Dear Kids,
      Christmas was a blast, wasn’t it? Starting with the kids’ party at Nora’s, the fun continued for a whole week, ending with our sledding party at the cabin on the 26th. On Christmas Eve, Dad and Paul and Donna and Bevan and I hiked Ensign Peak, like we planned. It was freezing cold at the top, but the lights in the city were beautiful. On the way home, we took a swing by Temple Square, so we could say we saw the lights. Then we came home, made hot chocolate, and watched “Scrooge” (except by then Dad and I were worn out and went to bed.) It was fun to talk to all of you and hear about your Christmases, too.
      My elk meat chili turned out fine. Dad’s cousins never showed up, however. Maybe they were less enthusiastic about trying it out. Or, since they had tickets to the Nutcracker that night, maybe they just ran out of time. When Dad and I got back home to our house, there was a message on our answering machine saying that they weren’t coming because they weren’t “well.” Whatever. I was so enthusiastic about my chili that I’ve moved on to version 2.0, which is cooking in the crock pot right now. By next Christmas, it will be perfect.
      We enjoyed having Paul here for a week. He’s gone back to Logan now. Is it the western dancing every Wednesday night? The cable TV in his apartment? The gym? A girl? We’ll never know. But he entertained us a lot while he was here.
      Next Sunday is my debut as Primary Chorister in the Spanish branch. I’ve memorized about 10 songs, plus a few other phrases, like “Sit down” and “Be quiet.” It’ll be a breeze. It will also be my first Sunday to do the whole block there, including Relief Society. I’ve listened to a lot of Spanish, these last several months, but I’ve only spoken a few sentences, because they always speak to me in English. It will be a whole new world. I’m excited.
      I’ll be fixing Sunday dinner on January 10th. Let me know if you want to come. It’s been a lot of months since I’ve cooked Sunday dinner, but my shoulder is doing really well now, and I’m ready to jump back into the swing of things.
      Lots of love, Mom