Christmas 2024.....I hope you had a very MERRY Christmas and will have a peaceful, happy New Year!!!!

     Simon accompanies his stake choir in a Christmas fireside

The Taylor family and a few extended family gather at the SLC airport to welcome home Kelly Taylor from her 18 month Iowa City, Iowa, Swahili-speaking mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A joyous reunion! Here she comes!

             The Taylor family is once again complete!

Return missionaries are announced with banners wrapped around the round-about by our nearby chapel.

A nativity puzzle, amaryllis, narcissus, tree, lights and lots of creches

Gae Rose and I and many friends and neighbors enjoyed a nice dessert gathering and piano Christmas music by Tommy Shallenberger, hosted by Ramona Miller (left). Below: Kathleen Ianziti, Gae and Kristin Rose, Rheonda, Ramona and her granddaughters, Miriam

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My annual Christmas holiday party (begun 52 years ago) often brings wonderful friends, including Kim Johnson, who served as a young missionary in Madrid at the same time as I in 2012-3.

Marc & Kelly Bonham, Marian Taylor, Christel and Roland Hart, Emily. Below, Joy and David Atkinson (we served in the DR together)

George Taylor, Suzanne and Doug Harwood, Glenna, Kari, and Bob Hammond, friendships made in California

While the Provo Temple is being rebuilt, I attend either Timpanogos, Orem, or Provo City Center Temple

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Christmas Eve at the Taylors with family and friends: 2 sisters, Anna and Alida (Emily met in her work at UVU) from Republic of Congo, attending college in Utah. The rest of the family live in Kentucky

     The teens and kids (above, Evie and Hannah)put on a wonderful Christmas pageant for us. Kelly directed, Lucie did costumes.

             Ken is not only a great chef but bunny-sitting cuddler!

And this is our relaxed singing after our Christmas dinner!

We are pleased that Schweinitz and other Moravian ancestors' were honored as Bethlehem, PA (founded in 1741) became officially a UNESCO site on December 27, 2024.

Watch the Press ConferenceBethlehem’s Moravian settlements became the 26th UNESCO World Heritage Site in the United States at an official inscription ceremony Thursday at Moravian University.The vote by the World Heritage Committee to recognize the settlements was July 26 in New Delhi, India, but Thursday’s ceremony made the designation official. Twenty-six also happens to be the number of points on the Moravian star, a traditional symbol of the Moravian Church and heritage. for everything Moravian community.”The Bethlehem settlements were nominated with sites in Gracehill, Northern Ireland; Hernnhut, Germany; and Christiansfeld, Denmark, as a single World Heritage Site representing the Moravian Church’s historical value.The Bethlehem site spans 10 acres in downtown Bethlehem and includes nine structures, four ruins and God’s Acre cemetery. The oldest Bethlehem structures date to 1741.It’s a significant milestone both for Bethlehem and the United States – it is the first transnational World Bethlehem’s sites along with the three in Europe (in N. Ireland, Denmark, and Herrnhut, Germany) share similar qualities like architecture and village structure with a town square.All four sites still have active church congregations that date back centuries.

Bethlehem’s Moravian sites are historically significant for several reasons – the Gemeinhaus home is the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, is the largest 18th-century log structure in continuous use in the United States. The 1762 Waterworks, in the Colonial Industrial Quarter, operated until the 1830s and is the first municipal water pump system in the United States.

 

How Wonderful it is to Celebrate the Birth of our Savior Jesus Christ

Lights, Music, Cards, Festive Gatherings with Friends and Family

A beloved tradition in my ward building in Palo Alto has attracted thousands of visitors each year. I miss hostessing and enjoying it!

From left, the Honorable Zanetor Agyemang-Rawling, a member of Ghana’s parliament; Elder Alfred Kyungu, General Authority Seventy and president of the Africa West Area; Sister Lucie Kyungu; Sister Tracy Y. Browning, second counselor in the Primary general presidency; and Sister Tamara W. Runia, first counselor in the Young Women general presidency, turn on the lights to the Accra Ghana Temple compound on Nov. 22, 2024. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tammy is my wonderful neighbor!

Those who do not live in São Paulo can take a virtual tour at www.vilazinhadebelem.org. Senior couple missionaries Elder James Welch and Sister Deanne Welch, originally from Palo Alto, California, were called on a mission to help augment the event this year.Sister Welch located more than 75 different Nativities from around the world, lent by local members, missionaries and friends of the Church.Elder Welch is a professional organist and helped organize 45 concerts with local members, wards, stakes, families, missionaries, soloists and other groups. The Welches are good friends who moved to Provo almost 4 years ago as did I. They worked with many other friends on the Palo Alto exhibit for many years. Check it out!

The annual Christmas market held at "This is the Place" in Salt Lake City, memorial park honoring the first group of Mormon Pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847

The monument (below) and one of many restored or replicated  pioneer era buildings of the park (above)

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Christmas party of the congregation which my Millcreek family attend

They had a Hawaiian theme and a limbo contest. My youngest grand-daughter Phoebe (above), then her twin sisters, Elise (below) and Stephanie. The twins are celebrating their twelfth birthday today (born 12-12-12) !!!

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  One of the amazing 4 BYU student quartets who recently performed

A highlight is the spectacular "Christmas Around the World" held each year in the Marriott Center. BYU's International Folk Dance Ensemble presented dances from Poland, Ukraine, Brazil, Israel, Czechia, Slovakia, Canada, Scotland,, India, Spain, Philippines, Puerto Rico, West Africa, USA, accompanied by the 6 member folk ensemble.

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Cordelia's first basketball game at the rec center where I swim daily.

We ended our candlelit ward dinner by ringing the cultural hall/gym singing "Silent Night"

Dada Kelly Taylor (right) returns December 17 after serving 18 months in the Iowa City Swahili-speaking mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She'll return to BYU in January.

Two touching events at the SLC Conference Center were held last weekend: The annual Devotional (with music and talks), and the annual Choir and orchestra and soloists at Temple Square with music. 

Guest singer and Broadway actor who played Aladdin, Michael Maliakel, and a short presentation of a Victor Hugo story of how his family invited the poor off the street to a yearly Christmas dinner and pageant in their home in Paris.

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My grand-daughter Evie de Schweinitz (standing below left) played a Russian dancer in the Oquirrh Mountain Ballet's "Nutcracker Suite."

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Wasatch Elementary School gave a rousing concert. Cordelia in center. She is in the Mandarin immersion program in third grade.

After an Orem Temple session, driving home past Utah Valley Univ.

       It's beginning to look and feel a lot like Christmas at my house.

I loved the 3 wonderful folk music ensembles at BYU: above is Mountain Strings, below, the American ensemble,  and not pictured, the Celtic ensemble.

My grand-daughters Elise (aka Coco) and Stephanie (aka Taffy) Carlston celebrated their 12th birthdays (born on 12-12-12) with cakes decorated with favorite activities.

The Wasatch chorale (ecumenical) performed a beautiful Christmas concert at the Provo Congregational church downtown. And the performances continue!

I had to share an amazing Lego village which a friend has been collecting and assembling for many years.

As we celebrate and gather with those dear to us, may we remember the homeless, the hungry, the refugees, those discriminated against often in war-torn places. All are our brothers and sisters, God's children, just as we are; all deserving of love, understanding, care.