December 2022 - The Most Wonderful Time of The Year!

 

Front Entry of Home

We started the festivities of December at the Christkindlmarkt Salt Lake City on Dec. 1.

Market Booths

It was a cold wintery day and perfect for being at the Christmas market.  It was not the same as being in Germany, Austria or France, but it was still festive and the smells from the food brought back lots of memories.  We stopped at the Cafe Berlin and met a family from Singen, Germany that knew several of the missionaries that we served with.  It was so fun to visit with them and to try their bratwurst on a real authentic bun.  There were some nice shops and it is a nice venue at This Is The Place State Park.  Because of the threat of a Winter Storm there were not a lot of people and it was nice for us to not have to fight the crowds.  

Time for Christmas Shows and programs.  Preslee takes Theater class at the Scera in Orem.  They put on their Christmas Show and it was Fantastic!  She really enjoys it and shines on stage.

This is a picture I did not think I would ever see even in my wildest dreams.  This is Joshua's family with SANTA (Joshua) at their Ward Christmas Party.  

Kelly on the left, Shannon on the right and Jamie on Santa's lap.  So fun for their family.  

To top it off - Julie got to have her picture with Santa too!  This truly made my day when they sent the photos.  

Julie with SANTA

They are really enjoying Portland - even the snow and ice they have had recently.  

We look forward to having them visit for New Year's.

Emily, Ian, Logan and Preslee.  It has been a few years since they have had a family picture taken and we are so glad that Brian and Beth came for a visit and did a photo shoot for us.  Logan is in 8th Grade - he is over 200 lbs and 6'1".  Preslee is in 6th grade and busy with Cheer, theater, and friends.  

Brian, Beth, William and Nora living in Wichita, Kansas.  William is in 4th grade and enjoys piano, voice lessons and flag football with his Dad as coach.  Nora is a star soccer player, plays the piano and is an avid reader.  

Jaime, Andrew, Adam, Eric, Abby, Zach and Emma Zuis living in Farmington Minnesota.  With three adult kids it is hard to get the whole family together for a picture.  This is their busy time as Andrew is a Professional SANTA and Jaime has a cottage Bakery business.  He did over 90 home visits this year and his whole being transforms the minute the suit goes on.  He is awesome.  Adam works in the meat department at HY-VEE grocery, Abby works as a supervisor on the ramp at Delta Airlines, Eric helps at home and Zack and Emma are in school.  Emma with her school choir recently got to sing the National Anthem at the Minnesota Timberwolves game.  

The Nativity Display in Texas has been a part of our life for 28 years.  We were not able to go and help our dear friend Faye Landham this year due to surgeries and preparations for leaving to the Czech Republic in Jan.  We were so sorry to miss this special event.  Faye is almost 82 and she decided this was going to be her last year to display her 1300 Nativity Sets.  She reached out to 76 Churches in the area to see if they were interested in acquiring the sets and carrying on the display.  Five Churches responded and she narrowed it down to two in Granbury.  We talked over the options together.  Many of you know the story - 27 years ago Faye asked to participate in the Arlington TX Stake Nativity Display.  She had 200 sets at that time and we were thrilled to have her be a part of the event.  That began a special friendship and many more years of setting up Nativities in Arlington and then Granbury.  Her collection grew to over 1300 sets.  The Granbury Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was one of the Churches that expressed interest in the collection.  I called and talked with their representative and shared a little of our history together.  They want to continue her legacy and have her involved telling her stories as long as she is able.  They see it as a great Public Affairs event and a great opportunity to be more involved in the Community.  Both Faye and I had been praying for the right opportunity to happen and I know it was an answer to my prayers for this to happen.  It will be a great Community event for Granbury.  

We hosted our 2nd Annual Open House Nativity Display this year.  We have about 100 Nativities and opened our home for those who wanted to come and see.  I love the feeling in our home with all of the Nativities filling the rooms - so many memories and stories of where they are from.  I love sharing the stories with others when they come.  It was so special to have two of Russ's former bosses at American Airlines come and see this year.  It had been years since we had seen them.  Amazing that we all ended up in the same area in Utah 20 years later.  We also had a longtime friend, Sam Jones attend.  He left Arlington Texas and lived in Antigua for several years and then returned to Utah during Covid.  It was a great reunion.  We had special friends from our mission and many neighbors.  

I am not looking forward to taking them down, but time is going so fast and they will need to be down before New Year's.  We are already looking forward to next year and another Open House Nativity Display.

Hand Carved in Germany

Nancy and Mel Olson

My wonderful sister, Pam

The best part of the Open House - the FOOD!  I made so much food we are still trying to finish it off.  My sister, Pam came for a day and helped with the baking.  It was such a fun day together - we just got carried away and made a lot of food.  

PICTURES OF DECEMBER EVENTS

We rode the Frontrunner Train to Downtown Salt Lake City.  It was a very snowy night and magical as we walked through Temple Square and all of the lights, visited the Giving Machines, had a delicious dinner at the Blue Lemon,  Mexican Hot Chocolate from The Red Iguana as we walked in the snow to Abravanel Hall for the Millennial Choir Christmas Concert that my two nieces were singing in.  We got about 6 inches of snow that night and we were so glad we rode the train and did not have to drive so far in the snow.  

Giving Machines

Temple Square

Front Yard Snow

Music and The Spoken Word with The Tabernacle Choir

We did not get tickets to the Christmas Concert so we attended on Sunday morning for their live broadcast with the guest artists, Lea Salonga ( she is the voice of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin and Fa Mulan from Mulan) and Sir David Suchet (he played Hercule Poirot in 70 episodes of Agatha Christie's Poirot)   It was such beautiful music and a special program.  We are so grateful to be here and to be able to attend so many wonderful events.  

Sir David Suchet shared the Nicholas Winton Story - a British humanitarian who assisted in the rescue of 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II.  He was born to German-Jewish parents who had emigrated to Britain at the beginning of the 20th Century.  He helped compile a list of children needing rescue, helped fulfill the legal requirements in Britain and found homes and sponsors for them.  His work went unnoticed to the world for over 50 years until he was invited to a BBC program, That's Life, where he was reunited with several of the children he had helped rescue.  He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003.  He was awarded the highest honor of the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion in 2014.  He died on July 1, 2015 at the age of 106.  After his story, the Choir sang a traditional Czech Carol.  There was not a dry eye in the audience.  I am amazed at how many experiences we have had in the past two months since being asked to go to The Czech Republic.  

DRIVE THROUGH LIGHT DISPLAY - SPANISH FORK, UT

I love to see the lights!  The lights of Christmas are symbols of the Light of Christ.  He is the light and life of the world. He brings light to a dark world.  

We waited in line for about 45 min. and then entered the gates to the wonderland of lights.  I felt like a little child overwhelmed by all of the sights.  Moving from one scene to the next wondering what I was missing.  

One of my favorites was the green dragon.  I am not sure why I liked it so much but it was magical to me.  It was nice to just be with Russ and to have both of us just enjoying it with no background chatter.  According to him the only thing that would have made it better is if I would have stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner on the way home.  

Ending the drive with the Nativity scene was so beautiful and fitting.  Amid all of the lights of cowboys, bears, penguins, dragons, ferris wheels, etc., it was a grand finale to end with the true light of the Christmas season.  

One of the nice things about living back in Utah is being close to family.  We visited my favorite cousin, Shirley on Christmas Day.  She has been collecting snowmen, Santa's and Christmas village pieces for many years.  She has help setting it up now, but it is still so fun to visit and experience so many memories.  

Friends Elli and Cooper are visiting in Germany for Christmas and sent us this picture of a special place that Elli took us to when we were in Freiburg Germany.  The most beautiful life size hand carved Nativity scene.  

CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

Late on the 23rd of December Emily came downstairs to check on two friends who got to have a "late night" with Preslee.  Their parents were coming to pick them up and she looked out the window and saw something on the front porch.  She has a Ring doorbell and it had not indicated that anyone came.  She opened the door and there was a snowblower sitting on the front sidewalk with a note on it.  

It said:  Dear Grimmett's and Fackrell's - We have used this snow blower for the past few years and it has worked really well for us.  We have a new four wheeler that we use now and know this will be useful for you.  Merry Christmas, a loving neighbor.  

The past two weeks we have shoveled a LOT of SNOW.  More than last year in the whole Winter.  Ian will be glad to have it since we will be gone the whole Winter.  So grateful for good neighbors that were so gracious to our families.

NIGHT IN BETHLEHEM

For about 35 years on Christmas Eve we have what we call A Night in Bethlehem.  We put a table on the floor with cans under it to raise it just a little.  We have a simple meal of Chicken in pita bread with cheese and lettuce.  Trays of nuts, dried fruits, olives of many varieties, cheese cubes, stuffed grape leaves, roasted potato cubes, chips and Salsa, fruit breads, baklava and this year we added shrimp.  Everyone gets gold chocolate coins to pay our taxes and we eat by candlelight .  We watch The Nativity Story - when the kids were little we would act out the Nativity story.  Most of our children still do this in their homes.  It is one of the things we look forward to every Christmas.  

Christmas Morning!

We had a very simple and nice day.  It is always a special day when Christmas is on Sunday and we can attend Church.  We have Church at 1:30 in the afternoon so we had a nice leisurely morning and then attended our Church service that was filled with beautiful music and testimonies of Jesus Christ.  We visited family and delivered our traditional Salsa and Chips to our neighbors on Christmas Eve.  It is a lot different here where our friends and neighbors are within a 1/4 mile radius and not driving all over Arlington/Mansfield to deliver our Salsa.  We miss all of our friends we would visit and wish a Merry Christmas to all.   We are grateful for our new friends and neighbors.

What a year it has been!  We have worked hard on our home, visited our children and grandchildren, traveled, volunteered, survived Covid and surgeries.  We have witnessed miracles and so many tender mercies in our life and of family members.  We are so grateful that Emily is recovering from her car accident last month.  It has been a long slow process and she continues to get treatments to be relieved of pain.  She is still not driving and we hope she can overcome her fear and be healed.

Christ taught, "My grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

We have learned from so many experiences and have drawn closer to our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ along the way.  We have been blessed abundantly.  We leave in 5 days for The Czech Republic.  We are excited and also a little nervous about our abilities .  We know the Lord will bless us and strengthen us in our weakness.  We are so grateful for the experiences we have had in life that have prepared us for what lies ahead.  We are taking down our Christmas decorations today - always a sad day for me.  I love the feeling in our home with the lights and the Santa's and the many Nativity scenes.  Our responsibility is to now carry that Spirit with us throughout the year and help others to feel it and be blessed by it.  

We pray that each of you will feel the peace and joy that comes through knowing that Jesus is The Christ, the Son of God.  We must give place for Him in our hearts, and as we do so we will be abundantly blessed.

With Love,

The Grimmett's 

November 2022 - Gratitude, Blessings and Service

 

HAPPY FALL

I don't even know where to start this month.  It has been another life changing month and filled with so much gratitude for all of our experiences along the past 47 years of marriage that have prepared us for this time in our life.  We know there are no coincidences that happen - The Lords influence is in everything we do preparing us for things to come.  We shared the details of our trip to Europe back in September.  We had the opportunity of visiting Vienna and meeting the current missionary couple serving there, Elder & Sister Schroedter.  They told us about their assignment of serving 4 days in Prague, Czech Republic and 3 days in Vienna and all about the Cumorah Academy that they serve at.  Elder Schroedter told us we needed to go home and look up the Academy and see the wonderful things that are there for the European Young Adults.  We then visited our friend Michael at his home in Z'lin, Czech Republic and he also said the Academy was a wonderful place.  In one month we had several people tell us about the academy and so we looked it up and thought it was a wonderful opportunity but did not think anything more about it.  

CUMORAH ACADEMY

On October 19 at 7:30 AM we received a messenger note from Kelly Shepherd, a former Area Director for CES that I worked with 20 years ago. 

"Greetings from Cumorah Academy in the Czech Republic (check out Cumorah Academy online or Facebook) . . . I just found out they need a couple in January and probably  in April.  . . .If. you have any interest or know someone who might be interested, please let me know.  The next semesters start Mid Jan, then mid April.  READY FOR ANOTHER GREAT ADVENTURE?  Let me know quickly and we can zoom or FaceTime and send pictures. . ."

We looked at each other and in less than 5 minutes we wrote back that we would love to come in January.  That put the wheels in motion and they have not stopped in the past 6 weeks.  We met the owner and founder of the Academy, Patrick Sedivy - what an amazing experience!  

So What is Cumorah Academy?  This is a private non-profit Academy supported solely by the generous contributions of donors designed to help students 18-35 gain skills in English, business, life skills, and come together as followers of Christ.  It is not a Church entity, but they use the Institute, Self Reliance, and other Church materials to instruct and guide students.  They bring in business and life skill mentors each week and have interns who teach English and business classes.  Missionaries teach institute and self-reliance courses.  Their vision is of an educational institution known throughout Europe and the world as a place of safety and strength for members of the rising generation.  It is  a vision of students returning to their lives equipped with practical skill, knowledge and personal attributes that will vastly improve their personal and professional prospects.

The setting is a former hotel, 50 miles south of Prague in the Czech countryside.  Students currently are attending from Ukraine, Spain, Moldova, Belarus, Romania, Venezuela , Mexico, Myanmar, Iran, Syria, etc.  The Site Advisors stay for 3 months and work with students, travel with them and serve like "Dorm Parents" during their stay.  There is a Chef who cooks 3 meals every day plus snacks between meals and a maid service.  NO Cooking for three months will be difficult for me - but how much better can that be.  

So after learning more from Patrick we were all in.  We were all touched during the interview by the many experiences we had leading up to this time and the people we both knew from the Czech Republic.  I had not talked to Kelly Shepherd for at least 8 years - my time working at CES continues to bless my life.  It took about two weeks for the Directors of the Academy to select us for the position and we finally got the invitation to be the Site Advisors.    Needless to say this put our life in high gear to get everything ready in about 8 weeks.  

We already had Doctor appointments scheduled and now we needed to have some medical procedures as quickly as possible.

Russ's hand

Russ has a genetic disease called Dupuytren's Contracture.  He has had

several surgeries and procedures on his hands.  It is not curable and comes back every few years.  It was time for another surgery and so he had his surgery on November 10.  

My surgery was scheduled the following week for two trigger fingers and a cyst on my wrist.  When then did the surgery they found 2 cysts on my wrist and another cyst in the palm of my hand by one of the trigger fingers.  

Linda's Hands

So, neither of us could drive, do dishes, lift, etc for a few days.  We were quite the pair.  I could tie his shoes and he could wash my hair.  I think Russ was glad I could not do anything for a few days - it gave him time to heal as well.  We both got our stitches out and are still limited in what we can do but are moving forward with getting ready for Christmas.  Unfortunately we had to cancel our annual trip to Granbury, TX for The Nativity Display with our dear friend, Faye Landham.  Our hands are not healed enough to go and our time is very short before we leave to the Czech Republic for three months.  We have had Dental and Medical appointments, International Drivers license, time with family and other preparations that need to be taken care of.  

FOOD TIME

FALL is one of my favorite times especially for food.  

Pictures from Butternut Squash Soup from last month's Blog.

Chocolate Caramel Apple - Perfect compliment to the soup.

PIE NIGHT at RELIEF SOCIETY

Emily's Cranberry Tart

Emily made a cranberry Tart with a hazelnut crust, layer of cranberry and topped with a cashew coconut milk white chocolate top.  Sugared cranberries and fresh rosemary finished it off.  SOOOO Delicious !

1800'S ONION PIE

I took a savory pie for the event.  My son, Josh had made this pie for us on one of our visits to Portland.  We loved it and I thought it would be fun to share as it is so savory and perfect for a November event.

2 pie crusts

Equal amounts of the following very thinly sliced (about 1 pound each)

Peeled Potatoes

yellow onions

apples

Mix together in small bowl:

1 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Pepper

1/2 tsp. Nutmeg

1/2 tsp. Mace (I used fresh ground Allspice)

Put 1 crust in pie pan.  Place 1/4 cup cut up pieces of Butter on top of Bottom Crust.  Layer in the following order:

Potatoes

Sprinkle of Spice Mix

Apple

Sprinkle of Spice Mix

Onion

Sprinkle of Spice Mix

Repeat to fill pan

Top with more cut up Butter

Sprinkle 1 Tbl. water or Chicken Broth over top.

Top with Top Crust.  It will be very high. Cut vent slits on top crust.

Bake at 350* for 1 hour - 1 hour 15 min. depending on thickness of vegetables.  It is so savory and will fill your home with wonderful aroma's.  

Finished Pie

THANKSGIVING

I was very limited to what I could do to help with Thanksgiving Dinner.  I made the crust and Preslee rolled it out!  She was amazing with the dough.  We made a mincemeat and  cherry raspberry pies.  I showed her how to crimp the edges and finish the pie.  They turned out really nice.  She then wanted to make her own S'more Pie.  I took a pre-made graham cracker crust.  1 (7 oz) chocolate candy bar melted and poured into crust.  Top with miniature marshmallows. Now the fun part.  She got to use the mini blow torch gun and toast the marshmallows to perfection.  The first try was a little hot and burned the marshmallows but we just took them off and tried again and it was perfection.  Drizzle with a little Chocolate syrup.  

S'more Pie 

Preslee having fun with her new mini torch gun for the kitchen.  

We were so excited when Brian and Beth decided to come to Utah for Thanksgiving. We got to spend Saturday with them and filled the day with so much fun.

Emily and Brian

Nora

We took the opportunity to celebrate Nora's 8th Birthday together.  The kids big and little all enjoyed their time at Nickel City playing games and Laser Tag.  Grandma and Grandpa were happy watching everyone have fun.

  

William

Ian & Logan

Nora and Emily

We also took the opportunity to have Brian and Beth take our picture.  They are a very talented photography team  and we are so glad they were here to make these memories for us.  

On Sunday we had special friends, Jonas and Michi Auras, from Germany for Dinner.  They are in the USA on business and we are so grateful they took time to come and visit us.  We had a delightful time of catching up and sharing memories.

It was a very busy week filled with family, friends and wonderful food.  Emily and Ian were asked to speak in our Church service on Sunday.  It was the perfect addition to a special week.  They gave heartfelt talks about knowing and recognizing Jesus Christ in our lives.  They told personal experiences that have shown them the blessings of Christ in their lives and how the Light of Christ brings us out of the darkness if we just "open the door" and let it in.  It was a very spiritual and uplifting Church Service.  

With so much to get done in the coming weeks we were anxious to get our fall decorations down and begin working on Christmas.  Our friends Elli and Cooper came over and took all of our Totes down from the shelves in the garage and into our house.  We are so grateful for their help.  

Monday I had my stitches out and we stayed close to home.

WOW!  how your life can change with a message or phone call.  Just like at the beginning of the month our World changed and now we end the month with a phone call early Tuesday morning that our daughter Emily had been in a serious car accident on I-15 and we needed to come to the scene of the accident.  Her husband, Ian had flown to Dallas Texas at 5:00 AM that morning and there had been a snowstorm over night.  He decided to drive her Van to the airport and leave his business Truck with 4 wheel drive for her to use because of its better traction.

It took some time for us to get through the traffic and to the accident site.  Just as we arrived I received a call from Utah Valley Hospital that she had been taken there in the ambulance.  They said they were running tests and taking X-rays and a Cat Scan and to come as soon as possible.  I am so grateful for that phone call before I walked up to the Truck.  It was reassuring to have talked to the hospital and to know she was going to be OK.  The truck was totally destroyed.  The whole bed of the truck was missing, the windows blown out and the front end smashed.  The back seat was up against the front seat with all of the air bags deployed.  

Emily had just dropped Logan off at school.  She was on the freeway and the traffic was just getting back to normal speeds when the cars in front of her came to a stop.  She was able to stop and not hit the car in front of her.  She then thought what is behind me - will they hit me?  She looked in her mirror and saw a semi-truck coming at high speed behind her.  She was stopped and cars were on both sides of her.  She watched as the truck tried to swerve into the other lane and his trailer carrying a large cement bridge beam was out of control and became like a baseball bat and her truck was the ball.  It hit her and she spun 

around and hit a Ford 150 next to her.  She ended up facing the oncoming traffic and the semi truck was stretch across the freeway.  She could not move because of the air bags and the seat belt so tight against her.  Two men came and checked on her and she had one of them make the call to me.  They could not move her and she asked him to just hold her hand.  The firetruck arrived first and then the ambulance arrived and took her to the hospital.  

She had just talked in Church on Sunday about the Miracles that had happened in her life.  She wanted her son, Logan to know that God is REAL and that he knows us and blesses us and that Miracles DO Happen.  Emily is a living MIRACLE Today.  The Highway Patrolman, Doctors and witnesses cannot believe she is even alive.  She does not have any broken bones or brain injuries.  She has bruises all over her body.  Glass was everywhere from her head to her toes.  The next few days will be healing days as new bruises and hurts surface.  I am so grateful we are here and can help her and help with the kids.  We have certainly felt the hand of the Lord helping us as we have had to step up and take care of things.  

I have learned how important our hands are these past two weeks when I did not have full use of mine.  I have always believed that my hands are His hands as I live and serve others.  At my mothers funeral 5 years ago I shared part of a poem by Kenneth Cope  - 

                          

                               HIS HANDS

. . .His hands would serve his whole life through

Showing man what hands might do

Giving, ever giving, endlessly

Each day was filled with selflessness

And I'll not rest until I make of my hands what they could be

"Til these hands become like those of Galilee . . .

He truly does fill in the void when we are not able and magnifies our abilities to be able to serve others.  

It's beginning to look like Christmas at our home.  We look forward to December and special times with family and friends.  We will have to simplify some things with Emily not being able to do all that she wants to, but it will not dampen our Spirits and we can focus on those things that are most important.  One of our favorite traditions is sharing our Nativities with others.  We will be hosting a Three Day Open House on December 9-11.  

We invite all of our friends and neighbors to COME AND SEE.

December 9         6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

December 10       5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

December 11       5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

                                          Grimmett & Fackrell Residence

                                          1064 E 140 N

                                          Lindon, UT

Grateful and Blessed,

Russ and Linda