Between Thanksgiving and Christmas

Well, it's that time of year.... busy, busy, busy. So, yes, I haven't had much time to blog. But here's an update.

Our little dinner party the week before Thanksgiving went well. It was supposed to be at my house, but at the last minute my mom offered to let us have it at her house because they were going out of town. Her house is much better for parties, so it turned out great (and since I only live 1.5 miles away, it's convenient). We had a lovely dinner of garlic chicken with mushrooms, roasted potatoes, green beans, salad, and rolls, with Pumpkin Crunch for dessert. (I will post some recipes later.)

Our ward boundaries were realigned in November and so our ward grew quite a bit. Jay was called to be the executive secretary and has been busy setting up appointments with all the new families, plus tithing settlement.

Thanksgiving was nice and relaxing. I only had to make the rolls! We spent it with Jay's family this year. That weekend we also bought our Christmas tree and decorated. It's easy to decorate my house for Christmas because, a) my house is small, and b) I hardly have any decorations.

A few days later, I managed to pull off a progressive dinner for our Relief Society (the organization for women in our church) including writing a parody for the bishopric to sing, about the ward. I was really nervous how it would be received, but it everyone seemed to like it... there were lots of laughs, and apparently no one was offended. Whew! The bishopric is going to do it again at our ward party this Saturday. Thanks to all the other fantastic women on the committee, the evening was a success... good food, a fun program, and we had a great turn-out.

A couple of days later I had "Activity Days" (8-9 year old girls from our church) at my house for a Christmas activity... we decorated cookies and had a white-elephant gift exchange, which was a new concept to the girls, and I wasn't sure how it would go over, but it turned out really fun and they were all good sports.

On Sunday, my family (my parents, siblings and their kids) got together for dinner (which we do at least once a month). We bundled up and pretended it was cold by eating outside on the patio. We ate about 6 different kinds of yummy soups, several kinds of salad, and delicious rolls, and drank hot spiced apple cider. Then we went caroling to a few of my parents' neighbors... we were a big group, so we made quite an impression. The kids had a blast! Then we went back to the house for some Christmas stories, and hot cocoa and cookies. (It's that "over-eating" time of year too!)

This week I'm finishing up the last of my Christmas shopping, and getting ready for my music performance this Saturday. Then I can breath a sigh of relief. I'm looking forward to Christmas break... catching up on some reading, and maybe working on a few projects that have been on my list for way too long.... like several years.

Called to Serve

Just before I gave birth to my first child (over 9 years ago), I was released from my church calling as the Primary chorister. When I returned to church after a month or so, I was called to be the Relief Society pianist; nice and easy for a new mother.

After performing in that calling for just a few weeks, we went on vacation. Our intent was to drive to Utah to visit Jay's grandmother. We didn't make it. On the way we were involved in a pretty serious car accident. I spent the next month in the hospital, and the following 6 months in a wheelchair/learning to walk again. So, of course I was released as the R.S. pianist.

When I finally got back into the swing of things, I was called to be the ward choir director. Shortly after that I was called to serve in the nursery as well. Just before I had my second child, I was released from the nursery, but continued to serve as the choir director until child #2 was about 10 months old, when I was called as a counselor in the Primary Presidency.

At the end of two years in the presidency, my third child was barely 3 months old. The Primary President's husband had been called to serve in the bishopric, so I knew we were getting released. I thought to myself, "Well, since I have a new baby, they will probably call me to something easy, like Relief Society Pianist."

Ha.

No. Instead, to my utter shock, I was called to be the Primary President.

Four years later (with no baby, not even a toddler), I was expecting to be released at any time. This week was finally it. There is no place I would rather serve than in Primary, and the calling I was really hoping for was Primary Teacher.

Nope. I almost laughed when the bishop said, "We would like you to serve as the Relief Society Pianist."

I am sad to leave Primary because I love it so much, but I guess there must be something I'm supposed to learn as the Relief Society Pianist.

(But I still hope I will be back in Primary again before long.)