The Sally Bytheway Chorale had four concerts this year, which was really fun. Our favorite place to perform was in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. The acoustics are amazing — we can actually hear ourselves while we sing and after we finish singing, we can hear the sound continue to ring.
Every year Sandy Regional puts on a really nice Christmas dinner for the residents and their family members. They decorate with trees and lights and the staff gets all dressed up and does all the serving. Shirley had her hair done that morning and was very excited to have us all come. Since we had a bigger group, we ended up having a private little area all to ourselves. We wish Shirley could do more for herself and be a little more alert, but we are grateful that she isn't in too much pain and that she is so patient with her adversities.
All the kids performed in the Waterford Vespers Christmas program. Elliot and Clark performed "I Saw Three Ships" with the Waterford percussion ensemble — Elliot on the vibes and Clark on the marimba. They used the Mack Wilberg arrangement and it sounded really cool. Madeleine performed with the chamber orchestra an arrangement of Bugler's Holiday — she was one of six violinists chosen to play the bugle parts.
Our first Christmas each season is the Saturday before Christmas when we celebrate with Alan's parents by having the official Brown Family Christmas Breakfast followed by opening presents. It has become our tradition to make orange rolls the night before and leave the leftovers for Pat and Wally in exchange for a few pecan rolls and some Poteca. It is nice for us because the kids have their gifts spread out over a few days. This year Shirley was able to join us again which is a wonderful thing for her since she isn't able to get out much at all.
The Morgans all got together to have dinner, visit, play games and share music with each other. Melanie invited us all down to her house where we she is able to have us all sit down to dinner in her wonderful basement game room. The cousins all had a great time together especially when Elliot started playing with all of them — the game became "try to bury Elliot alive" (watch the video)! I guess it was a good thing to work all the sugar and excitement of Christmas out so that we could enjoy a more quiet musical part of the evening (watch us singing). It was fun to hear so many of the cousins play their instruments — everyone is so talented!
As it always does, Christmas Eve actually came. Alan's parents came over for dinner and a program. My favorite part was watching home videos of past Christmases when the kids were younger. We have been working on transferring all of our home videos to DVD and so our "Gift From the Heart" this year was a DVD filled with past family Christmas video. It was extra fun because we got a new flat screen digital TV as a Christmas surprise to watch them on. The kids were probably more excited about the TV than the organized home movies, but we know that all of that becomes more important to us the older we get.
We had a really nice Christmas day. We especially enjoyed having Loren home with us after spending two Christmases in Texas on his mission. Our favorite gift this year was being able to talk to our current missionary, Phillip, on the phone for an hour or so! It was so wonderful to be able to hear his voice and know that he is doing fine and is happy and well even though he is so far away. We look forward to having him home next year.
Phillip sent us several pictures from Azuqueca, and even a few from his new area, Aranjuez. He wrote the captions himself.
Again we ended the year with our traditional evening of fondue and games. I always think I'll be able to show some restraint and then when it comes right down to it, I can't control myself and I enjoy as much cheese and chocolate as I can stand. It's crazy, but it's one night, right?!
As the year came to a close, we enjoyed a Spanish tradition Phillip told us about. Clark, Elliot, Madeleine, and Alan each lined up twelve grapes. Then as the clock began to strike twelve, they each ate one grape on each stroke of the clock.
It is fun to make predictions for the new year. I think there might be some more changes in the air....