Busy December

December was a very busy month for me - I felt a bit like a wanderer when it was over. I was fortunate enough to get tickets for the Mormom Tabernacle Choir's Christmas concert so I made plans to fly over and go with Mom and Erin. The day I was supposed to leave we got an ice storm - the picture is out my back deck. Be sure and click on the picture and make it bigger so you can see the Cardinal perched on the icy branch. It took two days and four reservation changes to finally get to Salt Lake but I made it and we had a great time. We were able to see the concert and then on Monday we saw a production of the "Christmas Carol" which was excellent. My brother, Karl, flew in on business and he and my sister, Eileen, were able to go with us. I got to spend one night with Erin's boys, Alex, Jordan and Ian, and we made a ginger bread house. That was a lot of fun for me and it was interesting to watch the boys' different styles of decorating.

I got home from Salt Lake City on Thursday with thoughts that we had a few days until Bill and I were to leave for Colorado for Christmas. We watched the weather and it looked like it was going to get bad so we took off for Colorado on Saturday (it was a busy Friday getting ready). We spent the Christmas holiday in Fort Collins visiting with family and friends and we had a great time. We attended church in our old ward and to our surprise it was a "farewell" meeting for our dear friends, Ed and Georgia Haynes, who are going on a mission to Canada. That was a surprise blessing for us to be there and get to see them one more time before they left. We wish them the very best!! I learned that it is harder to be the one leaving than it is the one staying - and leaving to come home was difficult. But on the other hand it was nice to get home to our cozy little place and get settled. Erin and her family gave Bill and me a teddy bear named Gus T. Bear. He is to accompany us on all our adventures and we have a few pictures with him with more to come as we continue our exploration of our new home.