Thursday, December 30, 2010

Pre-Christmas Trip to See Family











We drove to Mesa, Arizona to visit two of our families there and attend the special school events of our grandchildren that were occurring.  The oldest granddaughter in these two families graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Elementary Education and her state certificate to teach in grades K to 8th.  We were sure proud of her.  We also got to witness and enjoy her sister's Jr. High School orchestra performance and later her piano recital, which were both outstanding and very enjoyable.  After that, we got to attend Chuck's son's family's school orchestra performance.  That was also fantastic.  There were 108 children playing violin all together, in tune, and with enthusiasm.  What a treat!  What a joy it is to see our families progressing and enjoying life.

We returned home to Utah so that I could attend the dress rehearsal for a choral concert in which I was singing as a member of the Ivins Stake Choir, "Savior of the World".  We performed it on Dec. 19 and again on the 23rd.  Our director was an accomplished vocalist who not only directed us, but also performed the part of Joseph, in the Nativity Play that featured other fine vocalists playing other key roles in the events leading up to Jesus Christ's birth in Judea.  I thoroughly enjoyed singing in it because for a change, I wasn't doing the accompanying on the piano.  Instead, we sang with recorded orchestral music from our church's website shared freely with local units.  Our director had the knowledge to operate all the electronic sound system to produce high quality background accompaniment.  I thought it sounded great!  The soloists did an excellent job, not only in singing their parts, but in portraying the characters; Joseph, Mary, Zacharias, Elizabeth, the Angel Gabriel, and supporting characters who interacted with them.

This Christmas season, we tried to focus on the Savior and less on gifts.  However, I did complete a project which I gave as a personal gift to my children from me - - my life history and that of four generations of my female progenitors.  I typed it, ran copies of it, and put them in sheet protectors in three-ring binders.  I barely got them in the mail on time to arrive before Christmas.  It was quite a project to complete during our trip to Arizona.  My husband also wrote, printed, and mailed out about forty Christmas letters telling of our activities for this past year along with our love and best wishes to all.  These letters are intended for those we seldom see, who live at a distance from us.  We treasure our friends and extended family, most of whom live far away now.  He did a great job.

2 comments:

  1. We have enjoyed reading the histories. It's inspiring us to write our histories!

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  2. Thanks for the update, Joanne. So glad you were able to participate in these meaningful family activities.

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