December 24 and 25 The Merriest of Christmas'

Jesus is the reason for all we do! He is the Way, the Truth and the Light! He is our Way back home to our Father, His way is Truth and He is the Light to help us find our way in the darkness of this world. I love Him, I love the Christmas Season to honor and celebrate Him. But most of all I'm grateful for His Love, the Hope He gives me, of being made enough, through Him and because of Him. Isn't it the most Amazing gift!

THANKS Angie for this sweet Nativity. We really appreciated our 25 days to Christmas!!!

On Christmas Eve all of the Seniors had a barbecue for the North Zone missionaries for lunch. Here's Elder and Sister Walker, Elder and Sister Thomas (in the back), Sister Marsh, me and Elder Stringfellow, and Sister Young.

My pictures got out of order. Doing a blog is a little bit tricky! Christmas Eve we had a huge thunderstorm and a power outage for about 45 minutes. I felt bad for those who were having dinners and partys. Poor Sister Marsh had her fruit cake in the oven, but (unfortunately-I'm not really a fan) it still survived. It's been very chilly here and I didn't bring a lot of warm clothes, I don't know why I thought it would always be hot! Thank heaven Santa brought me a nice warm sweater and some warm pj's! Christmas morning was certainly different being away from our children and grandchildren. We actually slept in and had a leisurely breakfast before we opened our gifts. But when we skyped all of them it was hard not giving eveyone hugs and kisses and wiping tears away when they didn't get what they wanted from Grandma! I just love the honesty of little children! On christmas we went over to the Mission Presidents home for a short time for an open house of crepes. That evening the Senior missionaries had a very lovely dinner at Sister Young and Sister Marsh's apartment.

Here's the North Zone: back row: Elders Atwood, Barker, Galbraith, Schultz, Anderson, Sorenson, Bernfield, Bateman and Smith; Front: Hayes, Burton, Harris, Bergener, and Austin. Since these young men live around the office we see them quite often and have really come to love them. Elder Austin checks on me all of the time to make sure I've taken my medicene every day at 2:30! I always forget that dose. I am doing so well that it's easy to forget but I know it's important Mom, to stay on my regime.

They all sang Angels We Have Heard on High as a thank-you for lunch. It was so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes! The Elders below came in on Christmas Eve (day)too to sing us a song. I think they were actually checking to see if they had any Christmas packages! But we loved their song too.

We hope and pray that you all had a wonderful and peace-filled Christmas as well! Merry Christmas...