Andys Christmas Letter I did it!!!

Christmas 2015

Dear Family & Friends

Well it’s that time of year where we send letters about our family gatherings, accomplishments and other activities.  Kind of like the “year in review” shows that will be on TV the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.  The problem this year is with more people than ever on Facebook, we get a commentary throughout the year and writing these letters is becoming harder!  Marlene’s is asking when I’ll have this year’s letter done and I’m stumped what to write that you don’t already know about.  Maybe we need to make these letters forecasts of the next year.  Wouldn’t that be interesting?!

But instead let me tell you a few things we’ve learned over this past year.

Emily married Chris Blount this past year. Then a few months later, the same time Chris was celebrating the anniversary of his church membership, they were sealed for all time and eternity in the Los Angeles Temple.  We learned that, with the help of our kids, we can still throw a pretty good party!  The two days in a mountains at the first wedding and then the beach party after the sealing were a lot of fun!   

When we have our Sunday dinners there are somewhere between 15 and 21 people who eat at our house.  It’s quite a few to feed, and the noise level is tremendous.  A lot of fun, but noisy!  Old people need hearing aids not because of any health problems, but when the entire family gets together it’s loud and our ears wear out! 

We’ve learned that when we have that many people for dinner, there’s not much left over.  This year for Thanksgiving it was the in-law’s turn to have the kids.  So the Sunday before we celebrated Thanksgiving with the family and I BBQ’d one turkey.  We were invited to Wes and Dana’s but they didn’t have a bbq so we BBQ’d another turkey.  And the Friday after Thanksgiving we had everyone come over to help decorate the house and we BBQ’d another turkey to have something to eat.  It was fun.  We truly enjoy our family gatherings.  So with everyone “gone for Thanksgiving” we still BBQ’d three large turkeys and still only had enough leftovers to fix me two turkey sandwiches.  Not that I’m BITTER or anything.  J  But we will be BBQing another turkey around New Year’s Day.  This time it will be for sandwiches! 

But speaking of leftovers, with the kids gone, cooking for two is a bit harder.  I’ve found I’m not a fan of leftovers.  It seems we fix more than we need for a meal and that means leftovers.  If we could stretch the left overs over, say once a week for three to four weeks, that may be ok.  And Marlene does a great job stretching them out but unfortunately they don’t last in the fridge that long.  So in her kindness, Marlene usually eats the majority leftovers for a lunch.  

Marlene works in the Redlands Temple every Tuesday that it’s open.  Several times I’ve been fortunate this year to be able to arrange my schedule and attend the last endowment session on her shift and then we ride home together.  Thru regular attendance I have learned so many things about the Plan of Salvation, Adam and Eve in the Garden, how nefarious Lucifer really is, and without faith in Jesus Christ how he has the upper hand in temptations he offers to us.  My appreciation for the Atonement has grown and my love for the Savior has deepened.  It has been a wonderful experience. 

We hope this letter finds you better than last year; maybe not in all ways but in significant ways!  We hope your testimony of Jesus Christ as the Son of our Heavenly Father and our Savior and Redeemer is much stronger this year than last year.  We enjoy following you on Facebook.  We hope you enjoy following us.  And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check with your child or grandkid and get setup and send us an invite to be friends.  As info, while I have a Facebook account, Marlene’s is the most active.  So make friends with her.

Love to all, 

Andy and Marlene