer chose a half dozen bottles of his favorite root beers and sodas from the shop where he works.

Kirsten put together a DVD about my life for a school heritage report. We played the DVD on our TV and my eyes welled up with tears to see the very positive way in which my granddaughter summed up my experiences.

Christmas Eve--as Always

Reading the Christmas story from Luke.

Hearing Scott read "The Night Before Christmas."

Listening as the Calders sing "Hang Up the Baby's Stocking."

Sharing such talents as Jonny's latest mustache poem, with rhyme and rhythm in the style of Langston Hughes...

and Annelise's variation of a Christmas poem.

And, finally, singing "Silent Night," with Michael accompanying us on the piano.

Those are Christmas Eve traditions that are fun, comforting, and date back long before Grandma Calder died. This December 24, Scott's family joined the Spendloves at our house. In addition to celebrating the traditions described above, we also went around the room telling one good thing that happened to each of us during the past year. Many of the "good things" were interesting trips, such as the Flindt children's visit to Church historical sites and the Ebert children's trips around and around the country as they visited potential home sites in Dallas and Columbus. We also shared chicken tortilla soup cooked by Gretta and big bowls of fruit brought by Jean and Scott.

Jonny made Brazilian limonada from fresh limes.

Tara had to work, but Scott Jr. came with Tara's homemade macaroons.

Scott provided the dessert--chocolate cake, strawberry cheesecake, candied pecans, and Scott Jr.'s macaroons and peppermint bark.

All the Spendloves were there, as well as all of Scott's children except Grant and Jamie and Tara. Both sides of the family laughed and talked together.

John and Jacquelyn joined us from Houston, with their two sons.

For Gretta, a party this fun was pure bliss.