The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

For several years we have been spending our Monday night Family Home Evenings with Melissa and her family. On the Monday before Christmas we decided to put on a Christmas nativity play. With the help of a script that I found online and my friend Peggy's cute costumes we were ready to roll. We rehearsed once and then performed for a small, but great audience. Our cast of players:

Narrator-Brandon

Angel Gabriel-Brennan

Mary-Ryleigh

Joseph-Brennan

Baby Jesus-Jonathan

Angels-Bonnie and Cassidy

Shepherds and Wisemen-Gentrie, Cassidy, Brandon, Brennan, Bonnie

Cast #1

On Christmas Eve our second cast performed:

Narrator-Joel

Angel Gabriel-Danny

Mary-Sam

Joseph-Nate

Baby Jesus-Daniel

Angel-Ryleigh

Shepherds and Wisemen-Brennan, Brandon, Tate, Bonnie, Gentrie, Cassidy, James, Emily, and Benjamin

Cast #2

The Annual Party!

On last Monday night we held our annual Christmas party for the extended Johnson family. Getting together with these relatives that we don't get to see very often is definitely a highlight of the holiday season for us. Traditionally, this party was hosted by Mary and True on Christmas Eve. As their grandchildren grew up and had families of their own and the matriarch and patriarch of the family moved to a warmer climate, the tradition had to change. For the past several years Jim and I have hosted the party, with Adam and Emily arranging for us to rent the clubhouse in their neighborhood. It's a great facility--big gathering room, wonderful kitchen, a game room and big screen TV for the teens, a toy room for the younger children, and plenty of restroom facilities that none of us have to clean. Santa made his appearance amid cheers (and a few tears) and how we appreciate him (and his wife) traveling the long distance he must each time he does this. The food was plentiful and delicious and we loved being together. There are quite a few pictures, so we hope all of you Johnsons can find your beautiful faces among them. We missed those of you who didn't join us--hopefully you'll be with us next time.

Thanksgiving 2010

Some of our most precious blessings join us for Thanksgiving each year. We always miss those family members that aren't able to be with us and this year we especially missed my mother. Despite that bit of sadness we were happy to be together to share a delicious meal and each other's company.

Confession

I am a little embarrassed to admit this in a fairly public place, but up until last night Jim and I had never attended a Jazz game. I don't know why for sure--it could be a lack of desire to spend money to see a basketball game, a lack of time, or maybe even a lack of strong desire to see them play in person. Anyway, last evening my dad--also his first Jazz game-- Jim, and I were able to see the Jazz defeat the Raptors, as guests of Emilee and Joel. We had a great time despite the two guys behind us who talked loudly and constantly almost the entire game. (I'm not sure that either one of them ever stopped to breathe.) Hopefully we'll get another opportunity to attend a game.

We had parked at the church office building and walked to the arena, but decided to take Trax back as far as Main Street after the game. The Trax ride was another first for Dad and me. Now I feel like a true Utahn!

Halloween 2010

Our ward celebrated Halloween with a very wet and soggy Trunk or Treat last night, but we celebrated as a family tonight on a beautiful fall evening. We also were celebrating the October birthdays--Dad, Jeremy, and Gentrie. Our dinner was our traditional beef stew, a very delicious, spicy chicken pumpkin chowder, witchfingers (breadsticks), candy corn jello, orange jello, mini-mummies (pigs in blankets), fruit salad in a pumpkin, streusel crumb cake, and "wormy" cupcakes. Our clever cooks made it all lots of fun and very tasty. Our guests included princesses, a fairy, a skeleton, Woody from Toy Story, two werewolves, Alice in Wonderland, a wizard, a hobo, a tiger, a pea pod, a chili pepper, and other sundry characters.

Stairway to Paradise?

More than two months ago we decided that replacing our front steps had become an emergency, so I had my general contractor cousin, Doug, come over to assess the situation. Well as things usually go, one thing led to another and we ended up with new cement in the driveway, a new surface on the retaining wall, a new front porch with a nice new surface, new steps, and new railings. Fortunately for Jim, these improvements will not lead to new furniture, but we do need to replace the outside lights and get a new doormat. We went without front steps for about eight weeks, but we think the wait was well worth it.

Little Girls

One of the fun things I did during the summer was to make some dresses for some of my granddaughters and here are Cassidy, Gentrie, and Emily modeling the results.