Christmas Past

I find myself dwelling on the past this year.  Less time with fewer loved ones makes me melancholy and reflective.

Mom always went out of her way to make Christmas a magical time of year.  Lots of decorating and lots of baking.  We three girls always enjoyed backing and decorating cookies together.  I know my parents did not have much money (farmers don't have that much) but we always got presents that brought smiles to our faces and we felt like we got exactly what we wanted.

I remember this Christmas picture because there was a box under the tree with all our names on it and we couldn't imagine what it would be.  When we opened it, it was a phone for upstairs.  Back then we only had one phone and it was downstairs.  At least having one upstairs gave us some privacy.

One of my favorite presents was a guitar.  I knew that was alot of money for my parents to spend and it made me feel special.

One year my sister and I got a Fun Flower Factory.  It had this liquid "Goop" that you would squeeze into these metal molds.  The molds would bake the Goop into a rubbery flower.  Then we would put them on a stem with leaves.  We thought these were awesome.  Our brothers got one that made bugs.  Needless to say we were constantly being tormented with bugs showing up in our beds.

I always remember putting up the chimney.  It was made of cardboard and had a lightbulb and fan behind the fire logs that made it look like it was a flickering fire.  Mom had little candles she placed on the mantle.  We couldn't actually hang our stockings from the mantle because they were too heavy so she made tiny felt ones to put on the mantle.

On Christmas morning Mom and Dad would make us sit on the stairs and wait until they checked things out to make sure everything was ready.  Our stockings were filled with an orange, chocolate stars and other little things.

I remember going caroling with the youth from our church in Foosland.  Our high school also had a Christmas program that was lots of fun and we would perform for local community groups.

We always traveled to Farmer City where both sets of grandparents lived.  They were so different in lifestyles.  My Meredith grandparents had money and meals were big and presents were really nice.  My Burge grandparents were less affluent and after living through the depression they never were extravagant in their spending.  Grandma Meredith made some amazing desserts for holidays and Grandma Burge was a star at making homemade noodles and rolls.  We always got the same present every year, a head scarf.  Even with the huge difference, we enjoyed the time we spent with them all.

Autumn 2013

My autumn season was very busy. 

It started with the Avon High School Musical.  I always help with costuming and this was not one of my favorites as far as music goes, but I enjoyed watching the kids get into it and the costumes sure help them get more into their characters.

 

 

 

We had a great opportunity to pose for Jacob Dobson, a local artist, who has been commissioned to create some art work for the temple being built in Indianapolis.

 

 

I got to spend part of my fall break shopping with friends at the Covered Bridge Festival (which I had never been to before) and at Nashville, IN in Brown County. 

Check out the upside down Christmas tree.

 

 

 

There was so much beauty around this fall.  Even the trees at home were showing off their colors.

 

We hosted a Halloween Party for our church.  So we  decided to take our "meadow" and make it spooky for the kids.  Rachel and Jacob helped me make some scarecrows.

And it wouldn't be autumn without splitting some fire wood to get ready for winter.

Our trip to NYC began slowly. I mean that traffic came to a standstill when we hit the Holland Tunnel. And this wasn't even in rush hour. Thank goodness for GPS to help us find our hotel. This was how our trip started out. Very rainy. We had to buy umbrellas from a street vendor. We walked around Chinatown that first night and met Jin Xiu and Zhung for dinner.

Every time we saw these tour busses go by, we were very grateful we didn't buy those tickets. They got a free poncho though.

We took this picture while waiting for a metro bus. The first bus wouldn't let us on without exact change. So we go to the bank and get change and get back in line. A little old chinese lady starts talking to Bruce in chinese and she and her daughter give us their transfers and we get on the bus free. We took the bus down to the ferry to the State of Liberty.

We are standing in front of the original torch, which was retired after much wear and tear.

I am standing in front of a cast of the Lady's face.

Bruce is standing by the cast of one of her feet.

There is something about her that just makes you want to take pictures.

She is so majestic and amazing to see from across the bay.

And I didn't get sick, considering the waters were pretty rough that day.

Amazing to hear all the different dialects being spoken on the ferry.

The ferry next took us to Ellis Island. Bruce headed off to the genealogy library and I wandered through the building. This made me appreciate my ancestors' struggles to come to America even more. The hardships they must have gone through.

So thankful for the personal affects they had on display and the personal stories we could read about these brave people.

These are the original benches in the hall that the immigrants would have sat and slept on. They had different rooms set up with displays. One room showed many peoples passports.

Can you find our hotel in this picture? It is smaller than I expected from the picture on the internet. It is Hotel 91, because it's address is 91 Broadway. We were very fortunate though, because we were only 3 blocks from where the wedding was to take place. I was a little nervous when we pulled up in front of this hotel. We got lucky and got one of the rooms with a window.

I felt like we had left America because there was no English spoken around us for 3 days. Totally immersed in the Chinese culture. You could smell it the minute you stepped out of the hotel.

This was a little restaurant right across the street from our hotel and we discovered they had the best dumplings ever!

When we sat down, they brought us the "American" menu. They give the Chinese a different menu.

We also caught up with A Ming, who we knew from a restaurant here in the Indy area. She works in a restaurant in New York and her husband works in a restaurant in New Jersey. She helped us find a store to buy Bruce a translator to take on his trip to China in October. She decided to take us to her favorite restaurant, which it turns out was the exact same restaurant we had just been to an hour before with Jin Xiu and Zhung. Authentic Chinese Food. Let's just say, I didn't eat too much.

I had to take a picture of this. So cool!

Chinatown Wedding

We continued our trip to NYC to attend the wedding of Jin Xiu and Zhung. We had met Jin Xiu while we were living in Arkansas. She worked at a Chinese restaurant near Bruce's office and he struck up a friendship with her from the first time they met. We would take her shopping and tried to teach her English. When she invited us to her wedding, she told us we would be like her American Mother and Father, since her family would not be at the wedding. It was a great honor to be there for her.

The ceremony was held in a restaurant/banquet hall. Decorated in red and gold. The bride and grooms' names are in the diamonds on the wall. This ceremony was done almost totally backwards from the way we Americans have it. The pictures were taken after the bride and groom came in, but before the ceremony officially started. Pictures were taken with every single person in attendance. The minister/host/emcee even pointed out that it was not normal for "foreigners' (which was us) to be present at these weddings. We got to sit in the chairs to have our picture taken with the bride and groom because we were the elders.

All of the tables were set so beautifully. Every single person got their own, personal bottle of wine. There were large bottles of soda placed on every table, but no ice. After the pictures were taken, the manager of the restaurant covered every table with another red table cloth. Bruce and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why they did this.
Once they brought out the poppers, we understood why. These things are as big as roll of wrapping paper. After pictures were done the bride and groom left the room to make a big entrance. As the bride and groom come in they are pelted with these cannons that shoot confetti and streamers at them. They were also very loud. So, no rice at the end, they do it at the beginning.

The bride and grooms first dance together. After this dance the bride and groom went and changed clothes. Then the kitchen brought out lots of food.

This is the traditional dress. Members of the families would come up on stage and sit in the two chairs and present the bride and groom with gold jewelry (around their necks) which represents good fortune. Bride and groom would bow to the family members. At this time the families would also present the bride and groom with an envelope with money in it. Money was the only gifts given.

More food again, and the bride changed clothes again. The whole ceremony was in Chinese so luckily I had Bruce to fill me in some on what was happening. The minister/host/emcee talked through the whole thing too. He never stopped talking. And the guests never stopped eating. We ate through the whole ceremony.

It was a very exciting and unique experience for us. Jin Xiu was so excited to have us there and we had a wonderful time.

Palmyra, NY

In September we were traveling to NYC to attend a wedding and decided to take a slight detour on the way so we could visit some of the church's historical sites. We got to see the restored cabin where Joseph Smith lived when he was growing up. This is where the Angel Moroni appeared to him to give him instruction from the Lord. We also saw the larger house where the family lived also. Behind the cabin is the Sacred Grove where Joseph went to pray to the Lord for direction on which church to join and was directed to join none of them at this time. Later he would be directed to organize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Smith Family Farm/Grove

The Erie Canal

We were driving around the city and went down a side road and discovered the Erie Canal. This was the main reason this city was in existence at the time of Joseph Smith. So much commerce and people traveling west went through this town.

The Palmyra Temple

We got to Hill Cumorah very early before anyone else was there. Beautiful, autumn weather and leaves changing color made it a memorable time with a breathtaking view from the top.

HILL CUMORAH

We also got the chance to see some of our great friends who used to live in Avon with us. Elaine, Karen and Russell Henderson. They chose to leave the twins with grandma and grandpa. It was great to catch up with them and see them.