Christensen Christmas Letter 2023...

 THE CHRISTENSEN FAMILY CHRONICLES

Circa 2023

WOW! ‘Twas a year of epic tales, geothermal swimming, and seismic events... more or less…

 Let’s see, Where Do We Start… Why, at the beginning of course, so here we go… Once we came out of our 2022 holiday induced coma, we eventually noticed that it was January 2023. Looking at the calendar one notices that not much EVER happens in January.  I did change the HVAC filters in the house on the 11^th though, so the month wasn’t a total loss. And Sandi got her hair cut on the 19^th, so we have that going for us. Then we attended a Black Jacket Symphony Concert on the 27^th, featuring Fleetwood Mac.

Let’s Do It Again… With January out of the way, February stepped up and got in our face. On the upside, occasionally a good Rodeo comes to the Kentucky Horse Park, so the 10^th found us “yehaaing” our graying heads off there.  We also note that we added a shiney 53^rd nickel to our “If-I-Had-A-Nickel-For-Every-Good-Year-We’ve-Been-Married” jar at our marital contract renewal conference.  Hugs, Hershey bars, and a decent Bison Ribeye Steak at Montana Grill marked the occasion. That’s about when the wheels came off of the bus so-to-speak. We had planned a week-long trip to sunny Arizona when we got the word that my favorite older sister JoAnn had moved on to a sunnier place, sooooo we threw a quick trip to Utah together to say goodbye, eat funeral potatoes and hang out with family. THEN we headed down to Arizona where we checked out the sights and sounds in and around the Valley of the Sun, the Superstition Mountains, and the Scottsdale area. We did make a run up toward the Grand Canyon too, but the weather turned sour so we hung a left and headed cross-country toward Winslow where we found ourselves standing on a corner with Glenn Fry and a Flatbed Ford.  Good trip it was.

OK People Let’s Focus Here… This is where it gets good, March it is. For those of you keeping track, Sandi got her hair cut on the 1^st so she’d be presentable for our big travel month.  On the 15^th, we saddled up and headed down under for a two-week trip to New Zealand and Fiji. The rest of the month was filled with some of the most amazing landscapes on the planet.  On the North Island we visited volcanic hot spots, the Hobbiton and other locations where much of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed. We swung in giant swing that takes one WAY out over the edge of a cliff (it seemed like a good idea at the time…). We kind of wrapped things up touring the studio where Lord of the Rings was produced. Then we were off to the Southern Island to see more volcanic hot spots, more Lord of the Rings sights, and take a boat ride on a 1912 Steam Ship up to a “station (aka farm)” for a New Zealand style BBQ and a sheep show. After our recovery we got on a train and crossed the “Southern Alps” on our way to the west coast of the Southern Island. We took a Jeep Safari, two actually, to Lord of the Rings Filming locations, we panned for gold in a river, off-roaded our way through a river and down a canyon road that strengthened all of our pucker muscles.  At the end, the merciful travel gods gave us a couple of days to rest up at a great resort in Fiji before our long trip home. Here we enjoyed eating a pig somebody dug up from an underground pit right before our eyes.

New Zealand Pictures: Hobbiton, Lord of the Rings Tour in Queenstown, Mt. Cook.

Spring has sprung, Moving on to… April... Bought a new mower and had one trip to LaGrange to watch Bailey in her high school play. Sorry, best I could do here…

 Almost Summer and Life Is Good,… Let’s hear it for May. We celebrated Star Wars Day on the 4^th then took a 4-day road trip up to some of our old haunts in Maryland including D.C. and the Eastern Shore and Chesapeake Bay areas.  Had some amazing seafood along the way and saw lots of fun stuff. Next thing we know it’s June... a bit of good news here.  Traveled up north again, this time to celebrate the arrival of Kennedi Claudette Roper. Yup, Great Grand #5 made her debut which of course required a visit from us. She’s a keeper and one of the most pleasant people we’ve met to-date. Of course, she adores us as well, which is a plus. A perfectly good July followed a lovely June and we barely used it. The doggy days of August… If you noticed, we didn’t REALLY go anywhere in July so by August, we were ready for a road trip.  And, what better place to go this sultry time of year than to southeastern Kentucky to tour all the sights and sounds of the historic Hatfield & McCoy family feud.  As feuds go this was a “goodin” mostly fought over a pig.

September’s Up Next – and it’s a “goodin” Just the usual suspects for the first half of the month.  But then on the 18^th we climbed aboard a big white airplane and flew out to Denver where we lounged around the airport for half-a-day and then got on a bigger, whiter airplane and flew eastward into the night. When we caught up to the sun we were on the ground in Reykjavik, Iceland. We are here for a week or so riding around this seismically active and geologically growing island nation.  We split the week between Reykjavik on the southwest coast and a town called “Vik” on the southeast coast.  We had a GREAT week there -- saw glaciers, snow fields, mountains, volcanos, great buildings, a big hole in the earth that we walked through where all manner of geologic activity occurs daily, ate lamb stew, Icelandic hotdogs, black crust pizza, and swam in not one but two geothermal heated lagoons in the rain and snow.  How was your September…?

Iceland Pictures: Tectonic Plates (American on left, Eurasian on Right, Claude in the middle), Glacier Lagoon, Blue Lagoon.

Fall forward in October… and time for our annual Fall Colors Get-Away.  This year we headed south to Pigeon Forge and the Great Smoky Mountains. Saw some great colors and countryside and ate shrimp at Bubba Gump’s, of course.  To check off a bucket list thing we spent a day at Dollywood where we had a much better than expected experience. Enter -- November… Unless you count going to see the Eagles in Lexington, the highlight here is a visit from some of the grands and great-grands over Thanksgiving. Mountains of food and a good time was had by all. And suddenly, it’s December… As I write this, it’s “so far, so good.” We made a quick run up to Michigan to feed our progeny and drop off their Christmas gifts. It’s always good to see that bunch. We continued our tradition of “The Twelve Dates of Christmas” with trips around to see the lights, hear the music, and eat the food of the holidays.  We went to Renfro Valley last week to hear the Gatlin Brothers perform and will be headed down to Nashville in a week to see Vince Gill and Amy Grant at the Ryman Auditorium.

Oh Yeah – The Kids -- They’re fine, thanks for asking…

Well boys and girls, we’ve pushed you thru our 2023 and reported our doings and undoings. Congrats on having accomplished this important holiday task. We wish most of you the best Christmas on the block.

Best to all, The Christensen’s !!!

A Party We Are Definitely Calling a Date...

I am the secretary for the Elkhorn Creek Ward Relief Society. This year, the Relief Society had responsibility for planning, preparing and executing the ward Christmas Party. This was decided before we were called as the new Relief Society presidency. It was determined when planning the 2023 calendar that everyone wanted to have breakfast served for the meal. We decided to give the party the theme "Christmas Morning". We invited those attending to feel free to wear their pajamas. The start time was 6pm.

As a presidency, all aspects of the party were divided amongst ourselves. I took table decoration's for 12 round tables and candy canes for Santa. Our meal was pancakes, scrambled eggs and ham. Each of us would scramble 5 dozen eggs. Three of us would warm a ham. Pancakes would be made on site. 

After the meal, a video presentation was prepared of members in the ward sharing traditions they have to keep Christ in Christmas. These were interspersed with Christmas carols everyone sang. A video of the birth of Christ was included at the end of the video. After the closing prayer, everyone sang "Here Comes Santa Claus". Bro. David Bennett came in dressed in his Santa costume. He grows a real beard for the occasion. Then all the kids took turn sitting on Santa's lap while the adults cleaned up the cultural hall and kitchen. 

At 10am, after a biscuit breakfast, Claude and I were at the Church Friday morning, December 15th to help with setting up. All the tables were decorated and set as much as possible. The buffet tables were put up and side tables for a cereal bar and a hot chocolate bar. The classroom we would use for Santa had a sofa from the foyer brought in, a table with a cloth and bucket to hold candy canes, a Christmas tree and blow-up dinosaur and a rolling chalkboard with a Christmas tablecloth over it for a backdrop behind the sofa. When all was ready, we all headed home to heat the hams, cook the eggs, and any other things we needed to do. We were home by 12:30pm. 

Claude and I opted to go to Burger King and get a burger to tide us over. Often, when one works these functions, one does not get to eat. We also dropped our Christmas cards in the mail. 

Once home, we enjoyed our burgers and Claude curled up for a nap. I also laid down for about 20 minutes. Felt good for sure.

Claude did our cooking. I made coloring cards for the children to be placed on the tables. We loaded the Jeep with the things I took down for getting the food ready. Claude dropped me at the church at 4:30pm and he returned to continue with the warming of the ham and the making of the eggs. He would come to the church at 5:30pm. 

It was great fun as the other ladies in the actual presidency all have children. Their kids wanted to help. So I worked with them to set the table with cups, napkins and plastic wear. We also put the coloring pictures on the tables. We added jugs of milk and pitchers of water to the tables. They were so happy to help and were a delight to work with.

We started promptly at 6pm. The meal was well received, with many coming back for 2nds, 3rds, and 4ths. The little ones even enjoyed coloring. 

After the meal, we watched the video of families and their Christ-centered traditions with singing of Christmas carols and then the Nativity Story. 

Jenessa, our president, thanks everyone and then told everyone to stay after the prayer and sing one last song. It was nice that a Primary child gave our opening prayer and a Young Man gave our closing prayer. After the prayer, everyone sand "Here Comes Santa Claus" and in came Santa carrying his bag of toys. As everyone sang, we walked through the cultural hall talking to the children.

The children then followed him in the hallway and formed a line going to the room we had set up for him to visit with each child and give them a candy cane. I must say, he was the softest spoken most gentle Santa. It couldn't help but think of the Savior in that picture with children on his knee. I do believe the Savior would have been that gentle and kind to each child. Listening to what they had to say. Calming them if they were a bit leery of him. It just felt right. One little guy brought him blanket for Santa to see before he sat on his knee. The teens waited until the end and then they took their turn with Santa. Two of the Young Women in matching PJ's, manned the exit door. It all worked very smoothly. 

After taking pictures of everyone with Santa, I went back to the cultural hall to help with clean-up. Imagine my pleasant surprise to find it completely clean. The kitchen was on the downhill side of being clean. Leftover food was disbursed to those wanting it. 

This was a really nice Christmas celebration. Good food with our ward family. A strong focus on the Christ-centered Christmas. Then a visit with the Jolly Fella. I posted all pictures on our ward Facebook page for those who wanted a copy of any of them. In that post, I assured everyone that they should be sure to keep Christ in Christmas. And...I am sure he smiles at his children when they are having a good ward family celebration.