Happy Post-Thanksgiving Everyone....
It's
4:00 p.m. and already dark....we think this may be a long winter! The
day we left for NYC, the temperature was 68 degrees and when we got back
here there was 8 inches of snow on the ground. And then today most of
it melted. Crazy New York weather! We've left Thanksgiving behind us
and are now well into the Christmas holidays. At least the day after we
got back we pulled out the big 2 foot tall Christmas tree and put our
decorations on it and put up the one nativity set we brought.....and
then made an emergency run to Hobby Lobby for all the "trimmings" to
make the apartment look festive. We have 3 different activities here in
the next week and we wanted it to look warm and inviting to those who
come. We may have to go rent some little kids to come over and dress up
and do the "family nativity production" on Christmas Eve! And we
forgot to bring our video of the most famous of the Jolley/Jacklin
performances. But we have Christmas music playing in the background and
a calendar full of things to do this month so we think we'll make it
without falling apart......maybe.
This past
week has been a whirlwind and went by much too quickly. What can we
say about New York City?? Big, noisy, exciting, people filled,
interesting, beautiful in its own way, and so many other things.
Somebody told us that our first time there would be like drinking from a
firehose.....and it was! But.....we didn't get lost, mugged, or any of
those other things one can worry about. In fact the people there were
so kind to two old people who looked like they needed help whenever we
weren't with Jan and George. The highlight of course was being with
real, live family again and going to the Macy's Parade to watch Connor
perform with his band. They are an absolutely amazing marching band and
everybody anywhere who has anything to do with them can be so proud.
We became proficient at riding the train into the city (and thanks a ton
to Chris Koller and his wife for "tending" our car and driving us to
the train station in New Jersey) and riding the subway once we got
there. And we walked and walked and walked! We had a couple of days to
see the sights of the city, The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
(where they charge $7 for a half hour to look up ancestors on their
computers....we opted to wait until getting home). The 911 Memorial was
a sacred spot to ponder what happened there and see those thousands of
names of people who died and remember what we saw on TV and how we felt
on September 11th 2001. We totally and completely loved seeing Wicked!
Worth every penny spent for tickets that we luckily got before we got
there because it was sold out. The other "excitement" of that night was
being in Time's Square at the same time the protestors came, hundreds
of them, who were demonstrating against the court's decision to not
indict the policeman in Fergason, Missouri. We were there with the
whole group from American Fork, all 300+ students and parents, for the
group photo the Macy's photographer was doing when he (the photographer)
said "let's get this done and get out of here because the protestors
are coming." Before we knew it, there were dozens of police in riot
gear with their big trucks trying to block the protestors who moved
right through them, chanting and waving their signs. So all the
tourists are trying to go up one side of the street and the protestors
going right down through the middle of the road blocking traffic. Not
more than 10 feet away from us a group of protestors started banging on a
cab who had honked at them to get out of the way so he could turn and
avoid the mess.....the cab driver, obviously afraid, squealed out trying
to get away nearly hitting a woman and her children. That was a time
of actual fear on our parts because Jan was in the intersection! But we
all kept going and as soon as we got to our hotel, the hotel staff was
herding all the hotel patrons into the hotel as soon as we could get
in. So....no pictures of a real live protest. It was basically a
peaceful demonstration but for a few seconds we understood how quickly a
tense situation could get completely out of hand and dangerous. For
whatever reason people feel strongly about what they feel, putting
others in danger is just plain wrong!!!!!!!
So
off the soapbox! More sightseeing the next day, complete with umbrellas
for the New York rain that luckily wasn't snow....Macys, FAO Swartz,
St. Patrick's Cathedral, lunch at the famous John's pizzeria and around
and through buildings and on streets that we'd heard of but never been
to. We loved theTop of the Rock, Central Park, a perfect oasis in the
middle of all that concrete, saw the Guggenheim Museum. Carnagie Hall,
Radio City Music Hall., Trump Towers, the tree at the Today show square.
As we said before, the parade was so exciting.....and so easy to get
to and see. None of this sleeping out on the parade route all night.!
We walked a block and a half from our hotel, were some of the first ones
there (6:30 a.m.), got perfect seats which happened to be right on a
subway vent which meant warm air blew up from below (wonderful since it
was 35 degrees outside), made friends with all the people who came
behind us (by the time the parade started the crowd was about 10 deep),
sent one or two of us around the corner for hot chocolate and bagels,
and could even walk back to the hotel when the "need" arose. So we were
just a few feet from the balloons and the bands and all the wonderful
floats.....and NO polititicians!! New York at it's best!! Thanksgiving
feast that night was a dinner cruise with all 350 American Fork Utahans
on the Hudson River. The food was sooo yummy and the view of the
skyline at night was amazing, especially the Statue of Liberty.
So
that was our week. Ahhhh the perks of being senior missionaries! But
now it's time to get back to work and work it is. But we're invigorated
and ready to dig deep for a couple of weeks before all our students
head off dozens of different directions for a very long Christmas
break....nearly until the end of January. We hope to get our apartment
painted (which looks like it hasn't been painted in 50 years), sing in
the Community Choir for Christmas, and do lots of service with the
missionaries and anything else we can find to do. We've started
crossing our fingers because transfers are already again in a week and a
half and we would be way too sad to see any of our missionaries go.
But....whatever happens happens but we're hoping they all stay. They've
become our family away from family and we love them all.
But
who do we love the most???? Is it ok to have favorites? Because we
do!!!!! We are a happy family!! And we miss Carlee and Cade and know
that there's no better thing to be doing during the Christmas season
than to be testifying of Christ whose birth we celebrate. We know
they'll be happy even if they are a bit homesick. If anybody happens to
be reading this besides our kids and grandkids, service and missionary
work can be done anytime, anywhere, anyhow!!! Thanks to all of you,
family and friends, who teach and have taught us how to be disciples of
Christ. We know He lives and He loves us more than we can understand or
comprehend. We are grateful for Prophets and Apostles and Scriptures
and for the Gift of a loving Heavenly Father who sent His Son. And yay
for Christmas music, especially the Christmas carols.
No comments:
Post a Comment