Hearty News

During this last month, I went in for my annual physical. As usual, I was sick at the time and was generally expecting bad news. There was some - that is how I found that the pain in my shoulder was a torn rotator cuff. But today I got good news. The picture above is a healthy heart. Well, I just may have one somewhat like that. My cholesterol numbers came in with total cholesterol at 118 (good is less than 200), triglycerides was 46 ( ideal is less than 150), my HDL -that's the good cholesterol showed up at 49 (optimum for men is 40-50) and the bad cholesterol -LDL was a whopping 60 ( less than 100 is best). It looks like Janene's vegetable diet from our garden is working well. Hip Hip Hooray!

Family Christmas -2008

Well - It's over! This year for Christmas we were surrounded by family. The whole family was here including Glen's grandkids. Christina and Brady came from San Diego and the rest of the family made their treks over the river and through the woods. To grandmother Janene's house they all came (at about the same time) and brightened up our day. We had grandchildren in nooks and crannies we didn't know existed. I went into the toyroom once and there were at least four kids hiding in the toybox. I know what a blessing this is for us. I used to enjoy being one of the seven dozen cousins at my grandparents home on Jeremy Avenue. I also know that it won't always be this way. Young ones will grow up, our children may move away, and their spouses parents will want a turn with our cute grandkids. So we enjoy the moment while it is here, treasure the brief time we have with each one, and thank God for this tender mercy.

Phillips Fam - 1982

A glimpse into the past. Our new Christmas toy will allow us to scan in all of our old slides and import them into other programs like Picasa. What fun! The only person who won't like this will be Janene with her poofy hair.

Christmas Eve - Phillips Style

Every year we go to Grandpa and Grandma Phillips home for Christmas Eve. This tradition started years ago when we would go to Grandpa and Grandma Morton's home for Christmas Eve. We always start the evening by lighting a candelaria and placing it at the street in front of our home. This was started by some dear friends of ours, the Schneblys, who provide every home in the neighborhood with a bag and candle. This year, the wind blew it over before we could even get out of the driveway.

We always pig out on food to start with (including Morton's famous deviled ham chip dip) and then we sing the song Grandma Darlene wrote to the tune of "The 12 Days of Christmas" with our own favorite words. Then all the lights go out as we read from the Holy Scriptures the story from Luke. At the conclusion of the reading each one of us lights a candle in the darkness to symbolize the light of Christ coming into the world and finish with "Silent Night".

As soon as the song is over and the candles are gathered up safely, the children rush downstairs to open presents and mad chaos ensues. I think we all remember the picture of David scooping up all his presents with a snow shovel. Cousins Laura and Elsie somehow got given the same new outfit.

Grandma Janene gets a brief moment during the pandemonium to cuddle her newest grandson, Ben. Then it's off to our house again to watch "Its a Wonderful Life" and we will all be snug in our beds, with visions of Sugar Plums (I learned how to make these the other day - use the attached link)http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98666433 in our heads around midnight

Christmas Eve

My brother Mort needs some grandkids of his own. He's been pretty good at teaching Angie's kids how to fish and Sam how to knock over trees in the forest. Ben here was pretty pleased just being told that another year hence and he too will be knocking down trees. I told Ali that she would someday have children of her own that Grandpa Mort could play with. She seemed positively horrified at the thought. Hmmm.

Tammy's favorite day of the year is Christmas Eve. She can still think like a child and can come up with the best presents for the children.

Christmas Talent Show

Here is the whole fandamily at our Christmas talent show. Of course, this isn't the half of it all, but you get the idea. We were entertained by a couple of great piano solos, with violin and stories.

Isabel was excited for the prospect of Christmas coming and wanted everyone to know about it.

Elsie was pretty shy about doing her talent. Can you blame her? There were more people in our house than in church

Shon's kids were excited to listen to the story of Christmas as told by Grandma Janene.

Downtown Christmas

The lights were brilliant last night as Janene and I got to spend the evening at the Grand America Hotel. The night started with a dinner with all the managers from Firetrol. Our boss has sponsored this every year for the last three years. For one night a year, we get to see how the other half lives with a night in a suite at the hotel and a fancy dinner.

After dinner, Janene and I went for a walk downtown. We got to watch the news broadcast at Channel 2, the skaters at the Gallivan Center, and then on to Temple Square and all the lights. ( well... not all the lights. By the time we got to Temple Square, they had started turning off the lights)

By the time we were done, they were all off, and only the lights on the Temple remained. We awoke this morning to freshly fallen snow and the excitement of Christmas in the air.

We finished with some shopping at The Gateway and breakfast at Lambs Grill. It is hard to believe that Lambs Grill hasn't changed a bit since I first went there for a milkshake with my grandmother when I was ten or eleven years old. We had a wonderful break from the hectic days we are used to having.

Welcome to the Christmas House

Christmas is in full swing at the Phillips Home. Steve helped us put up the lights on the roof and Chelane helped us with our tree and the house is finally decorated for Christmas. This year we found a new kind of Christmas lights that are solar powered like the kind used on walkways. This allowed us to put up a tree at the cemetery for David this year that is lighted at night. For the first time in years, I was able to take a few minutes and just sit in the living room admiring the tree and soaking up the spirit of the season. We had grandkids over tonight. They spent a few minutes standing in awe as they watched the lights. We love the Christmas season and look forward (sometimes with a little dread) to putting up the lights again, and listening to all the old Christmas stories. We each have our favorite stories and the good ones make you cry.

One thing that we can do now that the kids have grown is put up the Christmas Village. With no kids around to throw balls at the schoolhouse, the village can remain intact - at least until the grandkids come over. With the grandchildren proliferating in our family, we may need to keep the village boxed up next year. Janene and I both know that 'things' are not really important. We love our traditions, but we love our kids more. The most important things in our lives are our relationships with family and friends. Hopefully, they can help us enjoy this Christmas season.