I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Hooray--it will be a white Christmas here in Orem, Utah this year!! It got a little nasty here this afternoon when a blizzard blew through, but then it stopped snowing and was just cold outside. But, we are still under a "Heavy Snow Warning," and supposedly there will be 2-4 more inches of snow when we wake up tomorrow on Christmas morning!! Today was a very fun and busy day. Luckily Mom was able to go to the doctor and get a prescription for her sinus infection, so hopefully she can be on the mend. This morning Dad and I went over to Grandpa Taylor and Grandma Cathy's house to visit, and that was certainly fun to see them. I was able to see Grandpa for a few minutes last May when I came home from Mississippi for the Mormon History Association conference, but it had been far too long since I had actually been able to sit and visit with them. Then Dad and I went over to Lindy's house to stay with the girls while Nate and Lindy went up to Salt Lake to meet up with a lady who Lindy had taught on her mission in Thailand. This nice lady, Prair, and her husband Don then came down to Orem with Nate and Lindy for Christmas Eve dinner. Mom whipped up a feast, and we all had a great time here. Prair is a very nice, sweet person, and it was fun to meet her. Sidney was a little afraid of her at first, but she warmed up to Prair very quickly.

Camden, Riley, and Sidney got to open a couple of presents tonight here at our house, and their favorite presents were their American Girl p-jamas! They were so excited and they looked very cute in their matching nightgowns. Sidney got some nice soft, snuggly pj's to keep her warm. We also got to open one present from Mom and Dad tonight, and it was one of my favorite presents of all time--a copy of Amanda Barnes Smith's journal!!! That book is priceless, and our family has always had one copy of it, which all of us kids have used on numerous occasions, and now I have my own copy! She is the famous pioneer woman whose husband and son were killed at Haun's Mill, and she is also my great great great great grandma. It is a blessing to have such courageous ancestors.

Christmas Eve would be perfect if Sarah, Joel, Eliza, and Greg were here, but hopefully they will have merry Christmases in their respective parts of the country. Well I'm off to bed so that Santa can come!

Susan Easton Black: my testimony of Prophet Joseph Smith

One more tribute to the Prophet--from your favorite and mine, Susan Easton Black.

Joseph Smith - The Prophet

Here's a tribute to Joseph Smith on his birthday.

Joseph Smith

Today is the 202nd anniversary of the Prophet Joseph Smith's birth! I think it's very appropriate that his birthday falls at the same time of year that we celebrate Christmas. It was especially cool back in 2005 when we got to celebrate the 200th anniversary--and it was very neat to be working for Susan Easton Black at that time. Speaking of Sister Black, today Mom and I went by to see her and take her and Harvey a Christmas present. They are sooooo nice! Harvey was wearing his apron because they were whipping up a feast for the missionaries for this evening. It was great to catch up with Sister Black on all of her projects. A couple of the books I helped her with should be coming out this next year, so that will be cool. She gave me a copy of her latest book, Son of Man: King of Kings for a Christmas present, which was very nice of her. It is volume three in her Son of Man series of books with illustrations by Liz Lemon Swindle. It sounds like she's as busy as ever, and I certainly miss those good times working with her. The trip that she, Harvey, Mom, and I had to Nauvoo is one of my favorite memories. Sister Black taught me a lot about the Prophet Joseph Smith and helped me gain a greater appreciation for how Church history fits into American history. She was excited to hear about all of the latest happenings in my life, and we all had a great time chatting.

Today for church I was able to go with Mom over to the MTC and attend Dad's branch meetings with the missionaries. We also went to Relief Society there, where they had a really nice lesson about Joseph Smith. Mom and I even got to eat lunch in the cafeteria there--and Sunday is ice cream day! It was a very nice Sunday. Tonight we are having dinner here with the girls, and so far Sidney doesn't seem as scared of me as usual. She even played peek-a-boo with me and smiled! Oh great--I'll finally get her to like me and then I'll leave again :-( I wish my family could go everywhere with me!

One thing that Sister Black taught me about when Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805, was that the doctor who delivered him there in Sharon, Vermont was named Dr. Dennison. It just so happens that later on, when Joseph was tarred and feathered in Hiram, Ohio, a member of that mob was DR. DENNISON!! I think we all know where he ended up . . .

Good Sleepover Times

Hooray! We had the funnest sleepover ever last night! We had been planning this sleepover ever since I left for Natchez in April, so we got to do all of the things that we had waited so long to do. We ended up watching "Miracle on 34th Street" last night, then everyone got into our sleeping bags down by the Christmas tree at about 8:15 p.m. It has been a very, very, very long time since I got to go to bed before 9:00! It took us a while to go to sleep, and I was sleeping right in between two wiggly girls, but it was so much fun. At about 5:30 this morning, Riley woke up, and then the rest of us soon followed. We then went and woke Grandpa and Grandma up so that Grandpa could make us pancakes :-) The first picture there is one we took this morning when we first got up and still had our sleepy eyes and wild hair. One of the first things Riley said to me this morning was, "Tiffy, you need to comb yo' hair. It wooks CWAZY!" :-) After pancakes we made our gingerbread house with Grandma, and it turned out beautifully. Tonight we're heading up to Salt Lake for the Farnsworth family Christmas party, so there will surely be more good times up there!