Everyone Gathers at Christmas

I can't believe I'm finally writing about something other than Trek again! I still have some catch up to do, however. We'll see how much of it gets done. So I'm going to start with relating the events of December, as a lot happened through there. The first occasion of significance I can remember was my birthday. I don't much care much for my birthday anymore. Honestly, aging when you're single with no end in sight isn't the most fun thing, and any reminder of that fact isn't particularly desirable. Though it isn't the most easy day for me, I do my best not to brood about what I don't have and instead try to be as grateful for the good things in my life as I can be.

This year, I had some good help with that effort in the form of Amy and a few of her roommates. My birthday happened to fall on a Monday, and afterwards Amy invited me over to there place where she made curry she had bought especially for me. Truth be told, I'm not a huge curry fan, but I was touched that she had put in some effort on my behalf. The curry was pretty good in the end, too! Afterwards, her roommate Julie had us do Tim Tam slams, which is basically sucking hot chocolate through a porous cookie, then eating it. It was fun to try for the first time, and Julie gave me a pack of Tim Tams as a gift, so I had them later with milk too. The whole thing was very low-key, which definitely suited me, but I also greatly appreciated the kindness and camaraderie Amy and the others offered me. Their efforts certainly made it a good day for me.

I said I was done with Trek, but I guess I was a little wrong on that. Sometime around my birthday, my friend Shantell from the ward decided that we should arrange an informal Trek reunion to go see the lights at Temple Square since that was about the halfway point between us and Layton. I thought it was a great idea, and with the hope of seeing Felicia again, I went along for the ride.

As it turned out, only a couple people from Layton or Saratoga ended up coming, but Bruce, who used to be in our ward but had moved up to Salt Lake shortly after Trek, came and brought his new roommate, so it was nice to see him again and meet someone new. Another old friend from the ward who has also moved to Salt Lake, Destinee, also came and brought her roommates. Things did not go smoothly, however, and everyone arrived much later thanks to traffic problems than expected. People were going in to a Jazz game right as we were getting in to the downtown area, so everything was quite a mess and parking was even worse. I rode up with Shantell and one of the guys who was in her family. They decided that we might as well park at Crown Burger, since they were hungry anyway. That way, we'd get a decent spot and they would be good with getting the needed validation. Getting food at Crown Burger took a good bit of extra time, however, as it was very crowded, so that added some more stress.

Though there were some organizational problems, eventually, we did manage to find the others, who had also been delayed to varying degrees. After our little assembled group walked around and enjoyed the lights and the square for awhile, Bruce invited us all back to see his new place and to have some hot chocolate there. We all had a good time touring his little house and getting out of the cold. It was an occasion where I felt glad to be associated with good things and good people. Those associations bring a straightforward, pure delight that edifies all.

Mom and Dad drove out west for most of December, as Dad was on sabbatical that semester. They came down from seeing Grandma in Idaho the week after my birthday, I believe. They arrived just in time for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. All of us in the family had applied for tickets, but not a single one of us won any in the lottery. We were all pretty disappointed about that, but fortunately, Mom's visiting teacher and my former boss, Becky, had managed to get six tickets she "wasn't planning to use." Truth be told, she was probably just doing something really nice for our family as I'm sure she could have used those tickets herself if she was inclined!

The day of the concert, we'd had plans to go up early and attend the Salt Lake Temple, but a monkey wrench seemed to be thrown in for me under sad conditions. My roommate, Natalie, had unexpectedly lost her father when he suffered a major heart attack. He lingered for a few days on the edge of life, but eventually succumbed. I was very worried about how this tragic event would effect Natalie, especially as she'd lost her mother to cancer about 5 years ago, but when I had a chance to talk to her, I was relieved to find that she was at peace in the situation. She and her siblings had a chance to say goodbye as he had a brief period of lucidity before he died, which Natalie saw as a tender mercy. I knew that it was still a difficult ordeal for Natalie and wanted to support her, so when I found out that her dad's funeral would be on the day of the concert, I knew I wanted to fit attending into my schedule.

The funeral was entirely packed. Natalie's father had made a big difference in the lives of a lot of people, as he was the sort who regularly went out of his way to do little and big things for others that he felt would bring them happiness. I was in the very back of the chapel where no one could have seen me, so I decided after staying an hour and a half and hearing the life sketch and Natalie's thoughts that I would slip out. I could tell the service would last at least another hour based on how far in the program we'd gotten, and I didn't think lingering the whole time would be to much effect for Natalie, though it would mean spending less time with my own family. As I left, though, my thoughts were very much on the joy that a life well lived can bring to so many. Natalie's father truly was a very good man who did much to lift others as he could. I'd had occasion to interact with him a number of times and always had a very positive impression of him which was borne out by the confirming witness of others. The world certainly is a little darker since his departure, but heaven must be rejoicing upon his reunion with his wife.

Fortunately, I'd left in time to still meet up with my family to go to Salt Lake. The original plan had been for me to just meet them up on the square when I was able to finally get up there. As it turned out, I was still able to ride up with them and we even had time to go to the temple as planned as well. While there, my mind was especially fixed upon the things of eternity, having just come from a funeral and having a rare chance to be with my own family in the temple. Seeing the hard trials of others has a way of making your own lot much more palatable, so needless to say, I treasured time with my family rather more that day.

After, the temple, it was time to get to the concert. It was really enjoyable, of course. I've always wanted to go to one of the Christmas concerts, but I guess us Larsens are just cursed with bad luck, because even though I've applied for tickets for many years, I've never won them. So this was the first opportunity any of us had had to go to a Tab Choir Christmas concert. They really know how to do those things right! Everything was exemplary, from the sets, to the effects, to the singing, of course. Lara Osnes was the featured guest, and she was great, but in the end I was at least as much a fan of the 4 special soloists they'd brought in for the section that was about the composition of The Messiah. All of us except Dad had quite good seats, so we were able to appreciate everything that much better. Afterwards, we ran into Rachelle near this Christmas tree pictured above in the foyer. That was pretty fortuitous, and everyone was happy to have a chance to chat with her for a bit. It was another great night on the square, for sure.

We did a few other things around Christmas, like going to Thanksgiving Point to see their drive-through lights display and the live reindeer they had on the plaza. Marinda and Paul revealed during the drive that Marinda is pregnant and will be due in August. That was exciting news, so I will have a new nephew before too long! Dad wanted to go to the temple as often as he could while they were here, so he and I went down to Payson and got baptisms, initiatories, and an endowment done that day. That was a very good thing, as I'm always waiting around for the male cards in my temple file to get done, since I can't take care of those myself. We also stopped by the Tree of Life in Draper since Mom was eager to see it.

By looking at the weather, I could tell that it was highly likely that we'd get at least a foot of snow on Christmas Eve. The original plan for Christmas was that Paul and Marinda would drive up to Gerrit and Elisabeth's in the morning and we'd all open presents together there. I suggested that it would probably be wisest for them to just stay at Gerrit and Elisabeth's for Christmas Eve to ensure they wouldn't get stranded in Provo or have problems on the road. Everyone agreed this was a good idea, so they brought their stuff up for the night. Grandma had come down on the shuttle to spend Christmas with us, so she was staying there too. All the people staying there certainly made for a crowded house that one night!

On Christmas Eve, we all participated in a kid-friendly version of the Christmas story using the crocheted nativity Elisabeth's mom made for them. After the kids went to sleep, the adults played a game of some kind, as I remember, although I'm pretty sure Dad didn't play. Since I don't live too far, I just planned to brave the weather in the morning, but even I had a few misgivings as Dad drove me home that night. The snow was already falling quite heavily, which made visibility terrible and the roads treacherous. Apparently, after he dropped me off, Dad got quite lost and went way down into Orem on State Street before he realized he'd missed his turn.

In the morning, I found my car quite literally buried in snow. After getting ready in my most festive Christmas gear, I undertook the challenge of getting myself back to PG. It took quite awhile to dig my car out and make enough of a path behind the wheels such that I could get moving. American Fork is pretty horrible when it comes to plowing the roads, so things were touch and go for a while. Fortunately, there weren't many cars out that morning, so my very slow driving and sliding around didn't cause many problems. Once I got into PG city limits, the roads got better. I decided that I'd stick with State Street rather than taking a more country-ish road I usually use as I figured State would get plowed better. I made my way without many problems until I got to Gerrit and Elisabeth's cul-de-sac, which hadn't been plowed at all and no one had driven on either. My car basically became a snow plow as I tried going through there. Eventually, I just kind of wrecked it in Gerrit and Elisabeth's driveway since properly parking didn't seem very feasible under the circumstances.

My car in the morning after a lot of clearing snow off. From the cap, though, I think it's clear we got over a foot. I'm guessing we got about 18 inches total in AF.

The snow made me a bit later than I'd planned, but I still arrived in time for us to get started with the Christmas festivities bright and early. We started with opening presents. That process took around an hour to an hour and a half. I've done Christmas at Gerrit and Elisabeth's for several years now, sometimes with others in the family and sometimes on my own. It's nice to be close enough to enjoy Christmas Day with the only kids in the family (currently, at any rate). Adults are all well and good, but it's much more fun to see how excited kids get about opening presents! It was fun having Grandma there as well, since she hasn't spent Christmas with our family in quite a while. One of the more interesting presents of the morning was that Mom and Dad gave her an Ancestry DNA kit. I gave one to both Mom and Dad last year, and they've enjoyed making some interesting discoveries through the data, so it will be fun to see what comes out of Grandma's sample too. Probably the most surprising piece of info was that Mom registers trace elements of Polynesian DNA, though none of the Native American that had been rumored in her family. Her brother, Ed, has agreed to take the test as well, so it will be interesting to see if he also manifests Polynesian traces.

After presents, we all had a very tasty breakfast together. We did traditional french toast in the style mom has always done, and Elisabeth also made a really tasty baked french toast that has a crispy cereal coating to it. That was a new take on a family favorite that was a big hit!

The middle part of the day is pretty fuzzy in my memory. The kids played with their new toys, we played a new game Gerrit and Elisabeth had gotten, and I think some people took a nap. Eventually, Paul and Marinda needed to go home, so Dad drove them back to Provo. Grandma went with them as her shuttle was scheduled to leave from Provo early the next morning. Fortunately, the roads had been reasonably cleared by that time, so they had no complications.

While Dad was gone, we put the kids to bed, Then, when he got back, those of us who were left watched the movie Once I was a Beehive, which Gerrit and Elisabeth had gotten for Mom and Dad. It was quite a bit better than I expected, though not up to the standard of some of the best LDS films like Saratov Approach, God's Army 2, etc. When that finished, it was time for me to leave too. We were leaving for a trip to California the next day, and I still had most of my packing to do that night. I'm guessing that relating that trip will probably be enough material for a post of its own, so I'm going to leave that account for next time.