AL AND PAUL VISIT FROM MICHIGAN

Al and Paul and baby Charlie came to visit.  The other seven kids stayed home.  Paul has this job with a Salt Lake investment firm and his role allows him to live wherever he wants so it was back to Michigan on a small working farm in Munith, complete with sheep, goats, cows, ducks and chickens.    Paul came out for the business Xmas party and do do some work.  They stayed with us and it was fun.

Here is Al and Mom shredding cabbage for the German  Sauerkraut jug, seen in the background.  We make the best Sauerkraut!  We did about 5 - 6 kg of shredded cabbage and will wait for a month before checking the result.

We went with Al to the new outlets by Cabelas.  There was a La Creuset outlet and I got Mom a large oval pot.  Al had brought a fresh leg of lamb from one of her lambs and she planned a delicious roast.

Mike, Rayanne, Johnny and Jenna, Mom  and I accompanied Al and Paul to the Salt Lake Temple to some work work for Paul's family.  It was special and sweet.  Following this we had the roasted lamb dinner and it was great.  They had to go back the next day,

We had out little missionary groups Xmas party.  The old Swiss Austrian group has been meeting since 1958 several times a year.  We had it at Dave and Ann Wirthlin.  Naturally we had to wear a little of the traditional dress.  We had echt Kaesekuchen as it is made in Switzerland and it was a lovely evening. They give out "white elephant" gifts and I was surprised whn someone got my Sig bottles that Mom secretly wrapped.

Well we are getting ready for Xmas.  We need to get out the cards.  We have been preparing the house for the arrival of Suz and her family who will occupy the basement apartment.  Scott took a job with a Salt Lake Company and he is her now.  Mom has been gutting out.

We may also get a  visit from John and Kaley from Florida.  Suz has to sell her homes in Phoenix but there is a lot of real estate action going on here.

Next event will be the Xmas eve dinner and pagent with several families in attendance.  Lots of fun, lots of joy and there is always rejoicing.

Love, Dad

CHRISTMAS SEASON BEGINS WITH THE NUTCRACKER BALLET

Dear Family,

Cheryl has her daughters in the Ballet West ballet school.  Each year they perform the Nutcracker Ballet with professional  ballet dancers and some of the students qualify for the performances.  Cheryl's kids seem to make it in there each year and this year she had four who made all the performances.  There was Annabelle, Mary Clare, Loren and Olivia.  Olivia was the buffoon that comes out under the skirt.

Cheryl purchased tickets for many members of our family to a Friday night performance.  First of course we met at Sigfried's next to the Capital Theater for a Wurst and Kraut.  John and Kaley came up from Florida for a visit and joined us at the performance. Doug and his wife came with Douglas who brought a date.  Mike and Rayann came with several of their daughters,  Emily and John came  with a few of their daughters.  i did not count them all but there was quite a group who occupied the front section of the left isle.  Paul of course was there with Johnny; Paul has seen this about 40 times. Gemina was in town and joined us in the performance,

Here is a picture of most of us sitting in front.  Little Johnny had the best seat in the house and loved the ballet.

I thoroughly enjoyed the performance.  The music and dancing were perfect.  (It seems like some of the men's tights are getting tighter each year) but pother than that it was great.  These dancers are in top physical condition and the performance is graceful and also athletic.  I enjoy it very much each year especially because four grandaughters are in the cast.

Here is Annabelle in her costume.

Here is Mary Clare who was one of the party girls.  She was on stage for a long time   and I must admit, she was the only dancer I watched during the opening scenes.

Here is Lauren as one of the soldiers and then there was Olivia as one of the buffoons that come out from under the giant dress.  She is really a little ham always emoting and like the others, has great stage presence.  Notice how she points her toe!

At the end, I think Cheryl finds all the driving and practices were worth it.  It was so much fun to see them in a professional performance.

This always ushers in the Christmas season for us and our seats were our Xmas present from Cheryl and Paul and much appreciated.

Well Mom is getting out  million Christmas gifts all wrapped and mailing them to each family.  We will start on the card soon and that has been a huge project.  We have a final picture of the entire family from our summer reunion with the four teenagers who were not there, photshopped into the pictre for completeness sake.

Paul and Alison  are coming for Paul's company Xmas gathering.  Scott is here now and Scott and Suz and all their kids are coming for Xmas and will stay in the downstairs apartment until they buy a house here in Salt Lake.

I should not forget that we celebrated John's birthday while at Sigfrieds  Mom bought him an entire vey rich German chocolate cake.  Here are John and Kaley and expensive chocolate cake.  It was very good and worth it.

We love you all,  Dad and Mom

MOM'S THANKSGIVING PLAY

Dear Family,

I need to write separately about Mom's Thanksgiving play.  Here she is directing the play with David as one of the Pilgrims.

She researched the story of the Pilgrim's in several trips to the library.  She then wrote a play with five scenes, depicting the difficulties the Pilgrims had in England, the crossing on first the Mayflower and Speedwell, the sinking of the Speedwell. the signing of the Mayflower contract aboard the Mayflower, the conflict between Indians and settlers, Squato comes to the rescue of the struggling Pilgrims.  He taught them how to grow corn burying a fish in each hill. He introduced them to Chief Massasoit and the next year they had the Thanksgiving feast.  They invited the Indians who when they arrived, saw that there was not enough food so they went out and bagged a few deer.  I have always wanted to serve venison also at Thanksgiving but could not this year.

There were lines to read.  All donned Mom's costumes, stood on the steps of he sunken living room and read their parts

Here are Mark, Mary Anton, Kate and David suffering on the waters in the Mayflower.

Here are Rayann, Rachel, Camille, Michael; Joesph, Mike and Emma with the Indian headdress

Cathy, Pete and the kids made pretty good looking Pilgrims.  A great time was had by all and this was on fun activity that Mom wrote and organized.  I should also give credit to Mary who reminded all the families to come on time and do their parts and acted as a producer.

Mary and Mark took David, Kate and Anton to Temple Square to see the lights. I wonder what tales Anton has to tell when he gets back to Germany about this really weird family that has so much joy and fun together.

We love you all and wish the best for the coming Xmas season.

Dad

THANKSGIVING 2012

Dear Family,

We had the best Thanksgiving get to gather!  Here is a photo of the adult table with the addition of the married couple Johnny and Jena.  We had all sorts of visitors: Mary and Mark and their two kids plus the dog, Gunner der Jaeger and their German exchange student Anton came from Michigan. Mike and Rayanne and family came up from Mapleton as did Emily and John and complete family.  Cathy and Pete and kids came all the way from Bountiful.  Cheryl, Paul and their kids came as well early on.

e started cooking early and one or two days before to be ready for the feast.  I brined a turkey and then got up in the middle of the night and put it into the smoker so it would be ready.  Made the oyseter dressing the day before and Mom got up early to stuff and roast the turkey.

Becca had stayed with us a couple of days with her family and she was a baking machine.  Here is Opa, Becca and Cathy about to bake a delicious apple pie that the girls made.  All preparations were done in time so we all sat down to eat at 12:30 PM sharp.  Mary had organized and set the tables and made sure everyone had a place setting.



Here are the teenagers in the sunken living room all set up for dining

.And the teeny boppers

And here are the little guys all who did well at the table and had a great feed.

I smoked a turkey, Mom roasted a big turkey with oyster dressing.  (pretty good this year!) Everyone brought sides and rolls, pies, sauces, salads and gravy and it was a grand event.  It was completely organized and went off smoothly and was very good.

We are so grateful for our blessings continuously but at this time of the year we express extra thanks for the blessings of family and friends, health and strength and the blessings of the Gospel in our lives.  It was a wonderful time.  We appreciate all who have helped and wish all the best.

Love, Mom and Dad