Top 10's from Missionary Cody

A big highlight on Christmas Day was receiving a Skype-without-picture call from our missionary in Costa Rica. His emails have been about two sentences long (one sentence of which usually a movie quote), so we learned some things about his life these days:
1. He's doing ok! (Translation: He still knows how to laugh! He can still do "Edna Mode" from The Incredibles!)
2. He's walking lots of miles (has seen sloths and toucans) in and around in a small northern village called Pital, near Nicaragua, with many pineapple fields (so the workers carry machetes, and the local pineapple and juices are delicious).
3. In his lxuury two-person apartment, there is running water. However, it often stops, so they keep numerous bottles of water filled . There is no hot water and not much need for it (did someone mention heat and humidity?)
4. Forty people come to church, meeting in one-half of a house. No piano or organ, just a cappella singing ("I fit right in. They're all as tone deaf as I am!")
5. A ward member does their laundry. So spoiled, but it does take five days (the lady has a washing machine but then hangs things to dry, and since it rains just about every day, the "drying" is long and perhaps a bit exaggerated).
6. Ward members are very nice and cook for them. Also, when people have them over for a lesson, they often serve food. Rice and beans are served at every meal.
7. They are teaching many lessons. New to Spanish at full speed, Cody says starts with explaining he doesn't understand much. Usually speakers slow down for a few words and then quickly speed up again, so he feels lost.
8. He likes his companion, Elder Pons from Uruguay who joined our church with some of his family members seven years ago, who speaks little English and teaches Cody not to use "Mexican Spanish."
9. He receives mail only when he goes to San Jose for monthly conferences, a four-hour bus ride away (last time they went, they saw a diesel overturned on the "luxury" highway).
10. In San Jose, he saw "things like McDonald's and Burger King," and "bought a big jar of peanut butter."
(So far he had only received three Christmas cards, so I was glad I sent packages to Provo which he carried with him. He should have a bunch of helpful Christmas messages waiting for his next trip to the big city. Thanks to all his supporters!)

Top 10 Annoyances of Christmas

In keeping with the spirit of Scrooge, not everything about the month of December is easy breezy . . .
1. Cold
2. The whole-season-rushed feeling (simultaneously trying to fit in house cleaning, laundry, bills, kids activities and so on)
3. Forgetting someone or something! Arggh!
4. Made-for-tv holiday movies. (Did Dave wake from his coma in  time to propose marriage at exactly midnight on Christmas Eve?)
5. The results of eating all the Christmas treats.
6. Crowds and long lines.
7. How fast the present frenzy goes by on Christmas morning. It's fun but puts a month or so of work away in less than an hour.
8. This year, having two children away on Christmas :(
9. Full parking lots (in the cold :)
10. $$$

Top 10 Bests of Christmas

Well, it's that time again, and this year these are my favorites:
1. Celebrating the birth (and life, and atonement) of the Lord Jesus Christ. Taking time to stop and think about the miracles is truly the joy of Christmas. Seeing "The Forgotten Carols" and going to the temple provided these best celebration moments this season.
2. Spending time with family and friends. At our neighborhood parties we actually see the people we live near :) On Christmas Eve, we read (and act out: the kids all vying for the parts of the animals) the Christmas story from Luke and sing "The 12 Days of Christmas" with Parry actions.
3. Helping Santa Claus. His elves have all the fun.
4. Driving around and seeing beautiful lights and decorations.
5. Listening to Christmas music, even schmaltzy tunes up to a point (and then I turn the radio station).
6. Watching Christmas favorites like "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "A Christmas Story"
7. Eating Christmas treats. It never stops! Nielsons' Danish cakes, Arnolds' cake balls and chocolate-covered popcorn, Hunts' seven-layer bars, cupcakes from our neighborhood "Elf," sugar cookies we decorate, and white chocolate peppermint m&ms . . .
8. Eating a traditional Christmas turkey dinner with all the trimmings. We always skip this one on Thanksgiving, so we get it in on Christmas Eve.
9. Receiving Christmas cards and decorating our fridge with family and friends.
10. Watching kids on Christmas morning (they wake us up at 6 am, line up smallest to tallest, then charge to the tree and an unwrapping frenzy).

Top 10 Firsts of 2012

Firsts big and small in 2012 :)

1. Visiting the Holy Land. From olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane (above) to Galilee, Bethlehem, Golgotha, Temple Hill and the Wailing Wall, the BYU Jerusalem Center, the Dead Sea, Masada, and working archaelogical sites.  An amazing trip to change your perspective.

2. Visiting the Pyramids of Egypt (even the lit-up night show)! Cool! But I never want to drive in Cairo (buses, cars, trucks, donkeys making a three-land highway into seven lanes).

3. Seeing Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew in the reconstructed Globe Theater on the Thames. Awesome for an old English major (and my husband even laughed).

4. Sending off our oldest son on a two-year church mission (that one is full of emotion).

5. Becoming a yogi (not really, but attending yoga class semi-regularly).

6. Memorizing The Living Christ in French (though I'm not sure why, maybe just to see if I remember any of the plus belle langue du monde).

7. Watching two kids play college sports (BYU-Hawaii softball and UVU Rugby).

8. Watching all four sons play together in a year-end rugby game.

9. Making the St. George Marathon 10-year club.

10. In Crossfit, lots of firsts . . . bar muscle ups, 99 double unders, and other painful activities.