These pictures were taken after some of the snow had melted, but I think you get the idea? The helping-neighbors has been very evident this season. We need to send out a shout to Jon Gordon who helped with a snow blower. Thanks!! And then the neatest thing happened last Saturday. I was getting my mail (standing on the berm leaning DOWN to get into my mailbox) when this big Caterpillar tractor with a plow on the front drove down the street. It was Josh Works. He offered to dig us out of our driveway. He went down our 150 foot driveway and cleared it off in about 10 minutes. What a life saver! Of course it has snowed since (another 8.3 inches on Monday) and it is snowing now. That's the part that is frustrating. You can hardly keep up! (and you cannot find or buy a shovel or snow blower in this town). But I am quite thankful for all those who have helped us out this season!
After present opening we had breakfast and then John and Audrey went upstairs to put her new computer desk together. Then we headed up to Grandma Carter's for the Christmas Day meal. The roads were not plowed so the driving was a little white-knuckling, but the trip was worth it. They had a housefull of food (ham, turkey, potatoes, yams, salads, veggies, rolls, etc, etc, etc) and a housefull of relatives. It was a fun, fun time visiting and laughing and enjoying each others' company.
When everyone arrived we finished preparing our Breakfast-for-dinner and sat down to eat. Everything was delicious. After we cleaned up, we got down to serious present opening. How we "do" presents is everyone gets into their family group and the younger kids bring out all the presents from under the tree. Once all the presents are distributed then everyone opens their presents, pretty much at the same time. This is especially good for the younger ones because they don't have to wait. However, after everyone has opened all their gifts we go around the room and each person does a show-n-tell of what they received and who they got it from. Then we draw names for the next year and Brian gets his Blackberry ready and emails the list right then. Works really nicely!
There were some fun comments made as the presents were being distributed. My favorite was from John to me, "This present feels like a brick!" My mom had made me a new door stop for my bathroom (gray yarn on plastic canvas around a real brick) so I thought John quite wise in guessing what I got. It was exactly what I asked for so I was happy. We headed home after visiting for awhile. We got ready for a tradition we started when Audrey was small - we each open one present under the tree. It is almost always Christmas PJ's. Santa knew Audrey always freezes at our house so sent along some footed PJ's. Santa gave me some fun duck print ones but Santa knew John needed new snow gloves. That Santa, so smart! Then we sent Audrey to bed (or at least out of the room) while we got the stockings ready. My sister made these stockings for us a number of years ago, aren't they great? The small one she made for the kitty.
Of course no Holiday Pops concert is complete without a visit from Santa Claus and a performance of "Sleigh Ride" conducted by the jolly man himself.
We had purchased tickets about a month ago to see the Interplayers performance of "A Reduced Christmas Carol". We were a little worried it would be cancelled due to the weather, as they had to cancel the Thursday performance, but thankfully they did not. Because this is pretty funny stuff! We had gone last year (just John & I) and had such a good time that we invited the Creagh's to go with our family this year. We all piled into our little car and headed downtown. The east-west roads were plowed, but not the north-south roads. So we did have a little difficulty getting into and out of the parking lot, but that just added to the fun evening! If you get a chance to ever see this, you really need to. You are in the theatre for less than 1 hour. They perform the entire Christmas Carol story in 15 minutes. They even have a stop watch. Then they perform the story again, in only 5 minutes. Then they do it one more time - in under 1 minute! There are 4 actors who play various parts, changing costumes right there on stage. It is a riot! We had a great time and since the Creagh's said we need to bring others next year, I think they had a good time too!
The next picture is Audrey changing the tires on my car. I had all-weather, but decided that the studs might be better now. Thanks Audrey! And thanks John! (he was there teaching but did not make this photo).
Too small? Here is what it said. I just wanted you to see how "short" we try to keep it...
After the movie we went to take advantage of the free carriage rides they are having for the holidays. Did I mention that it was cold outside??? We had a great time anyway because a family with two small girls rode with us and we enjoyed listening to their excited voices during the ride. 
After that, we walked to The Davenport Hotel to see the Tree Elegance display located on the mezzanine. They had some lovely trees. Each had a theme and all the prizes included if you won the raffle for that tree matched the theme. But really, our favorite tree was the one in the lobby.
Then we headed to PF Chang's for lunch. We enjoyed some sweet & sour chicken, ginger chicken, lo mein and lettuce wraps. Way too much yummy food so we did not save room for dessert. We even have leftovers for dinner tonight. All-in-all a very fun day with my family!!
Then I got to work and these were at my desk. They were from my 2 bosses, Craig & Brian.
They also took me to lunch at Clinkerdagger's with the Director of Public Affairs, who happened to be in town. Cherie was a riot! We have a love-hate relationship. She even said this at lunch. "Sam, even when I'm mad at you, I use you as an example when telling others how to do things. And you know I only get mad at you because you are ALWAYS right!!" The bosses then presented me with a couple gift cards (Michaels & Safeway) as an early Christmas present.
What a VERY, VERY fun day!!
Then we ran and did just a little more Christmas shopping before heading home to prepare for the Nutcracker. As a wonderful present, Grandma was treating Kathy, Brianna, Mariska, Michelle, Audrey and I to the Nutcracker plus dinner afterwards. The Nutcracker was presented by The Spokane Symphony and Alberta Ballet as in years' past, but this year they had totally new costumes, backdrops and even a few changes to the story line.
We loved the performance!! It was wonderful and refreshing. Audrey's favorite additions were the wolves & the very realistic mice (versus more cartoon-like ones in the past). I loved the way they started the production with a street scene and especially liked how they treated the growing tree for the dream sequence. Thumbs up! Afterward we all hopped in Grandma's van and headed to Timber creek Buffet for dinner. There we ran into Audrey's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Schierman : ) After dinner we headed back to my house to part ways, but Kathy wanted to come inside to watch me open the early birthday presents she brought for me. Awesome! I got a homemade retro Christmas apron, a cutting board and this cool snowman place mat. She made it out of wool that she washed (to felt it) & then dyed. Of course she also did all the hand-stitching. Isn't it cool?! 
Then Kathy took Audrey shopping while John and I went up to the South Stake Nativity display. Each evening they have an open house for the community to view the displays, but they also have a concert each evening. Tonight we heard a reed quartet (saxophone, clarinet, etc) and a brass quartet. But the best was the missionary who played the guitar. He evidently was the Utah state champion in open-note guitar? (I'm not sure I have the terminology right). But suffice it to say, he was wonderful! He could have funded his mission by selling Cd's. Played some great arrangements and played them with feeling. He could have played all night. Then we adjourned to see the displays. There were 100's of them. Here is a sample:
What a great way to end a wonderful day!
It was just vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (tinted green), coconut (tinted green) and a red M&M in the center but it was a huge hit with the kids! 
This meant my Audrey-Elf had been busy decorating while we were away. What a wonderful surprise!! (I love decorations, I just don't particularly care to put them up OR take them down). Thanks Audrey!!
John mixed the cream cheese mixture while I worked on the jello & fruit mixture. I did help Audrey for a little while and broke John's favorite knife. He said I had to blog about how 
Audrey needed 3/4 cup butter but we only had 1/2 cup in the fridge. The rest was still in the freezer. We pulled out more butter and she asked how we would be able to get the right amount, since it was frozen. I pulled out the knife and said "just like this!" as I sliced through the frozen butter. And then I saw the big junk of metal - whoops! We finished the jello salad without further incident and then made John open his presents. I kept taking his picture while he was trying to open presents. He was trying to keep his eyes open during this shot:
John got the new Glenn Beck book, a window scrapper, new running shoes, the 2008 Star Trek keepsake ornament and a new watch (with indi-glo light). The watch was a definite "need" as his other one had lost both the straps and you could not see the time anymore because of all the scratches. John wears the same watch all the time (no matter what he is doing) so the last watch really took a beating during the Lacey remodeling. We then read, relaxed and watched a Christmas cartoon before heading out to the Hartman's place on Twin Lakes for dinner. There was a TON of food - turkey & ham, potatoes, gravy, Judy's yams, green salad, our salad, steamed green beans, various appetizers, green bean casserole, a rice dish, Pam's rolls, and an incredible amount of desserts (6 pies, 2 cakes, baklava). Audrey's favorite part was the drumstick!
After dinner we had a fun time playing Family Feud "Wagner version". Marv had asked his primary class (5 & 6 year old's) to answer the questions. So instead of trying to figure out what 100-people-surveyed would say, we had to figure out what a few 5 & 6 year old's would say. It was really funny! Questions like "What about church are you most thankful for?" and answers included: Primary teacher, sacrament, music time leader, Primary pianist & Jesus. After some visiting and more games, we headed home. It had started to snow very lightly and was dark. I had gotten a few miles past Rathdrum when a deer ran into the road right in front of me. 
I put on my brakes and headed toward the ditch as I did not want to veer into oncoming traffic and I knew there were cars behind me as well. I hit the deer!! I felt horrible! I pulled off the road and turned off my ignition. The car right behind me pulled over also. It was an Idaho State Trooper. John & Audrey got out of the car while I sat there for a few seconds. They talked to the trooper and I got out to check the damage. Then John, Audrey & the trooper came over. He said that the deer had run off and looked just fine - yeah! And then he asked how I was. And how was the car? It has absolutely NO damage. That to me was amazing (with my compact car & plastic-feeling bumper). We thanked the trooper for stopping and helping us and then got back into the car. Here is the conversation we had:
It truly does not feel like 20 years ago that we were married. We had a crazy courtship. I had moved to Provo to room with my sister, Kathy. John had been down there since January (because there was no one in Spokane to date...hmmm) John had attended a 17-Stake Fireside at the Marriott Center and saw Kathy there. So on the day I arrived in Provo from Spokane, there was a note on Kathy's apartment telling me she had to work, but "You could call John and he'll spend time with you". That was May 1988. We spent that summer together going to movies, the lake, the park and hanging out at each other's apartments. He actually even got me a job where he worked (Goldsmith Co. Jewelers). But then I got homesick! About the time I had talked Kathy Johnson (now Thompson) into moving down to Provo to room with Kathy (sis) and I (August 1988), I was ready to move home. She was kind of mad at me for awhile... I think she's over it now : ) I moved home and John moved to Seattle the next month. We had a long-distance courtship - lots of great letters and lengthy phone calls. In October when I came home from a Young Adult Fireside, John was waiting behind my garage to surprise me. He had moved back to Spokane without telling me. Though I thought we were pretty serious, John refused to say he loved me because he said he only wanted to say that when he knew for sure. So I was thoroughly surprised when on October 19th he looked me in the eye and said he loved me & wanted to marry me. I replied "really?" and then did say yes : ) We went to my parents where John asked my dad for my hand. John says he is still not sure he ever said yes, but he gave him some great advice. And made sure he was registered to vote! We were married 5 & 1/2 weeks later on 11/25/1988. We honeymooned in Hawaii and then moved into a little apartment on the northside of town. 6 months later we bought the house we still live in today. It has been a wonderful ride!! I am thoroughly blessed to be married to my best friend. Love you John!! 
Then we headed to the main level of Riverpark Square and went to Sawtooth Grill. The birthday boy had the Club Combo with Chili,
Audrey had a Bison Burger 
and I had a Turkey Melt with Cranberry Chutney. We did get into a discussion about "what is chutney"? For those wondering is it a sweet and spicy relish made from fruit, spices, sugar, and vinegar. My chutney had cranberries and red onion as the main ingredients. It was an awesome sandwich. We had a great time celebrating John's birthday today, but he would not let us give him his presents until his actual birthday - so will post about that later.
There was a Cultural Enrichment Night at church and Becki Stevens did an awesome job of gathering lots of talent into an evening of sharing and fun. There were some fabulous displays showcasing pretty much any talent out there (quilting, sewing, painting, poetry, scrapbooking, photography, home improvement, crochet, etc). After everyone got an opportunity to have a snack from the massive dessert table and spend time viewing the displays, we all sat down to some entertainment. A guitar/vocal solo; a fiddle & violin number; a vocal solo; some poetry reading and a Piano Duet. That part was Becki and I. We played a tune called Witches' Flight by HM Russell (revised by Josef Frantz) and had a really good time. It was funny because the end of each movement basically ended right before a page turn, so we kept the audience guessing on when we were actually done as we had a slight pause (because of the end of the movement) as well as the actual page turning. It was a fun number!! Glad she asked me to participate with her.
