FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY

Every year as part of our family Christmas party we do the annual exchange of "dweebie" gifts, there really just white elephants but years ago when Tracey was a kid he dubbed them "dweebies" and they have been that ever since.
This was my contribution this year the "joker baby", I had a vision about it on the way to work one day, stopped at DI and got a doll for $1.00, add a little paint and presto, Dweebie. It kind of creeped Drake out a bit when he saw it (Michelle was the recipient).
Of course we had the return of the fruit cake that has been back every year for about 4 years now.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I LOVE CHRISTMAS

I love the crazy way Americans have made the simple miracle of the birth of our Savior into the most commercial enterprise in the history of earth. But we all love to do it.
I love that the simple tradition of giving gifts that represent the gifts that the kings brought as they visited the child, has grown into a monster that cannot be stopped even by recession.
I love the music of Christmas, those wonderful songs that we are only allowed to listen to for one monthe out of the year. Well except that some of the radio stations start just a little earlier each year. I was reminded of this in the wee hours of the morning on November 1st when my clock radio woke me up to the "sounds of the season"
I love that on Halloween we go door to door collecting candy and then at Christmas we go door to door and give it back. But be careful that you don't re-gift to the same people that gave it to you, they might recognize it.
I love decorating for Christmas with all sorts of junk and lights and nic nacs. we even have one decoration that I made the first year we were married and it still hangs in our home every year. It is a little worse for wear but still looks half good if not a little tacky. But I do not like putting lights on the house. I only do that for Karen.
I love the opportunity of being with family and enjoying grandchildren. It is so true that as you get older you begin to enjoy Christmas through the eyes of the young. It fills you with great joy and is so rewarding to see the little ones and how excited they are at everything about Christmas.
I love the way everyone tries to be just a little more kind at Christmas time, as we perhaps try to be just a little more like He who's birthday we celebrate.
So as we enter this last week before the big day I hope we can all take a moment or two, or three, or as many as we can scrape together, to remember what it is all about.

MESA PROJECT

On top of trying to get tithing settlement going and busy Christmas schedule, I spent part of last week in the Mesa temple.
I went down with a couple of colleagues from work to get digital files of all the murals and original art that hangs in the temple. This is a project that my department has been working on for several years. We go into various temples during the time that they are closed for cleaning, set up our equipment and take high resolution shots for printing. Some of the murals, like the ones here have to be taken in pieces and then put together as one image using photoshop. These two murals were taken in 6 shots each with a Hassleblad camera (No real person could afford this camera)
While the boys are busy with the "big" camera I shot these with my phone. Very high tech quality I know.
It was a great experience and the spirit was there even if we were dodging plumbers that are redoing the sewer lines and jumping over carpet layers and painters. It is amazing the amount of work that can be done with the Lord's guidance , in a very short time. In this case the temple will be closed for two weeks, during which time they are completely replacing the sewer system, laying new carpet in all the main hallways and repainting and gold leafing many areas in the temple.