December Fun

This post is a summary on what we did during the rest of the month of December. 

We had our ward party on the first Friday of the month.  The food was great!  There were plenty of leftovers, but it is a newly rearranged and organized ward, so how do you plan, right?  The young men weren't complaining and got as much as they could possibly eat.  The primary kids sang and Bump and I also sang a duet as part of the short program.  It was a nice evening.

It was so fun to watch Corb help clean up the church afterward.  We have some great young men in our ward and Corb really looks up to them and wants to do what they do.  Ty was being so cute and patient with him.  They did a good job sweeping!  Corb asked if Ty could come sleep over so he could keep hanging out with him.

One night I was sitting on the couch looking at something when I noticed that cat curled up under the Christmas tree.  What an idyllic picture, right?  So I took out my iPhone and snapped a picture.

Then Fly opened her eyes and I got to see her evil soul.  Ha ha!  I laughed so hard when I saw the picture.  I think Bump is still laughing about it.  I think we really own a robo-cat or something.

On December 13th Bump and I went into Temple Square to see the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.  The special guest singer this year was Alfie Boe, who is simply fabulous.  He played Jean Val Jean in the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Les Miserables that has been on PBS during the last year.  He is by far my favorite tenor and I was thrilled to be able to hear him sing in person.  He sang some beautiful pieces, but my favorite was when he sang "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables.  I don't think I breathed the entire performance.  What a voice!  

Tom Brokaw was the guest narrator and he told the story of the Candy Bomber of WWII.  It is a touching story that I had heard before, but after telling this amazing story they actually had the Candy Bomber himself come out and talk!  I cried as the audience gave him a standing ovation.  Talk about an amazing person and an incredible concert to be at!

We were there with Ty and Jasmin (Bump's brother), Ron and Gus (Bump's parents), Darin and Sue (Bump's brother) and Parker and his girlfriend (Darin's son).  I didn't' get a picture of the others.

Gabby has had an abscessed tooth off and on for a few years.  Bump's brother Darin is our dentist and he has done a great job of trying to save the tooth.  This month the abscess came back and was worse.  After being on an antibiotic for 10 days and not seeing the amount of improvement that I wanted I finally asked if he could just pull the tooth so we don't have to mess with it any more.  Well, he numbed her up and went to pull the tooth and it broke in several pieces.  He ended up having to chase the roots and it was tougher on Gabby than he wanted it to be.  She ended up with 2 of the biggest pieces for the tooth fairy.  Darin felt bad, but Gabby gave him a big hug and said that even though it hurt she still loved him and that he would always be her dentist.  Darin told me that if all kids were like Gabby he would only work on kids and forget about the adults.  She is one tough cookie!

And quite the pianist as well!  I started all three kids in piano lessons again and they are all doing great!

I finally finished my craft from last Christmas.

We spent the first Friday of our Christmas Break with our friends the Hancock Family at temple square.  It was a cold and drizzly night, but the kids had fun looking at the lights and spending time with their best buddies.  Afterward we stopped at McDonald's and let the kids eat and play in the indoor play place.

I got a surprise in the mail right before Christmas from my brother Dave in California.  He sent me (and later I found out he'd sent it to all of our family) these two cheese spreads.  What is significant about these cheese spreads?  They are key ingredients for my mom's famous cheese ball and you can never find Roka Blue.  I have found Old English a few times, but never can get Roka Blue.  So, you take these two spreads and add them to a cube of softened butter and 8 oz of softened cream cheese.  Mix well, spread on crackers, top with a smoked oyster if you feel so inclined and if you want the true Wright Christmas tradition, then enjoy!  Simple, easy and oh so yummy.  I loved the surprise!

We had a fun Wright Christmas party and Brig got to show off his new helmet.  This is what he got for Christmas and he gets to wear it all the time to help the flattening area of his head.  Jared and Casi knew it would be white, so Jared got a couple of BYU stickers so that Brig could have a real BYU helmet.  They are still looking for the perfect color of blue electrical tape for the helmet stripes.  He doesn't seem to mind the helmet at all and looks dang cute wearing it!

This is my Christmas present from Lee and Trish this year.  Tricia made these with the help of her dad. I love them!!!  They look great in my kitchen too!  Now I need to fill them with something other than candy, so I can stop eating it!

And speaking of Lee and Trish, look what Santa brought to their house for Christmas!  This is Bokkie (boy-key).  It is a South African word which means little buck.  He is sure a cutie and just the right type of lap dog if I were going to get a lap dog.  I'm so glad that I'm not training a puppy in the snow, but if I had one that looked like him, I might be tempted.