Dinner at the MTC

Our evening at the MTC last night was really nice. As we arrived we were greeted by the MTC presidency and their wives and Elder and Sister Holland. It was fun to visit with the Hollands for a few minutes. I told Sis. Holland that we're related--our grandmothers (Lillie and May Holt) are sisters and our dads (Raymond and Maeser) are first cousins. Sis. Holland was happy to know that. She said, "In fact, your dad and my dad dated my mom at the same time. It made my dad jealous, and I think that's what got him to ask her to marry him." I said, "Well, it all worked out for the best." Then she said, "My dad would say to my mom sometimes, 'I bet you wish you had married Raymond because then you could have been part of the educational world.' " I'd never heard that story before, and I thought it was pretty interesting. Dad used to talk about his cousin, Maeser, a lot. The kids remember the time we went to the Lytle Preserve down by St. George, and Maeser was there. He cut a pomegranate open for them with his pocket knife. They thought that was quite amazing!

At dinner, we sat with Steven's counselors and their wives: Mike and Becky Ahlander and Lew and Jann Bankhead. Sis. Bankhead said she had had a good day and was glad that she could come. She is recovering from recent cancer surgery and is now facing six months of chemotherapy. It was nice to be with the four of them. The dinner was delicious: salad, yummy potatoes, green beans, chicken and/or prime rib, rolls and cream puffs. Each table had a nativity set decoration--I took mine earlier in the day. We almost got to sit at the table with the one I brought, but some other people barely beat us out. So we sat at a table with a really cool, big Polish nativity set. Actually, it was better we sat at that table because it was on the edge of the room and we had to leave at 9:00 while everyone was still singing Silent Night. The table with our nativity set was right up front by the stage and the speakers' podium, so that wouldn't have worked for us to leave before it was all over if we had been sitting there. Actually, the evening should have been over by 9:00, but it was a little over-programmed. It started out with a live nativity, which was very nice. Then a long vocal solo, "O Holy Night," followed by a welcome from Pres. Boone, the MTC president. Then a long opening prayer (I'd say about 3 minutes or more). Then the dinner. After dinner was a nice string ensemble that played three Christmas pieces. The next thing was a chime activity in which everyone participated. It was fun, but that was the over-programmed part--it went on a little long. The chimes were then followed by the speakers: Elder Hinckley and Elder Holland. The speakers were almost anti-climactic because the evening had gone on for so long. But they both gave good talks and kept them pretty short. For Elder Holland's message he read a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay titled, "The Ballad of the Harp Weaver," which he said was a Christmas memory from his youth. It's quite an interesting poem and was, to me, a different kind of thing to be read by him. I imagine it was something like a favorite Christmas reading for his family when he was young. When he was reading it, every time he said "harp" I thought he was saying "heart," so it kind of didn't make sense to me. But then I looked the poem up online and found out it was "harp" instead of "heart," so the poem makes more sense. It's a sad little poem with a good message about a parent's love.

This morning, Steven and I went to the ward Christmas breakfast over at the stake center, then we went to AF to drop Richard off. From there we went to the Barretts to tend Sidney while Lindy and Nate took Camden and Riley up to Park City to see Peter Pan. The weather wasn't too bad when they left, but while they were gone, about 7-8 inches of snow fell there in Pleasant Grove. They didn't get home until about 6:30 because the roads were pretty snowy. Anyway, we're glad they went up and back safely. We surely had a lot of fun with Sidney while they were gone. She really knows how to show Grampa and Gramma a fun time. We sang and read and ate and played with lots of toys. It's so fun to hear her jabber with all of her expressions. When Lindy and Nate and the girls got home, they brought Arby's for dinner. Richard had joined us by that time, so it was a regular party. After coming home, Steven spent the good part of an hour getting us dug out around here. I think winter has arrived for sure.