Blue Bubble Dishes

These are the blue dishes that were used for family dinners when we went to Grandma Whisler's house. I loved these dishes. When she passed away, her son Bob got them. And there is a reason - he's the one that bought them and gave them to her in the first place!!

Bob and his dad, Don Bush, had cut timber and hauled it to the mill for a number of years. They took the logs north to Newport or Priest River or perhaps even to Usk. It was a way of earning pretty good income at the time. The dishes were a premium at the gas station he used to fill the logging truck - believe it was Enco stations back then. He was able to collect all the dishes over a period of time by buying gas for the truck. He gave them to Grandma for a present. This would have been between 1963 and 1966. It was probably the most expensive gift he had ever been able to give her up to that time and they were some of the prettiest dishes she had.

I would agree these are very pretty dishes - and hold very fond memories for me. Good food at Grandma's including homemade rolls, stuffed cheese celery, mustard pickles and mashed potatoes & gravy. Thanks Bob for entrusting the "Bubble" dishes with me!!

BD Movie & Lunch

For my birthday movie we headed downtown to see The Muppets - we thought it was great! Afterwards we went to Red Robin for lunch. Nice day with family!

Work Parties

Wow, just a bit of partying this month!

On December 2nd, I drove down to Moses Lake to attend a work party for the managers of the Columbia District. We had a short meeting and then headed to Michael's on the Lake. There we had yummy food and then a gift exchange. Everyone draws numbers and often gives gifts of liquor. I bring something I would like to take home - non alcoholic - and make sure to mark my brown paper bag so I know which gift to "pick" when it is my turn. Yay for me, I "got" a mini parfait dish set : )

On December 6th, I headed downtown to the Steam Plant Grill for the work party for the managers of the Spokane District. See, there is definitely an upside to have two bosses and two territories! Again we had delicious food, a short meeting and a gift exchange. I believe the number of non-alcoholic gifts were exactly 2. My district manager and myself. We kind of know this going in, so tend to bring a gift that we think the other will like. I made a Caramel Cider kit complete with clear glass mug, caramel syrup, cider packets and the recipe for making a mock-Starbucks one. He told me later it was delicious!

On December 8th, yes my birthday, John's new job had their work party. It was held in a banquet room at a hotel and the bosses wife had brought in dinner. Lasagna, veggie-lasagna, salads, bread and cookies/pies. They also had a large chocolate cake on the front table. At the start of the dinner, Wil stood up and announced that they were actually celebrating my birthday, not having a work Christmas party. That was too cool for them to even think about me! (John had been with the company about 5 weeks at this time.) So they sang to me and had me blow out candles and everything. The evening continued with a White Elephant gift exchange. That was really fun! And then Wil and his wife Tambi announced that we were going to have the actual gift opening. As part of the decorations, they had a tree in a corner. Underneath were many packages. They had each employee go over and pick a gift. I think Tambi had a lot of fun at Costco as the gifts were all in the $100 range and were things like the entire Band of Brothers / Pacific DVD gift set or the red professional popcorn machine (like at the movie theater). John picked up the Sonicare double toothbrush set. Wow, what a fun night we had!

On December 9th our Distribution Center had their annual Christmas lunch catered by Clinkerdagger's. I was able to enjoy turkey, roast beef, potatoes, gravy, their famous pea salad and an individual size creme brulee.

And finally, on December 12th my bosses took me out to lunch (Clingerdagger's - my favorite) for my birthday and to celebrate Christmas. They gave me flowers and gift cards to Michael's and Kohl's. Since they had just taken me out to lunch for my 25th anniversary (they took me to Casa de Oro on November 28th), we did choose a date past my birthday to celebrate.

Sam's Birthday

Fun day! Before I opened my presents that evening, Jessie stopped by with this cake from Just American Desserts. Yeah!! She's been my best friend since 3rd grade and it was so nice for her to remember - especially with chocolate!!!

Here I am with my "stash". Mom gave me Joanna Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook (she is a culinary mystery writer); Kathy sent me a set of mini old fashioned milk bottles for my kitchen (so cute!); Audrey gave me Michael Buble's Christmas CD; and John outdid himself. He gave me a light box set and the book Plate to Pixel, both requests that I had made to try to improve my photography skills. Then I opened the Thomas Kinkaid Disney Dreams print. Wow! Thanks everyone for making this birthday great. And if you were wondering, I turned 45.

Fun Boots!

I'm pretty sure these are very practical....OK, I bought them because they are CUTE!! Hard to see, but there is an adorable bow on each boot. And it does help to have only size 6 feet for "cuteness" factor : )

Nutcracker

Audrey went to the Nutcracker with Grandma Gramlow, Mariska, and Cheyenne. It was the first time that Audrey saw the State Street Ballet version. It was held at the Fox Theater and featured the Spokane Symphony. Some artistic licensing made this performance a little different for Audrey, such as instead of the Mouse King there was a Mouse Queen. She also mentioned the costuming was less dramatic then past productions she has attended. Afterwards, they all went to Cheyenne's choice of the Timber Creek Buffet! They had a fun girl's afternoon together. Thanks Grandma for planning this event!!

Ward Christmas Breakfast

We had a ward "Christmas in Bethlehem" breakfast this morning at the church. John and the rest of the Bishopric had parts as Wise Men in the program. I was asked to accompany the music including Primary numbers, solo numbers and congregation singing.

Here is John getting ready - with help from the bandanna expert!

This is how they had the cultural decorated - Isn't it fabulous!?

John, Bishop Cutler and Randy Scott - - they do look quite wise!!

And here is a shot that Arah took of me accompanying one of the special musical numbers.

The program started with the lights dimmed and Mary and Joseph entering the room looking for a place to stay. A narrator told the story of the birth of Christ, quoting scriptures. Emma M sangMary's Lullaby, Drew N sang Silent Night and a double quartet of youth sang Behold, God's Son. The congregation got to sing Joy to the World, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains, Away in a Manger, and We Three Kings. The Wise Men presented gifts to Baby Jesus near the end of the program. After the program was over, they presented gifts to all the Primary children and took photos.

Overall the program went very smoothly and was a great event to attend. Thanks to all the time and effort put in for this event to take place - writing the program, those in the program, the music, the set-up, the decorations, the food (breakfast casseroles & pancakes) and the clean-up. Very nice time.