Getting Ready for Christmas

Christmas is the most beautiful time of year and it's especially lovely here at the Joseph Smith Memorial.  We have the most awe inspiring paintings of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus on display in the visitor's center.  Mike's favorite is Mary looking down at baby Jesus (on the left side of the Christmas tree).

The lights are beautiful.  Each one of the large trees takes more than a day to decorate.  Melanie and I worked together in a lift on the tallest trees.

Mike decorated the red apple trees all around the monument.  He used a special basket built last year by Elder Starley.  He lifted the metal "basket" with the fork lift on the tractor, then used a long ladder to climb into it.  (Sorry I didn't get a picture.)  One morning I heard Mike holler my name and Melanie and I looked up the hill and he was hanging from the basket, holding on with his hands like someone ready to do chin-ups.  The ladder had fallen when he was climbing down, leaving him way up in the air, holding on like someone doing chin-ups.  He laughed about it later, but it was a bit scary for a minute (for all of us).

The birch trees with white trunks and green tops took several days to decorate.  They are about 70 feet tall. The green tops don't show up
well in this picture but they are one of my favorites.  Mike spent a lot of time keeping them lit because of power issues.


These beautiful statues (below) look like marble, but they are made of a special kind of plastic.  They are lovely.  At night there is a light shining on them.



Between the buildings we have a "stable" with a donkey named Annie
and two sheep.  The picture of mike was taken just after his interview with Channel 3 news.  He had just finished feeding the animals when the reporter turned the camera on him and interviewed him.  He looked great.  In the end
he didn't get on TV but the newscast was really great. There was an
interview with Elder Schuck, the director, and Brother Dunkle who was at the visitor's center, and they showed the covered bridge made out of lights.  At least we can say he ALMOST got on TV.

I have had a lot of fun making (and rebuilding) nativity scenes.  

I made two last year (keeping one) and I have given away three so far this year.  The figures in the pictures below are ones I repainted.  The transformation was amazing.  I took before and after pictures.  

This picture shows the star that I made last year (with others taking turns helping me).  Elder Shefchik and Mike took it down so I could repair it and they are just getting ready to pull it back to the top of the flagpole.  There are over 1,000 lights in the star and over 200 lights in the tail.  It took about a week to make it.  We have tried to get a good picture of it lit up, but no picture does it justice.

We had over 500 people come Saturday and Sunday.  WISH YOU COULD ALL COME AND SEE THE LIGHTS.
WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU.
WE HOPE YOU ARE HAVING AS MUCH FUN GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS AS WE ARE!  LOVE TO EVERYONE!