A Week Filled With Christmas

 The week was literally filled with everything Christmas-just the way it should be.  And what a week.  We had made a reservation for something called Lights on the Lake.  It's a drive through light show on the banks of Onandaga Lake and it is a Syracuse tradition.  We were excited to go and thought since we were going to be in Syracuse we would make a point of going to Costco and to see Clinton Square in Syracuse. So this picture is titled Christmas in the City! (this is Clinton Square) And it has become one of my favorite photos.

It was freezing cold but the music filled the air and the ice skaters were having a grand time.  Needless to say, 17 minutes on our parking meter was plenty of time to shoot, quickly walk around the square, and get back into the car. But I got the shot and I love it.  We had gotten a call, earlier in the day, from one of our office missionaries asking if we were maybe coming to Syracuse sometime that week-they wanted to give us a package for one of the missionaries in our district. We ran to the office and learned that one of our office Sisters was very very sick and she is the one who really makes the luncheon for Zone Meetings work.  They asked if we would like to come to Palmyra to the last Zone Conference the next day.  We told them we would be happy to come and help with the food.  We ended the day with a burger at Red Robin, a trip through Costco, and a ride through the Lights on the Lake-all in a snow storm.  It was actually a very beautiful time. When we left home that day there were small little flakes coming down.  When we came home, this is what we returned to! Yup! About 10 inches!

Tuesday put us on the road to Palmyra (the second time in three days) and we totally loved being with the Elders and Sisters again.  The best part is we saw several Sisters and a couple of Elders that we have served with in the past and haven't seen since they were transferred.  It was so fun to get some hugs from them!

L_R Mike, Me, new Sister, Sister Aston

We love meeting up with Sister Aston.  She is one of our favorites and makes us so happy.  She is training a new Sister and doing a great job.

We ended the day visiting with a couple of the sisters in our branch and giving them a Nativity.  

Wednesday was our District Council meeting.  We love it.  We always learns so much from the Sisters and Elders.  Our DL asked each of us about one family tradition that we love at Christmas.  I told them about how we go to the cemetery on Christmas Eve, light candles for Natalie, and sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Silent Night" and how Mike reads in John about the resurrection instead of Luke 2. We ate lunch together and it was such a fun day.  We also visited a couple of people and took treats to them. It's been so fun driving around the communities and seeing the Christmas lights on the houses.

Thursday was our Book of Mormon day.  We had prepared the lesson last week so we didn't have to prepare again, and our RS President said she would bring the treats so I didn't have to bake which was really fun treat for me.  We taught a Christmas lesson and it was awesome.

Friday we had training in the morning.  We have it every week on Zoom and it's always a good thing.  We were prepping for our Christmas Even celebrations and had a chance to visit with some people and text people.  We were excited to meet up with our Branch President and Branch clerk and their wives for dinner.  Well, the day started out at 49 degrees and by early afternoon the temps started to drop into the teens and the snow started coming down and blowing sideways.  I thought it would be fun to grab a hot chocolate and take a picture outside in the mess.  It was a pretty mess though!

By the evening temperatures had dropped to 6 degrees with a windchill of minus 10 degrees.  Mike had said we should probably leave 20 minutes sooner than normal just to handle the snow on the roads.  I asked if we should stay home but we both felt okay to go.  We went out to the car, thinking we would just need to brush the snow off the car but our car was encased in ice.  The doors were frozen shut-but we did get them open and Mike had to chisel the ice from the windows.  As we drove, the snow would blow across the road and even though it was white, it looked like dirty black mist.  We commented on how it reminded us of the mist of darkness in Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life.  We made it safely and had such an enjoyable time with our friends.  Going home was great.  We were excited for the next day!

Christmas Eve was a beautiful day.  Our Mission Leaders are incredible. (President Gentry even made his own Christmas sweater-how cool is he?) They know that days like this can be hard for many missionaries.  President had sent out a letter a couple of weeks before and told us that we would have a Zoom meeting at 9:00 in the morning and we would learn how to make their family tradition of Monkey Bread.  They gave everyone a list of ingredients to have ready and we all jumped on for a fun start to our morning.  We visited, told jokes, heard a beautiful original song by one of our Sisters, shared family Christmas traditions and had a missionary Christmas story.  We made just a half recipe of the Monkey Bread because with just two of us we would totally eat a big one and that would not be good.

Needless to say, this stuff was soooo good.  We added a little glaze to it because hey, we didn't have enough sugar, right?  We had such a wonderful time, starting our Christmas celebrations, with these couple hundred people that are simply amazing.  We feel so very blessed!

After Zoom, we started getting ready for our 3:00 Christmas Eve dinner with 4 Elders and 4 Sisters.  We were so excited and I totally spaced off getting pictures of our cute dinner table and the yummy food.  I guess that is what happens when you are trying to get all the food on the table at the same time.  I cooked a turkey and a ham, had potatoes and gravy, stuffing, corn, beans, and hot rolls.  I also made a chocolate cream and coconut cream pie and a lemon meringue pie, and our Rome Sisters brought a pecan pie to add to the table. Anyway, I did get a few pictures of dessert and the favor we made and a little game we played.  I can't tell you how these missionaries filled our hearts when we were feeling a little lost without our family close.

The sweetest part of the time with these missionaries is when they were getting ready to leave, they turned out the lights in our living room, lighted a candle (battery) for each of them and then they sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Silent Night" just like I had told them about our tradition at the cemetery.  I can't tell you what that did for our hearts.  The kindest gift, given by the kindest young people to two who were missing home a bit.  We feel so blessed to associate with these amazing people.

Later that evening, Tyler and Alexandra and their two little girls went to the cemetery to light a candle at Natalie's grave.  They FaceTimed us so we could join in on the tradition.  We loved hearing them sing the songs that we always sing.  It was a perfect topping to a wonderful day.  

We ended the night watching Mr Kruger's Christmas.  It was a perfectly beautiful and exhausting day.

Christmas morning was another beautiful morning.  Christmas on Sunday is my favorite.  It's the best day to come together, sing songs of the birth of Jesus Christ, and celebrate Him by partaking of the sacrament. We loved our meeting, even though there were only 14 people there.  It was a nice day.  Afterwards we went to the Lewis family home for dinner.  There were 8 of us there and it was a fun time for everyone.  And the food was great.

L-R Rod Jones, Lori Jones, Dave Lewis, Maryclare Lewis, Sister Gracey Curzon, Sister Jacie Erickson,

Me, Mike

We had the chance to see some of the beautiful winter wonderland that this land is.  Every day I think I fall in love again.

Christmas Night is usually puzzle night for us.  Since being empty nesters we started doing puzzles.  The problem is, I don't love the puzzles with hundreds and thousands of pieces.  I like puzzles you can put together in a couple of hours.  Santa brought us one of those kinds of puzzles.  It was fun putting it together and made our day a little more blessed!

We feel so blessed to be missionaries and to have the chance to learn and grow and to be surrounded with wonderful people and places.  We love you and hope you each had a wonderful Christmas.  We love our Savior, Jesus Christ! We are thankful for His life, His teachings, and His atoning Grace and Mercy.  We know that He lives, that He is the Son of God, and that He is the Light, the Life, and the Hope of the world.  We are forever thankful for His love!  Merry Christmas!