DECEMBER~TURQOISE, TANZANITE

Another beautiful birthstone.  And a choice.  December is represented by the clear, blue tanzanite or the rich, varied turquoise.  How lucky for December babies.

And how lucky we are to have these clear, rich and varied members of our family, who celebrate their birthdays in December...well, maybe not rich...except in spirit, personality, talent, and love.

Alex turned 3 on the 8th

DeWitt's birthday was the 10th.

Rachel's birthday was the 17th.

Thomas turned 12 and was ordained a Deacon on the 19th.

He got to pass the Sacrament for the first time on Christmas Eve.

Hyrum turned 10 on the 30th.

OUR DECEMBER
December began, as  usual, with the wonderful First Presidency Devotional.  It was so inspiring.  We got to watch it at Rachel's house with her family.

This is a picture Mary sent me that was taken by a friend of hers.  It shows a missile flaming across the sky behind the temple.  I saw an Instagram post from Matthew Hiatt where he captured the same thing in Snowflake, just over his ranch.  We have been really busy at the Temple this month.  Lots of endowments, weddings, baptisms, everything needing to be done before the end of the year and to celebrate Christmas with peoples' kids coming home and going to the Temple.  It's been great.  President Herrington has been sick for part of the month, though, so Dad and I have had extra days, but they've been so fulfilling and we are thankful that we have been blessed with good health so we could fill in where we are needed.  It's also been good because we've had the opportunity to be in the Temple with many of our own kids and grandkids this month.  What a joy that has been.

My Christmas cactus bloomed right on schedule this year.  It was given to me by Una Mae Larson many years ago and has never let me down.

I love that December is our autumn at Christmas time.  See the Nativity through the fall leaves.

Rachel invited us to eat with them on the first Sunday in December, then stay and watch the Christmas Devotional.  The food was so delicious and the whole evening got us started perfectly for the Christmas season.

Even though it is winter, Dad's garden has kept flourishing.  He shared some of the fruits of it (turnips) with his kids, including Polly.

On the 5th, I slipped away from the Temple...where I'm sure they got along just fine without me...and went to Thomas' band and orchestra concert.  He plays the viola in the orchestra and the trumpet in the band.  I was surprised.  I didn't know he played in both.

The next morning I was off, so I was able to go to Carson's school Christmas program.

On the 8th, Alex turned 3, leaving the terrible twos behind forever.  But since Mary says he's even more demanding and difficult...not to mention darling...I searched until I found a word that fits and starts with a "th".  He's now in the thrawart (a Scottish word that means stubborn) threes.

Some of our Ward families came caroling, including Thomas and Jenn's family.  We were invited but I reminded them that someone needed to stay home so that they would have people to carol to 😀

One afternoon, I came home from the temple to find kids at my house.  Dad had to stay for a presidency meeting, so I came alone.  I found that we had been "heart attacked!"  It was so much fun to take down the hearts, after a few days, and read all the sweet things our children and grandchildren had said about us on each of the hearts.  This was all part of the "Light the world" campaign.  

As the Christmas season approached, the Biggs family put up lights to "light the world," but they also gave loving service wherever they could to those around them, including their parents and grandparents. I know that you have all been participating in this church-wide event, and I thought of asking for your stories, but decided that you would feel uncomfortable bragging about your good works.  The thing is, I know that each of you does your part to light the world all year long, not just at Christmas time and I want to tell you how humbly appreciative (aka proud) of you Dad and I are for your loving, generous hearts.  I firmly believe that ultimately we will not be judged for how well we fulfilled our callings or how much tithing we paid, but for how we treated each other.  Thank you for all you do.
~THE BIGGS FAMILY "LIGHTS THE WORLD"

Our house with the "super moon" in the sky.

Nathan and Shauna's house in Nebraska

Joel and Stephanie's house in Gilbert

Four trees on Daniel and Connie's mountainside in Colorado. In the dark, they look as if they're floating.

Rebecca and Scott's house in Safford

Jeremy and Erika's house in Mesa

Rachel and Tony's house in Safford...no lights outside, but plenty inside.

Esther and Shad's house in Gilbert

Thomas and Jenn's house in Safford

Mary and Tyson's house in Thatcher

On the 14th, I went to Kirtlyn's voice recital.  She sang two beautiful Christmas songs and did a great job.  I was very proud of her.

For Christmas, Dad and I got each other a gas fire insert.   It is so beautiful and very satisfying.  I can sit and warm my feet on the hearth while I'm reading.  It is so easy to turn on and Dad doesn't have to go out and chop wood to bring in so we can have a fire whenever we want.

We got a phone call from Daynen and Jori Cox that week, announcing their engagement.  This is the text we received.  They are getting married on February 16, in the Gilbert Temple, where, by the way, Daynen is an ordinance worker.  

On the 16th, we went to Mesa to go to the Hiatt Christmas party.  It was held at Grandma's house, which is now Sara and Charlie Naegle's house.  It seemed the same, and we felt right at home.  Joel and his family came, Esther and her boys also came and Daynen and his sweetheart, Jori, came too.  And Rachel even came from Safford.  We all enjoyed seeing the aunts, uncles and cousins that we don't get to see very often.

The girl with Ben is somebody Flake.  She is the sister of David Flake a friend of mine from High school.  I think she would like to get more serious.  We'll see if Ben makes his move.

Amy's new baby, Ridge Darien

The next day, we went to church with Esther's family because Harrison was playing a special number  on the piano, with a friend of his on the cello.  They played O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  It was so beautiful and worth going at 8:00 a.m.! We went to their house for lunch after church and she made Orzanagachel, one of our favorites.

Between Esther's church and dinner, we went to see Jeremy.  He had bound my 2016 blog book for me and we wanted to take him some fudge and just see him.  Everyone else was asleep but we got to give him a hug and have a nice visit.  Before we left, Daynen came out, on his way to the singles ward, so we got to hug him too.

The next day,  we had our annual Polar Express party.  We were considering not having it this year because we thought everyone was tired of it and wouldn't even notice if we didn't have it.  But Camille actually called Dad and asked him to please have it.  He couldn't resist.

The next day was Thomas Wyatt's 12th birthday.  It was a very special occasion.  They invited us to an early dinner, then the Bishop came over and he and Thomas and Dad ordained Thomas to the Aaronic Priesthood.   Afterward, we all went to the temple where he was able to do baptisms for the dead on his very birthday.  What a great day it was, for him and his family, and for us.  We were not working that day, so were able to do everything with him.  Thomas baptized Thomas and Kirtlyn and Dad did the confirmations.

The next day was Brianna's choir concert at which she got to sing a little solo.  She was the best one, of course.  Since it was on an opening day, Dad got to go.

~CHRISTMAS EVE~

We all got together for our pork chop dinner/breakfast.  Everyone brought food and happy smiles.

We did our traditional Nativity pageant, with Dad reading the story and grandchildren playing the parts. This is always my favorite part of our Christmas Eve tradition.

We told Deanna that our rule was that Mary was always played by the oldest granddaughter who had never been Mary.  This year it was her!  She was a little worried until DeWitt agreed to be Joseph.  He originally wanted to be the donkey.

Then everyone played around a little while we were waiting for Santa to show up.

The Alder kids with Santa

The Richins kids with Santa

The Biggs kids with Santa

The Evans kids with Santa

Christmas Eve has traditionally been the time when kids get to open their Christmas pajama presents.

~PAJAMA PARTIES~

Allison and Taylor were in Germany visiting his sister for Christmas

Devynne and Brock were in WA visiting his family for Christmas

Bethany and Palmer went to NE for Christmas, but I think this picture was taken at their Glendale home.

Lillian and Kelin in their pjs with his family in  Cedar City

~CHRISTMAS DAY~

After a lazy morning, we went around and saw what Santa had brought to everyone.  We went to Thomas and Jenn's first, then to Rebecca's, then Parker met us at Mary's and then went with us to Rachel's.  I just have to say that everyone must have been very good this year, because they were all obviously on Santa's "nice" list.

That afternoon, we had a turkey and "fixins" for anyone who would like to join us.

Tony and Luke playing our new Arizona toss game, waiting for dinner to be ready.

Mary gave me a family birthday calendar with everyone's family picture on it.  (She was disgusted with my makeshift calendar this year.)  This was the cover.  Such beautiful people I have never seen anywhere else.  This includes the 24 people who were not in the original photo taken at  Thanksgiving.

On the 27th, after we had gone back to work, Rylie had an accident!  It was absolutely not her fault, but she is the one who got the ticket.  Thankfully, she was not hurt badly, but they took her to the hospital just to be sure.

During the Christmas break from school, Kirtlyn and Thomas and Brianna came again to the Temple to do baptisms.  That shift was somewhat shorthanded that day, so I volunteered to take care of the baptistry.  It was so sweet to watch them.

Daniel and Porter also came to Safford that day, so after the Temple, they met us and followed us out to Rachel's house to see Rylie.  She looked pretty good except for a knot on her head.

Daniel and Porter came to visit Parker who had not been able to go home for Christmas.  He also didn't receive his Christmas package from home, and we all thought it had been stolen from our porch while we were at the temple.  It actually came the next day, but Daniel and Porter came anyway, to give him their love and support.

That same day, our new outdoor furniture came, and Mary and Thomas and Jenn helped set it up for us.  Dad had admired the same set at Joel's house and he, being Joel, sent us one just like it.  It's really comfortable and stylish and we love it. Thanks, Joel!

The kids loved playing in the furniture boxes.

That evening, Daniel cooked bacon from his very own pig that he brought with him.  It was so good! Much meatier and tastier than store bacon.  We had BLTs and/or bacon and eggs, which Jenn made.  It was a delicious supper.

Before they left, we had lunch at El Charro.  We met them after the temple at 2:30, so the restaurant wasn't having a lunch rush and Thomas could sit down with us.  We told him to ask Jenn to come too.

We celebrated Hyrum's 10th birthday with a weenie roast in their back yard.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE FAMILY

~NATHAN AND SHAUNA~

The whole Nebraska family came to Arizona to visit Bethany and Palmer (really, Jovie) for Thanksgiving.  They enjoyed the Arizona weather and the Mesa Temple.

The whole Nathan and Shauna Biggs family

While he is going to school at the University of Utah, Josh has found some Utah buildings worth photographing and saving.

But his first love will always be Omaha buildings.  He spent his Christmas vacation in Nebraska so he got some Omaha shots.

Bethany and Palmer enjoyed having a baby during Christmas.  It makes the holidays so much fun, doesn't it?  They also loved going to Nebraska for Christmas and seeing their families...even though it was cold.  Jovie was all set for the cold, though, with her new fluffy hat.

Jovie is everyone's favorite.

She loved Christmas...especially wrapping paper and Christmas trees.

Christmas morning...a few days early.  It was Nathan and Shauna's "off" year, so they had their party early.

 The Bethany and Palmer Jeppesen family

~JOEL AND STEPHANIE~

Joel and Jeremy and Levi went to Hawaii for the DDay memorial parade on the 6th of December.  He had this huge model of the USS Arizona made, and then rented the giant eagle.

Stetson and Lindsay came to the Hiatt party.  It was so great having the Joel and Stephanie family come to the party.  Lindsay looks great.  She is over the sick stage so she is feeling well and looks beautiful.  Stetson is enjoying law school at ASU.

After the party, we went by to see their house.  It is so cute.  It is in Cooley Station in Gilbert.  Perfect little starter house or even retirement home.  We were looking at some to maybe trade the condo for so we could have 3 bedrooms.  I don't know...a possibility maybe.

The Joel and Stephanie Biggs family

Christmas morning

~DANIEL AND CONNIE~

Shadrach went back to visit his mission in Fresno and was able to connect with his mission president and some of his families.  He also saw one of the ward families that he had worked with, one of whom had a daughter at BYU Idaho, who was home for a visit.  Her name is Hannah.  They met and...well, we will see.  She's really cute, as you can see in the pictures below when he made an after-Christmas visit.  But Daniel says she's at BYU Idaho and he's at BYU Provo, so there are hundreds of miles and hundreds of cute girls in between.  He's applying to teach Hmong at the MTC next year.

The Daniel and Connie Biggs family (Actually at Thanksgiving)

Daniel was cleaning up some thorny, trashy Russian Olive trees on his property and one of the thorns pierced his hand clear to his knuckle.  He pulled the whole thorn out, but it got infected anyway.  He had to go to the hospital and have it surgically drained and cleaned out.  When he was here after Christmas, it was still very painful and still a little swollen. And, yes, he's current on his tetanus shot.

Shannyn with her friend and with her new glasses.

Devynne and a friend in St. Louis, getting pedicures.

I'm putting this on Connie's section because she made this darling Nativity.  I get asked every year to please put it in the Nativity festival.  Rebecca put it on for me.  Everyone comments on it, even weeks later.

Daniel and Connie and their kids are really enjoying Christmas with little Aila around to enjoy it with and for.  I would be willing to pay $19.99 for that little doll!

She loves to dance to musical movies like White Christmas.

Her first day at nursery

The Porter and Alta Biggs family 

They awoke to a White Christmas, themselves.  And their stream was frozen so solid that they could drive their gater across it.

Parker on Christmas morning.  Rachel and Tony gave him a very nice sweater for Christmas.  He was surprised, which is good because he didn't get his Christmas package from home until the 27th.  He thought he wasn't going to get any Christmas presents.  Our ornament with money was even in the package from home, as was his card from his Nevin grandparents.  He did get that cool hat from Shadrach, though.

Devynne and Brock spent Christmas in WA with Brock's family.  They even had a white Christmas too.  I thought it just rained in WA.  She said it was the first white Christmas in over 20 years. Theo is walking and loving Christmas.  How fun to have a baby to enjoy Christmas with. 

The Devynne and Brock Bennion family

Shadrach and Hannah at Yosemite.

A slab of home grown bacon.

Alonzo's special ed teacher is teaching him to play the piano. Below, he line up his animals to fly with  Santa's reindeer 😊

Christmas morning

~REBECCA AND SCOTT~
Enjoying the First Presidency devotional

They were in charge of the ward party, so they are preparing Santa bags for all the kids.  Josh Nolan is helping.

Rebecca took some of my Nativities to the creche festival.  I made one like the top set for myself, too, but have not been able to find it for a couple of years.  Does anyone know where it is?

The Allison and Taylor Atkinson family

Handsome Harvey doesn't need toys when he has toilet paper and puppies to play with! Well, maybe a laser gun.

Parley is just so darn cute! He looks just like Sara's uncle.  They are going to Italy for a couple of months!!  They are so excited. Dallin will be working from there and going to other places, like Greece.  In fact he is in Greece now.  

The Dallin and Sara Evans family

DeWitt had a birthday this month and he and Deanna found time to do some fun things between work and school.  

Lillian and Kelin.  They got to serve as ushers for the Cedar City open house.

And Lillian, our little desert blossom, is being introduced to winter sports.

Polly making Rebecca's toffee.  She is learning from the best.

She bought herself a car! An Altima.

A Christmas bed for Polly

Christmas Eve Sunday.  DeWitt and Deanna came to Safford for Christmas.  Polly was so glad to have sibling company.  

Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Christmas morning

Christmas in Cedar City

Christmas in Germany.  Allison and Taylor went to visit his sister in Germany...at Christmas!  Germany is where we get many of our Christmas traditions.

In the meantime, DeWitt and Deanna came to Safford for Christmas.  Safford is where we get some other  Christmas traditions 😉

Tombstone

~JEREMY AND ERIKA~

In Hawaii at the DDay parade

While he was gone, the rest of the family went to Universal Studios in California.  He met them there after the Hawaiian festivities.

The Jeremy and Erika Biggs kids

It's official!  They are really and truly engaged...in spite of sharing a great aunt.  They worried about it for about 3 seconds, but soon realized that Carolyn is Daynen's aunt only by marriage.  She is Jori's grandpa, Bruce Cox's sister.

An ugly sweater party, I think...?

This is a screen shot from a video of Hayden's choir concert that Erika posted.  It was so cute!  They did a rhythmic hand jive kind of thing.

Christmas morning

~RACHEL AND TONY~

Once in a while, when Rachel is working, and if we're home, the twins come to our house after school.  It's fun to help them with their homework because it makes us feel smart to do 6th grade work 😏

Sister Herrington asked Rachel to do a bulletin board for the break room at the temple.  She made it look so elegant and festive at the same time.  We had lots of compliments about it.  I was very proud to brag about her.

The twins got into the Christmas cookie mood.  They were so delicious.  They even brought some to us.  The snowflake cookies are some that Rachel made, I think.  She took them to someone with dinner.

Rachel made all her family Christmas beds!  So festive and pretty.

At the town light parade.  Rachel took pictures of Tyson's Edward Jones "Grinch" float that his kids were on.

Rylie created an amazing gingerbread carousel.  Tragically, though, it broke when it was being moved so we never got to see the finished masterpiece.  I saw it unassembled, though, and there were actually cute little horses to go on it.

The grandparents for dinner and the devotional.

At the Hiatt Christmas party

A Christmas FHE with homemade pizza and storybooks

We spoke in our ward on Christmas Eve, and Rachel's family came to hear us.  Of course, Thomas and Jenn were there too, so it made it special to us that we were speaking to our children and grandchildren.

The Rachel and Tony Alder kids

At the Christmas Eve party

Christmas Eve at their house

Christmas morning-Brynlie was sick in bed.  She had a terrible headache and didn't even know we were there.

A wounded princess.  Isabel took good care of her.

~ESTHER AND SHAD~

Family pictures

The Esther and Shad Brown family

Marlie is the hair stylist among her friends.  She wasn't old enough to go to the Christmas dance, but her friends were, so she did their hair for them.

At her Christmas concert, she was chosen to play bells. 

Bridger's choir concert.

Their Elf on the Shelf

At the Hiatt Christmas Party

Dinner after Harrison's performance at church.

Marlie will be old enough for the girl-ask-boy Spring dance, so she got a jump on it and already invited her friend to go.  He answered her already too.  Kinda creepy, but fun.

At Brody's school, making a gingerbread house.

Homemade pizza FHE

Christmas Eve Pjs.  They even went to see Christmas lights in their pajamas

Christmas morning

Shad got to perform a wedding on the 30th for a lovely family...that man is 7feet tall!!

~THOMAS AND JENN~

When we went to Thomas' orchestra and band concert, there was quite a waiting time, so we just sat around the foyer and played with our devices.

A Biggs family FHE heart attack

Thomas has been playing little league basketball and doing really well.  I guess walking on his toes all these years has strengthened his calf muscles.

They came caroling with the neighborhood

Kirtlyn's voice recital

They came over to help us initiate our new fireplace.

Thomas' 12th birthday

At the Temple that night

The Thomas and Jenn Biggs family

Christmas Eve at our house

A girl stack

Christmas morning

This is Jenn's post for Hyrum's birthday.  He is such a reader.  He is reading the 2nd book in the Wonder series.

The birthday cake was a fried ice cream cake that his dad made.  Yummy!

~MARY AND TYSON~

At the creche festival.  This picture was featured in the foyer.

Getting ready for their Edward Jones "Grinch" float in the Light parade

Happy Birthday Alex.  Enjoy your "thrawart threes!"

At their ward party

The Mary and Tyson Richins family

At Brianna and Lindsay's piano recital.  Telisha Smith is their teacher.

Brianna's 7th & 8th grade choir concert.  She sings in the 7th grade quartet

They took a friend and her family up to the cabin with them the week before Christmas

Hanging out at Grandma's house

Christmas Eve party

Christmas morning

Putting our lawn furniture together

Yumm!  A carrot from Grandpa's garden.

SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT
Hilarious similes (actually, one simile and one metaphor) I heard this month: 

Mary..."Cleaning your house with little kids is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos!" 

Marlie..."Glitter is the herpes of arts and crafts." 

Zoom in on this picture...you'll laugh 😜

Group hug!

~LAST WORDS~

What an incredible year this has been!  From the very first of January to the last of December, we have worked, helped, and loved our way through the year.  We added 3 new family members, Jovie on the 2nd of January, then Seth and Kelin who married Hannah and Lillian.  We traveled, we served, we found ways to stay connected.  I hope this blog, as well as being my journal, has been a way for us to stay connected as a family...keeping you up on what the others are doing.  Thank you for being willing to share your pictures with all of us.  We are so blessed to have each other.  You are each a precious gift from God to each other, as well as to Dad and me, and we should never waste or under value a gift from God.

Next year, 2018, will be even better, I'm sure.  Although I never make New Year's resolutions, I do make resolutions on a monthly, weekly, daily...even hourly...basis, trying to do better and be better all the time.  I'm afraid I'm not very successful most of the time, but I'm not going to give up and quit making resolutions.  I'm going to keep trying and maybe, eventually, I'll improve, little by little.  Baby steps.  Dad and I, both, definitely want to get better at Family History research, be healthy and happy, and stay close to all of you, and help you keep in touch with each other.  Please take pictures of the things you do and send them to me.  May the Lord bless you and your families next year.  Remember how beloved you are by Him and by all of the rest of us.  Nothing can ever be so bad that it can't be better, knowing that you are loved.