In restrospect

I've got a full journal at the end of this year like I did at the end of last, every day remarked on. Every day of 2014 logged with such mundane things as

• what time I got up;
• where (or if) I walked or exercised, and with whom;
• what I cooked for breakfast, lunch and dinner;
• what Kent got up to and if we went out, and to what places;
• to-do lists and what we did (or didn't);
• chores, errands, appointments, emergencies;
• the weather;
• who I texted, called or visit-taught;

(Inhale...)

• how mom is doing, and dad; Kent's mom and dad too and when Kent was with them;
• when Sarah or Marcia were here and how long they stayed;
• visits with kids and grand kids and sisters and friends and Chris my brother;
• teaching Sunday School;
• surgery, recovery, sciatica, uveitis, middle age, aches and pains;
• bike riding, Red Butte Gardens, the bird refuge, snow-shoeing;
• my green recliner, books I've read, naps;
• and more...

(Whew!)

• How blessed I am!

Time out

Up on the Bonneville Shoreline the trail is packed – skiiers and snowshoers and hikers are up here after the snowfall Christmas Day. And so are we this day after to gauge the depth of the snow for snowshoeing. No, we don't want to stay on the crusty trail; we – I – want to head off onto the slopes. Among gullies and ravines I've never set foot on; I've never set foot on these slopes spring, summer or fall because the grasses then are high as I am and full of things, ew. Snakes. Mice and rats (or not, if the snakes get them), fox and ermine (this post for a picture of one of those; we REALLY saw long ago now). Birds of course.

We NEVER have hiked off this dirt trail ↑ now snow packed and rutted...



but now, here, winter, who knew, the grasses are matted and we want to go all over the place.

(I do.)

Let's get our snowshoes! I yelp. Which're in tote bags in the car, poles telescoped neatly inside. Get on these hills!

Kent didn't know; doesn't move fast; thinks. (Kind of Eyeore, right?) (Winnie the Pooh thinks too, think, think, think, and I'm like that for about a half-a-minute!!) C'mon! I say, I think you're supposed to be able to plow through these grasses and go everywhere! See, I pointed to two figures beyond us, specks in black and, besides, a dog, making tracks on a hill yonder... See!? They did it!

But we didn't.

Kent suggested we tramp around up to our boot tops in the snow... that we did. I'm practicing (when I'm beat) going with the flow yup "hide-n-watch," "ride the wave," see what happens, hope it'll be magic or serendipity or something joyful if (indeed) downright sensible. Learning there's ways to have fun and be "one" with, like, your spouse, or the moment. Lately I've been seldom wrong... good things do happen (even if they're not how I think they should be, right?).

This was that.



I went with it and together for about an hour we were up to our boot tops (sometimes) in drifts and the grasses,



in gullies and ravines... and



over hill and dale. So. Darn. Cool.

We snowshoe tomorrow.

Suspended animation

We met up with Randie and Sherri two former (link) blog posts (link) at the Mandarin the night after Christmas for some FINE chowmein, emphasis on chow. And fine. and MANDARIN! Of course there was snow lighting and delighting us, so we stopped outside after for pictures. Love these guys!



We drove to our house and (full as ticks) got 'round the table to play Suspend, a new game they got for Christmas and brought with them.



You set your wires on the table in front of you, everybody with the same six, ↑ longest to shortest for the beginner game (eh, always the green checked tablecloth at my house). You set up the Suspend pole. Right. ↓

Get ready, set... you know you're gonna lose.



You're gonna hang your wires. Everyone takes a turn, you can only use one hand to attach yours to one somebody else just hung (see where the name comes from!) and you hang longest first, turn by turn around the table, down to shortest.



In the advanced game you roll a dice? die for color and you hang that color – if you have it. If you don't, you take from someone else, helping them eliminate their pile. The goal is to get rid of all YOUR wires not theirs.



If what you hang falls or causes another wire to fall, oopsie, all the wires are yours and YOU'RE A LOSER! Or almost... depends on who has the most wires at the end. They're the BIGGEST LOSER!



Remember, you can only use one hand. Pretty darn scary if you're me. If you're Randie you (brilliantly) understand gravity and its proclivities (he's an engineer); or Kent the accountaint, you're all about net profit/loss – in other words, balance.



And all things hang in the balance



in this game.



And by the way thanks Erin and Mike for the MANDARIN Christmas gift card! We got there fast as we could!

With my sister

Laura and I got out yesterday for our morning walk in boots and heavy coats and all kinds of stuff to keep warm. The sun was just resting on the top of the trees on this hill



adjacent to the street we started on.



Got snow?!



I love being with my sister! Earlier this year (on my birthday) we hiked the firebreak road (link to a post in April, check it out!)...



Muuuuccch different circumstances!



I love being with my sister!

Favorite things

Christmas day getting ready to go walking. In the snow!



Love my scarf! (And boots and red headband finally, and bright red cloves.) Know how a cardinal stands out on a mostly-gray winter day? I'll be a Christmas tree walking up the hill!

We did walk way up the hill behind our house topping out in a snow cloud that kept us from seeing past our own frozen noses, much less into the valley. In fact coming down, the wind was in our faces and flying snow down our shirt collars! Reminds me of words from "A Few of My Favorite Things:" → That push uphill killed off calories I ate for breakfast in the chunky iced cinnamon bread from Kneader's. Ugh, Christmas calories are going to have to come off. (Love this pic from the Internet that isn't me but, look, she has a green scarf and hounds-tooth black-n-white coat, sort'a LIKE me but in reverse! And bangs. And snow on her - there's the point.)

Something worth having

Of much I've read this month, studied, listened to, taught – pondered – I'm loving now thoughts to "wait on the Lord." This blog post Julie's Excellent Adventure Playing Martha (link) speaks to that (in its second paragraph – the post is about inverted miracles, worth reading every word!). Every December we focus especially on Christ as the baby, "waiting" for Him to be born... yet don't we realistically spend our days in a different way "waiting" on Him as the Master and minister of perfect love? Since it's our every-day work, sure enough waiting this way, every day, is a process...

"We know that waiting on the Lord can feel incongruent or contradictory. I’ll never understand God, says Julie Mounteer Hawker.

And that’s ok. Understanding and faith are not equivalent.

But I do know this: God pushes us outside our parameters—beyond our capabilities and understanding. And as a result, our faith in Him increases proportionally.



Radical faith seeds radical results."
-----

I pray to watch the manger yearly... and regularly wait on the Lord! If not always with understanding in the process, with greater and greater faith.

Watch the manger

While tokens of Christmas morning are the new star in the heavens and the new Child in the manger, hence, newness of life for us, God's children
...

how appropriate, too, the symbolism of lowly animals whose refuge the stable was.



These words by C.S. Lewis ↓ (ah, slow, stubborn and strayed) appropriately call on me to "see a glory," "see my Savior," and "watch the manger" today!

THE NATIVITY

Among the oxen (like an ox I'm slow)
I see a glory in the stable grow
Which, with the ox's dullness, might at length
Give me an ox's strength.

Among the asses (stubborn I as they)
I see my Saviour where I looked for hay;
So may my beastlike folly learn at least
The patience of a beast.

Among the sheep (I like a sheep have strayed)
I watch the manger where my Lord is laid;
Oh that my baa-ing nature would win thence
Some wooly innocence! --C.S. Lewis

All that!

May yours be Merry and Bright and all that!

May we see thy tender face?

Come, Lord Jesus, to the manger;
May we see thy tender face?
Great Creator, here a stranger,
Infant in this humble place.
Darkness scatter, morning swell;
Come, dear Lord Immanuel.
Come, Lord Jesus, to the manger;
Come, Lord Jesus, come! ~David Zabriskie

On the move

Today you may have been traveling – or are.

Today you're finishing your shopping!!!... or

You're off work so you're out and about...

Are you almost ready for Christmas?

Today I'm home baking and frosting banana cake, folding laundry, vacuuming, wearing my apron, wrapping presents, cooking and setting and unsetting the table, loading and unloading the dishwasher, listening to Christmas tunes, munching on  peppermint (link) cookies and, well, blogging. It's my quiet time two days before Christmas and today I'm lovin' it!

Outside looks amazing! Super bright after a couple of days of rain on this mountain, no inversion layer, and I really SHOULD be trekking up the hill to the golf course for exercise but, eh, I'm lazy. Aw, contented, really, and warm. Looks are deceiving: for all that sunny-shine outdoors, it's only thirty degrees! Dad won't go out on his scooter even. My neighborhood's quiet outside my window but I know it's not that way in town! I sure don't wanna fight traffic and crowds and stand in lines today.

Today... folks are on the move.

Countdown

22nd of December and I'm on a countdown to Christmas, though it's not what you think. I've come up periscope at last and wanna watch Christmas shows! Like, hunker down in my recliner under a blanket and eat popcorn and watch The Hallmark Channel.

Every year this pretty terrific television station produces originals for the season and I'm right now ready-set-go to see all. twelve. of. 'em!

One Starry Christmas
The Nine Lives of Christmas
A Cookie Cutter Christmas
Northpole
Angels and Ornaments
A Royal Christmas
The Christmas Shepherd
Christmas Under Wraps
Debbie Macomber's Mr. Miracle
Christmas at Cartwright's
Best Christmas Party Ever
The Christmas Parade

(Got'em recorded!)

King of kings

Today is Sunday. The spirit feels strong in me helped by the Sacrament meeting, Sunday School and Relief Society messages I've heard. Today as in recent weeks I'm thanking our Heavenly Father for the gift of his Son. The Only Begotten's condescension into the world was prepared for, ever before the foundation of this world and through what would become dispensations of time here and generations upon generations of people. As I've taught the next-to-last Old Testament lesson of the year – the deportation of Jechoniah king of Judah with his people the Jews from Jerusalem into Babylon – I'm moved to see, indeed, his name below as an ancestor of the Savior ↓. Of course he would be! Jechoniah's ancestors for generations were the kings of Judah: David and Solomon and Rehoboam and their sons... down the line, wicked Ahaz and faithful Hezekiah; further, rebellious Manasseh, and loyal Josiah, his own father.

Jesus WHO IS CALLED CHRIST was to be born a rightful heir to the earthly kingdom of Judah.



The rightful heir also to the Kingdom of Heaven, the Only Begotten of the Father was born into this world to impoverished parents (though rich in righteousness with the knowledge of the God of Israel, and wealthy in royal ancestry!) in lowly circumstances; hunted as a babe and heir to the throne, scorned and plotted against as a teacher and minister, even prophet; and scourged and brought in ignominy before the ruling king of the Jews and his court – falsely accused of blasphemy and sedition – and taken to the cross of crucifixion. Prior, in the Garden of Gethsemane, infinitely qualified, he descended below all things in an act of reconciliation and atonement; on Calvary, he allowed Himself to be lifted upon the cross and, spent, gave Himself – this sacrifice of his earthly life central to the plan of happiness and eternal life of His Father's other children.

Jesus is rightly called Christ, which means "the Anointed One." The foreordained, prepared and anointed Son of the Almighty God fulfilled His high commission in his birth and life and death and resurrection. He yet lives and reigns, King of Kings.

Answer to life

That's just life

My sister-in-law asked me the other morning over Skype messaging...

[6:43:01 AM] Her: How are you doing these days?

[6:44:23 AM] Me: Stable. I love that answer. It hasn't always been so these two years now that mom and dad have been with us, and all of the four we've lived close to them here. Because many of our brothers and sisters' families and themselves have been bearing heavy, heavy loads too... (I listed every brother or sister and their struggles and this became a longish paragraph!)... I've felt for the past four years simply devastated; resigned (learning to be that in good ways); then accepting and resolved; and finally stable and strong and hopeful.

[6:46:19 AM] Me: I tell people when they ask about me or us that we're stable. Mom - declined as she is - is so. Dad is too, though weary, the best word to describe his state. I am, and Kent is. We don't want or need more, though when we look we see amazing blessings and we try to count these as much as possible!

[6:48:05 AM] Her: Great place to be... stable, accepting, resolved. And best thing to do... look for the positives. You're a great example of best practices.

[6:55:47 AM] Her: I've come to believe that all the things you described are just life. We do feel for those we love as they go through things that are different than they planned or expected or that keep them from living as fully as they would like to live. Such things can, if we're not careful, begin to feel like there's something wrong or something not right with life when they occur. But that's just life. And the answer to life is to develop the skills that I hear you expressing that you have (or are) developing. The skills that allow us to look for ways we can help

others on their journey, ourselves accept and mind our own journey, and look for the positives and blessings long enough that we begin to see them in most situations. I love your open-heartedness, your whole-heartedness, and see those things as one of the ultimate achievements/skills one can have!

We messaged longer, then wished each other Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and got off. She was in the middle of cooking beans she said, and I had to start thinking about breakfast. Before I got up I thought about what she wrote: "But that's just life." (Amen.) Re-read where she complimented "stable," even "steady," after I'd noted our sister Marcia's encouragement is always "head for (linky) steady!" (link 2/too).

[7:13:15 AM] Her: "Steady" is great! I'm beginning to feel/see out in front of me that there may be an even better place to be... open and accepting. That will be the idea/principle that I will turn over in my mind and heart in 2015!
-----

It's not an easy choice,
but that's OK.

Easy doesn't equal good.

Difficulty doesn't equal bad.

It's just life, is all.

~Barry Lyga

Princess

"Little girls, like butterflies, need no excuse." ~Robert A. Heinlein

Ha! Jillian unwrapped her birthday present Grandpa Kent and I gave her that really her mother went to the store and bought and wrapped with us watching on Skype the other night. She took out of the gift bag purple Princess shoes and a tiara and pretty soon dashed off camera and back on wearing a purple frock!

Ohhh she has a good daddy!


New high heels and a sparkly crown for this three year-old!


(And us grinning at her and egging her on!)


Perfect "10!"

"When we asked for a daughter we were sent a princess." ~Sally Huss 

O come!

What is your favorite Christmas song?

I know any Christmas song is my favorite by how I feel hearing or singing it! I think of the stirring "The First Noel" by Josh Groban or "Ave Maria" by Andrea Bocelli. (Absolute faves!) I love the very warm-n-fuzzy "I'll be Home for Christmas" by Nancy LaMott, one terrific singer; I listen to her Just in Time album every year. Last week at the MoTab Choir concert the Muppet Count von Count and organist Richard Elliott rendered "The Twelve Days of Christmas" better than I've ever, ever heard it. This year, almost – almost – it's my favorite! No kidding, the organ pipes rocked this Christmas carol!

At this point in the season, almost Christmas Day, I get to where I want to not be frolicking and holidaying and want contemplation. Then my favorites are from our hymn book. Elder Dallin H. Oaks says (link) "Sacred music has a unique capacity to communicate our feelings of love for the Lord," so it follows that music speaks to us through the heart, and through music we speak to God. Any Christmas song becomes my favorite that empowers me to thank and praise God, worship Him and consider the gospel again and (again) commit to live His ways.

How wondrous – as Christmas Day draws closer – is "Silent Night."

For a week I've been singing to myself "O Come, All Ye Faithful." The part I catch myself on is O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord! And I'm all glad! Here's a particular kind of Christlike "niceness" at this season – treating myself to familiar and stirring praise of Him in the regularness of my day and quietude of my heart and mind.

This time of year calls on us to sing aloud too, and with all our hearts...

'Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord' (Col. 3:16)

The Lord is the very Word made flesh; Christmas celebrates this exactly! It can't be overlooked that the Word, the very Savior of the world, dwells in us especially richly when we sing and listen "with grace in [our] hearts" to Him. Any, every, new carol or old hymn can remain a favorite when it brings us – O come! – to Christ.

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year

I sit in our Sacrament meetings weekly and soak up the messages spoken there like a sponge! This past Sunday the talks were about service. One speaker concentrated on selfless service, in part citing from a publication in Psychology Today: "Research indicates numerous benefits to those who engage in selfless service, including reduction of emotional disturbance, greater longevity, stress reduction, improved morale, increased self-confidence and self-esteem, better health and pain reduction, and greater overall happiness."

"The joy of giving, it stated, is far more exhilarating than the joy of getting, and can be likened to a thrill or high."

He quoted from Elder M. Russell Ballard's 2011 April Conference talk Finding Joy through Loving Service, mentioning four areas in which we may practice giving selflessly:

• Charity begins at home. By our example, let us teach our family members to have love one for another.
• By treating each other kindly, speaking words of support and encouragement, and being sensitive to each other’s needs, we can create loving unity among ward members.
• Many of you have worked tirelessly to relieve suffering and improve your communities. Through our heartfelt kindness and service, we can make friends with those whom we serve.
• The future growth of the Church will not happen through just knocking on strangers’ doors. It will happen when the members, along with our missionaries, filled with the love of God and Christ discern needs and respond to those needs in the spirit of charitable service. When we do this the honest in heart will feel our sincerity and our love. Many will want to know more about us. Then and only then will the Church expand to fill all of the earth.

I'm practicing. I am! Dad says (and I believe him) that service is the thing that sanctifies us. I heard last Sunday too what I've heard plenty of other times: Service is never convenient. So my practice is in shifting gears when I need to; coming from what I thought I was going to do or had planned (my agenda) to what is needed. By someone. Somehow. Now. And I loved that the speaker pointed out that service is not a question; never a question – but action! I'm determined to practice not asking what I can do to help, but showing up. Practicing sure implies I don't know how to do it very well. I love the shot in the arm this Sacrament meeting talk was for me this week before Christmas. It's gotten under my skin.

-----
“What glorious consequences can flow … from small but deliberate deeds!” – Spencer W. Kimball

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” – Charles Dickens

“Give yourself entirely to those around you. Be generous with your blessings. A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.” – Steve Maraboli

“It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others.” – Brian Tracy

“The best gifts come from the heart, not the store.” – Sarah Dessen

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” – Charles Dickens

He is the Gift

Words of our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, October 2013 I Will Not Fail Thee, Nor Forsake Thee

Our Heavenly Father, who gives us so much to delight in, also knows that we learn and grow and become stronger as we face and survive the trials through which we must pass. We know that there are times when we will experience heartbreaking sorrow, when we will grieve, and when we may be tested to our limits. However, such difficulties allow us to change for the better, to rebuild our lives in the way our Heavenly Father teaches us, and to become something different from what we were—better than we were, more understanding than we were, more empathetic than we were, with stronger testimonies than we had before. Were it not for challenges to overcome and problems to solve, we would remain much as we are, with little or no progress toward our goal of eternal life.

Only the Master knows the depths of our trials, our pain, and our suffering. He alone offers us eternal peace in times of adversity. He alone touches our tortured souls with His comforting words:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28–30

Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, He is with us. He has promised that this will never change.

(Nat:) I testify of these truths! Our Heavenly Father who has given us so much to delight in has also given us in the world the gift of His Only Begotten Son in the flesh, Jesus Christ, to succor us when our delight in this life would turn indulgent or sinful, or become panic or grief. (Which it does. It always does.) Here is a gift of condescension of the Almighty, an offering of His firstborn, the Prince, even King, Himself creator of worlds without end, to be born into and reared as human, mortal with us in this fallen world under impoverished, sacrificial, circumstances. Lowly He would come – and He did – for the reasons stated above by our prophet:  to with us experience the depths of trial, pain and suffering.



And the Son gave Himself: Emmanuel, "God With Us." HE IS THE GIFT. And His gift to us is peace now and exaltation in the world to come.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland says:

When He bids us to walk in His way and by His light, it is because He has walked this way before us, and He has made it safe for our own travel here. He knows where the sharp stones and stumbling blocks lie hidden and where thorns and thistles are the most severe. He knows where the path is perilous, and He knows which way to go when the road forks and nightfall comes. He knows all this, as Alma says in the Book of Mormon, because He has suffered “pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind … , that he may know … how to succor his people according to their infirmities.” (Alma 7:11–12) To succor means to “run to.” I testify that in my fears and in my infirmities the Savior has surely run to me. I will never be able to thank Him enough for such personal kindness and such loving care. (October 1997 He Hath Filled the Hungry with Good Things)

I testify that Christ will run to us, and is running even now, if we will but receive the extended arm of His mercy. When we stagger or stumble, He is there to steady and strengthen us. In the end He is there to save us, and for all this He gave His life. (January 2003, Teaching, Preaching, Healing)

The way of the Infant Jesus

Gleaming Light

If I have brought a gleam of light

To cheer a darkened day,

If I held out a friendly hand

To help along the way.

Then in these acts of kindness done

It is not me you see,

But glimpses of that Loving One

Who chose to dwell in me.

From a Christian Newsletter

-----

You might think I'm confused offering a picture of Santa Claus with this poem with the words "that Loving One..."

Nope. I'm not. I put the picture here on purpose because I love this picture and well knowing I have a great quote from President James E. Faust to share. Before you get to it, know that I KNOW Christ, Jesus, is the only One. The only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. The Well Beloved who well loves us! I assert that any bit of light or friendly hand to help that I may have done or can do are not me "you see, but glimpses of that Loving One..."

Jesus Christ.

That said, here's the quote. Hope it makes your day!

Downtown

Saturday night Kent and I drove downtown and parked and walked. We happened to be on Temple Square at 5:00 straight up when the lights all came on - all at once! People around us kind of gasped as it happened... I stopped walking and started taking pictures! So did everybody else.



We walked along into City Creek trying to decide where to eat and that whole place was crowded. We decided on the quieter atmosphere of the Nauvoo Cafe, though by the time we made our way back to the Joseph Smith Memorial building the entrance to that restaurant was packed too, the line extending into

the great room... see to the right beside the white statue of Joseph Smith?

So we wandered a while more. Not increasing our chances at all of not having to wait in line to eat, mm, just not in a hurry. Glad we weren't– we decided to go to the room on the second floor of the JSM Building where we had our first date. Oh. My. Gosh. Can't believe we sat here in the exact spot we sat on October 28, 2001 at a singles fireside where, at that pulpit for an hour, Elder Ben Banks preached and I doubt we heard a word of it. It was too fun being together in this singles-filled room then. This brought back crazy good feelings! ↓



We ate a delicious supper in the totally warm and cozy soup and sandwich shop, the Nauvoo Cafe (more about that here). If you haven't ever come here, do! Do it soon. Then we stepped outside where now it was full dark though not cold, breezy and in the fifties. Sweater weather; and boots. I was comfortable walking hand in hand with Kent under the lights.



We migrated over to the Church Office building portico where thirteen years ago on a night like this, only it was snowing lightly and much colder (we went for hot chocolate after), Kent asked me to marry him. November 29th. It's a particularly beautifully-lighted area that attracted us... now, as then, it wasn't crowded and we took our time staring onto the lighted Square from the secluded area remembering being here those years ago. Glad it's now (now) – and not then.

Of course the Temple is stunning!



I have it in every shot!



And then we were tired and full as ticks and ready to get off our feet, sit down and wait... for the MUPPETS! In the Conference Center with thousands of other folks who rapidly filled the hall in the hour from 7:00 to 8:00 we waited. It's been as much fun people-watching as it has sight-seeing! We saw some folks we knew, though we didn't wave them down or run to their seats... I didn't anyway, Kent visited a bit. When Brent and Marcia entered from under the stage, access granted from underground parking to General Authorities and guests, I nudged Kent and pointed their way and he went over to shake hands and let them see where we were sitting, not far from them. I remained right where I was! (I was happy relaxing!) Brent had invited his brothers and their wives and, like us, had entered the Conference Center early. They did their thing once they got into their places, and we did ours which was to relax, relax, relax. And wait. And watch.

Soon the house lights went down. The stage lights came up and so did the choir. It was time!

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was the star... really... but these final pics are of the Muppets who I think all 20,000 of us came tonight to see especially!



I took them from Deseret News online as we weren't allowed to photograph the concert.



Man, seeing these is like being there again!



This with the Count was the hit of the whole show! Richard Elliott on the organ is a genius! We all came to our feet as the "12 Days of Christmas" performance (the Count and him at the organ) finished with a flair. It was a showstopper! Standing ovation!!!



Cookie Monster just about killed me though through the whole show. At the end he FINALLY got a plate of cookies and instead of eating them plate and all, he decided to share. Christmas is about sharing after all. (That puppet is a mess.)



Kent was hoping Oscar the Grouch, his favorite Muppet (and Kent began watching Sesame Street within a year after it's debut when he was home from Vietnam and stationed in Montgomery in 1970 with nothing to do on Saturday mornings)... Kent was hoping his favorite would be onstage, though Oscar was a no-show; probably a "not-invited," right? He loves anything "dirty, or dingy or dusty... anything rotten or ragged or rusty" so there was clearly no spot for him (or that) at this spectacular Christmas event!



So cool to be here tonight! Merry Christmas!