'Tis the Season

The Christmas tree at Dairy Queen (love those cone ornaments)...

and my niece Haley's name on a stocking beneath it.

December 9, 2016

Christmas is just sixteen days away, and the evidence is found everywhere we go. Sometimes that evidence is unexpectedly fun and personal. Tonight, Mark and I were out doing errands and decided to stop for dinner (and then dessert) at Dairy Queen, one of Mark's favorites. As usual, we looked around to see if any of my nieces or nephews were at work there (their family keeps Dairy Queen running much like mine does for Walmart), but none seemed to be around.

Then I noticed a long line of little stockings hung along the counter with employees' names on them. The stockings had bunched together in spots, so while we waited for our meals I went over and spaced the stockings out neatly, while also looking for the names of my nieces and nephews. Some friends of ours, Steve and Michelle Daly and their daughter Brianna, were also enjoying a meal at Dairy Queen, and they busted out laughing, teasing me about being so OCD that I couldn't stand for the stockings to be unevenly bunched. I assured them that was only part of the reason I was rearranging them!

The stockings of my brother Jeff, and my nieces Emma and Elsie,

and my nephews Burke and Marcus are in there among the others.

When I was done, I sat back at our table and prepared to take pictures of the stockings. That's when I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see my niece Elsie and nephews Marcus and Burke! They'd been pulling in at the drive-through when they saw Mark and me inside and decided to come in for a visit instead. It turned out that Emma was also there, working, but we hadn't seen her because she was in the back. She came out for a few minutes to say hello, too. I also found out that my brother Jeff started working at Dairy Queen over a year ago, just two days a week for a little extra money. His full-time job these days is working security for the local hospital. It's funny that I had no idea my own brother worked at Dairy Queen despite our frequent stops there. I had noticed a stocking labeled "Jeff" but thought it was simply a coincidence!

And so we all enjoyed a good, long visit--something like forty-five minutes--which made for an unexpectedly pleasant end to the day.

My lunch on our table at the faculty Christmas party.

I liked the little "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree.

Another Christmas event that we can count on every year is the faculty Christmas party, planned and presented for us by Student Council. Today was the day, a Hawaiian luncheon with door prizes and entertainment provided by the students. I always look forward to it.

Another table's centerpiece at the faculty party that I thought was cute:

sand and "waves" and Hawaiian "blossoms," with a little Christmas sprig.

My door-prize winnings at the faculty Christmas party.

The bottle is filled with mini candy bars.

Christmas Elf Jacob is on the job!

This is also the season for my daughter-in-law, Danielle, to send me fun little pictures of my son Jacob, the merry Christmas Elf, from his Walmart job in Utah. That's always a seasonal favorite!

My final surprise for the day was the arrival of a little envelope sent by my niece Brianna from the Valley. Brianna recently started up her own business as a consultant for Lipsense, a company that produces some amazing lip products, along with a few other makeup offerings such as eye shadows. I'd never heard of the company before, but the little videos on Brianna's Lipsense Facebook page are pretty incredible. I'm anxious to try them out. If you're interested in checking it out for yourself, let me know and I'll hook you up with Brianna's page!

Christmas presents to myself! The other gift I got myself is flannel sheets

for my king-size bed, in the package behind the Lipsense products.

I ordered them online and they arrived two days ago. Warm and cozy!

Nativities by the Hundreds

Sarah and Chris with one of the largest indoor Nativities I've ever seen.

December 3, 2016

Once I'd downloaded and edited the remaining photos from last night's visit to a huge Nativity collection at the Social Hall in nearby Snowflake, I was quite disappointed in the pictures' overall quality. The lesson is this: keep your camera fully charged at all times! I'd exhausted my battery at Sarah's concert prior to seeing the display, so I'd had to rely upon my cell phone instead. 

Part of the issue was that the Nativities were roped off to prevent handling by the public. One can hardly blame them for that, but it made it impossible to get as close to them as required by my little phone. The other part of the problem was that I too often tried to get as many Nativities as possible into a single shot. As much as I'd have loved to capture each one in detail, there were just too many for that. You'll notice that some of these pictures contain as many as seven, to ten, to fourteen Nativity sets in a single shot. Multiply that by the sixty pictures I took (not all posted here) and the fact that I skipped over some that are more commonly seen, and you'll perhaps understand why I'm sure there were at least four to five hundred Nativities in all.

There were Nativities both under the tree and hanging on the tree.

And so, with apologies for the poor quality (I'll spare you the worst of them), here is a tour of the beautiful Nativity collection we enjoyed last night. Remember that you can click on any photo to enlarge it. Many of these Nativities are humbly simple, while others are simply awe-inspiring. 

I had a lot of favorites among this huge collection of Nativities.

This one would be one of my top three.

Another favorite. I'm especially impressed by the backdrop.

And I like the sunshade over the saddle on the camel.

These are all beautiful, but I truly love the glass Nativity.

This Nativity is sculpted of metal. Check out Mary's curls.

I think the Nativities crafted of real fabrics are fascinating.

Many of the Nativities came from other countries.

Adorable. What more is there to say?

When I spoke of humbly simple, I was thinking of this Popsicle stable. 

I love this message.

I love the style of Jim Shores's art (upper left).

Rustic bears on the left, Japanese on the right.

Check out the rubber ducky Nativity toward the back on the left.

Snowmen, large and small.

Handmade stitchery.

I'm so sad that these last two didn't turn out clearly. Not only is there beautiful handiwork here, but there are also two Native American Nativities. Native art has always had a special place in my heart. If you stare at it really hard and cross your eyes just a little bit, you might be able to make out the stable in tepee form, as well as an elk, buffalo, bear, horse, eagle, and rabbits among the animals standing watch. 

May we always remember the reason for the season!

Concert of Carols

We were treated to little ballerinas during the Christmas concert of

White Mountain Symphony Orchestra today.

December 3, 2016

This afternoon Mark and I attended Sarah's annual Christmas concert with White Mountain Symphony Orchestra. It's always fun to enjoy holiday music this time of year, especially when my daughter is one of those making the music.

As usual, we couldn't see Sarah from where we were seated.

She and her violin were somewhere in back on the left.

This year has been a little off-kilter for me. Usually by Thanksgiving, I can't wait to put on Christmas music and start decorating the house and doing my Christmas shopping. Now, here it is a full week after Thanksgiving, and for some reason it just hasn't hit me yet. I don't even have a Christmas tree. No, I'm not feeling Scrooge-ish. I think it's simply due to the fact that this is the first Christmas in which I no longer have any of my children living under my roof.

All the tiny ballerinas come out to dance during the Nutcracker Suite.

My kids, on the other hand, are certainly enjoying the Christmas spirit. Sarah and Chris already have their tree up and finished their Christmas shopping yesterday. Dylan and Jake have decorated their apartment, and they did all their Christmas shopping two days ago. Even Jacob has already called me from Utah to ask for gift ideas for the family. (Not that I was any help to him...)

 Here's two minutes' worth of little ballerinas making their Christmas debut. Adorable!

I guess it's time to get my head in the game! I really enjoyed the Christmas concert by Nashville Tribute Band two weeks ago, and I have been listening to their album, Merry. Today's concert touched me a little more, to the point of even bringing tears to my eyes. And then, after the concert, we went to a beautiful display of literally hundreds of Nativity Scenes just a few blocks from the concert, which was held at Snowflake High School, about thirty minutes north of our town.

A few blocks from Snowflake High School is the historic Main Street Chapel,

where Jacob and Danielle held their wedding reception more than two years ago.

It's one of the oldest LDS chapels still in use.

Tucked behind the Main Street Chapel is the LDS Social Hall

A sign for the Nativity display outside the Social Hall's doors.

The first Nativity we saw was outside the Social Hall doors.

Naturally, I used up my camera battery during the concert, so I turned instead to my trusty cell phone camera to capture the Nativity collection. I apologize in advance for the quality of these pictures. I only hope they convey somehow the complete awesomeness of this huge display.

I've only been inside the Social Hall a couple of times, to attend wedding receptions,

since I don't spend much time in Snowflake. I didn't even know it had a theater inside.

They had a short Christmas video playing here.

I'm not exaggerating when I say there were hundreds of Nativities on display in the Social Hall. I estimate that there were about 400 Nativity Scenes of various types. And that's a conservative guess. I took about sixty pictures in all. Most of those shots show multiple scenes, and I didn't even capture every Nativity on film.

This is how I imagine Mary and her Firstborn.

I'm not going to share all those pictures in this post. There are simply too many, so I'll do a separate post tomorrow. However, I will share a few of them now. Not every scene was a traditional, three-dimensional Nativity Scene. Many were portraits capturing a single moment. Some were signs sharing the Good News. The items displayed were eclectic in nature and all were very sweet or deeply moving in their own way. It was an inspiring reminder of the reason for the season.

This was a sewn tapestry.

Be sure to read the inscription on the frame, too.

Another of my favorite portrayals of Mary as a new mother.

Mary and Joseph en route to Bethlehem.

I thought this drawing superimposed on sheet music from

The Messiah was so sweet.

Another, more complex tapestry.

Stylized, ornament-shaped embroideries depicting the Nativity.

After we explored the Nativities for about an hour, Sarah, Chris, Mark, and I went out for Mexican food at Aliberto's. Then we went our separate ways for the evening: they to their home, and Mark and I to do some shopping. And now, at last, I'm ready to plunge into the fun of holiday traditions and Christmas joy!

Love this.