Some Special Christmas Memories

 It shall ever be known that I love Christmas.  I love times devoted to remembering the very first Christmas through scriptures, music, stories, and special decorations.  I appreciate sending and receiving Christmas greetings, especially when the envelopes include written messages and personal pictures.  I enjoy the special holiday recipes and family traditions.  I cherish all the memories of Nativity Pageants and visits from Santa.  I am grateful for family and friends to share this special time of year in person, by phone, by mail, or by Zoom.  I love remembering times shared of Christmases through the years.

A sample of the Christmas trees we've had:

1967 - In the home we built in St. Johns.

1978 - Sam cut this tree in the pasture over west on the farm.

1983 - At the farm.

1984 - Our first artificial tree 

(ordered from Montgomery Ward catalog).

1995 - Love having the grandkids share Christmas with us.

(Carson, Marisa, Kyle, Trent, Brittney, Maggie, Sarah, Trevor, Judd, Seth)

2005 - Ready for Santa to come.  Our new artificial tree for the higher ceiling in the "great room."  It took a long time to attach each branch and add the rows of lights, but it turned out very pretty.

2008 - Our small tree in our apartment in Moscow on our mission.

2011 - Home from Russia back on the farm.

2012 - In our new home in Spanish Fork.  Where to put the tree?

The first year it was put by the patio glass doors.

We left our bigger tree at the farm, so now had a smaller tree again.

2013 - Mrs. Santa came, as Santa was busy.

She shared a story about candy canes.

2016 - Tree near the patio doors with a couple of the bears nearby.

2018 - Our green Irish Santa by the tree.

2019 - Our tree this year featured framed photos of Christ by Liz Lemon Swindle.  We have been fortunate to have Santa come to our home on Christmas Eve through the years while the children are still up to receive a gift from him before going to bed, with Santa "returning" to bring more presents and fill the stockings later.  We love having this "real deal" and look forward to his returning Christmas 2022.  (He has told us he will be retiring after this year, and he will be hard to replace.)

2020 - We only put up this one small tree this year, but I did decorate the rooms on the main floor of our home even though no one but Sam and I would see our decorations this Christmas due to Covid-19 keeping us isolated in our home.

2021 - Although numbers of Covid cases were still high, we had gotten vaccinated for Covid in February, and we were happy to have family and friends invited inside again as we celebrated this special time of the year.

2021 - Our small tree downstairs decorated with Russian ladies in their native costumes.

2021 - Celebrated with family and friends making more happy memories.

2022 - And ready to celebrate with family and friends!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a "Happy Thanksgiving" and appreciated having family come to enjoy the turkey dinner with us:  Scott & Kristine; Shannon; Ryan & Tani; Kyle, Koryn & Dash; Brady, Kortney & Hadley; Carson; Marisa; and Eden & Maren.  

Scott and Kristine arrived on the 19th and had visits with their family in Utah before Judd & Amy and Jenna & Josh left for Idaho where both couples had separate invitations to celebrate Thanksgiving. 

Doug & Shannon's original plans were to come here the day after Thanksgiving, but Friday Doug called to let us know Corbin was not feeling well.  If Corbin feels okay they may come on Saturday.  Doug also shared with us that he has had another AFib episode that resulted in Shannon taking him to the hospital at 2:00 a.m. very early Thanksgiving morning where he was treated once again to get his heart returning to regular rhythm.

Here are some photos taken on Thanksgiving:

Dash with Kyle & Koryn and Grampa & Gramma Ireland

Hadley with Brady & Kortney and Grampa & Gramma Ireland

Ryan & Tani and family

(Ryan, Tani, Carson, Marisa, Dash, Koryn, Kyle, Hadley, Brady,  & Kortney)

Eden & Maren

Bring on the turkey!

Kristine and Shannon in the kitchen, Eden and Maren at the counter, and Kortney on the couch.

Marisa and Gramma Narene

Visiting together took precedence 

over watching football games until the end of the day.

(Scott, Ryan, and Hadley)

Scott checking the Christmas lights.

Todd & Beth's family bought a permit for a Christmas tree they picked out before cutting down and taking home to decorate.

(Irene Graham, Rebecca, Megan & Gabe, Joshua, Jared, and Todd - Beth took the picture.) 

We are grateful for family and our many blessings.

October and November

It's almost Thanksgiving and I haven't posted anything on my blog since October 10th.  The following are some photos and memories to share since that previous posting.

Recently, I have created a Shutterfly book featuring my blog entires posted while serving on our mission in the Europe East Area and living in Moscow, Russia. This second book differs from the first book I made in 2009 after coming home from our mission.  The 2022 book contains copies of my blog entries posted while serving the mission and was called "Ireland's Mission in Russia," which was a public blog, whereas my current blog, "Irelands Here and There" is a private blog. The book created in 2009 was my very first Shutterfly book, the first of many to follow through the years.

Here we are standing in front of the 

Echmiadrin Cathedral in Armenia.

We were in Armenia for the Area Humanitarian Conference in Yerevan, Armenia in April 2009, 

shortly before the end of our mission.

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Ready for Halloween featuring the broom we bought

at the patriotic Independence Day event in Orem.

Beth invited us to their traditional supper on Halloween Eve featuring soup served in bread bowls that look like pumpkins. 

 

Beth has carried on my tradition of making glazed "spud nut" donuts

for neighbors.  Rather than doing it on Halloween, it works better for their family to do the donuts earlier in the month and deliver to the neighborhood friends while the donuts are still warm.  We have been invited to the Grahams for their annual donut treat.

Megan and Alex made glazed "spud nut" donuts for their trick-or-treaters this year.  I'll bet that was a favorite stop on the neighborhood route! 

Joshua's pumpkin creation.

Rebecca's "Care Bear" costume for Halloween.

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Scott & Kristine's family (in Colorado, October 14, 2022) 

Jessica and Trent with Annie and Smyth

(photo taken in Colorado during their visit from Ireland)

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Brady & Kortney with Hadley, born January 25, 2022

Koryn with Dash, born July 11, 2022 in Nebraska

and adopted by Kyle and Koryn.

(Kyle had to work and wasn't here.)

Dash and Hadley

Grampa Sam & Gramma Narene with Hadley and Dash

Rochelle's sister Angela and family stayed with us November 3 & 4

while being in Utah for the wedding of their oldest son.

We enjoyed their visit.

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Part of the entertainment at the Palmyra Stake Relief Society

dinner and activity, November 11.

Enjoyed having Alex and Amanda here

for a visit from Arizona. (November 13)

On Sunday, November 20th, Gabe prepared the delicious meat-and-veggie meal cooked in our fire pit with an apple pie for dessert.

(Beth, Todd, Joshua, Gabe, Megan, Rebecca, Jared, and Sam)

Fall colors in the front yard (October 17).

Sam rototilling the garden on October 17th.

How our backyard looked on November 3, 

but the snow only lasted a couple of days. 

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Scott and Kristine came late Friday night (November 18) and will celebrate Thanksgiving with us.  Shannon will join us, too; but Jenna & Josh and Judd & Amy will be spending Thanksgiving in Idaho.  Ryan and Tani's family will also be here for Thanksgiving, and we welcome any other family members who would like to join us.

Happy Thanksgiving!