CHRISTMAS 2012 & NYE

I finished my finals the first couple weeks of December.  Allegedly, this is the hardest semester in law school.  It was a stimulating fast paced semester and I am hopeful that my ability to retain the information kept pace.

Classes--
*Civil Procedure
*Torts
*Criminal Law
*Legal Research & Writing I
*Legal Professionalism & Transactional Skills Lab

We drove eight hours to meet up with the Sears Family in Rexburg, ID immediately following my last final.  J & E Sears both were graduating from BYU-I in Business Management and Home & Family Living - Sewing Emphasis.  As an added bonus my mission president is a Vice President at BYU-I and he was also present at the very impressive graduation event.  The graduates glowed with their years of hard earned accomplishment.

We all spent time test running some new gifts from JM Sears and giving Christmas gifts.  We ate at Gator Jacks.  I was pleased with the food.  And, we got to spend time with Tally who also made it to ID.

The Sears clan at Gator Jacks in Rexburg.

On the ten hour drive back to the airport we opened gifts from Mom and Dad Sears, one each half hour.  We also listened to lots of Christmas music including my newest mix "A Christmas Spirit".

The flight was breezy and Vegas was balmy.  The beginning of our time in Vegas felt exceptionally fine, peaceful, and pleasant.  And Julia even discovered that she had earned a 99% in both of her classes last semester.

We finally saw The Hobbit.  We ate like pre-revolution French royalty and I gained 7-8 lbs by the time I came home.  There was always BLT's on Sundays and assorted cheeses and chocolates the rest of the time.

Mostly, we slept and sort of followed everyone else around as they busily bustled about shopping for gifts.  We did organize parts of the house, cook a Japanese meal for 16, and repaint part of the outdoor carport.

The Sunday before Christmas all of the extended family gathered so that the great grandkids of Marco and Robert Callister could perform a version of A Christmas Carol marvelously with assistance from son Matthew Callister.  The play was a delight and it was even adapted by a Callister grandson working in the film industry.  Following it there were musical performances of O Holy Night, Mele-Kalikimaka (performed and danced to by the Meservy clan), and more.  There were also a couple dances for good measure.  Dinner was an assortment of very well planned finger foods.

On Christmas eve the advent calendar that Julia made for me culminated in a scavenger hunt across Las Vegas.  I had to shoot baskets, visit a Buddhist quasi-temple, race to a grocery store, sing a song to a neighbor in front of her entire office, and even tell my niece a story.  The gift was the experience and the love from my wife.  Each day of the calendar was a compliment, Christmas activity, or service to me from Julia. And of course there was something sweet involved too.

The advent calendar - we lost Day #24 and we want it back!

Some clips from hunting the scavenge.

In the evening was a large dinner featuring Japanese and Indian food and several French cheeses and French bread.  Then we went caroling to neighbors and friends (and brought two as well) and had hot chocolate.

Mom wearing a funny hat borrowed during caroling.

Christmas morning was filled with gifts.  It was also rather sweet.  The family assembled with the Reynolds and Callisters again in the morning at Uncle Matt's for a large and delightful breakfast.  It was delicious.  Gifts were given and the poems and Luke 2 which are tradition were read.

Without a doubt our best moments of the trip were the planned events.  Too often we went without some good plans but when we had them they were very splendid.

Among the most fun moments of the year-end were ice skating at the Venetian (where we started to try and show off on the tiny floor and met some actors dressed up as Italian gods or masqueraders), visiting the Smith Center for the Performing Arts (to peek inside), roasting marshmallows and hot dogs on the new fire pit, and taking moustache photos with sister E at the Bellagio gardens.

The exception to our planning rule was New Years Eve.  We planned nearly nothing.  We watched TV, made frozen hot chocolate, did handstands, played a sole long game of scrabble, played darts, and watched the fireworks from the Strip out of the windows.  We toasted with home-squeezed pomegranate juice and ginger ale.  This was certainly fun.

We flew back the next day after a visit to Godiva Chocolatier for milkshakes with the family.

Julia became better acquainted with the cats throughout it all.  And, she gave me the most planned gift of them all--a year's worth (36) of dates planned (since I am busy in school).  This reminds me for some reason of the excitement found in the poem "when what to my wondering eyes would appear."

(I, Julia, would like to interject here and state that Joe gave me a gym membership plus a gift card to one of my favorite restaurants for Christmas - I was thrilled and it was just what I wanted!! He's a sweetheart and such a good listener.)

I received several requested gifts and a number of good looking books.  I am already reading the biography of Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.  In light of that I will leave this with a quote from George Washington found in the book..."Treat [others] with humanity, and let them have no reason to complain..."
   
It's a partial quote and rather than excuse it I will just try and use it.

THANKSGIVING

We went to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving this year after facing a difficult decision (we are still hoping for forgiveness from a certain party).  In wake of that, the flight was really rough and practically everyone got sick on the flight out.  However, on a layover in San Francisco we bough Ghiradelli chocolates and a fellow family of passengers gave us some magazines they had read after we struck up a conversation about Disneyland and travel.  Consequently, we finished a crossword puzzel on the way down.
In Vegas the weather was beautiful and balmy.  We watched Bugsy Malone (Julia's first time).  We tried to clean out some my old files and possessions from growing up.  We ate out at Roberto's Taco Shop and Baja Fresh.  We also had some fun watching several Studio C clips and trying to fix the paintball guns.
Thanksgiving was at my parent's home.  Julia (and I) made two of her AMAZING apple pies (Aunt Jackie even called them "earthy looking") and helped out with a few other things. The dinner was fantastic including a bevy of delicious pies, turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes/turnips, beets and beeted carrots, green beans, stuffing, pomegranate juice, Marco's rolls, soups, etc.  There were new babies there including niece E and D & A Reynolds' baby girl A.  The settings were lovely and the company was spectacular.  We also enjoyed having friends Katya (from Russia) and Aswin (from India) present.
Later, we reconvened at the church to play a game of Yoga Ball, knock-out, and then basketball.
Over the week we went to see Wreck It Ralph (most of the family liked) and Lincoln (everybody loved).
Later still, the Meservys got together for a smaller round of Christmas poems.
Dad took the boys golfing on Friday.  On the first tee-off one of the brothers accidentally threw his club easily 200 feet.  There were a handful of par holes had and plenty of disappointing bouts but it was still fun.  And, afterward we went to get wings before coming home to a baby shower being thrown by the women for sister E's best friend B.  The shower looked great and the chicken sandwiches were excellent.
Sunday we took some family photos and then did the traditional BLTs with the priesthood.

David Archuleta & The Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Julia and I attended this live when we were dating.  Thank you for the free tickets Grandma Behra.  The dancing and singing was very impressive.  This was, indeed, a very classy performance.  I recommend it and now you can watch it.

Lincoln

The best Abraham Lincoln film around is the new Spielberg film.  It is very well researched, quotes from his life extensively, and a great film.  It also focused on Lincoln's role in the passing of the 13th Amendment (outlawing slavery as the first constitutional mention of slavery) and his family life.

Some quotes:

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

"I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice."

"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing."

"Stand with anybody that stands right. Stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong."

"We begin with equality, it’s the origin, isn’t it? That’s justice. See, we’ve shown that if people can endure awful sacrifice and yet cohere."

Another terrific reference--
Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years by Carl Sandberg
The book was a Pulitzer Prize winner and Sandberg interviewed people who knew Lincoln personally in compiling his account.

A Gem Amongst the Suburbia

A few weeks ago I found this on my walk:

Nestled among the many houses and apartments, this little gem seemed calm and serene. It's always nice to find a little patch of countryside close to our home.

Trick-Or-Treat

This Halloween we had "secret plans and clever tricks," to quote the Roald Dahl book we read recently at Barnes & Noble about a mastermind crocodile who wants to eat " nice, juicy" children. We planned for Joe to be Jonah from the Bible story and for me to be the rainbow fish from the children's book (much thanks to Elise for the idea). We were going to make our car into the whale with big white teeth in the trunk and a tail in the front so that Joe could sit inside while we passed out candy to the kiddos at the ward trunk-or-treat. However, the weather was rather bleak and rainy that day and we ran late so it didn't quite work out the way we planned.
Joe did dress up as Jonah though and I threw together a rainbow fish costume the night before so we were Jonah and the fish or as one girl guessed the old man and the sea. After the ward trunk-or-treat and chili cook off we went to a fun Halloween Party where we got to chat with some friends.

Joe said, "We look like rockstars!" I think by that he means he looks like a rockstar. I look like a fish. haha - Joe got tired of wearing most of his Jonah costume pretty quick.

On Halloween night we had no plans. We had gotten some candy and hoped some little ghouls would stop by trick-or-treating. Joe wanted to get a movie so we stopped off at Hastings where we ran into two couples from our ward! Joe invited one of them over for games at our place and they accepted! After pizza, jenga, and lots of fun they left and Joe and I were excited to have just had our first guests over to our apartment (besides family). Alas, there were no trick-or-treaters to be found, but that didn't stop me and Joe from eating all the candy in the house. Happy Halloween!

Miss Atomic Bomb

My wife is the real Miss Atomic Bomb...unfortunately, she also dropped a bomb on me and left to the Relief Society social tonight...I'll forgive and make up...

Thank you Brother Flowers and company for the poetic synthesis.