Our trip back from California was lovely. There was snow everywhere, except on the roads, which were clear, making the drive a happy winter journey. The roads in our neighborhood were filled with snow. But our driveway was clear! Some thoughtful person cleared it for us.
It was good to be home where we could let down a little and relax. Except that my singing group was loaded up with engagements. So from the time of our arrival home until this past Thursday we sang and sang and sang. You may or may not know that singing is not exactly my gift. But with each performance it became more and more fun. Our little group of ladies is not perfection but we have lots of fun and, I think, our sound is pretty good too. As with our spring performance, the ladies in the group love Layne. So they had a special solo just for him. He sang the popular song Hallelujah. We changed the lyrics to give it a Christmas message, and he sounded great. After each performance, we spread out and greeted each person in our audience. It was quite joyful to look into their eyes and wish them a Merry Christmas.
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| The Treble Clef Singers, in costume, practicing for multiple performances. |
Layne has had a bout of vertigo for the last few days. Because of that I worked in the temple without him on Friday. After all the wonderful lights and celebrations at the Oakland Temple you may imagine my disappointment in telling you that there is absolutely no sign that it is Christmas at the Boise Temple. No lights. No nativity. There is no external way to tell that we believe in Christ or celebrate His birth. I could not resist telling the assistant matron and suggesting that we have lights and nativity and maybe even a visitor's center so that we can attract people to the temple. She agreed with me and said she would bring it up with the current temple presidency, or at least her husband. Nothing will change this year, but maybe next...one can hope.
By the time our temple shift was over it was snowing. I couldn't help but be excited to walk to the car in the snow! We were surrounded by beautiful, falling flakes! I promised to give a friend a ride to her grandchildren's home on my way home, which meant that we took the city streets instead of the freeway. Friday evening. Christmas shopping. Snow. Getting dark. Result: traffic everywhere, moving an inch at a time. I dropped off my passenger and headed for the rural streets and home. The city streets were clear and the many lights lit my way. But once on the country streets the snow covered the roads and there was very little light. This California girl was stressed. With knuckles whitened by fright I proceeded forth slowly. Very slowly. Each little skid struck fear in my heart. The snow accumulated on the wipers making my window of vision smaller and smaller as I proceeded along. But, two hours from my departure time, I crawled safely onto our driveway. Layne was there, sweeping it clean for me. How grateful I was to be home! Snow is great, especially when it is falling from the sky. But not while I'm driving!
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| Our home, with a winter look. |
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| There are no secret approaches in the snow! |
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| Layne sweeping the driveway just after our snow storm. |
Christmas will be different for us this year. Since we have no family here, Christmas, for the first time, will not be at our house. I'm a little sad about that. But we plan on driving to Seattle tomorrow to spend Christmas with daughter Jessica and her family. We have not spent many Christmases with Chris and Jes, so this will be extra specially nice. Because of this change in our Christmas celebration, Layne and I had our own Christmas experience today. I fixed Layne a special Christmas dinner, then we sat in front of the fire surrounded by Christmas lights and opened the gifts that we had. It was a sweet time even if very different than what we are used to. What is it about us that fights change? Why are we
somehow saddened by it? In theory I think change is good for us. But I resist it.
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| Our Idaho Christmas. |
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