HEILIGER ABEND

Dear Family,

Christmas Eve was another family celebration. We have done the nativity with a reading from the Bible since th kids were little. Now they have their own childrn and we hae more players. Emily, John and their family including Johnny who just came back from his mission to Greece, Mike, Rayanne and kids, and Becca and Paul and their kids all came for our Christmas Eve celebration. We had a nice roast and everyone bought side dishes and desserts.

It was great and there was much joy. We did our nativity scene. Since we cannot celebrate in Germany, we brought a little of Bavaria to Sherwood Drive with Opa and Oma in Trachten clothes. We had great players this year with wonderful costumes. Emily and Becca directed, Caroline did a video and I read from the Bible. Emily edited the video.

We sang Xmas Carols, did a Book of Mormon simulation with Samuel the Lamanite on the wall. The kids love peppering him with paper rocks and stones. Johnny told the story.

At the end, Emily directed the kids in a Bells chorus and they did pretty well. It was so great to get together and talk about the birth of the Savior and His meaning in our lives. I like the third stanza of the carol we sang, Away in the Manger;

"Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay

Close by me forever and love me, I pray

Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,

And fit us for heaven to live with thee there."

On Christmas Day, Mom and I opened gifts. This was the first time in many years that no one else besides us was there . We drove down to Mapleton and made the round at Emily's. Mike and had dinner at Becca's with Paul's family there. It was so much fun.

OTHER NEWS:

Kaley gave birth to another boy on Christmas Day. (Another Stammhalter). They are of course down in Florida. She had midwives come in and she had a natural childbirth and all was well. i was concerned about this plan as the midwives were 45 minutes away and suggested to John that he Google the subject "Delivering Babies for Dummies" just in case the midwives did not show up. Kaley's Mom and sister were there; John was in some other kind of state. The little boy weighted nine pounds and is a chunk. All are doing well. This is Grandchild #69.

Becca announced another Christmas surprise; she is expecting as well sometime in the late summer.

Our Christmas was so full. We are so richly blessed and we are grateful for the kindness of Heaven.

As they say in Germany this time of the year: Alles Gute und einen guten Rutsch ins Neujahr wuenschen euch allen Opa u. Oma

JOHNNY COMES HOME FOR XMAS

Dear Family,

Johnny came home from his mission to Greece, Athens Mission where he served for two years. The greeting at the airport was great. Check out Emily's blog with her video.

Here is a picture of Emily and Elder Hickey (not released yet!) at the airport. Mom wants me to point out that the lady is not his girlfriend but his Mom.. Emily who looks like she is 18.

It was an emotional moment. Johnny served well in Greece and served as a AP at the end. I can't believe that the two years have sped by so fast.

He was surprised at how much all his brothers and sisters grew. We are very proud of him. He was the first grandson to earn his Eagle and the first grandchild to fill a mission. More coming!

Alles Gute und eine Froehlich Weihnachten und guten Rutsch ins Neujahr wuenschen wir euch. We will get out a card after Xmas

Alles Liebe, Opa und Oma

TRIP TO VIRGINIA

Dear Family,

Last week, we traveled back to Warren County Virginia to visit our friends Larry and Madeline M. in their home and farm. I love it back there and love visiting with them. We have so much in common and just chat away constantly. He was Mission President in Frankfurt, Germany when we were in Munich.

We talked at length during our missions as well and one time we discussed the athletes in our mission. I don't know who said it first but somehow the comment was made that "Our missionaries could beat yours at basketball".

So we had a little secret game in our mission on our Preparation day. We had to return about four cars to the European Area Office in Frankfurt . I asked the fleet director how we could get these extra cars up there and he suggested that someone might come down from the Frankfurt Mission and drive the vehicles back to Frankfurt. "Well,I 'll chat with President Manwaring and maybe we can work something out" was my reply.

This was a great chance and we decided to meet in Wurzberg, Germany, which was close to his mission (he always wanted that city). It turns out that there is a big US Army base there and I called the Chaplain who was one of our good members in the ward there to see if the gym was available. He secured the gym and The Frankfurters came down with a van load of missionaries who would drive the extra cars back. He brought a ringer; one of his missionaries was a college player in Southern Utah. We put a team together of missionaries to drive the extra cars up there, some of whom promised they could actually play basketball.

Somehow shirts were made. The sisters in Wurzburg were recruited as coach and referee. John was there coming through after his mission in Taiwan and he was recruited as team manager. Even my German AP played and he made a basket.

Well I will not say much about this legal preparation day game in our mission but we almost won. I did not know about a three point shooter I had in the mission; if he had played, we could have almost won better. A great time was had by all and I treated the entire group to American Pizza at the base commissary. Tasted so good for a change.

So Larry never lets me forget about this game we almost won. The other thing he stresses in Virginia is all the battlefields we drove around where the Union troops lost. "Didn't the North win any battles around here?" I asked, "Not that they taught us in school" was the reply.

Well anyway we had a great time. Larry also likes upland bird hunting and is a great shot. We used his dogs which are highly trained Brittany Spaniels and it was fun to watch them work as a group. I have done a lot of bird hunting and these were the best dogs ever!

Larry is also a good cook and we ate pheasant for two days and it was the best ever!

We tried deer hunting as well. He set up a blind in his backyard where deer were spotted each day. They did not come out while we were there; it was very cold but when we returned at night, deer were almost jumping over our car, the cheeky little devils. And we get home in Salt Lake to find three deer walking down our street as we pulled in the driveway at night.

Well we are home and preparing for Xmas. Smaller group for Xmas Eve this time as many families travel to other parts. We will make the rounds on Xmas Day.

Alles Gute und Schoene Weihnachten wuenschen wir allen.

Love Opa and Oma

OUR NEW YORK HOME

Dear Family,

Mary and Mark went back to Flushing, New York, to visit Mark's parents who are on a senior mission there. She happened to call one day and mention where she was.

"Flushing? That is where I grew up! Go to 159-01 33rd Avenue and on the corner you will see the home where we all grew up.

They went to a missionary meeting with Mark's parents and then drove up Northern Boulevard to 159th street and up to 33rd avenue and there was our house. Descendants of the people we sold the house to still live there. There were many Doctor's homes on this street.

The man who built this house in the 20's was the owner of a business called, "Adam's Hats". Everyone wore hats in those days. We had to wear them as missionarys even in Europe. This hat company had stores everywhere and it was a popular hat.

One day we had a carpenter over to fix the ceiling in the family room downstairs. As he was pounding away on the ceiling, taking it down to put up a new one, a shower of gold coins came down out of the ceiling. The carpenter almost fainted.. I was watching. We gathered them all up.

When Roosevelt went off the gold standard and he called in all the private gold, old Mr. Adams saved a bit and stashed it in the ceiling. My Dad became a "Coin Collector" and it was legal to keep them.

My Dad had a medical office in the home; a waiting room, consultation office and an exam room and saw patients in the evening when he was done with surgery in New York City and when he was finished in his New York office. Our living room was upstairs. There were buttons all over the place where Mr. Adams would ring the servants.

We all attended public school, PS 132 and had to walk 13 blocks, rain, shine, sleet or snow as Mom did not drive and Dad was always tied up with his medical and surgical practice. Dad was also the first Patriarch of the newly formed New York Stake.

Well Mary took this photo and it brought back a lot of memories and I was tickled that the memories are all still up there.

We love you all,

Dad and Mom

NUTCRACKER BALLET

Christmas is on its way and one sure sign is the Nutcracker Ballet. Since some of our grandkids perform each year we go and enjoy this each year.

Before going, we stop at Sigfried's for a pre perfomrance dinner. Here is a picture of Christina, Catherine, Becky, Becca and Abigail who joined Paul, Cheryl, Loren and Emilie Eva, Opa and Oma for the traditional pre ballet meal.

We had Schnitzel, Bratwurst, great Sauerkraut, Ghurkensalat,Spaetzeli and the kids had Kartofelsalat. After a week of straight turkey, it tasted really good. Cathy and Pete went down there tonight and had the same. Cathy bought $30.00 worth of German chocolate and Kindereier.

The ballet is performed by professional ballet dancers and kids who are in the West Valley Ballet company. This year Cheryl had her daughter's try out again and three were in the performance. Mary Clair was the smallest of the children in the first scene and danced and twirled and really was so cute. Annabelle was one of the toy soldiers in red uniforms (up from blue). Madeline was one of those servant kids that come in crouched over, do a lot of dancing and she held the cake. 120 girls tried out for her part and Madeline and one other were the onlyh ones not from the Professional group.

It was fun to watch these girls perform so well and they were the main ones I noticed. Mary Clair really emoted and carried on; she was a hit. The ballerinas were excellent and it was a great evening. Now Cheryl can take a deep breath and not have to drive so much for the daily practices.

Here is a picture of our three ballerinas; Mary Clair, Annabelle and Madeline. Good work gals, you brought a lot of smiles to many faces.

We go to Bountiful tomorrow for the baby blessing of Cathy and Pete's new little daughter (our 68th grandchild.)

Alles Gute,

Mom and Dad

THANKSGIVING WHIRLWIND

Dear Family,

We had such a great time over the Thanksgiving celebration! I did not take so many pictures as I was carving three turkeys but Emily took many and put them into a video on her blog, check it out.

We had 42 to a sit down thanksgiving dinner. Rick and Gemina came up from California, Rob and Eva and their three children came down from Spokane. We had most of the families here in the area.

There was great preparation. Mom had the entire downstairs painted for the occasion and the kitchen was also painted. We had a new refrigerator installed and we were finally ready. We did the turkeys; we had three, an organic one for those organically sensitive, I brined and smoked a smaller one, then we had a 25 pounder complete with the best oyster dressing possible. Gemina brought up 30 fresh oysters in the shell from a seafood market in Santa Monica but I thought they were too good for dressing so Rob shucked them and Rob, Eva and I put them away on the half shell.

Here is a picture of Rick (Beverly Hills Lawyer) and Rob, (Retinal Surgeon) peeling potatoes for Gemina's mashed potatoes. We used to call this KP in the army, (kitchen police). The mashed potatoes were great! So many other cooked and prepared as well. Becca roasted the politically correct organic turkey in a rotisserie oven and baked 150 Parker House rolls. Emily brought dressings and dips; her daughter Caroline baked two pies. Rayanne brought more rolls and her famous jello whipped cream salad. Everyone brought may treats and side dishes. Finally it was all prepared and ready to eat.

We expressed thanks for all our blessings especially the blessings of the Gospel and the blessings of Family and Paul blessed the food. It was organized this year that the adults who sat at the main table went through first, then the teenagers and then the little kids; this worked well and since they had to wait, it kept them in their seats longer. When we lived in Michigan, Rick used to time how long it took to eat the meal and I think the fastest was about 12 minutes to put away a dinner that took days to prepare. This time it took longer.. 30 minutes and it was more enjoyable. Love, gratitude and good feeling all around filled the room and our home and it was great.

There were non stop activities after. A group went up to Paul's parent's home and bowled. We all gathered at Paul and Cheryl's new great home in Holladay for dessert and further fun and games. It was so great. There were activities on Friday and then on Saturday, Paul and Becca had seat for the BYU - Utah football game and Rob and Rick drove down for that. That evening, Cheryl had tickets in the box for the Jazz basketball game and I went with Doug and Becky. They got a chance to sit on the floor for a period.

Sunday, we took Rob, Eva, Rick Gemina and kids to Cheryl's ward for church. Cheryl had this great brunch after church in their new home.

Well it was a great event and I loved every minute of it. It was such a great time of Thanksgiving, family and fun. It is quiet around here again and we can catch our breath. Thanks for all the help in setting up. cooking and cleaning up after; it was a production.

We love you all, Dad