Letters from Home – Page 195 – A blog by Angela Ross

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I have learned that living in Utah where your neighbors are also your ward members and schoolmates, people tend to drop by more often.

I think proximity allows us to be more open and casual here. In Texas, I wouldn’t think of dropping by a ward member’s house without calling first because who wants to drive 45 minutes to find nobody home? In Arizona, it was just too hot to try.

I need to get used to this more open way of living. I tend to change into my pajamas as soon as possible when I get home from church. I felt real triumph when somebody comes by and I’m not caught with paint in my hair or cooking broccoli. I marked the day when someone dropped by just after I baked brownies and the house smelled so good.

Today I spent all morning baking. With the smell of cookies and bread wafting through the house, I hoped that someone would come by. But they haven’t, so guess what? I’m going to be the unannounced neighbor and deliver this bread!

It is, after all, 12-12-12. I’m going to do something out of the ordinary to celebrate.

Take a bow!

These photos are evidence of many years of dance. The daily and weekly sacrifices that Paige makes to be a dancer are enormous. Paige is graceful and she is strong. We are so proud of her. It’s not easy joining such a tight-knit studio in the middle of Nutcracker rehearsals. She did a beautiful job.

Both sets of grandparents were able to come to the performance! Thank you! Thank you!

Nutcracker

*Photo by Matt Smith Photography. Used by permission.

It’s Nutcracker week at our house. Here are some photos from Paige’s dress rehearsal.

The Infinite Atonement

I read this book because I admire the author, Tad R. Callister and because my mom said that she enjoyed it.

Before I talk about The Infinite Atonement, I need to mention another book that I read by the same author called The Inevitable Apostasy and Promised Restoration. I LOVED IT. The strong organization and eloquent writing gave me a wonderful glimpse into a superior intellect and helped me to understand so much about apostasy in the early Christian church. The author draws upon the works of early Christian writers to show the origins of many modern Christian doctrines. It was a healing read for me.

I knew that the author had written another book, The Infinite Atonement, but I decided to wait to read it because I knew it would be doctrinally heavy and probably emotionally draining.

With the kids away at school and the house a little more under control, I felt like I was ready to bring it home from the bookstore. It was an emotional read. I most enjoyed (translation: wept the most during) the middle chapters about the infinite suffering, love, time, depth, and coverage of the atonement of the Savior. The book is also strong in the doctrine of The Fall and the necessity of the atonement.

I was not presented with a lot of new doctrine, but the book helped me to experience a depth of feeling about doctrines that I had mostly experienced superficially. The author’s strong organization also helped me feel the magnitude of the topic.To complement the words of scripture and apostles, the author quotes from Milton, Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, and others to find mankind’s most poignant words for the Savior’s gift.

During the days that I read this, I would go to choir and I couldn’t sing about Calvary because of my feelings. I found myself sneaking minutes to read here and there throughout the day. That was best, because this book needed to be read in measured doses. The margins are full of notes. It was a good inaugural Christmastime read.

Temple Square Christmas Lights

My mom took the boys on a quick, impromptu tour of Temple Square since she had an appointment downtown.

True, the lights are beautiful, but as my Mom explains, the real beauty is the temple.

Mark really liked the scale model of the interior of the temple that they found in the visitor’s center.

The big photos were taken by Timothy. He was proud of this photo of the Christus statue.

Thanks, Grandma, for taking them to Temple Square! It was Timothy and Mark’s first trip to see the lights and probably the first trip that Daniel can remember since he was only two years old when he first saw them.

Happy

My brothers sent this picture to me today. Holy smokes, we were cute. This is me with my brothers Joe and Paul. I keep looking at this every few minutes, all day long. A little voice is telling me to try to do an oil painting of it.

The Family Dinner Table

I believe in the family dinner ritual. Unfortunately, most nights we are missing one or two people, but I don’t give up. Having everyone around me, being nourished and sharing is the highlight of my day.

Empty chairs make me sad.

Dinner is not always a special occasion. My cooking, our moods, and The Schedule get in the way, but I think that the “dinner time at the table ritual” is special because you can count on it, not because it’s always perfect or fun. My family knows that there will be a meal and that I will expect them to answer a few questions about their day.

Richard fixed two of our broken chairs so we have enough seating for everyone. I love that he did this. I love these old uncomfortable chairs.

I served some leftover baked ziti to the kids around the dinner table last night. My first surprise was that they engulfed it. The next surprise was the conversation that happened as we ate.

We were all feeling comfortable and happy. Mark said, “Mom, our family is different than any other family because our handwriting has monkey tails (I taught the kids to write D’Nealian style), we go to Spring Lake where we have a dinner bell, and we say, ‘Is everybody happy?’ ‘Well, I should say!'”

And so our conversation turned to things which define our family.

Tim added, “We don’t have DS or PS3 or XBox or anything like that and we get really excited about seeing our extended family.”

Daniel said, “We study really hard and we are good students.”

We were interrupted at this point, but I would have added, “We try really hard to make dinner time a good family time.”

I need to remember this little dinner scene to help me press on and keep trying to find ways to sit down together at this table.

I read someplace that the family dinner table is like an altar in the home. It’s a place to teach, train, gather for prayer, and grow in love. It can help families stay together. Amen.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I am enjoying finding new places for our decorations. This year we gained two mantels and a banister. We lost our tall ceilings, but gained built-in bookshelves.

I’m not sure what I’m doing with mantel #2 downstairs.

We had to get rid of our tall tree when we moved, but luckily we still have the tree that Richard and I bought 17 years ago at an after Christmas sale at Ben Franklin. That makes the cost of the tree about $3.50 a year. Bargain!

Silas Marner

As a teenager, I made a decision that my house would be filled with books someday, and I began collecting literature. If my class was studying a text, I would buy my own rather than use a classroom copy. If I had a few extra dollars, it would often go toward the purchase of a classic. My efforts have continued all these years, depending on circumstances. As we packed up the house, I realized that we amassed around 7 bookshelves of books while we were in Arizona. Many of these books were for home school, but since we were so literature-focused, it means that most of our books are useful for everyone.

I have my library.

Have I read all of the books in my library?

Not yet.

This week I picked up the copy of Silas Marner by George Eliot (a woman) that I bought 20 years ago but never read. My maiden name is written in the cover. I read somewhere that Silas Marner was a sublime tale of restoration… you know how people go on when they feel elevated by a book. I finished it today. I loved it.

I’m getting back into reading. During the move I just didn’t have time. After the move, I had no energy. I fell asleep when I tried to read. There were more naps inspired by my reading of Peter the Great: His Life and World than I can remember. Oh, those monarchs! Oh, those battles! Oh, the exhaustion! But I finished Peter in the last few days, too. Hooray.

Thanksgiving weekend

The house feels really empty today after spending 5 great days with these people. The boys had their first Thanksgiving in Utah. We have such a big family network here that I only needed to prepare desserts!

And that’s really all I have to show you from our weekend. We made jello, pies, and dozens of sugar cookies. Richard spent approximately 18 hours raking leaves while we did all of this baking.

And when those autumn cookies were gone, we made some Christmas cookies. This morning I discovered that my children had taken pictures of them on several cameras. Maybe we all thought that if they were properly photographed, they wouldn’t be missed after they were eaten.