Christmas Decorations

 Although I admit that today I felt like this:

I truly love my decorations.  This year I did donate a couple of boxes of things that didn't 'bring me joy' so the things I have left are truly my favorites - many, many boxes of JOY.  Thought I'd share a few and explain why I love them.

My mother loved Christmas and was really good at collecting fun decorations.  These 'shelf sitters' are so adorable and get lots of complements.  The carolers were hers too.  The two Santas are ones I bought.  One is from Poland and the other from Iceland.  One of the caretakers at our campground  in Iceland also painted Christmas decorations so naturally I had to have one.

Speaking of my mother, this is the nativity set that my parents bought in Italy in about 1960.  I distinctly remember playing with it as a child.  When my mother passed it to me, our children were little but she only gave it to me with the understanding that I would let my children also play with it.  I did what she asked and sometimes found GI Joes attacking the stable or Teen Aged Mutant Turtles as part of the scene.  This is the first year that Isabella has shown any interest in playing with it.  She made up a long story that involved shepherds who were not nice and kings who taught them.  I am not sure why baby Jesus is on the roof!!!  Must have been the mean shepherds! That girl has quite the imagination!

My mother loved animals like I do.  This nativity proves that.

I am glad I have this pet nativity from her collection.

Another favorite of mine is this one from Ecuador.  I already had bought two on this trip but I could not resist this one when I saw it at the airport.  

I had to have those cute animals.

This is my newest one, purchased in Rwanda in October.  Simple but sweet.

So many treasured memories of family, Christmases past, and exciting trips go through my mind as I box up all the decoration.  It is definitely worth the time and effort.

Puss in Boots

 Another fun Grandpa, Grandma, Isabella date to see 'Puss In Boots'.

Isabella's favorite character - Goldie.

Mandatory selfie with Puss!

What a fun night!

A movie with popcorn and then a trip to the candy store!

We really love this little 7 year old girl and enjoy spending time with her.

She gets to be more fun every year!

Christmas 2022

 Another wonderful Christmas for the Lewis family!  For some reason I didn't take as many photos as I usually do.  I had plans to document the beautiful spread of food on Christmas Eve but the only photo I got was this one of Isabella and her giant sandwich.  Homemade tomato basil soup and sandwiches with all the trimmings were on the menu.

Then we all enjoyed the chocolate fountain, compliments of George's efforts!

Chocolate mustaches are the part of the fun! 

Everyone worked intently on their ornament, carrying on the family tradition started about 10 years ago!

I think they turned out especially cute this year!  

And I love that Monica put 3 stars on her tree - on for each of Argentina's World Cup wins!

The ONLY photo I took of our games was this one of Matt's girlfriend Kady.  We all enjoyed getting to know her better.  She has the most infectious laugh and a smile that lights up the room.  I am so happy she joined in our festivities which included some silly games!  She's a good sport!

Both Isabella and Jackson went to bed well prepared for a visitor from the North Pole.  In West Virginia the reindeer had apples and in Idaho they shared some carrots.  The jolly old gentleman had plenty of cookies in both places.

On Christmas morning after a beautiful musical program at church, we enjoyed our traditional Christmas morning meal of breakfast pizza and cinnamon rolls.  Yummy!

Then we opened presents!  We FaceTimed Mary so that she could be in on the fun.  I really missed having the Reynolds family here but I am so glad they weren't traveling since flights were being canceled and delayed.  That would not have added to the Christmas cheer!.

I think that my excuse for not getting more 'present opening' pictures was that we were using my phone to FaceTime.  Oh well!  You will just have to trust that there were plenty of presents and lots of smiles.

Isabella got a Sorry game.  Of course we had to play it.

Can you guess from this photo who won? And she wasn't SORRY. I believe that every time I have ever taught her how to play a new game she has won!

Christmas 2022 - another good day of making memories!

Santa Pictures

 The Santa pictures tradition continues with the next generation.

Isabella is still a big fan of the man in red!

Jackson not so much!

Argentina Wins the World Cup

As a Barcelona fan, I have always loved Leo Messi.  I cried when he lost in the World Cup final in 2014 and again when he was forced to leave FC Barcelona.  Watching him cry both times just broke my heart.  It's weird, isn't it, that someone you don't know can touch you so.  

This last Sunday the only tears shed were tears of pure joy as I 'watched' Leo and the Argentine National Team win the World Cup in a thrilling game against France. 

Argentina started off so strong, totally dominating the French team in every way. It was 2 - 0 Argentina and I was mentally celebrating, thinking of preparing an Argentine meal for Sunday dinner and celebrating with John, Monica and Isabella.  Then boom, just like that in the 80th and 81st minute the amazing Mbappe scored two goals.  As the announcers said, ''Game on". I truly felt nauseous. Reminded me of when one of our boys played for the State Championship!  Just sick with nerves!

As the regulation time ended George and I went to church.  True confession, we followed the play by play on our phones during sacrament meeting.  Extra time in soccer goes for 30 additional minutes past the normal 90 - two 15 minute periods.  At minute 108 Messi scored and I was thrilled thinking that it was just perfect that his extra time goal would win the World Cup.  Unfortunately Mbappe had different ideas and scored again at the 118th minute.  Tied again and it ended tied.  Shootout here we come. I was a wreck.

Here's Monica 'watching' the game from the tranquility of her closet!  Actually she is listening to music!!! Had I not been at church I might have done the same thing. It was a rollercoaster with alternating waves of joy and agony!

For some weird reason my Goal.com app stuck when the shots from the mark were happening.  I knew that it was 3-1 Argentina but then it wouldn't refresh.  Finally a notification came through on George's phone that Argentina had won the World Cup!  Big relief!!!  And happy day!

The official score looks like this Argentina 3(4) - France 3(2). So at the end of the game it was 3-3 and then Argentina hit 4 shots in the shootout and France hit only 2.  The goalie from Argentina saved one, France missed one but Argentina hit all of theirs.

The moment that the last goal went in. and the team knew that they had won!  The sweet taste of victory!  Messi is #10.

Messi could now add a World Cup trophy to his impressive haul of titles and awards!

Does this settle the debate of who is the GOAT?  Greatest of All Time. Probably not but in my mind there is no question that the rivalry between Messi and Ronaldo is settled. Messi is the genius of football.  Don't know how you can compare him to other players from a long time ago, like Pele, but for me there is no one like Leo.  Mbappe will stake his claim to the GOAT title and might someday claim it.  But for today, let's celebrate Messi and the Argentine National Team.

Just look at his adorable family savoring the moment!

And take a peak at the crowds in Buenos Aires celebrating! They called it a sea of supporters.  In fact,  the bus taking the players to the city center couldn't make it because of safety concerns so they put the team in helicopters and flew them over the city.  Monica heard that there were 10 million people along the route. I heard 4 million but either way, that is a LOT of excited people.  Very difficult to control!

I especially liked this photo that Monica shared with me.  That's the LDS Temple in the background where John and Monica were married.

Sunday night we did celebrate with a chicken Milanese and French fries (very typical Argentine meal)  and we toasted the World Cup Champions with sparkling cider!

What a day to be a Messi and Argentina fan!

I don't know why it matters to me but it does and I am so happy!

 

Little Things that Mean a Lot

 When my mother died and I was faced with the task of cleaning out her house, I was very grateful that during each visit with her during the last 10 years of her life, she had insisted that we clean out her closets, storage house and attic.  Her feeling was that if I didn't want something that she had, then she should get rid of it.  Of course I did want a lot!  My mother had saved many things from my childhood and those are treasures to me.  Now that I am getting older, I'm also sorting and deciding what is worth keeping.   It isn't easy for me to let things that my mother saved for 60+ years go.  Maybe taking photos of some of them and sharing their meaning will make it easier for me.

Here are 3 souvenirs that I bought during the period of time we lived in Sicily - 1960 - 1963.

The blue vase is from Syracuse,  Italy.  I have no idea why this particular place made such an impression on me.  I was just 6 years old but when we went back to Sicily in 1999 with the boys, I remembered it very well.  Don't you love that in the 60's when you were a tourist in Italy, women wore dresses?

The 'leaning tower of Pisa' was a weather forecaster.  It had some sort of sparkling glitter on the sides which changed color depending on the weather.  Of course the glitter is long gone.  I bought this in Pisa when we made a trip up through Italy to Germany.  

Can you believe there is not one photo of me in Pisa?  My mother didn't take a lot of photos and Daddy was using his movie camera that day.  

I am glad that my Grandma Boyle also was a saver and kept this postcard that my mother sent her.

I especially love the seven cent airmail stamp!  And I guess I did 'take it all in' since I remember the day in Pisa. 

One of my clearest memories is that there were a lot of children receiving their first communion and the little girls wore white dresses that looked like wedding dresses.  Oh, how I wanted one of those dresses since I loved playing 'bride'.  

I found this photo on-line from that time period.  Can't you see why a little girl would really want one?

I never got one.  My parents probably thought it was a bit sacrilegious and I also imagine that they were expensive.

Here is what my mother wrote about that day in Pisa in her trip journal.

I guess the line of girls in white dresses didn't make the same impression on her that it did on me.

I don't really know for sure where I got the small pink vase.  My mother gave me a large round cake plate that is the same color.  I am confident that it came from Catania, Sicily which is the large city close to the base.  When I google 'pink Sicilian Glass' I find that  Williams Sonoma has pink "Sicilian' tableware.  No one around that knows for sure anymore!

All of my treasures aren't from my childhood!

This one was a gift from George when we were dating.

He was a Sunday school teacher in our student congregation.  In one of his lessons he was teaching on the importance of spreading joy by doing little things.  Since it happened to be my birthday, he gave me this small trinket.  Quite the object lesson and I have kept it all these years.  It has been stored in a box but I just put it on display to remind me of the JOYS I've experienced since that Sunday in 1974. My kids may throw it away but I will keep it always to remind me of that skinny young guy that I fell in love with.

Don't we look young?  I was 21 and George was 23.  We WERE young!

The last 'treasure' is one from our time living in Barcelona.  

For most of the 5 years we were there, I led the music in our church's children's organization.  Among the many adorable children were 6 girls from one family.  I loved them and they loved me.  The youngest would often come and sit on my lap during meetings.  George and I have been lucky to attend several of their weddings in Salt Lake and get reacquainted with these girls, now strong women!

Unfortunately I only have a photo of mom and 3 of the girls.

One Sunday they very excitedly gave me these little swans.

Tucked inside were several notes they had written me.

After mentioning that they loved me, they practiced all the English words that they had been learning at school, and wrote a scripture from Genesis.  For more than 22 years I have kept this memento of these little girls and one of the sweetest times in my life when I learned that love knows no boundaries, not language, culture, or age.

In the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up when discussing how to sort 'sentimental items', Marie Kondo writes this, "It is not our memories but the person we have become because of these past experiences that we should treasure.  This is the lesson these keepsakes teach us."

So what have the experiences associated with these keepsakes taught me:

1.  Travel changes you when you 'take it all in'.

2.  Find and give joy with simple things.

3.  Love cuts across language barriers, cultural differences and disparate ages.