Beneath the Wraps

        Every year the local elementary schools make ornaments to hang on the tree that is displayed downtown.   Each year they walk from the school to the downtown area where the tree is displayed so that they can hang the ornaments themselves or drop into a basket of ornaments to decorate higher than they can reach.   On the first Saturday of December there is a gathering.   There is music and free hot chocolate.   And then there is the lighting of the tree.   Jenna took this at main street and second avenue entrance to park (closed off in Dec)        This year Jenna and I saw decorations carted out as some contributed to decorating the town.    Jenna took this one yesterday.  So foggy this morning that only one strand of snowflakes could be seen The tree was lit without all the hoopla that it has seen in years past.   Only lights adorn the tree as there are no ornaments. Students have not returned to...

                 When we are baptized we take upon ourselves the name of Christ – which means we will do our best to follow his example. The purpose of the sacrament is that it allows renewal of covenants made at baptism.  We have sacrament meetings so that we can partake of the bread and water – which in itself does not require the entire time we are at sacrament meeting but rather a fraction. Every sacrament meeting which I have personally attended has had an opening song, opening prayer and announcements followed by a song for the sacrament, the sacramental prayers and the passing of the sacrament.  That is until yesterday.  Because the ward had decided to broadcast the meeting for those unable to attend in person, the sacrament was held at the end of the meeting. Once a month the congregation are invited to bear their testimonies – express their gratitude for the gospel, share their faith, etc.  Yesterday j...

           My aunt had a Scottish Terrier when she was ten years old – or perhaps Heather was a family dog.   I barely remember the pet dog.    I of course don't have a picture of Heather but copied the photo from this site: Grandma and Grandpa had planned to take my aunt to Europe and had asked mom and dad to house sit while they were gone. Taking care of Heather was part of the deal.           My mom had not grown up with pets nor seemed fond of them.   Grandpa had left instructions and told my mom that Heather needed to have two fried eggs each morning.   Mom said there was no way she was going to fix eggs for a dog and so my dad made the eggs for Heather each morning during their stay.           Whenever Roland cooks eggs for the dog I always think of that experience that mom had shared with me.   For the most part Bonnie will get...

  Yesterday I posted this picture without a caption.   My sister was the first to make a comment to which I replied:   “That is Palmyra.   They don’t know where in the sacred grove was the first vision.   It’s not so much because of the first vision [that this picture brings peace] but because of the solitude I felt just being there."  NY had just reopened and had barely started phase one.  Tours were done virtually - although we took a self guided tour before the missionaries showed.  There were more cars in the parking lot when we left than had arrived.  It was a nice peaceful feeling being in the grove by ourselves. I provided more info in this post  Today’s caption for this photo: “When the angel comes to the shepherds to announce the child’s birth there is a light that shines through the darkness and changes the countenance of each shepherd (or shepherdess) and I can see a sign of “hope” in their faces.”

I have shared these two paintings before and although they look nothing alike I can always see the above in the dark even though I’m really looking at the one below The top one hung in my mother’s home for as long as I can remember.   When I was younger  I had marred my mother’s picture when I took a pencil to it and scribbled in the water.     Corey had done a research about the painting which he mentions in this post. If I had claimed the painting as my own, it would have been for sentimental reasons and nothing more.   I never disliked the painting, but it wasn’t my favorite and overtime I had become bored with it over the years and yet there was a comfortable familiararity about me that I really have missed the last seven or eight years. Roland had purchased the seascape and fog one just over three years ago.  It hung above our bed for just over a year until after we purchased a bed frame.  Now it hangs to the side and I will often se...

       Today ’ s Light of the World feature is to Highlight our hero on social media and just like last year ( here ) I think those who truly have Christ like attributes would NOT want to be showcased on social media.  Especially if they don ’ t see it in themselves.  Thus here is my post for day 10.         Jenna had an assignment in which she was to write an essay answering different questions about a book character or a personal ancestor.  She chose the latter and we found an ancestor I knew I had stories for.  She needed more words than the three stories combined. As we couldn't answer all the questions accurately we fudged a bit on  “ what might have been ” – it was quite a good essay, but not exact as we have no way of knowing if all the facts were actual – only that much of it was “ based on truth ” .         When Jenna learned what Day 10 would be she excitedly asked if she c...

         I am not the type of person who seeks recognition for performing an act of service or feel the need to blow my own horn and yet so many of the “ Light of the World ” suggestions want us to use social media to post our accomplishment or share suggestions.  This day for example   As though social media is not already flooded with donate to this cause – donate to that cause.   So and so is raising money for this charity or that – and now light of the world wants me to add to that:           “ Look what I did! ”   I can share a link I suppose. But I ’ m not going to.   I am not alone.   My RS president is not too thrilled with the idea of posting our every move when it sounds like we are blowing our own horns which I ’ m sure is not the intent of the church.   It ’ s probably more of a missionary tool and because of COVID may be limited to activities that we have done in...

                  Rumor has it that the school district in this area has finally wised up to doing online schooling until the end of the year.   Cars were at the schools today but no buses on the roads.   Perhaps the instructors are still teaching from the school building. Seminary is still being held in person. It is now too dark for me to leave the house in order to pick Jenna up on time.   I used to leave the house at 7:00 and take a longer route to the church but did not have that option this morning.   As there were no buses I thought I could make it in time but as I rounded the corner and saw a familiar car driving toward me. I stopped and the other vehicle stopped and Jenna got out and joined me. Initially the driver didn ’ t want to make a stop on the way to the high school to drop Jenna off as he would encounter school buses.   Oh, I totally understand that, but as there...

   Today we watched a YouTube video that my daughter-in-law had sent a link for.   The video itself was only up for two hours but shared the primary program of one of the wards in Syracuse.   The video itself was just over 20 minutes and we were able to watch our granddaughter perform her part along with several others.      Throughout this pandemic I have been quite grateful for the creativity and talents of others as they share parodies or bring so many together to perform in ways that they are not able to do in person such as these   Memories by One Voice Choir ( here ) Chicago’s 25 or 6 to 4 ( here ) Family Lockdown Boogie ( here ) Coronavirus Rhapsody ( here ) as well as many countless others. Thank you to so many who have shared their talents and for the minds behind modern day technology which has made this all possible

          We started off the day watching the last half hour of “ It ’ s a Wonderful Life ”.   Jenna decided that it would be a good time to put up the Christmas decorations and proceed to go out to the shed.  I followed as her last attempt at bringing in the Christmas decorations by herself ended in tears.  We brought the decorations into the house and then watched the Macy ’ s Thanksgiving Parade – which has never really been tradition for me personally.  It comes on and people come and go while the parade plays.  Occasionally we glance at what is going on.  But come on.  Three hours of parade . . . that is entirely too long.  Parades should not drag on as I mentioned in this post            Thursday ’ s parade was pretty awesome – I think mostly because it wasn ’ t the traditional parade.  Everything took place in front of Macy ’ s.  Acts were performed – floats arrive...

            Over the years Jenna has had many photos taken with Santa.  This one taken in 2010  is my absolute favorite and I don ’ t even know who took it.    We had been living in West Valley for only a week and were still not familiar with most of the ward members.   I did not have my camera and someone waiting in line to take pictures of her own children offered to take some pictures from her phone and said she would send them to me.   It is rare that anybody from my past has taken pictures for me promising to send them and 20 years later I am still waiting knowing fully well that they will never be sent.   But this sister – who was only visiting our ward and not a member of it - took three shots of Jenna and she did send them to me.   For that I will always be grateful. Roland asked me to send it to him so he could use it for the upcoming Christmas card.   He recreated this Norman Rockwell using ...

Although many remain the same, I think I provided more detail with some of my 2020 answers.   Though I am grateful for the camera (#2) this year I put air conditioners and electric fans which I am grateful for when I’m hot. Of course my favorite memory, story and song change on a weekly basis.   One memory I shared this year was about my niece which is the last story I shared in this post in 2012.    This is what I had posted to facebook this year: What is your favorite memory? I have so many great memories. I recently thought about this one as I had come across the word “amphitheatre” and was reminded of a time I had gone with my family to see a Desert Star performance at a Murray amphitheatre and my niece Candace (who I think may have been four or five at the time) had dressed up like people did in days of yore. Candace’s favorite video at that time was “Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” – anyway, during the performance there was a snag on “Forever...