Dear kids,

What dreary weather we’re having!  I sure would like to see more blue sky.  When we get closer to Christmas, though, everything will be a lot more cheery.  We have some fun events coming up.

A week from tonight is the Messiah at Tom’s church at 7:00 pm.  There will be a before-party at Tom’s house at 5:30–that always seems to work better than an after-party.  If you can come, call Kim for a food assignment.  The Messiah itself should be spectacular.  I wish I were singing in it, but this isn’t my year.  Tom will be our only family member in the choir.

The family Christmas gift-exchange will be Saturday, the 17th.  Skating is at 2 pm, dinner is at 4, and we’ll do gifts at 5.   I’m not sure what the menu will be, but it won’t hurt for each of us to call Nora for a food assignment, and any other details she might have for us.

The very next day, Sunday the 18th, at 5 pm, will be book club at our house.  There’s plenty of time still to read “A Christmas Carol.”  It’s plenty short.  I’ve been through it several times and it gets better and better.  Dickens really understood Christmas. 

And it isn’t too early to start thinking about an after-Christmas sledding party.  Monday or Tuesday, the 26th or 27th–let me know which day is better for you.  There should be plenty of snow at the cabin.  Maybe we can get Tom to make us some pork, and we can all bring our Christmas leftovers.  Hey, it’s a tradition!  We’ve been doing it for more than 20 years now! 

I’m typing this letter with my hearing aids in.  I neglected them for a couple of weeks because I felt so lousy, but now I’m wearing them a few hours every day.  They really take some getting used to!  I can hear the computer keys clicking as I type, which is weird.  

Most of my health problems have improved, except for my poor swollen lip.  None of my doctors have had any suggestions for me.  I’ll be going to the wound clinic again tomorrow, so maybe I can get somebody to take a serious look at it.  Meantime, I sure appreciate all your prayers.  I had chemo this past week, and even though it’s never pleasant, I really feel your love and support.  My life is good because of our big, loving family.

Lots of love to you all, Mom

 Dear Kids,

Thanksgiving was a blast, from what I heard.  I’m so sorry I couldn’t participate.  I was having an awful time that day with all my cancer-related pain:  my swollen lip, my new wound (on my backside, near my old one), my nosebleeds, my gut pains–it seemed like there was no end to my troubles.  I really appreciate those of you who came by to see me, and brought the Thanksgiving spirit with you.  And I’m happy to say that most of my pain is getting better now.  At least it’s improving.  I’m proud of all of you for carrying on the festivities without me.  What a family!

Our next event is the Messiah, on Sunday night, December 11.  I think there’s going to be a before-party at Tom’s house, but I’ll find out for sure and give you the details next week.  The Messiah itself starts at 7:00.  I’ll be in the audience with you guys instead of singing in the choior this year, because I’ve already missed three practices and I don’t feel good enough to go tonight.  Whatever.  The Messiah is always glorious, whether you’re singing in the choir or singing in the audience or just listening. 

The family Christmas party is Saturday, December 17.  There will be ice skating at 2 pm, dinner at 4, and the gift exchange at 5.  Nora has sent out the cousin exchange list, but if you didn’t get it, contact her.

Book club will be Sunday night, the 18th.  We’re reading A Christmas Carol by Dickens.  I thought the language was going to be too hard for the littler kids, but Donna says her family is almost finished, and they’re doing ok with it.  She’s been emphasizing the important parts, and she said, “They get it!” 

Now that the weather’s cold, Scout tries like crazy to get in.  He’s just a grey streak whooshing past Dad’s legs when he opens the door.  Then we have to track him down and put him back outside.  Sonia is very smug because of her indoor privileges.  She just smirks, with her eyes half-closed, like proud cats do. 

I’m a proud cat, too.  With such a family, who wouldn’t be?

Love, Mom 

 Dear Kids,

I have hearing aids!  I only wish they didn’t amplify the little noises.  When I walked into the house, the furnace was running, and it sounded like the vacuum cleaner.  When I started the dishwasher, I could actually hear the water running into it.  I’m sure I’ll get used to the new order of things, and my life will be a lot better.  When Dad and I watched a movie together yesterday afternoon, he kept asking me to turn the volume up.  What a change!  Since the hearing aids came from Costco, we’ll now be regular customers, since I have to take them in for cleanings and adjustments.  Yesterday we wandered around a little bit in there, and I found the candy aisles.  They have Utah Truffles.

And Sharon is here!  And Matthew!  Sharon showed me some pictures from the BYU game, and it looked like everyone was having a great time.  She said it didn’t really feel cold until the end.   You couldn’t have picked a colder day if you’d tried!  At least BYU won.  That would have been a terrible humiliation to lose to Dixie.  Oops, Utah Tech.  They just barely changed the name.

And Thanksgiving is this coming Thursday!  How did it come so quick?  At the cabin, we’ll be having Nora’s, Vanessa’s, Allen’s, and Paul’s families.  Tom’s family is going to Texas!  How exciting is that!  Wherever you are on Thursday, I hope each of you has a wonderful day.  

I went to the first two Messiah practices, but my health problems are getting in my way now.  I still haven’t healed up totally from my tooth extraction, and my lip is split open from the violence of it.  Anyway, we won’t be having a Messiah after-party because Kim and Nora, and who else, Vanessa (?) will be coming home from their trip to New York that day.  (I think I’ve got it right.)  Back to the Messiah–at this point I’m not sure I’ll be able to sing, so it will probably just be Tom from our family. If anybody can come, the performances are at Tom’s church at 7 pm on December 10 & 11.

Book club was really fun last Sunday night, and we had a great (but short) discussion of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.  Donna is in charge for December, and she has picked A Christmas Carol, by Dickens.   We’ll have to move our discussion to December 18 because of the New York trip.  I hope there won’t be too many conflicts. 

What a cool family we have!  I never get tired of writing about all our adventures.

Love, Mom 

 Dear Kids,

Sharon and Matthew are coming this Friday, but I don’t know exactly what their schedule will be.  Saturday they’ll be going to the BYU-Dixie game with several of you, and I hope it won’t be too cold.  Winter has hit really early this year!  Thankfully cougar stadium will be a little warmer than Kamas Valley.  Sharon said they’d manage with layers and hand warmers.  No stoppin’ the fun!

The misery of my life goes on and on. Tuesday I had to have a tooth pulled, and since my body doesn’t heal, I’ve been in a world of pain.  I thought it was going to be a simple root canal, when the tooth started throbbing, but Dr. Condie’s x-ray showed that the bone was mostly disintegrated and the roots were infected.  He hoped the tooth would pop right out, but it took lots of hammering and chipping and drilling.  When my jaw thawed out that night the pain was easily a 10.  I had Dad give me a blessing and that helped a lot.  Since then I’ve been on non-stop oxycodone, some of it from old prescriptions I’ve kept on hand.  (There’s a limit to what dentists can prescribe.)  If you have anything on hand and want to contribute to my pain relief, I won’t say no.

But there’s no stopping the fun.  We’ll be having book club today at 5 pm, and we’re discussing Tales of a Fourth Grade nothing.  I had never read it before, so I really enjoyed it, except for all the examples of bad parenting.  You can bet I never spoiled any of you kids like “cute” little Fudge is spoiled.  More on that tonight!

  And Thanksgiving is starting to shape up!  So far, we’re having Nora’s family, Vanessa’s, and Allen, and I hope there will be a few more.  When my tooth pain settles down, I’ll be making phone calls.  I know it will be fun, whoever comes!

I’ve never had much good to say about Costco, but they evidently have the best prices on hearing aids, so Dad and I bought a membership and I went in for a hearing evaluation.  I flunked.  They ordered hearing aids for me (after we paid) and they’ll be in next Saturday.  So maybe by next Sunday I’ll be hearing what most of you are saying, and not just nodding and pretending.  How exciting is that?

Life is good, no matter what.  Love, Mom

 Dear Kids,

Ug.  I had chemo this week.  I’m pulling out of it now, but it isn’t pleasant.  John had some good advice for me, since he’s experienced chemo: “Alternate good books with good Netflix.”  We don’t have Netflix, but we have a lot of good movies, so I’m taking his advice.

Aaron is recovering OK from his appendectomy, but it’s taking time.  Jacob’s foot is gradually healing, and he has his boot off now, but John says it hurts him a lot to walk.  There’s no telling when he’ll get back to Alabama, because it depends on how his physical therapy goes.

Normally I like snow, but we’re having it way too early this year.  After all those good hikes Dad and I did, it’s hard to look out the window and see all the white stuff.  I should appreciate the moisture, since we always need it, but it’s hard to have our beautiful fall end so abruptly.  

Our next family event is book club a week from today, 5 pm here at our house.  We’re reading “Tales of a Fourth-grade Nothing.”  It’s a fast read, and terribly funny.  I expect we’ll keep having book club through the holidays.  I’d hate to miss even a month.  We rotate choosing books, from me to Nora to Kim to Donna.  If you have a suggestion and want to join us, let me know.  It’s always fun and entertaining.  I like how even the young boys are able to sit for five or ten minutes, long enough to talk about the book.

The next event is that Sharon will be coming on the 18th, maybe with Matthew and maybe not, depending on his football schedule.  I know a lot of you, including Sharon (and maybe Matthew) will be going to the BYU-Dixie game on Saturday, the 19th.  I’m afraid it’s going to be pretty cold, but there’s no stopping the fun, especially if it involves BYU football.

Thanksgiving is less than three weeks away, on the 24th.  Let me know if you want to have dinner with us at the cabin that day.  We’ll eat about one, and have pie about 4 or 5.  I’ll be making my famous pumpkin pies, of course.  I don’t know how many more years I can keep it up, though.  

We won’t be having Super Sunday again until January, because of the holidays.  When we do, it will be the fourth Sunday, at Nora’s.  So many people!  So much fun!

Love, Mom

 Dear Kids,

Aaron had his appendix out on Wednesday afternoon.  He hadn’t been in pain very long, and they diagnosed it right away by testing his white blood cells.  The surgery went well, and they sent him home a couple of hours later.  Dad and I went to visit him on Thursday, and he was hobbling around, holding an ice pack to his stomach.  He showed us his incisions–three tiny ones with staples that were going to dissolve.  No stitches to remove!  Appendectomies sure have changed from the days Nora and Sharon and Allen had them.

I hope you all have a fun Halloween tomorrow.  I won’t, because I have to start chemo again.  I don’t mind, though, because my tumors have been growing and I’m having trouble breathing again.  I always look forward to the first couple of infusions because they help my breathing so much, but then, after that, I have a lot to complain about.  Overall, though, I’m glad for the chemo, and it’s definitely lengthening my life.

I just finished reading “Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing” for our book club in two more weeks.  I’m definitely one of the few people who’s never read it before.  Judy Blume?  Everybody loves her.  I thought the book was pretty silly, though, but I know the kids will love it. 

And the next thing coming up after book club will be Thanksgiving, on November 24.  Dad and I will be fixing dinner at the cabin.  I’ll do the turkey and gravy and pumpkin pies.  If you want to join us, let me know, and we’ll decide what you should bring.  It will be one of my off-weeks from chemo, so I should feel OK. 

I colored my hair bright red for Halloween, so I should get a few stares in church today.  One of my friends, Lois, who has beautiful silver hair, was asking me about making her hair purple.  I loaned her my purple dye, and it turned out fabulous.  She ought to get a few stares in church today, too.

Yesterday I went on a short hike up the Rocky Top trail, but it was cold and muddy, and I couldn’t breathe very well.  That’s probably a good way to end the hiking season, so I won’t be yearning to be out on a trail somewhere.  Oh, well, Dad and I had some great hikes!

Love to everybody, Mom

 Dear Kids,

Super Sunday is today at John’s house at 4 pm.  If you read his text, you know his grill is out of commission but his hot tub is ready to go.  Bring whatever food you want.  We still have never had a dinner with all desserts.  (Or what if we had a dinner that was all vegetables–can you imagine?)  Today will be our last Super Sunday until January, because of Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up.  

But we can continue on with book club.  Thanks, Nora, for last week’s discussion of “Toys Go Out.”  Our next book is “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” by Judy Blume, chosen by Kim, and we’ll be discussing it on November 13.  

Tonight is the first Messiah practice, continuing on through December 11, when we’ll put it on in Tom’s church.  Our Sunday evenings during that time should be about the same, though.  When Dad and I skip out to go to the practices, the party can continue on without us.  

On Tuesday afternoon Dad and I had a wonderful hike on the Shingle Creek trail up on Mirror Lake highway.  The weather was gorgeous, and the fall colors were fabulous: green pines, yellow aspens, blue sky, and a few reds here and there.  We had a feeling it might be our last hike for the year, or at least the last one with bright autumn colors.  Our first winter snowstorm hit yesterday afternoon, and it probably hit at some of your houses, too.  Winter comes whether you’re ready or not, but at least our sprinklers are blown out.  (Thanks, Bevan, for bringing the compressor!)  Otherwise, the preparation for winter is all mental.  I imagine myself in the bean bag chair by the window of the landing, with a good book in my lap.  I can sure handle that!

My visit to the wound clinic last Monday went really well.  When I showed them my new injury (on my arm) they pulled out some goopy gauze, laid a piece across it, and bandaged it.  Since then it’s been itching a little bit, which is a good sign.  Dad has to change the gauze and the bandages every two days, but he’s getting to be a pro at wound care.  My other wound, in that most delicate of spots, is still giving me trouble, but Dr. Moffit said he has many more tricks in his bag.  I hope one of them will finally work.

I hope you’re all doing great and loving life!  Lots of love, Mom