Light Bright Trivia

Light Bright

12

- Cost in Dollars of General Electric’s first set of 24 Christmas lights (equaled the average paycheck of one work week in 1903)

200
- Average number of lights on a Christmas tree

1882
- Year Thomas Edison’s assistant, Edward Johnson, came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees

5000
- Lights on the tallest lighted living Christmas tree, located in Blue River, Oregon

300,000+
- Christmas lights on Temple Square in Salt Lake City

Thank You to NY Times

M E R I D I A N M A G A Z I N E


Prop 8 Backlash Is “An Outrage That Must Stop,” Group Says in Support of Church
SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints expressed appreciation today for a full-page advertisement in The New York Times that decries the “violence and intimidation” directed toward the Church because of its support of Proposition 8.

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints expresses its gratitude to the signatories of the full-page advertisement that appeared today in the New York Times . This was a thoughtful and generous gesture at a time when the right of free expression of people of faith has come under attack. We join with those of all religious faiths and political persuasions who have called for reasoned and civil discourse on matters that affect our nation.”

The ad was sponsored by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and was signed by scholars, dignitaries and religious leaders from a variety of faiths.

“Religious groups can't claim some sort of special immunity from criticism,” the advertisement stated. “Nevertheless, there's a world of difference between legitimate political give-and-take and violent attempts to cow your opponents into submission. Violence and intimidation are always wrong, whether the victims are believers, gay people, or anyone else.”

The statement in the ad continued: “Participating in ballot initiatives is legally different from politicking for candidates. It is perfectly lawful for charities, including religious ones. It is perfectly appropriate as well that all voices be heard.”

The statement by the group also called for others to add their names to the letter and concluded with a declaration of unified support:

“Therefore, despite our fundamental disagreements with one another, we announce today that we will stand shoulder to shoulder to defend any house of worship — Jewish, Christian, Hindu, whatever — from violence, regardless of the cause that violence seeks to serve.”

(We are starting to see the workings of the Lord in these matters. Our relative who did some of the commercials is now seeing a great show of support from his colleagues who have come to him privately to compliment him on his loyalty to his beliefs and practice of them. It has opened many doors of friendship and religious discussion. Thank you to the NY Times for their advertisement)

An Answer

It was Fast Sunday today. I decided to pray and fast about something personal. Just a little something that I need some direction on. I got an answer in RS during the lesson. Very clear. I learned, once again, that Heavenly Father knows me, hears my prayers, understands my heart, loves me, wants me to learn and grow, blesses me even when I don't realize it. He is real and He lives.

Got The Tree!

Yes, my family completely revolted against me, and so I have another real tree for Christmas. I was kind of ornery about it. Real ones take a lot more work and attention. But when we got out of the car and into the lot yesterday morning, it was hard to deny their beauty and SMELL! Oh, heaven! It's intoxicating and festive just like the smell of gingerbread at Christmastime.

They delivered it, got it in the stand and we sprayed it down to get all the errant needles off. It will come in the house tomorrow where my champion christmas tree light putter-onner, Christine, will get the lights on and we'll decorate for FHE.

Okay family, I WILL admit there is a great magic in going and picking through all the trees for just the right one (with all of it's natural beauty and flaws because it is real), the excitement of getting it home.

O Tannebaum!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

Elizabeth! Happy Birthday to YOU, you sweetie! Wow: 11 years old. Can it be? We remember the day you were born. Waiting, waiting, for the phone to ring telling us you were here. One more year until Young Women.

Have a great day!
Here is your birthday song: (pretend you can hear Gramma's crackly voice singing with us)

Happy Birthday To You--
Happy Birthday To You--
Happy Birthday Dear Elizabeth,
Happy Birthday To YOU!

It SNOWED Last Night!

Christmas came early last night! After school, Meredith and J.T. came over and we headed to Disneyland for their holiday festivities. We grabbed dinner on the way there and ate in the car. Once we got to the parking structure you could just FEEL the magic! It was so contagious! A cure for anyone feeling a bit on the 'bah-humbug' side of the holidays. First stop: Haunted Mansion. 2nd stop: Pirates of The Carribean. Then off to get a churro and find a seat for the fireworks. We found a great spot just on the inside rope of a walkway in the Main Street circle in front of the castle. The entire show was set to Christmas music. It was inspirational! I loved that they used mostly traditional carols: Silent Night, Hark The Herald Angels Sing, The First Noel. These are religious in nature. Glad they chose these and others.

I did not take these pictures, but even these from the internet do not do the show justice. It was amazing. No one wanted it to end. But when it did.....

...SNOW fell from the skies while I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas echoed all the way through Main Street! There was the most peaceful, quiet feeling. We were covered in snow, softly laughing, smiling, hugging. Duff and I had a kiss.

Part of Main Street during the snow storm. The decorations are so magical you feel like you have been transported to another place. We got home right close to midnight. It was a simple ride home with J.T. slumbering in the back seat.Yes, a White Christmas came early to California for us last night!

The Most Beautiful Morning!

I just want to mention that it is the most beautiful morning! It is about 65*, blue sky, and the most brilliant green everywhere: bushes, plants, and especially the grass. The red poinsettias on the porch are a gorgeous contrast.

Costco

When we go to Costco, we shop for about 3 months. We bring it all home and divide it up, freeze it, rotate the 'storage' and then just shop at the local store for fresh dairy, produce, and the other things that you can't get at Costco to complete the meals. Over the years we have honed the 'list' so we know what we need to get. Sometimes it changes depending on the holiday or family event coming up or a new recipe added to our menu, but it is pretty much the basics.

So today was the DAY. I love Costco. I like to go down every aisle twice--once in one direction to see everything on one side and then make a u-turn and go back down looking at the things on the opposite side. It takes some time, but I don't go very often. It is rare that I just make a 'quick run' to Costco. It's about 1/2 an hour from our house. Sometimes I wish it was closer especially to fill up the car with gas from their gas station. It is an amazing price.

We left at 10:30am got home around 1:45pm and it took me until 4 pm to clean out the deep freeze, fridge, repackage, and put everything away. It is always such a good feeling to have that done, even though it takes the better part of the day. Over the 20+ years we have been doing this we have found that it saves a lot of $$ and time.

I also found several items I hadn't planned on finding to cross off some more of 'that' Christmas list. Yay!

HOT COSTCO TIP: If your men-folk like flannel pajama pants get to Costco, now! I was just in Macy's department store and they had the SAME Nautica flannel pajama pants for $29.99. Now the week before Christmas they will mark them down to $19.99, but today at Costco, the SAME ONES were $12.99!!! So I snapped them up and now I don't have to go the week before Christmas for Macy's sale price and I saved $17 a pair!!! (Nautica brand is a little bit heavier flannel that wears for a long time.)

So the Costco shopping is now done and I have to say I'm a bit on the tired side!

(OH, and I got asked to give a talk in church in a couple of weeks. What! In the month of December??? Yikes, what were they thinking? Only men should have to speak in December, right? And it is not an easy topic: The Role of The Pre-Mortal Christ. I feel lots of studying coming up...but I'm gonna stick with my happy smile and not let 'you-know-who' try to get his nasty influence on me to get me stressed! That is one of my goals I am working on this season....)

Surprise!

Yesterday afternoon after I got the mail, I sat down to dream through the Crate and Barrel and Williams-Sonoma catalogs that came, and the front door opened and someone walked through. I saw J.T. right away, and thought, "Oh Patti's here!" So nice that they feel they can just 'walk in'.

Uh-NO. It was J.T. and MEREDITH! What????? She and Josh just got on an airplane Sunday night and went back to Arizona, right? Right. But when she was talking to her mom on Tuesday night, it came up that Mere's work week was already done and Patti was on overload this week, so Patti bought a plane ticket at 6pm and Meredith arrived yesterday morning at 9!

She so wanted to see my face full of surprise when she walked in the door, and I did not disappoint. Neither did Duff when he came home. They waited for Christine to get home from school and then went for a Golden Spoon 'run'. J.T. was dying to show me how fast he can run now. And he was speedy making laps in the backyard! Way to go Johnny!

Thanks for stopping by, you sweetie, and enjoy this time with your mom!

( Got more xmas shopping done yesterday morning. I didn't meet my goal of being done by Thanksgiving, but am way ahead of where I've EVER been before. Truly, I am so close to being done! It feels wonderful. Why, oh Why, do the holidays give that punched in the gut/stressful feeling? I've been thinking about this. I wonder if Satan sponsors this because he does NOT want us to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and the birth of The Savior. If we are spending our time peacefully pondering on this glorius event and God's love in sending His Son, we would be H A P P Y! As the author of darkness and shadow, he works endlessly at keeping us not happy. He wants us to be stressed, frustrated, tired, and ornery. Hmmmm. Guess I better not give him what he wants. I'm gonna work really hard on that.)

I Believe In Santa Claus

(This is a great story to get us in the 'true' mood for Christmas...)

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her. On the way, my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted .... "Ridiculous! Don't believe it! That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun.

"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat! I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down."Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it. Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going." I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team. I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

...may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!

F. O. G !

Still having fog this morning. Pretty 'heavy' but not as dense as last night on the toll road. I'll bet it's very soupy at the beach!

Last night as soon as we hit the dense fog driving home I got an unfamiliar pit in my stomach. I went immediately back to being a little girl driving home on a Sunday night in the winter from my grandparents house in Manhattan Beach. We got to their home in the afternoon and it was a beautiful socal day. When we walked out to leave it was thick with fog. The kind that goes right through your body and chills you to the bone. Wet and heavy. We got in the car. I was sitting in the middle of the front seat in our station wagon between my parents. I have never been so frightened. My dad, who always made you feel secure and safe, was scared. He could not see to drive. We literally inched along the streets. You could not even see the signal lights until you were right at them. I was so afraid someone would hit us by accident and we would die. My brother and sister were asleep in the back seat oblivious to the conditions.

I prayed so hard. It was a very simple, little girl prayer. Probably the kind we should pray always. No fancy words, phrases, just straightforward and simple. I had complete faith that He could guide and protect us.

And He did. It was harrowing, even for my parents, but we made it home in safety. Interesting how this all came flooding back in a nano-second last night. It immediately made me feel at peace.

Adventures

Packed up, loaded up, shut it down, and got on the road. Grandma and Grandpa right behind us. Lots of fog. Cold. Storm coming Tuesday. Wouldn't you know we miss it.

Since Gma and Gpa were only going to St. George, they wanted to stop a few places along the way. Adventure time. The first one was the Red Barn in Santaquin.

They had heard you can get fruit there to put up. Yes, even in November! We got off on the wrong exit and had to ask for directions, but now we know where it is. The only fruit available now was some apples, but we did learn that you can get peaches, pears, cherries, raspberries, and some veges too like asparagus during the summer months. Yum! It had a nice little gift shop and food counter. We got a delicious ice cream cone. Wow. Homemade goodness! We sampled all the chutneys, salsas, jams, fudge.

While we were perusing the gift shop, I looked over and the E. family was there from home. Who would have thought! Their son, Brandon, is Christine's age and is in school with her off and on. I say off and on because they have a very unique life. I can't remember exactly what the parents 'do' for a living, but it takes them ALL over the world. You can find their family on a cruise around the world and doing home schooling during it. Or in a different country. Or in Washington, D.C. for 3 months and then Brandon gets to participate in some pretty cool governmental programs while he is there. Anyway, they were driving home (they spent the holiday in their home in Park City) and they knew all about this place. Even down to 'get the pumpkin pie ice cream'. What a small world! We have run into them on this 'route' several times before at various drive thru's, restaurants, skiing, etc.

The stop in Cove Fort got nixed by Gpa. Guess they just wanted to get to Uncle Rodney's. Okay with us, that just gets us home a few hours earlier! Lucky for us we hit every major town at non-traffic times! Yahoo! Several pairs of restless legs later we pulled into one of the worst fogs I have experienced since I was a child. We truly could NOT see. I can't believe there was not an accident. We had it the rest of the way home, and it is still hanging on.

I mention this because of what Mike and Adrianne experienced the night before. Duff took the 2 couples to the airport because school and work called for them bright and early this morning. Don't know why we didn't check before they left, but both of their flights to different states were running 3 hours behind! Big bummer!

We get a call long after Mike and Adrianne should have been home, from the plane, that they had just landed in Burbank airport! What??? The dense fog wouldn't let them land in Long Beach (where their car was) or OC or LAX. They had circled for a long time hoping for it to lift, but it didn't. So they took them to Burbank. They intended to refuel, put them back up in the air and try it again, but put them on busses and drove the whole flight to Long Beach instead. So now add on a 2 hour bus drive which is longer because of the fog. Long story short--they could have driven home and been there in less time than it took them to 'jet' home! They finally got home around 1:30am, and were too wired to sleep for awhile. Then Adrianne had to get up for work at 6:30. What an adventure!