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.
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