Moulton Dec/Jan

Thot I better post some pictures before more time passes. We had a busy December as I'm sure everyone else did too! Things have slowed down considerably and it's nice to enjoy a quiet evening by the fire! Jess is the master at peeling grapefruit! So that's a fun treat we enjoy most nights too!
Jess' High Priest group was in charge of the Christmas 'Party' for our ward, along with the Sunday School presidency and the Ward Mission Leader. We decided to host a "Night in Bethlehem." Several on our committee had attended one before. We had not but I've always been intrigued with the idea so we ran with it! Jess and I were in charge of booths. We originally were planning on setting up in our Cultural Hall but it was simply too small. We used "Easy Ups" for the booths. Luckily, we were able to schedule the Stake Center which easily had double the room plus a stage so we were in business. These were some of the booths at our activity:

 This was ours: Bar Jonah's Bakery: We had 10 diff flavors of bread.

 Peter's Produce: This had mainly fruit and cheese chunks.

 This was Sarah's Sweet Shoppe: Of course, this is where you could get dessert!

 Ruth's Rentals was for anyone who didn't bring something 'Biblical' to wear.

 Philip's Fun Shoppe was a hit with the kids. Jess made lots of old fashioned toys and we had old fashioned candies too.

 This was Delilah's Deli: She served Salads, deviled eggs

 This was our Bethlehem Inn for those who couldn't sit on the floor

 This was the entrance into Bethlehem. They had to pay their taxes (canned food donation) before they entered the city and also visit the Money Changers to get their 'gold' to pay for each food item.

 Jess' counselor made these trees! I'm convinced we ought to rent them out! I'm pushing for a Johnny Lingo Party this Summer!!! There was a large ladle on the side of the well with water inside for thirsty travelers.

 This was our Stable. Mary and Joseph were walking around the 'city' looking for a room while others ate dinner. Wish I had a picture of the Missionaries. They were our Roman Guards. They had silver spray painted football pads on, feathered helmets and pvc pipe spears in case anyone got out of hand.
We had a narrator who read the Christmas Story. Little children were the sheep with our shepherds and the Wise Men brought their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

I left off the Main Dish: Canaan Cafe. They served a chicken dish and rice on flatbread with this amazing tomato cucumber relish stuff as well as roast beef. Yum! We also had a Winery open for parched patrons!

Jess recorded some awesome 'Jewish' music which we played while people were milling around the city. It was really cool!We had only some dim lights over the stable and each booth had twinkly lights. We asked everyone to bring their own lanterns which really added to the cool ambiance!

The only down side to this evening was that Salem received 8-12 inches of snow that day. I couldn't even get out of the driveway. Thankfully, our bishop saw me and came to my rescue. Then when I got to the Stake center, and he miraculously showed up there too and got me shoveled out close enough to the door to get me inside! Whew! Almost everyone dressed up! We were amazed. And the snow didn't seem to keep anyone home! It was really a fun activity! Since we were at the stake center, we had more people from diff wards begging us to leave our set-up for THEIR parties! Great way to start the Christmas Season!

Christmas was wonderful with all the kids home. We had our annual Family Christmas Party. The appetizers were divine as usual! We added a new Santa Sleigh Derby (thanks, Linda) and young and old seemed to really have fun! Bryce/Amy/Avery won the event! (I think! It's been a few weeks!) Scott flew in just in time for the party. So fun to have him home. Marianne had flown in with Baby Grant a few days prior and Nic drove in the day before the party so all my kids were there. Everyone left with a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Sadly, no pictures! What's wrong with me???????

It was a treat this year to have Packer's come early on Christmas Eve. We shared our traditional dinner of ham, cheddar bacon potatoes, Stephanie's homemade rolls, salad, grilled pineapple, deviled eggs (Scott loves them!),  Amy's green bean casserole and lemon passion. After dinner, we all piled in cars to go to the cemetery. It's tradition in Utah County (and actually started in Salem) that everyone lights a candle/luminary next to their loved ones' grave. So we set up several next to Jess' mom's headstone and drove around enjoying the twinkly lights. Dozens and dozens of luminaries line the cemetery's entrance. Really beautiful! It's a magical, almost reverent feeling. We love it!

Santa was good to everyone this year! It was relaxing and so much fun to watch the little ones discover what Santa had left them!

The next day, we went to get family pictures.

It was sad to send Scott home since we're not sure when we'll see him next! Marianne got to stay 3 weeks so we could really be in misery when Grant left us. We adore our grandchildren! What a blessing each one is! 

It's a New Year! Hope it's a goodie for everyone! 

Love, Jess and Annette