Saturday, December 23rd, I baked butter pecan cookies to fill our Viking Santa Cookie Jar. These are made with Cool Whip. Very easy. Pick a cake mix you like the flavor of. Mix it in with an 8-oz. container of Cool Whip and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Drop the cookie dough into powder sugar and coat. Put on cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. They stay very moist and chewy. My favorite kind of cookie texture. It makes about 3 dozen cookies.
Sunday, December 24th, we participated in the combined Elkhorn Creek and Georgetown Ward Christmas program. The week previous when speaking to Andie, I suggested that as many times as we have come to see the Mini's perform maybe this was a time they might watch Ma and Pa perform. Bailey was very excited about that possibility. So, our Marx family came early on Sunday to watch us sing in the Sacrament Meeting program. This was a highlight for my Christmas. I led the opening and sacrament hymns. Then Claude and I sang with the choir. Bailey fairly beamed from her seat in the back. What a treat to smile at her from the stand.
We have had a nun, Sister Jessica, practicing with us the past couple of months. When the program started, Sister Jessica was not on the stand. She is a little hard to miss. She is in an electric wheelchair and has a scarf on her head. She usually sits behind the organ bench. Before the last couple of pieces of music, she was spotted at the back of the chapel. She wheeled that chair quickly up the aisle and up the ramp to the stand. We all parted chairs so she could get around. Someone had music for her at the ready. It felt right for her to be there. I spoke to her after and told her I was missing her. There was a miscue with her and the Sister Missionaries. We talked about Christmas Eve Midnight Mass and I shared that Jake had taken me and I really enjoyed it. She said she just might go to one that evening.
Claude and Bailey took our Jimmy John's orders and headed to pick up lunch. Andie and I drove home in her car. Michael and Hayden walked home. They almost beat Andie and me in the car!!
While we waited for the food to arrive, I mentioned to Michael that we had an HDMI splitter we needed to install on our television and DVD player so we could watch things from our laptop. Michael got right up and looked over the situation. Then he called Hayden to come and help him. I held the television steady while Michael and Hayden wiggled out the center portion of the entertainment center to get behind the TV. They figured it all out and with my extra HDMI cable had it set to go when Claude and Bailey returned with the food. Michael even ordered two more HDMI cables for Claude and I to keep with our laptop briefcases. Whew!! If you know that we bought that splitter months and months ago, you will understand the joy I felt with how quickly he and Hayden were able to get that taken care of. I was even able to dust behind the television!!
We enjoyed a nice lunch and those who wanted took naps. Then we watched "Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie". Claude and I really enjoyed this television series. We knew the movie was out but it was only on streaming services which we don't have. I had even checked to see if I could purchase a DVD for Claude for Christmas. No luck there. How every thoughtful of our good son-in-law to bring a Fire TV Stick from which he could stream this movie on our television.
Bailey was not interested in the Monk movie. She set up Baileyland in the study. She usually sleeps on that sofa. We got her bedding and she set herself up in there until Tuesday morning.
Monday, December 25th, Christmas Day. I set my alarm for 8:30am. I was up a bit before that and got myself ready for opening gifts. Then went to the kitchen to make the cinnamon roll Christmas breakfast casserole. Here is the recipe. We made this at Thanksgiving and it was enjoyed by all. Andie says her only regret is she loves tearing the cinnamon rolls apart to eat. This is not nearly as tactile!
Easy Cinnamon Roll Casserole
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Additional Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 55 mins
Servings: 12
Yield: 1 (9x13-inch) casserole (Make this in two smaller casserole pans)
Ingredients:
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 (12.4 ounce) cans refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
Directions
• Gather all ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pour melted butter into a 9x13-inch heat-resistant glass baking dish (such as Pyrex). (I use 2 smaller pans)
• Cut each cinnamon roll into 8 pieces and spread over the bottom of the dish. Set icing aside.
• Whisk eggs in a large bowl. Whisk in heavy cream, cinnamon, and vanilla until combined; pour over cinnamon rolls. Sprinkle with pecans and drizzle with maple syrup.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes.
• Microwave icing for 10 to 15 seconds; drizzle over cooled casserole. (I did not microwave icing.)
• Serve warm, enjoy!
These were in the oven cooking as we gathered and opened presents. My tradition had always been me at the base of the tree handing out the gifts. As I have aged and don't move as well, I have turned this duty over to the Mini's. This year, Bailey took charge.
We did manage to get Hayden's phone camera set up and he took a picture of all of us as close to being on the stairs as is possible on our little home.
We would watch two movies using Michael handy-dandy Fire Stick. These are movies Hayden has been after us to watch since they came out. We have really had no interest. Now, we were cornered. We had a Barbenheimer afternoon!! That's right. We watched Barbie first. Then had a nice meal and watched Oppenheimer. Whew. Interesting movies.
Time for the Christmas puzzle to come out. Table was cleared and the puzzle was opened. I shall be till next Christmas getting this one finished!! I purchased it because Andie loves the Impressionists. She does love the picture. The puzzle has so many changing colors and patterns that is truly not an easy task to find an area to work on.
That night, Claude went to bed at 10pm. I went to bed at 11pm. When I got in the bedroom, Claude was laying there in the dark wide awake. Something was amiss in this picture. I asked him if he was okay. He assured me he was not. His stomach was a mess and he was nauseated. Ugh. He quickly grabbed his trash can by the bed and proceeded to hurl. I went to get a washcloth for his face. He was up all night with hurling and a bad stomach.
Wednesday, December 27th, in the morning Claude was exhausted and very sore in his abdomen. He settled down with absolutely nothing in his stomach and fell asleep. I headed to the grocery store for more Align and popsicles and diet Sprite. Claude would sleep until the afternoon.
Bailey and I started the Harry Potter movies after I got home from the store. We made it through one and most of the second one before Claude was up and about. He would stay and watch the others with us. He tried eating a plain roll and held that down. By the end of the day, he was eating a bit more and keeping everything down but still feeling queasy.
Thursday, December 28th, Bailey and I determined we would have lunch together and then point the car toward LaGrange to take her home. Claude was up in the morning and we got our showers and cleaned up and Bailey was still asleep. When she started moving around, we decided she wanted Taco Bell for lunch and she wanted it so she could eat in the car on the way home. We left and went to CVS to get Dramamine, then to Taco Bell to get lunch for Miss B and myself. The plan was to go to Burger King and get something mild for Claude. He opted out of even that. He drove us to LaGrange and home.
Bailey brought down her Christmas present for me while we were there. She painted a Christmas ornament purple for me. I loved this so much. I came home, put it on the tree, took a picture of it and sent Bailey a thank you text.
Once home, Claude wanted to start The Hobbit movies. We wanted to watch them before our Lord of the Rings Fest with Hayden on New Year's Eve. Imagine our surprise when we got through all three by 12:15am. Yes!! It is really fun to watch these movies now and remember New Zealand where they were filmed.
Friday, December 29th, was a welcome day for the two of us. We slept in because of the late hour. But we did that deliberately so we had whatever time was left on Friday to accomplish other things.
Friday evening we went to Cincinnati for our final Christmas Date. Yes, this is after Christmas but Trans Siberian Orchestra only had this one show close to us, so it is after Christmas but still counts as a Christmas Date. These are amazing performances. LOTS of lights. LOTS of fire. LOTS of loud music. And, for good measure, some quiet songs. This is a favorite of ours and we look forward to it each Christmas.
The program starts out with a story and musical numbers between the lines of the story. We have seen this story before but they have updated it and have a few new musical numbers with it. The last half of the program is them doing Rock Opera (as they call it) to classical pieces of music. They played "In the Hall of the Mountain King" which I do not remember hearing before. I loved this piece as a child on our stereo record player. The one female vocalist sang our personal favorite "This Merry Christmas Night". They added a person in a snow globe this year. And, we enjoyed a flurry of snowflakes during the performance.
Saturday, December 30th, we left in the afternoon to pick up Hayden. We stopped in Frankfort and had something to eat at Chick-fil-A.
When we got home, Claude went to the garage and packed up the outside decorations. We took them down when Bailey was here with us. It was raining then. We left them in the garage to dry out. Claude had placed the boxes in the dining room. He got the shed key and headed to put one of the boxes in the shed. I decided I could help with that. I picked up the next box and took it out to the shed. Then I returned with another box. This time I watched my hubby start to fall of the step ladder. He had only been on the second step trying to life the nativity box into the loft. He didn't have the ladder quite right and he started to fall. He gently rolled backward, over and onto the lawn mower. Seeing all this, I ran to help my 6 foot over 200 pound hubby steady himself. I forgot about the extra step of bricks and tripped. I landed on my knee as Claude was rolling across to the lawnmower in the corner. At first I found myself laughing the image we must have created with two 70+ year olds in a heap on the shed floor. Then I realized my knee was really hurting. I tried to turn myself over to a seated position in the doorway of the shed and found that difficult. Claude was trying to stand up but the lawnmower, while fully collapsed for storage, had wheels moving so he had practically nothing solid to get a grip on to stand up. We were a mess. I felt a wave of nausea, probably from shock. I did get seated in the doorway facing the yard but I couldn't get up because of the pain in my knee. It took us a bit, but we finally got ourselves righted and able to stand and lock up the shed and get back into the house. By this time I could see the humor in our situation again. We were neither terminally hurt. I had the worst of it with my knee being very bad. We could chuckle about it with Hayden who had been inside during all this frivolity. Oh my. One can have interesting times in their 70's.
Sunday, December 31st, was New Year's Eve. The plan was to go to sacrament meeting and return home. Hayden would sleep in and we would start our Lord of the Rings marathon around 3pm. Alas, that did not happen as planned.
During the night my tummy went haywire. It was my turn to hurl and have a messed up stomach. I spent the night in a bit of misery but was settled down in the morning. Somewhere in the night I turned off my alarm and determined, if I had a bug I did not need to share it a church. I knew I needed rest. I ended up sleeping until 10am. Ugh! But my tummy was fine and I again applaud Pepto Bismol.
We woke Hayden up at 2:45pm to get ready for our LOTR's marathon. This time we cooked food as we wanted it instead of a big buffet sitting out on the counter. Worked out well. We cooked between movies and ate heartily of our choice of foods during the movies.
I really love these movies. I find good moral lessons during each one. There are several really good quotes in them. This time I posted on Facebook each time we started a movie.
At the end of the Return of the Kings (3rd movie), the people of Middle Earth led by Aragon (the future king) wage a battle at the Black Gate to hopefully draw attention away from Frodo trying to destroy the ring. As the battle rages and Frodo tried to get to the fire in the mountain, they look up and see the eagles coming. The eagles are giant birds that come when things are at their darkest to help those on the good side. I watched the eagles coming and thought how we often lose hope when we are at the difficult points in our lives. There is always hope. Hope for the best outcome. Hope for peace to endure that upon which we are called to endure. Hope to learn the lessons our experiences are to teach us. Those eagles help me to think of Hope in my trust in my Savior and his perfect understanding of me and what I need to learn and endure well.
Eventually, with this distraction at the Black Gate, Frodo makes it to the fire. This is where he almost loses instead of winning. He determines the ring is his and he puts it on which makes him invisible. He then tried to leave the mount. Gollum, a hobbit who once owned the ring and it drove him a bit mad, finds Frodo and they struggle. Gollum actually bites off the finger on which Frodo is wearing the ring so that he can have the ring. The struggle leads to Gollum falling into the fires of Mount Doom with the ring. The ring is then destroyed. Thinking about the fact that Gollum had the ring in the Hobbit stories that precede the LOTR books and loses the ring to Bilbo Baggins in that book, it helps you realize that justice comes but it comes in its own time. We want justice to be had immediately. To get the justice of the ring and Sauron being destroyed took many, many years. Evil will eventually be its own ruin. In Mormon 4:5 it says "the judgments of God will overtake the wicked; and it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished..."
Once the ring melts in the fires of Mount Doom, the eye of Sauron and the Mount itself will erupt and fall to pieces.
Sam (Frodo's gardener and friend who has been on all this journey with him) and Frodo will escape the inside of the mountain as it falls to pieces and make their way to a rocky outcrop and lay there, exhausted from their ordeal. I was again touched by their close friendship throughout the movie and particularly as they see the world disintegrate around them. They don't know that they will ever get back to The Shire. They believe they will likely die on that rock as the world continues to disintegrate. They cling to each other and find strength to hang on to that rock together. I love this example of true friendship. We all need a true friend in this life. It is critical. I have a friend like this and love her with all my heart. When I have been in my personal fire and destruction times, I knew I could share with her the feelings of my heart and she would listen and buoy me up. She didn't have to fix my troubles. She just needed to be there to support me as I went through. I hope I have been that for her also. Friendships is vital to our health and well-being in good times and in difficult times.
Eventually, the eagles come and find Frodo and Sam on the rock. They gently pick them up from the rock and carry them to a place of safety and healing. Oh the lessons in this experience. We must walk by faith in this life. That means we have to continue even though we cannot see the future. It also means we believe that help will come, that understanding will come, that peace will come. Faith is such an important principle. Seeing these two little hobbits on this rock having struggled to accomplish what they set out to do. Having spent their last bit of energy and strength. And help comes. I know my Savior knows me personally. I know I must walk with faith every day. I know that as I look back at my life, I can see where 'eagles' have been sent to help me. This is foundational to me and how I live.
Once the Mount, Sauron and the ring are destroyed, the rightful king for the next age of earth will be crowned. He is Aragon. Their is a lovely crown the king ceremony and the hobbits are recognized for their extraordinary effort and help in setting the world right. Sometimes we are recognized immediately for the good that we do. Sometimes we are not publicly recognized but we know in our hearts that we did good. That is the best reward in my way of thinking. The quiet comfort that you did the right thing. No acclaim. Simply a good feeling in your heart and you know that your Savior is pleased with your choice and your effort. That to me is the very best reward.
Frodo goes back to The Shire and continues his portion of the book that Bilbo started with his adventures. I look at this as record keeping. That is what this Blog is for me. A record of my life. I also keep a Gratitude Journal and every evening I write three things that I am grateful for that day. There is good in doing this. It allows me to pause and remember, through the recording, all that has actually happened in a day, week, month, year. It helps me stay aware of all the big and little things that I am blessed with. Sometimes it is having a washer and dryer so I don't have to do that by hand. Sometimes it is a great quote or scripture that touches my heart. Sometimes it is a fun date with my hubby. The list is endless really. I believe in record keeping and in being grateful.
Then it comes times for the elves to leave Middle Earth. Their time has ended and they will go away on a beautiful ship. They will take Frodo with them. Frodo will leave his three hobbit friends behind. It is a tough parting.
Then Frodo and Gandalf board the boat and leave Middle Earth.
This past week we have many friends who have lost loved one. A friend's mother passed, another friend's father passed, a sister-in-law's son died, and a friends son was killed in a horrific car wreck. That is a lot of loss of life in one week for us. Some of these passings were easier as the person had lived a full life and was very ill. There was time to get used to the idea a bit. Some were sudden and not expected. As I talked with the mother, she explained it as 'pure hell'. So, I have reflected on death a bit over the last week. I know I am very matter-of-fact about this subject. But I have very strong understanding that death will come in whatever way it comes. I know this life is the time to prepare and we don't really know how long we have to prepare for the next life. So we should live each day to the fullest so we are ready whenever our time comes. I also know that the life after this one is real. It will be better that living as we live now. And, life now can be pretty great. The parting at the end of this movie as sweet and tender. It would be nice if mine could be sweet and tender. But the most important thing is to be ready by living a good life all the time.
I really enjoyed our movie time with Hayden. It is so good to build those memories when they come along. I am grateful for remembering the lessons I learn from these movies. I am grateful for this little tradition for New Year's Eve we have created. It works for Claude and I.
Paul posted this picture which is full of meaning for me. He is putting his crabapple jelly in the fridge. This is jelly made because Bailey asked to learn how to make it. Then she, Andie, Claude and I worked our tails off gather, cleaning, cooking and bottling all this jelly. Paul was so happy to get some. That is Claude handwriting on the jar. So happy this makes Paul happy.
Monday, January 1st, 2024, we slept in and Hayden slept longer. Then we drove him back to LaGrange. We returned home and had one more lazy evening to ourselves.
Tuesday, January 2nd, we started back doing the normal life things.
Wednesday, January 3rd, I have an appointment with my dermatologist. My nose is healing well and he was pleased with the surgery done by Dr. Renzi. I assured him he referred me to an excellent doctor for this Moh's surgery. He was happy to hear that recommendation.
In the afternoon I took down the interior decorations with the exception of our tree. It would stand for one more evening.
Thursday, January 4th, I started by day by taking down the Christmas tree. This always takes longer than I think it will. When Claude woke from his nap, he helped me take the boxes out to the shed. Christmas is boxed and back in storage until December. I took a picture before I took the tree down, then a picture with the tree down and in boxes, and finally a picture of the living room space back like we leave it the rest of the year. I will miss my tree. I do enjoy having it up.
I love including a few pictures of our family in Michigan. This year on Saturday, December 23rd, they met for their family Christmas. Todd has two sons, Derrick and Mitchell. Nissa has three children, Katelyn, Paul and Aubrey. This has yielded 10 grandchildren. This Christmas everyone was there except Paul's wife, Rachel. Derrick's wife is Suzie. Mitchell's wife is Carlie. Katelyn is married to Drew. It was truly amazing to get everyone there at one time. The first picture is Todd and Nissa with all the grandchildren. The second picture is Derrick, Todd and Mitchell. The third picture is Nissa with Paul, Katelyn and Aubrey. I am over the moon this happened.
Happy New Year!!
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