Freedom of Worship

Today, Janet and I did a "girls day out" and went to the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. They are having a Norman Rockwell exhibit, which was awesome. Three of the paintings were from his "Freedom of..." series. One of them, Freedom of Worship, was very interesting. We noticed that across the top it said, "according to the dictates of his own conscience..." There was a nifty little blurb saying that this painting and this caption had disturbed Mr. Rockwell and his minions because he remembered reading it somewhere, but no one could find any document to attribute it to. Interesting, eh? (In case you don't remember where it comes from either, you should brush up on the Articles of Faith.)

This year, we waited until Janet got home to get our Christmas tree. We looked at a few lots in town, but the trees were $30-$35 for nothing special. In previous years, we went to one of two cut your own tree lots in Mosinee, where the trees were $20. But we heard that the trees there were pretty picked over this year. So we trekked out in the country to a place that really was pretty similar to going out into the woods to find your own. These people planted a bunch of trees many years ago, and then never followed up with any care. Now they just want the trees cut down. So we tromped around a found a tree that Rene really likes (Janet maybe not so much) for only $15.

Possibly a little early...

We really did have a mild fall. It's only been really cold for a couple of weeks, and it's only been super cold once or twice. I think people should know that it's way too early for this:

Yup...this story from the paper was called "Car Falls Into Lake Wausau."

These are a few of my favorite things...

Every Christmas I have the opportunity to take out and display some of my prized possesions. I have a collection of nativities and while I like them all, some of them have great sentimental value to me.This one is priceless...literally. I don't think you can even find one like it to buy anymore. We have had this our whole married life and it's showing signs of its age. I'll have to keep patching it up if necessary so that it lasts forever. I think someone could make a mint by reprinting them, because everyone of "a certain age" loves it and asks me if I know where they can get one.

Rene's sister Mary Ann made this for us quite a few years ago. We got the stable from a friend who was throwing it out. Everyone's favorite is this little lamb, who is standing with his tail toward the viewer, looking at the manger. The "JOY" candles I purchased from the Avon Lady when we lived in Casselton. They are getting faded, but they still smell like Christmas.

I have several nativities from foreign countries like....

Argentina,

Paraquay,

and Ecuador. They all have special meaning to me because they were thoughtfully brought to me by our kids.
Here's one that was kicking around our house for a couple of years and Joanna, that crafty girl, painted it for me before she moved to Minneapolis.

It's always a sweet experience to unpack these little treasures and remember not only the Savior's birth, but the love of friends and family by which we are surrounded.

Mele Kalisimasi!

Tonight was our ward Christmas party, "Christmas Around the World." We were in charge of a display about and food from Tonga. It was pretty awesome, if I say so myself. We used all of Rene's tapa cloths and mats and some fake palm trees leftover from "Christmas in Bethlehem" last year. We served oati, which is a drink made of pureed watermelon, coconut and coconut cream (obviously, I didn't have any say in that because I personally find coconut disgusting.) We wore some of the traditional Tongan clothes Rene brought home from his mission, even though it was 21 degrees outside. Oh, the palm trees were missing ALL of their leaves, so last night late, we whipped some up.