Super Gifts

Two of my children, Brian and Wendy, came up with the same wonderful idea for a Christmas Gift. They published my "Daily Danish Doings" blog in book form.  It is fabulous to be able to peruse the pages and see what a terrific country Denmark is and remember all the people we know and love there.

 They are two different formats, equally wonderful to look through.  Such treasures!

Christmas Morning

Sant Claus certainly had plenty of snow to run his sleigh on in Utah this Christmas Morning.  The world was white when we awoke at 6 a.m. to join our daughter Julie and her family to see what Santa had left.

We had a wonderful turkey dinner with all of our family that were in town on Christmas Eve.  If I can get some technical help, I will add a post on the Williams Nativity Pageant......

Christmas Caroling

Caroling to people's houses is such lovely tradition.  Our daughter, Julie, and her family came last night.  Enjoy.
Angels We Have Heard on High

Party Time

This week seems to be the time for all the holiday parties.
Last night we went to The Hidden Valley Country Club, an elegant setting with beautiful decorations for dinner with a group we've connected with for 25 years.

Jim managed well and ate more than he has for 6 weeks......

 And this morning I met with my old line-dancing friends for our annual Christmas Party.  Would you believe there are three Janets in the group, very unusual.  There are also 2 Dianes and 1 Diana.  I'm not sure how many still dance, I will find out after Christmas when we start up again.

My KInd of Winter

This is my kind of winter, snow in the nountains and clear roads.

 Snow in the mountains and rain in the valley works even better as we always need water in the summer from the snow melt.   This is from my front yard yesterday.

Getting Out

Jim is feeling strong enough to get out and about.  This week we attended..

Molly's and Janey's Grandparents day at their preschool...

 The Dicken's Festival (lot of booths and things to buy in and Old English setting.)

because  eight of our grandchildren performed..
   And today we made it to all three hours of church plus the monthly family dinner.

 The daily improvement seems slow, but looking back over the week it is more obvious.

Relief Society Christmas Parties

In Denmark and here in Salt Lake, we have had to change wards, which has pros and cons.  You miss good friends, but make new ones.  I am good at attending both wards' parties.  Tonight was no different.  I attended the Hollday 28th Ward party with my daughter, Wendy and met so many old friends and heard Kathleen Walker give a great talk on the temple and then I went to my ward, the Holladay 18th, to catch the end of their program. A fun night and Jim managed to entertain himself by the fireplace.

Festival of Trees

As a child in the Primary at church, we would bring birthday pennies to help build the Primary Children's Hospital.  As the name denotes, it was a hospital especially for children built by the church.  It has grown and now serves any and all children, many from around the world.  Their main fund raiser now is the Festival of Trees held each year the week after Thanksgiving.

 There were over 300 trees of all sizes, plus centerpieces, quilts, food, and a gift shop.  Everything is donated, including all the time and volunteers to put it up and take it down and deliver to the buyers.  Every penny goes to the hospital.

Groups come in to entertain

 Jim manged to get to the Festival to see all of these grandchildren perform.  A good incentive to get out and about.

 One of the highlights is always the gingerbread creations, including this working ferris wheel.

 As you can see, this is one of the major Christmas events here in Salt Lake.

Medical Update

Wednesday and Today, Jim had appointments with various cardiologists at the University of Utah's Cardiovascular Center.  One will check on the heart function, the other on the ICD device he had implanted.  Crazy, they can reprogram it from a computer.

Everything seems to be fine and progressing as it should be.  We would like it to be faster, but as we look back a week ago, we can see the improvement.  The biggest problem is the shortness of breath when he walks too far, hence the wheelchair.

The University Hospital is very nice with excellent service.  The medical care in Denmark is very comparable to what they have in the U.S.  The difference seems to be in the service and extra ammenities.  I think it is because there is competition here and the patient can choose from several different hospitals and plans.  

Besides the beautiful decorations,  they have people playing the piano in the lobby and car valet service at the front door.   I just drive up and give them my key and when I need it I scan my ticket and the car is delivered to the front door again, no tipping allowed.

"Putting up" Christmas

Christmas is full of traditions in our home.  The weekend after Thanksgiving is the time to "put up" Christmas decorations.  We have always had a real tree, but this year, we put up an artificial one I bought just before we left for Denmark.  It certainly is easier and faster.

 We acquired many beautiful decorations in Denmark, including these Geroge Jensen Christmas ornaments.

Thanksgiving

This is the first Thanksgiving in 6 years we have been home with our family. With 25, it was a bit chaotic, but so fun.  I furnished some stuffing for the turkey and the yams with brown sugar, butter and marshmellows and our kids furnished the rest: turkey, potatoes and gravy, green beans with bacon, "Aunt Merle's" carrot casserole, rolls, and 6 kinds of pie. It was a lot of food, just what you expect from Thanksgiving dinner.

 The grandchildren we left behind as children have turned into very nice teenagers.  Lots of fun.

Home Again

After three wonderful years presiding over the Copenhagen Denmark Temple we are back in Salt Lake City, Utah.  We already miss all our dear friends in Denmark and Southern Sweden and will be forever grateful for their help and prayers and taking care of us after Jim's heart attack as we were leaving Denmark.
  It was fun to have our family meet us and see how tall they have all grown and meet Elsie one of the two new granddaughters that have arrived in the past year.  We have been so blessed.

Utah seems to have a lot of sky and far horizons.

 This is a view of downtown Salt Lake as we drove in tfrom the airport.