Smiles of the Season

It is hard to believe that this time next week will be Christmas. Some people may get tired with all there is to do during the Christmas season and be glad when it is over….. but…. I never get enough of it. I wish that it lasted much longer. I never tire of singing the Christmas carols, visiting with friends, attending Christmas programs and enjoying all of the decorations.

I am not ready for Christmas to be over in one week. Are you??

For us, the Christmas season began the day after Thanksgiving when my kids help me take down all of my Thanksgiving decorations and put up our tree.

We passed out the gifts for each of our Utah families…

Grampy loaded them up with fruit from his orchard…

We almost got our traditional picture by the scarecrow…

We hugged each one goodbye and…

Then they were off….. Thanksgiving was over….but…. our Christmas season had officially begun.

Almost every thing about the Christmas season makes me smile.

One of my favorite things is getting together with friends and socializing.

We had a lovely steak dinner at Dave’s and Kathy’s beautiful home with all of our cruising buddies. It was our Panama Cruise reunion. We had so much fun reminiscing that we’ve already planned our next get-together in Jan.

We tend to make more time for socializing during the holidays…

It is fun seeing our friend’s beautiful homes… all decorated and lovely…

(Many of our friends have gorgeous homes… much nicer than ours…. but then they are doctors and lawyers, etc.…not teachers like John and I were!!! In spite of their abundance they always make us feel at home and valued)

Is anything better than eating delicious food with dear friends???

I think not!!! I especially enjoyed the open house given by President and Sister Morgan from the Redland’s temple. The Morgan’s host a week long open house buffet for all 500 of us temple workers. Being guests in their home and partaking of their sweet spirits is always special.

I have not been up to much entertaining this year. I didn’t host any big events like I usually do… I just don’t have the strength yet…but… I did enjoy having Carolyn and Don and then Mindy, Ernie and my grands for dinner this weekend. It wasn’t much, Carolyn brought over a lot of the food, but having friends over on Friday night and family tonight made me smile.

Christmas baking and giving makes me smile too.

A couple of weeks ago I attended a cookie exchange with some friends. We each baked 10 dozen cookies and traded them with each other. I made Pumpkin Kisses. I will share the recipe with you that my Erin gave me on another post. They are the world’s easiest cookie to make and they are delicious.

We all came away with 10 dozen different kinds of homemade cookies to give away.

I made up my cookie plates and John, Claire and Austin helped me deliver them to neighbors and friends.

We may not have been the best carolers, but Claire made up for it by singing a Christmas solo at each house. She has a lovely voice and everyone wanted her to do an encore for them…. which she did. Here she is singing to our 90 year old neighbor and helping him decorate his tree. That made me smile.

I also spent time with my Women’s Improvement Club (WIC) sisters wrapping gifts for our local Settlement house and homeless shelter. My heart was touched by all the gifts that had been donated to brighten Christmas for those who are less fortunate. People are generous during the Christmas season and that makes me smile.

Christmas programs make me smile.

This is the 2nd year in a row that Michelle has opened up her beautiful home for our Relief Society Christmas program and luncheon. She moves all of her furniture out to make room for us. What an act of service that is!

I was in charge of putting on the program. I appreciate these sweet friends that helped me put on our Relief Society Christmas program.

The Stake Relief Society presidency prepared the luncheon.

Everyone enjoyed the program and lunch. Their efforts made me smile.

The Madrigals sang for our WIC Christmas luncheon. The music was beautiful.

Last night we attended a delicious dinner with our fellow temple workers. It was hosted by our friends, Clark and Cindy in their lovely home.

Our dinner was followed by games and a touching Christmas story which helped us focus on the real meaning of this season.

I am sure that this coming week will speed by and Christmas will be here before we know it. Let’s be sure to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. Let’s all try to be more Christ-like in our thoughts and in our dealings as we go though the hustle and bustle of getting ready for Christmas.

I know some of you may be a bit blue this year. I am sorry. I hope that you can find smiles by reaching out to others who may be having trouble finding their smiles too. That always works for me when I am feeling down.

Have a great week. I will be posting my annual Christmas Card to you and updating our family news in my next posts.

John and I wish you the very best. ( I couldn’t get John to wear a Santa hat to the party last night, but doesn’t he look cute in his Panama hat he bought in Panama???) I hope that your week is full of smiles.

Hugs, Grammy