Wrong Restaurant; Gentri Concert; Levi Smiling; Excells' Elf

The other day Spencer and Madison came over while the rest of their family went to see a play.

Glen had already left the house to go get the car worked on before they got here. I talked with Rebecca about ordering Costa Vida for the little ones for our dinner and asked if she wanted us to get meals for the four of them to eat after the play. She said yes.

I sent their order, plus my order, to Glen to order on his app.

After the car was finished, Glen went to help Dad with his new computer and then when he was finished he got on the app to order our Costa Vida food. 

He struggled and struggled with trying to order because "the restaurant changed its app all around and it looked so different than usual." He also complained "they didn't have my credit card information which I  knew I had already entered in the app." He was so frustrated!

I didn't know anything about any of that when I got a text from my friend.

It was at that point I began to wonder if there had been a problem...

A little while later, Glen called to say he had gotten to Costa Vida and they didn't have his order ready. He was so frustrated and pulled out his app to show them the order he had placed. Costa Vida told him he had ordered food on the Cafe Rio app.

Ooooooops!!!!

None of us like Cafe Rio and it was very frustrating. But, he went to Cafe Rio to pick up the food he had ordered. Into our house he walked carrying a sack that contained only four meals. He was four meals short.

He couldn't figure out why we needed eight meals when there were just the four of us here. Remember he hadn't been here when I was talking to Rebecca about getting the extra food.

Needless to say, Dallas, Rebecca, Brooke and Caroline were the lucky ones in all the mix-up because we then ordered their food from Costa Vida and they had warm meals from the correct restaurant when they arrived here very hungry after the play.

Now an update on the Jacob Thomas family who are all fanatic BYU fans. Jacob has instilled the great love obsession of BYU sports from Glen and is doing his best to pass that tradition on to his family. 

This was the pancake breakfast they ate on ESPN Game Day when BYU football was playing at Costal Carolina. The equipment truck getting across the country was a big deal as the news tracked its progress preceding the game. 

While Glen was all involved in watching both BYU football and BYU basketball games (which includes an hour of pre-game chitter chatter--2 hours if it is football--and 2 hours post-game hashing and rehashing every single move made during the game), I was off having some fun of my own.

I went with Dallas, Rebecca and Nani to the Maverik Center to watch the Gentri Christmas concert.

I was glad I had worn a jacket over my sweater. Rebecca noticed the camera and sound people were all wearing coats, hats and gloves, and wondered if they should have worn their coats.

Our seats were on the floor where there was plenty of spacing between each group of concert goers. The people in the upper seats were also very spaced out. 

It was so fun to be out of the house doing something out of the ordinary. Listening to the beautiful Christmas music was so relaxing and nice.

I had not realized what Gentri meant until the three singers came out and introduced themselves as Gentri--the Gentlemen Trio. Hence Gen-tri, using the first three letters of both those words. It was an aha moment for me.

I had been excited to see Mat and Savanna Shaw, one of Gentri's guests for the concert. I have loved listening to this daddy daughter duo ever since they put their first song on YouTube when the pandemic was getting started.

They have been a breath of fresh, hopeful air for me as I have listened to each song they sing. How fun for them to go from YouTube to performing on the big stage with a well-known group like Gentri. 

Because of the concert, we missed going to Bill and Jan Evans's traditional Christmas dinner with friends. But, like the true friends they are they hand-delivered us a Christmas treat along with a huge slab of prime rib from their dinner from the night before.

Glen enjoyed a couple of days' worth of meals from the prime rib. YUMMY for him!!

Carol Pope dropped by a Christmas gift from her and Tiffany.

I opened it up and found chocolate-covered almonds. That's my idea of YUMMY!! And a notebook for me to take notes during the Tuesday morning zoom class I attend that Carol teaches. 

The note made me laugh.

In Florida at the Jackson home (Klarissa's parents' home), Klarissa is having the children do some elf aerobics to get their day going.

Klarissa put up a post on how she's been doing with her pregnancy.

I told Klarissa she needs to send some photos of her so we can really believe she is going to have a baby. What a cute photo she sent after that request.

Here's a little update on how Ben and Haley's little boys are doing. Levi is getting bigger by the second.

Notice the addition to their nativity scene Kade felt was important to include.

Another day Kade rearranged the nativity figures to become a part of his car garage.

Haley posted some photos today of Levi smiling. He looks so adorable in the snowsuit.

The Elf on the Shelf is alive and well at the Excell home. I greatly enjoyed the recent antics of the little feller and the comment Lincoln made. Children are the best to give us a good laugh!!

Quotes of the Week

Let us make Christmas real. Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values.
--Thomas S. Monson

Let this become our Christmas tradition, no matter where we are--to be a little kinder, more forgiving, less judging, more grateful, and more generous in sharing our abundance with those in need.
--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

The sweetest gift given at Christmas will always be the one our Savior Himself gave us. His perfect peace, in a world where peace seems far off, the Savior's gift of peace can live in our hearts. If we accept the Savior's invitation to follow Him, lasting fear is forever banished.
--L. Whitney Clayton

Claire's Baptism; Oh Christmas Tree! Funeral of David Rees

 Since Claire recently turned 8 years old, she chose to be baptized.

It worked out great that Jacob is in the bishopric, so he was able to be the one to conduct the baptism as well as baptize and confirm Claire.

The day after Thanksgiving was the day chosen to have the baptism.

The Owens family was visiting Jacob's family and got to participate in the baptism at the church with them.

Laurie had made a personalized book for Claire which Luke had illustrated. She read the book to Claire at the baptism and then gave her a baptism bear and some gummi bears that went along with the story.

We were very thankful we could join in on a Zoom meeting so we could be a part of the baptism in that way.

After the baptism, I got busy changing out the decorations from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I recruited Glen to help me and was thankful for all the boxes of Christmas decorations he carried up from the storage room.

The grandchildren helped convince their grandpa that we should set up our Christmas tree. Every year Glen tries to get out of that job. Not this year!!

He was really struggling with the lights...

And the star... Poor tree!!

It eventually came together with a more even distribution of illuminated lights and the star sitting much straighter at the top.

It's "just like Christmas" every year when I get out the decorations and start unwrapping them. Some of them I have had for years and years and they are very dear to me. Others are much newer and bring me such delight when I rediscover them and get excited about finding a place for them.

These three little Christmas mice have been with us for almost our whole married life. They have survived our five children and all the grandchildren playing with them through the years. 

This year when I pulled them out of their protective Styrofoam holder, I dropped one and his arm broke off. I couldn't believe it!! I was the one to break a family heirloom! Nothing a little hot glue couldn't repair, though.

We pulled out the adorable missionary stockings made by the mother of one of our missionaries. These just tickle me every time I look at them. So cute and clever and a great reminder of the three years we served in California.

Jamie Jensen stopped by that evening to drop off a beautiful, big red poinsettia. I had just thrown away the last of the fall flowers and the cabinet was looking pretty bare. Not any more!!!

We had learned at the end of October that Glen's sister JoAnn's husband was in the hospital with COVID-19. 

Dave was on a ventilator for 3 1/2 weeks before he passed away the day before Thanksgiving. This scene is so touching to me as I think of all the healthcare workers who have been dealing with this disease and how hard it must be for them to watch people under their care die. 

It was hard on JoAnn and her family who were not allowed to visit him because that is how it has been ever since this pandemic hit. Thankfully, the hospital let the family visit him in person the night before he died.

Dave is statistic number 11 on this daily death count who succumbed to the coronavirus. He was 74 years old and had no underlying health conditions. It is SO SAD!!!

We hadn't been to Coalville in years. We haven't been very far from our house for a very long time, so it was nice to take a drive on a beautiful day. It was a very cold day, but we were so thankful it was not windy and it was not snowing.

Dave and JoAnn, Kathy, Christy and Cheryl.

Dave's grandson on the far left was standing by the casket crying with his hand patting his grandpa's chest. It was so tender and dear and so heart-breaking at the same time.

Glen with his sisters Maurine, JoAnn and Barbara.

Back at the car, Barbara pulled out her annual Christmas gift to us--Chex party mix that she had made. One year I ate the whole batch before Glen could even eat any and when Barbara found out about it, she made some more for him and included another container for me.

This year there were two labeled containers--so Glen doesn't get cheated out of his fair share. HAHA!! Great idea, Barbara!! (But it is still very tempting to eat all the Chex out of Glen's container. I always leave the pretzels and the nuts for him. Sounded like a fair deal to me...)

On our way home from the funeral, we stopped at Ben and Haley's home so Glen could try his hand at getting the kitchen sink unplugged. Ben had been trying since the day before to no avail.

After a few plunges...Glen announced the drain had been cleared.

Ben was pleasantly surprised since his technique had netted no such result. Haley was thrilled that she would finally be able to get the dishes done.

I enjoyed holding the sleeping baby for a few minutes and keep marveling at how quickly he has grown.

Kade had a little playtime with his grandpa before it was his naptime.

We stopped to pick up lunch at Arby's because, like the burger wrapper says, I am "special." Also, I did not want to have to cook that day. 

Our little Christmas tree decorators came over tonight to put the ornaments on the tree.

Now THAT looks like what a Christmas tree should look like!! 

Thank you, grandchildren, for helping us finish up the last of our Christmas decorating!