My Letters to Chris: November 30, 2014

Hey Sweetie:

How are you? I sure hope this letter finds you well and happy! I hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving! I have had a rough time for the last few days--I have had a stomach bug...YUK! Throwing up, the whole nine yards. I have stopped throwing up, but I ache so bad! It is ridiculous!!!

So, other than the virus, the rest of the week went pretty good. Dad took the whole week off. It was nice to have him home. He worked on stuff he wanted to do, and his stress level has gone way down! Tuesday was our 25th wedding anniversary. It was a wonderful day! Dad made me an awesome breakfast, then we just hung out. I arranged dinner for us. We went up to Manitou Springs and had dinner at the Mona Lisa (a fondue restaurant). It was a 4-course meal. We had a little room all to ourselves. It was so romantic. :) They wanted to give us champagne to celebrate, but since we don't do alcohol, they gave us some sparkling juice (pomegranate juice). It took us about 2 hours to eat our dinner. It was a nice to sit and chat ALONE for such a long time! I have to say that I still am in love with your father! He is a WONDERFUL man!!!

Thanksgiving went very well. Gpa came over in the morning to help with the stuffing and turkey. It was nice having him there to help. It has been a long time. Lucky for me, "it" didn't come with!!! After the turkey was in the oven, Gpa went back to his motorhome. Linda showed up shortly after. I can't believe how much weight she has gained!! I thought she was heavy before...now it is ridiculous. I guess she is looking into having the bypass surgery that Julie had. She needs to lose the weight. She needs to have hip surgery, but with her current weight, it is very risky. She has to go through about 3 months of dieting and psychological testing before they will do the surgery. She is hoping they will let her have it in February.

Back to the Thanksgiving story...Poor Linda was hungry before dinner was ready. I had made spinach dip ahead of time in the bread bowls. She ate the whole "lid" of the bread bowl and about half the spinach dip. I was AMAZED at how much she ate---but I digress. Gpa and It showed up. You would have been so proud of me! I was nice to It. I am still working on my feelings towards her. I am sure the Lord will help me eventually overcome those feelings! Then Brian and his family showed up. That was WONDERFUL! We did the same thing we did last year and had everyone say what they are grateful for. I am still overly grateful for my family!!! I sure love you all! After the prayer, we all gathered around the dining room table (Tiffany, Alex, Justin and Luke sat at a card table in the living room). Overall, it went WONDERFUL! (I think I like that word). Ryan really bonded with Justin and Brian....he showed them how to make "chain mail"...you know the stuff that they would wear in battle in the olden days. Overall, it was a great day!

Ryan ended up getting up early on Friday and drove up to Denver to watch Alex play 2 of her soccer games. I made a good impression on that Brian's family. Kari even texted me and told me what wonderful children I have! It made me feel real good!

So, how was your Thanksgiving? Did the family you eat with have any good traditions? I think we are going to make the going around the table and telling what we are grateful for one of our family traditions.

So, tell me about your area...is it cold? lots of trees? more city??? Tell me about your companion. I have been bad and don't remember his name. If you tell me about him, I may be able to remember his name when I pray rather than saying "Chris' companion". ha-ha. Did you have anything interesting happen this week? Are you teaching many people? How are you fairing as district leader? (I am sure you are doing well, just want to hear it from you). Maybe these questions will help you write a longer letter :)

We put up the Christmas tree. Actually, we got a live tree this year. I just wanted a live one...not sure why. It smells wonderful!