Hello,
Just thought I would show you our Christmas decorations! Not much to write home about but it will do. Bits and pieces gathered here and there. It didn't take too long to decorate this year.

This is the wreath hanging on our door as we enter. I made it from a grapevine wreath that I paid $1.50 for, the pine cones are from Far West. I love them.

This is our little tree. We found it in the front closet wrapped in a plastic bag. Just had to bend the branches out a bit. Lights were already on it. Bonus! It sits on a table. Not real big, maybe 18-20 inches tall.

This is a basket of Far West pine cones. They are kind of unique. Mostly long and skinny and very pretty. I love pine cones.

This is our big splurge. $19.99 at Costco. It is beautiful!

These are finds at Salvation Army. Basket with various dried cones, etc. in it and a little candle holder.

This last pic is just to show you how wide our kitchen is. That is the oven door on the left and the dishwasher door on the right. Can't really open them at the same time and both must be closed to get into food pantry at the end. Dad and I often trip over each other in the kitchen.

We have a few Christmas songs that we play on our computer. Trees and lights and wreaths are springing up all over so it makes you think that it is the season. Happy decorating to all. Enjoy!

Would you say a little overkill for today?! We got home from church and Dad sat at the computer and asked me how to blog. So I set him up and away he went and now I am finishing what I had planned to do today. We are getting ready to watch the Christmas Hallmark show. We usually get quite excited about the Hallmark shows as it is a good time to empty the tear ducts. But Dad said, isn't it amazing about how excited we are about the little things in our life! So I will hurry thru our walk yesterday. On Saturday we go after it is light so I carried my camera.

This pic is just over the hill from the mission office where we spend our time. About a block away. It is the hill that had the home of Governor Boggs. The one who exterminated the Saints. Don't know why we wanted a pic of it, but Dad did. History I guess.




And then the plaque that shows in the sidewalk of the spot.



And then we walked toward town. The first thing we really notice is:

This is the corner of the first home of Governor Boggs. I also have a pic of Dad leaning against the existing building where the house once stood, but didn't think you needed to see that. History again!

This is just a block west of the last pic and right in front of Independence Hall. All of this area is where Harry Truman walked every day. His home is just a couple of blocks from here. Dad likes Harry Truman!

This store is on the other side of Independence Hall and was owned by a Mormon named Whitney. It was the scene of a lot of anti-mormon stuff. It is still occupied. Now by a sort of Spoons and Spice type store.

Now we are headed back to our place and these are some of my favority homes in the area. I really do have an old soul. I just love the old fashioned, old way of doing most everything.

And these old salt box type homes I absolutely love.

And this is an old mansion built by a judge and then a doctor bought it. They are doing some renovation on it. It is huge! Three stories high. I would love to wander around inside.

This is across the street from the mansion and with a little different color paint could be very charming. Do you think I should knock on the door and tell them!

Another of those salt boxes. Love it, love it!

And another that would be absolutely darling with a little fix up and paint.

Well, that is our Saturday morning walk. And it was beautiful. The weather for the last few days has been amazingly warm. All of these homes are on Historic Main Street. That sign is on a lot of sign posts along Main Street. Now mind you, there are a lot of small, run down, unattractive, fixer-uppers in amongst these favorites of mine, but I don't need pics of them. Hope you enjoyed our little walk with us.

Loves to all.

I've decided that being on a misson is unique enough for Elder Linde that I'd better comment on what I have been able to gather as part of a normal mission.
First of all, missions are not for the faint of heart, even for old worn out people like ourselves. they demand a lot of your attention, time and patience. Things that are sometimes in short supply.
After thinking about it, I am not half so critical as I was about young missionaries who sometimes do not finish or barely start their missions before they throw the towell in and decide its not for them. Sometimes its quite understandable.
We have come in contact with enough of them that I both saddened and sobered by the amount of effort that is needed by them to persevere and succeed. Most of them do succeed and are succesful in completing their missions.
Both Shauna and I have had are ups and downs as we learn our duties. She has her desk about three feet behind my desk in the Mission office. We literally are closer all day in this mission than we have ever been in civilian life --most of the time its a plus as we can help each other, but sometimes it feels like we both need to get away from each other for a while.
We sure do miss our families -- This next month is going to be busy what with zone conferences, 20 new missionaries comming in, and lots of Xmas stuff -- so we hope to stay busy.
Love to all our friends and Family Elder Linde

I think that I hit a wall last week. I was in a depressed, unhappy, homesick, ugly mood. The whole week was not good. I was planning to call my Mom and Dad and I saw an ad on TV about a family walking along the shore of a lake or the ocean, the Grandpa suddenly does not know what is going on and the young boy goes and takes his hand and walks with him.......you have probably seen it. I just started bawling and thinking of my folks and how I longed to see them and I couldn't quit crying. Then I had a dream about Brett and Angi. It was crazy. And the same week another dream about Megan. I usually don't dream in the present, so if what they say about dreams is true, I must have you'all on my mind and missing you.

Thanksgiving day came and I said I would bring candied yams and hot rolls. I woke up suddenly and had been dreaming that it was 11:30 and I didn't have time to prepare my food for the dinner at 1pm. Well, it was actually 7:30, so I did jump up and begin. Then I forgot to put butter in my sauce for the yams. I added it at the end just before I put it on my yams, but then even forgot to add salt to the sauce so I had to shake it on after all was put together.

And my poor rolls. I don't know if it is an electric oven (which I do not like at all), the change in altitude or climate, my tiny cupboard to roll out my dough on, or just my age. I am beginning to think that I can't do anything right. The first dozen I rolled out, I scraped up and threw in the garbage. My dough was sticky and I couldn't get them off the counter. It was a joke. I finally added flour and got a tray to bake, but they were not very good.

This was our Thanksgiving group at President and Sister Van Komen's home. It was a nice dinner with everyone bringing food. The Van Komen's got the turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and dressing from a local store and I wish you could have seen the dressing. I even offered to bring dressing. (I should have insisted!) It was like a liquid vegetable. It was awful. I did take one small spoonful and had a hard time eating it. And no cranberry sauce! Thankfully someone had made that salad with ground up cranberries in it.



After dinner the Christmas decorations were brought up from the basement and we began our decorating. Lots of decorations and where to put them. It was fun. All of the men put the tree together and put the lights on and then we women did the bulbs and bows. Someone sitting back a ways and telling you where you needed a ribbon or a larger bulb. It was interesting.

That is President right next to Dad.

And this is some of the sisters who were still there at the end. I, of coarse, could not get down on my knees and all the other women are trying to get on the back row so they cannot be seen. So I ended up sticking out front and center and you know how that is not my thing. Sister Van Komen is sitting on the floor on the right.

A different Thanksgiving with all "old folks". When we arrived it was so quiet and I did say that we needed some kids around. I am not used to quiet Thanksgiving day dinners.

Today is Sunday. We first watched SUNDAY MORNING at 8am. It is a very interesting show. Lasts for 1 1/2 hours and today it was all about chefs and food and knife makers. It was quite fascinating. We enjoyed it. Afterward we went for our walk in the cemetary again. Dad got on the internet last night and found George Lucas's tombstone at our neighboring cemetary, so our quest was to find that stone. And, well you guessed it ....

DAD FOUND IT!! We wandered around looking at a lot of tombstones and finally he is waving his arms at me. This is the man who wanted the prophet dead. Dad was not standing too close so I made him move in a little.

This is a closeup of the stone. It shows a hand with a feather pen in it. We don't know if he was a penman or a writer or what.

I came home and started some hot rolls. Can you believe that I am taking rolls to T-day dinner for the seniors. Guess we have joined. I never feel that I am old enough though.

We had a good day at church today. We had to pick up two of our sweet sisters at the VC. It is always good to be with them. Our Bishop is Samoan and not very old. Probably in his 40's. One of his counselors is also Samoan and kind of hard to understand. You must listen carefully. But is was a good meeting and then SS and RS and priesthood. We don't get out till 5 and it is real dark by then. Seems strange.

We love you, one and all.

Mom and Dad, Doug and Shauna, etc.

Today is our day! We got up late and went for our walk in the cemetary. It is a big cemetary with lots of old grave stones in it. Way old. And we are looking for General Samual Lucas, one of the men who wanted to kill Joseph Smith. I really enjoy reading gravestones and dates and lots of them have huge amounts of info on them.
This pic is showing you the wall around the west end of the cemetary. It is a cool rock wall.

This pic is from the cemetary looking toward our building. You can see our car sitting there and our building is at the top left of the pic, behind that little house that you see.

After our walk today, Dad asked what was on our agenda. I couldn't think of a single thing. I like days like that. So he decided to go golfing. After breakfast he headed out and found a place and rented some clubs and had to buy some golf balls. He played 18 holes and had a very enjoyable afternoon. And me, well, you know that being home is my favorite thing. So it wasn't hard for me to find something to do.

First I streaked my hair. Then I got out a little stool that I bought at Salvation Army and started sanding it and getting it ready to paint. Did a couple loads of wash. And I am hanging everything these days. Don't use the dryer at all. You know, if you shake things out real good they dry OK. Haven't washed any levis yet, they might take several days to dry. Made a pot of potato soup. Some brownies. And some turkey burger shepherd's pie. Don't know what it will be like. I thot maybe like a turkey dinner. The turkey burger, green beans, and cream of chicken soup instead of tomato, and then mashed potatoes on top. I have got to get some things in the freezer since I do not like fixing dinner at 5:30 at night.

I think that we need to have a day to do whatever we feel like. It is quite refreshing. This is going to be a short week. Thanksgiving at the President's home with some of the seniors.

Later. Loves to all

A couple of the contrasts in our life. We are serving a mission but sometimes it doesn't feel like it. It kind of feels like we are just taking care of kids. And basically, we are. They start here at about 19 years of age and go up a couple of years, but there are some of them who look and behave like they are almost 16. So our mission is to really serve the kids so that they can do their work better and easier. Like this week I hand stitched a seam in someone's suit coat and put a patch on his pants that was completely worn through. Dad is counseling girls and guys on where to go to get their oil changed and what kind of oil to buy and why. His phone is usually quiet between 9pm and 8am, but the rest of the day it is ringing continually. Two phones. The one on his hip and the one on his desk. And if both of those are busy, they just call the office and ask for him. He has a hard time going to the bathroom in private. They have actually found him there before!

We bought some ant traps for the Elders who moved into the little home that we were in. Elder Ale came in one day and asked me how we controlled the ants in the bathroom. So I bought him some ant traps and he was so grateful. He reported that they are working too!

This is one of the contrasts. We go to Costco mostly to buy snacks and treats for the missionaries. They come in a lot and are always looking for something to munch on. So tonight we went to Costco and picked up licorice, tootsie rolls, nuts, fruit snacks and goldfish----and then Dad asked if I wanted a poinsettia. What a question! He has brought one home for me quite often on our anniversary, so I guess this is a little early, but it is beautiful! I love it.

Next to the poinsettia is my load of wash. Drying! There is a washer/dryer upstairs that was so expensive that everyone went to a laundromat down the street that just opened and did their wash for half the price. When the owner got 0 kickback one month and about half the next month, he asked why. They told him it was the price. So he told the guy who owns it and he pulled the price down to match the laundromat, but the dry cycle is not long enough to get much of anything dry. It is 24 minutes long. So I am boycotting and just bring my laundry down and hang it on my little clothes dryer. You know how I like to line dry anyway, so it is working out good. Except that I can only dry a load at a time, so there is usually a load of clothes drying in my room.

And this is Dad's 'on the side' job. A used car salesman! Yup, those are his four cars that he is wanting to sell. One is a Toyota Avalon that the president has driven for about two years. Never had a kid behind the wheel and it is beautiful. A Toyota Corolla, maybe two, and a Chevy Malibu. He has put new brakes on one and had them all detailed, so they are ready to drive off the mission office parking lot. Any takers?!

I just tried to get rid of some of the cement in front of the cars and I lost the pic. Anybody help! Well, enough for tonite. Tomorrow is Saturday and we have the weekend off.

See you later. Love from us.