December Already

Rudy changed our blog background for Christmas. I hope you had a chance to shake the snow-globe. He does such a good job with the "artsy-fartsy" stuff!! So I thought I better get on the ball and do some blogging. It has been a mucho long time since I blogged. I get the hint and the nudge, honey! Thanks for keeping us current with the backgrounds etc. Your a good man!

Where do I begin? November was here and is now gone. It is now December 8th already! Wow how time flies when you are busy, sick and having fun! Which is what I have recently been doing (all three)! So much has happened in the last week or two. I just do not know where to start, so I will just start somewhere!!!
I didn't finish my month of Thanksgiving, bad girl...no tacos! I think I had five days left so I will write a short list of five things I am thankful for and call it good...
1. I am thankful for visiting friends from far away places---Jennie Gordon came to visit the day before Thanksgiving. She brought the children. My how they have grown. She was here from San Diego for the holiday and stopped to see us. It was so nice to see her and visit with her for a short time. Don't you love those kind of friends you can just start up with where you left off?Jennie is one of those friends. I just love her and love our visits. I miss her so much and was so thankful she stopped by!
2. I am thankful for the Holidays. To me, holiday means family and friends. That's just what Thanksgiving was this year. We had dinner at Ray and Paula's. It was a small gathering---Mother, Ann, Aunt Lorraine, Melissa (no boys, they were with their dad...missed them much!), Ray, Paula and of course Rudy and I! The other Coddingtons were at their in-laws, but dropped by later. We had a very good dinner and such a nice visit. Just before we left Jane and her Amy stopped by to plan out the usual "black-Friday" shopping spree. So it was a very family day!
3. I am thankful for "live" theater! We were treated to a night at Hale Theater in Orem, for the production of "A Christmas Carol". Nyle Smith was the "Ghost of Christmas Present" and other parts, like narrator etc. It was an enjoyable night. Before the play, we went to The Brick-Oven in Provo for dinner. We met Nyle and CJ there. Sarah brought a friend and we had a mighty good pizza dinner. It was a excellent way to start the Christmas season.
4. I am so thankful for cold medicine. Saturday the 29th I came down with a cold. (Rudy, poor guy, started feeling yucky at the play). So I promptly started with the "Day and Night Quils". It took over a week to finally feel better. I still have a bit of a cough. Poor Rudy is still not all the way over his cold. I guess I am just tougher than he is. (actually, Rudy took better care of me, than I did him).
5. I started my list with Rudy and middled my list with Rudy and I will end my list with Rudy. I have said it so many times before, but I am so grateful I have my Rudy. He is the love of my life, my eternal companion and my best friend. I love him so much!! He makes me laugh, feel like a queen, think, push my self to be better and lets me know how much he loves me!!! I am eternally thankful that we found each other and know without a doubt we will be together forever. I thank my Heavenly Father each day for his plan of salvation, and know I need to live so that I will be worthy to return to live with him again, and I will do it with my Rudy. I love you so much, Honey!!!


We have had a couple of Christmas parties so far this year. First of all we had a Relief Society Enrichment Christmas Talent night. It was such a wonderful night. Some of the sisters in the ward shared their musical talents with us. The music was so beautiful and soothing to the soul. I love Christmas music and love to see and share in the talents of others. I flimpantly (is that a word?) said I didn't have a musical talent to share and someone said I could read a story. Knowing I had a pretty good collection of stories I have saved through the years, I signed my name!! What had I done??? I looked through my stories, but so many had been shared before. I decided to write a story of my own...what am I thinking??!!!?? I had always thought the innkeeper in the story of the Nativity got a bum rap. I think most people try to do the best they can, so I decided to write how I thought the story played out (in Carol's world). Because who knows... the scriptures only say there was no room in the inn. Well, I think the story came out ok. Since reading it, I have tweeked it some and it is a little better. Rudy want me to try and see if it could be published. Published????now I am dreaming!!!! But he is pretty good at talking me into things---we'll see what happens. Up-dates later.

Saturday night we had our ward Christmas party. The activities committee did such a good job. It was decorated so nice...everything was done so nice. There was even a good program. I enjoyed myself. Rudy was "visiting with friends" so I had to sit alone and wait for him to finish. I didn't really sit alone though, Mabeys and Applegates sat at our table. Also Ellie Ables sat by and talked with me for awhile. Some of our other smaller friends came by and talked with me. The Munfords...Issac and Ethan, Jack McGinnis, Noah Harper and of course my Allie Palmer stopped and chatted!! I love all those little ones. How precious are children. They are so sweet and fun to be around. Both Rudy and I love when we get to talk or play with the little ones. Rudy even let me man the new camera. I took some good pics if I do say so myself!!