Merry Colonoscopy!

     Well, I had my first colonoscopy today.  I dreaded the experience, and the prep work was barely tolerable.  The procedure itself was incredibly easy.  I was wheeled from the dressing room to the procedure room.  They hooked me up to all of the monitors.  They started the anesthesia.  I made a comment to the nurse about all of the wires I was connected to, and the next thing I knew the doctor was waking me up in the dressing room.  He said I did well, but that he did remove one large polyp.  I was amazed at how quickly the procedure went.  I was extremely grumpy prior to the procedure because I had a headache and was starving, but I woke up feeling really well.  Hopefully, that should take care of me for the next ten years.

Merry Christmas!

         We have had a wonderful Christmas.  Last night we played games and watched movies.  We watched the season finale of The Mandalorian.  We also watched A Christmas Story, which I never get tired of seeing every year.  We played Jokers and Marbles and Cornhole, otherwise known as beanbag toss.  We didn't get to bed until after midnight.  Then, we were up early this morning to see what Santa brought and eat breakfast, then unwrap the final gifts.  I think everyone was happy with their gifts.  Jeffrey got his capture card for his computer.  I was spoiled with a high end drone.  Wendy got new kitchen knives and a new sink faucet, along with some new tech gadgets.  Wendy made us Ebelskivers for breakfast, along with eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, and juice.  It was a great breakfast!

The Christmas Eve Movie

 

    One of our favorite Christmas traditions is watching a recently released movie on Christmas Eve.  With Ashley's help we put together a list of the movies we have watched on Christmas Eve.  This year, Ryan scheduled the whole theater so we could watch a movie together.  The capacity of the theater was limited to 20 people, but it was fun to share it with people we knew.  Wendy and I were thinking about our movie experience in 2020, and this is the only movie we saw in a theater for the entire year.  Hard to believe, because we enjoy going to the movies.  I'm glad we were able to keep up this tradition.  The list may be incorrect but to the best of our recollection it is:

1995 - Jumanji

1996 - Space Jam

1997 - Mouse Hunt

1998 - The Prince of Egypt

1999 - Toy Story 2 or Stuart Little

2001 - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2002 - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

2003 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

2004 - A Series of Unfortunate Events

2005 - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

2006 - Night at the Museum

2007 - National Treasure:  Book of Secrets

2008 - The Tale of Despereaux

2009 - A Christmas Carol

2010 - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2011 - The Adventures of TinTin

2012 - The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey

2013 - Frozen

2014 - Night at the Museum:  Secret of the Tomb

2015 - Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

2016 - Star Wars: Rogue One

2017 - Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

2018 - Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

2019 - Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

2020 - The Croods:  A New Age

The Sims Christmas Party

     One of our annual Christmas traditions has been the Sims Christmas Party that Dale and Joyce Sims began 27 years ago.  At first, it included Dale and Joyce with John and Karen and their kids at the Sims' home on El Rancho Boulevard.  Then Wendy and her kids joined the party when they moved to Pocatello from Fairbanks.  Then Mike joined in, and soon spouses of their grandchildren and then great-grandchildren joined the party.  Each year, Grandma Sims provides a meal, reads a Christmas story and offers a small gift to all.  One year there was a Santa surprise guest.  Another year, a clown guest made balloon animals for all the children.  Many times we played games, and often kids reenacted the Nativity while listening to the story of Jesus' birth.  Last year we had about 45 family members in attendance.  This year, eight of us gathered for dinner, and afterwards Grandma Sims read a story to all of the family by way of Zoom meeting.  Great-grandkids opened gifts that she had sent out to them.  Very different from years past, but the message was still there.  Dale Sims passed away in May, 2016, but we are happy that Joyce continued the tradition despite all of the interruptions this year.

Tyler Graduates from BYU

    Tyler Ray officially graduated from B.Y.U. on December 17, 2020.  I wish there was a better way to recognize his achievement.  Our family now has three graduates from B.Y.U. Provo:  Megan, Ashley, and Tyler.  We were able to attend a graduation ceremony for Megan and Ashley, but Tyler probably won't walk.  Still, we are super proud of him.  Congratulations Tyler!

Ward Christmas Devotional

Part of our annual Christmas celebrations has been the Ward Christmas parties. Typically, these have included a meal and a program with the Primary children and ward members singing. Sometimes there was a visit from Santa Claus. This year we were unable to have a party, so the Bishopric decided to record a devotional with talks from the Bishopric and three musical numbers from the Burgoyne Family, Sister Tonks and Brother Redd, and Jeffrey. He played, "O Come, All Ye Faithful". I downloaded his musical number. The entire devotional can be viewed at https://youtu.be/igMzGg3IngA. Tonight, ward members will be doing a drive-through visit at the church and will recieve a small gift and Christmas story. I thought the devotional was well done.

Frosty Friends

Wendy began an annual tradition in 1983 of buying a Frosty Friends ornament. The photo above is the most recent ornament which is the 41st Frosty Friends ornament in the series that began in 1980. We did find the ornaments from 1980-1982 in order to complete the series. For a few years now we have set up a Christmas Tree in our kitchen corner just to display the Frosty Friends ornaments, and we have our regular Christmas Tree downstairs in our Family Room by the fireplace. This is the longest running series for Hallmark, and Wendy was surprised that they continued it this year. We will have to see if they keep it going next year.

Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concerts

One of the annual Christmas traditions that Wendy and I have had since 2005 is attending the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert in December. The photo above is from 2018. If the virus hadn't interfered, it probably would have been held this weekend. I have had a lot of time on my hands, so I went back and made a list of the concerts we attended.
2005 with Renee Fleming and Claire Bloom
*2006 with Sissel (My all time favorite)
2007 with The King's Singers
2008 with Brian Stokes Mitchell and Edward Herrmann
*2010 with David Archuleta and Michael York (My second favorite)(We missed 2009 with Natalie Cole)
2011 with Jane Seymour and Nathan Gunn
2012 with Alfie Boe and Tom Brokaw
*2013 with Deborah Voigt and John Rhys-Davies
*2014 with The Muppets and Santino Fontana
2015 with Laura Osnes, Martin Jarvis, Erin Morely, Tamara Mumford, Ben Bliss, and Tyler Simpson
*2016 with Rolando Villazón
*2017 with Sutton Foster and Hugh Bonneville
*2018 with Kristin Chenoweth
*2019 with Kelli O’Hara and Richard Thomas
*We own the DVD. I am trying to get copies of the ones we don't have.
I miss the excitement of going to the concert and seeing the lights on Temple Square. We often stayed with Mom or at a hotel. I hope they are able to bring it back next year. Those are a lot of good memories.

Covid-19

Well, it was just a matter of time, I think. I tested positive for Covid-19. The result came from a test I submitted on Monday this week. I am mostly asympotmatic. However, I have had headaches, fatigue, and dry mouth and cough. The most challenging symptom has been the loss of taste and smell. It really makes eating less enjoyable. I try to eat chocolate, but it's like eating wax. I have stayed at home this week and plan to continue to isolate until Friday of next week. Wendy and Jeffrey are not showing symptoms yet. I hope they are able to avoid it. Wendy has been working from home this week. I think I did pretty well staying away from the virus for as long as I did. Thankfully, I am not very affected by it.

The Craft Room

The craft room is ready to be textured. It has been a long time coming. I made good progress on the room at the beginning of the year, and then I stopped working on it during the summer. I recently purchased a hopper and air sprayer in order to do a spray on texture. I think I'm ready to give it a try. We are trying to make sure it looks like the rest of the basement and the staircase. We are going to purchase the cabinets from Ikea. I hope they are available for us to make a trip to Salt Lake City soon.

Galena Summit

Business was too slow, so I decided to take a drive to Galena Summit. It was such a clear, sunny day, and the views were fantastic. There were several people along the road to the summit who were cross-country skiing or getting Christmas trees. We need more snow. The resort is open, but only the trails where snow making is possible. The forecast is calling for this high pressure to stay for at least another week, so we probably won't see any new snow for a while.

Today's Report

It is a clear, cold day in Hailey, Idaho. Business is slow today. Jeffrey and Kaleb are doing schoolwork at home, or should be. Wendy is busy at work. I am going through photos that I've taken in 2020. There are not very many of them. I may post a few as I go. I am backing up my photos and files using Google Drive. I've decided that I prefer to use Google over Microsoft. I really enjoy using the Chromebook. I am no longer using Facebook, but I am going to try to keep this blog current as a substitute for Facebook. Yesterday, I picked up our Christmas Greeting cards from Costco in Twin Falls. The Costco in Pocatello no longer offers photo services. They turned out alright, but I don't think most of the family are fans of the photo we used. Still, it was good that we were all together. We will try to get the cards in the mail by next week.

Happy Birthday Megan!