Holidays

Not long after our Treble Clef singing series began we got a call from our friend, Rachel Tan.  She is in charge of the Oakland Temple Nutcracker that we danced in for several years.  Layne told them that, since we now live in Idaho, we would no longer be dancing in her production.  "Please," Rachel said to me when she called, "dance in Nutcracker this year."  Knowing what Layne would say if I asked him about it, I told Rachel to talk to him herself.  I also knew what he would say to her.  Sure enough, I heard him tell her, "sure, we'd be happy to."  Hum.  He would never have agreed if I'd asked him.  Just saying.  So we headed for California right after our last singing performance, arriving just in time for the final Nutcracker rehearsal.  We performed twice the following weekend, December 16 and 17.  It went very well.  We did our grandparents dance with Layne dancing a solo of sorts and ending as he usually does, bent over with a hurt back.  It all felt familiar and very comfortable, as Layne himself admitted.  Rachel introduced us to the audience before the last performance, as her inspiration for organizing her Temple Hill Nutcracker.  She gave us a beautiful bouquet and Nutcracker memory book.  It was a lovely moment.

After the last performance we met up with our good Nutcracker friends, Howard and Sandra Burnham.  They are great people; Howard is a professional actor and Sandra a professional dancer.  I love them both.  Here we are with Rachel in the middle, Howard and Sandra on the right.

Temple Hill in Oakland is so festive and fun during December.  There are productions of some kind going on every night in December.  The Temple grounds are filled with lights.  It is so magical!

I keep wondering why our Boise Temple does nothing for Christmas.  It sits right off the freeway.  Imagine what a glorious Christmas message it could broadcast to just about everyone in this area, if only we did a little decorating.  Why don't we?  I have asked but no answer is forthcoming.

Both son Reed and daughter Audrey performed on Temple Hill.  Reed's performances were done before we arrived, but I got to attend Audrey's.  She did a beautiful job.  I'm so proud of my musical children!

I have a hard time celebrating the holidays without my children.  So it was a joy to share Christmas with the California kids.  We spent Christmas Eve at Audrey and Cliff's, with all three CA families.  We did a Nativity Story slideshow, had a Bethlehem dinner, shared our feelings of gratitude and opened the traditional Christmas Eve gifts--pjs for the kids.  It was fun!  

Our sample pj kids below are:  Bruce, Tia and Jon, with Vincent behind them.

Christmas morning was fun and followed by a lovely evening at Ben and Jessica's.  Ben prepared a great dinner and many of the kids performed at our annual Family Talent Night.  They are a pretty capable and talented group.  I feel so grateful for family!  I will say though, that not being in charge of family gatherings takes some getting used to.  I used to so enjoy planning activities that I thought the kids would enjoy and benefit from.  But I think those days are gone.  I need to learn to let go and enjoy what they plan instead.  I'm working on that.

Because we were in California for almost two weeks, we had time to visit with friends we don't usually get to see.  That was a special pleasure.  I'd really like to follow in my own parents' footsteps and check on the people we love, friends as well as family, on a regular basis.  I have to talk Layne into it though; his family didn't do much socializing when he was growing up.  He's good at it when he does it though.

We didn't get to spend Christmas with Chris and Jessica.  But they designed a great Christmas photo.  Here's the whole family:  Gemma and Chris in the background, Peyton in the middle, Jessica and Miles at the bottom.  

We flew home on December 26th.  It felt good to be home.  So good that we spent the following day just laying around.  The day after that grandson Chase and his wife Morgan and baby Hunter came, followed by Audrey, Cliff and girls the following day.  We had great fun together, hanging out, eating pie every night for dessert and playing in the snow.  Snow.  Yes, lots of it.  We even went to the movies.  we saw La La Land.  Loved it.  Ben said I would and he was right.

Hunter is a very cute little guy.  He's 6 months old already.

Here he is with Grandma Audrey.

We made our annual trip to Caldwell and the amazing holiday light display they have every year.  If you look carefully you can see (L to R):  Cliff, Audrey, Rayne, Allegra, Hunter, Morgan, Chase and Layne.

We stayed up to welcome in the new year.  Well, most of us did.  Layne went to bed early.  We played games and toasted with 7-up and happily went to bed.  Everyone left the next day.  Except for Allegra.  We drove her to BYUI in Rexburg on Tuesday.  Snow was everywhere but with clear roads we made great time.  We dropped her and her baggage off, checked into a motel then took her out to dinner where we ran into old Fremont friend Jerry Regnier.  So good to see a familiar face!  Well, he is a bit older now and not too recognizable until he started talking.  Then I knew him.  After returning Layne to the motel, Allegra and I went to a movie--Fantastic Beasts.  Loved it.  

Our drive back home the next day was filled with snow storms and wind.  The roads were icy and slick.  I'm so glad Layne was driving.  It was stressful but we made it home safely.  It just keeps on snowing and snowing!  I've not seen so much of it here before.  Now that we are home, I'm liking it.

Here's a look at our drive home.  

Here's the peaceful, beautiful snow after we got home and the sun came out---the next day!

2017 is upon us.  I"m looking forward to it.

PS:  Grandson Scott returned from his mission in Thailand December 30th!