Dearest Family:
November began sadly for us with the outcome of the presidential election and ended gladly with Thanksgiving at Dave and Megumi’s house.
On election night, John was the Heber Olson with more staying power; I watched the returns on television until all the networks declared that Ohio, and therefore the election, would go to Obama. I decided to forgo watching the acceptance and concession speeches and went to bed discouraged. The next day, I “streamed” Mitt Romney’s response to the election results and was grateful for his graciousness in defeat, as well as his reminder to America that our families must be strengthened in order to have a strong nation. Since then, we have tried to temper our disappointment and prepare financially for whatever will happen in January. It’s an exciting time to be alive!
I was officially released in August from my church service mission at the MTC, but continued to serve on Thursdays and some Mondays at the request of the administrator of the Immunization Clinic. Two weeks ago, I received an official 36 month call as a church service missionary at the MTC, so not much has changed, except that in addition to serving all day on Thursdays, I now process the incoming senior missionaries on most Mondays. With the announcement by President Monson at October General Conference regarding the new age eligibilities for young missionaries, there has been a lot of speculation about how the numbers at the MTC will change, where the increased number of missionaries will be housed, etc. We expect to see a true surge in January, especially in the numbers of sisters who will report to the MTC. There are a lot of details that will be worked out as things unfold. Again, it is an exciting time to be alive!
We were blessed to have David and Nicole and J.C. and Beki and their children as well as Brittany visited Heber for most of the Thanksgiving week. It was good to kiss freshly pajamed and bathed kids goodnight, to read stories, to ride Razor scooters and the Gator, swing on the swings, eat candy and play games. Katherine’s birthday was on the 30th, so we had an early birthday party the night before Thanksgiving for her. Nicole’s parents joined us for dinner (we love being with them!), blowing out candles, playing games and eating money cake before Katherine opened her presents. I had the great (?) idea to serve Asian food for dinner, and found a recipe for Mongolian Beef—PF Chang-style—that I was dying to try. All went well until the frying part. I cut down on the amount of oil, but because the beef was dredged in cornstarch, when the meat hit the fry pan, poof!!!, oil everywhere! It tasted great, but took way too long to clean up the kitchen after the party. Soooo, the recipe went in the trash. Take-out for that particular dish is the way to go in the future.
Dave and Megumi hosted almost forty of us for the Thanksgiving feast. They had cleared their great room and set up tables that were festive with lovely place settings and handcrafted nametags. It was wonderful to be together, to visit with the college crowd and to meet Reid’s friend, Rachelle (sp?), and Willow’s brother, Andrew. Everyone brought something delicious to eat, and we had enough food to “feed an army,” so everyone that wanted to took home leftovers. (Willow, I am still waiting for your sweet potato recipe!).
At the end of the month, Jean, Susan and I met Flora for lunch in Centerville, and had the pleasure of hearing a report on Flora’s activities. I hope I am as active and interested in life and others when I am Flora’s age. She is always busy, either with family history work, service to others, classes or exercise (in fact, she walked to the restaurant where we had lunch so she could get her exercise in for the day).
I am looking forward to Christmas—so far, no one except Brittany has reserved a room at the inn. But we are looking forward to Christmas morning visits to Japan, Connecticut, California and Idaho via Skype. We will be able to get around almost as easily as Santa.
We wish you all the most merry of Christmases, and express our gratitude and joy for the life and resurrection of our Savior. We send our love to each of you!
Aunt Carole and Uncle John
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