The 3 Gifts of the Wisemen

 

At our book club breakfast, Lois Sucher, who is quite a scripture scholar, shared with us what the 3 gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh meant. 

According to Lois' studies, gold was brought because gold was always brought (and usually demanded) when one paid a visit to a king. So, gold for the KING.

Frankincense was incense burned in the ancient temple. It was burned by the high priest at the veil that led to the Holy of Holies. The high priest would use a special cup that was shaped like a hand, that had a long handle, to pick up hot coals and add to the incense. The hot coals plus incense would cause smoke to rise like prayers to heaven. Frankincense for the HIGH PRIEST. 

Myrrh, as used anciently, was a special myrrh harvested from certain trees by pounding spikes into the bark. A gum would ooze from the damaged spots on the tree. The hardened gum is myrrh and was used for healing. Myrrh because of HIS SACRIFICE. 

Preparing for Christmas

I have had so much fun getting ready for Christmas this year. I went to Luminaria with Annie Oswald, I went to a German Christmas Market in Salt Lake. I attended a Swedish Lucia Celebration. I went to a King's Singers concert at BYU. I saw a gingerbread house competition. It's been a really, really fun month. AND if the weather cooperates, the girls and I will be at DISNEYLAND ON CHRISTMAS DAY!

Dad has a temple patron who works at Thanksgiving Point and she gifted him some tickets to Luminaria. Dad gave me 2 and I took Annie. She's cheap like I am and had never taken her kids, so it was her first time. We had a blast. It was late November and wasn't snowy or icy. It wasn't too crowded, either. We really had a good time. We got some fun photos. Near the end of our time, a man offered to take our picture and we got my favorite pictures of us together. The nice man also left a selfie on my phone. We laughed about that one. 

The funny guy who took our awesome photos

On Friday, December 3, I was sitting in the School of Family Life Student Association board meeting and we were talking about Christmas traditions. I mentioned Santa Lucia and someone asked me if I was going to Lucia in Salt Lake. I had no idea there was a celebration in SLC. Evidently it sells out fast, so my chances of going were 0. But, after the meeting, Lauren, our president came and asked me if I wanted her ticket for the 4th. She couldn't go and wanted it to get used. It was only $6. I was so excited. I had also heard about a German Christmas market that was going on at the This is the Place Park. 

The morning of the 4th, I met Annie Oswald at University Place, where we walked a bit and took in the gingerbread house competition. We loved the Harry Potter Diagon Alley house. It should have won. There is so much talent. I don't have the patience to do such fussy work. 

Diagon Alley

Jabba the Hut's lair

After lunch, I got dressed in my fun Christmas dress and headed to SLC. The German market was PACKED! It was a beautiful day, no snow, not cold. It was wonderful. I honestly didn't know what to see or do, then I heard someone call my name. It was Rebecca, an SFLSA board member who volunteers at the market. I asked her what her favorite is at the market and she suggested the Silent Night presentation in the old church. It was lovely. there was narration and singing. 2 men sang in German. Did you know that Silent Night is so revered in Austria that they wait to sing it until 5:00 pm on December 24? Cool. I also bought a couple of cute Santa ornaments - one for MaryJane McGuire and one for me.

All I had to do was drive down 13th East to the First Baptist Church to get to the Lucia celebration. As I was driving there, I realized how crowded the market was...the line of cars wanting to turn and park in the This is the Place parking lot was sooooo long. I'm glad google maps took me to the backside of the park where parking was quite easy. I got to the venue early enough to browse the store. I had no idea what to expect. They do have a store with a lot of Swedish items, from traditional dress to cheese. The checkout line was super long, so I didn't even consider buying anything. I went to the church to get in line. That paid off because I got a great seat. I was seated next to a woman who was seated on the aisle, so I had very little obstructions in my photos. On the other side of me was a very nice woman named Sarah Christensen. Her husband and daughter served missions in Sweden. They have 7 generations of missionaries serving in Sweden. When I mentioned to her that I didn't buy anything at the store, especially yulmust, a drink that dad loves, she told me to follow her out to their car after the Lucia and she would give me a bottle for dad. The Lucia was BEAUTIFUL. It was so fun to connect with my Swedish roots. I really want to take my kids next year. All of the songs were in Swedish. The Christensens were so kind and gave me 2 bottles of yulmust for dad. 

My neighbor, Misty Wright, had given me 2 tickets to the King's Singers' concert at BYU on Friday, December 10. Mom and I went. Again, I put on my Christmas dress. We had a really nice time. The King's Singers is an acapella mens group out of England that has been performing for over 50 years. As singers age out, they replace them with younger members. They sang some old, old Christmas songs and some fun new ones. We really enjoyed ourselves. I do wonder when we're going to be able to ditch masks indoors. This dumb pandemic!

Saturday, December 11, was our Book Gang Christmas Favorite Things Breakfast. My book gang friends are wonderful. Annie has the same Christmas dress as I do, so we both wore the dress just for fun. Corinne made delicious waffles and Sandra made a yumm-o egg casserole. We had fruit, pumpkin bread, etc. We also exchanged gifts and I came home with a package of 30 Sharpie markers. I think the girls will really have fun with them. 

Mel and I celebrated Santa Lucia on Monday, the 13th. I made her favorite pastry and smoothie bowls. It was a yummy breakfast. I gave her a Spiderman ornament in honor of our love of the Disney ride Webslingers. 

I'm now on winter break, spending time getting ready for winter semester. I'm working with our instructional designer to make sure everything is ready for winter. I have bits and pieces to do. I have my to-do list. I pick up Allie at the airport tomorrow and I'll do work here and there. We'll be ready. We always are! I love my job! I've loved the Christmas season this year. 

So Much to Be Thankful For

Another awesome Thanksgiving in the books. 

The Braus invited me to their Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday. That was a blast. Jay was home from law school, family friend Arin was there, Kamiko and Bekki, Jim, Michelle, and me. We had a ham feast, complete with funeral potatoes, yummy salads, rolls, and I brought a lemon cream and chocolate cream pie. It was so fun. We played scum after dinner and I didn't do too horribly. We also did virtual reality. That was fun. The Brau family are a blessing in my life. I love them so much. The day before going, I got a crazy idea to make Michelle a Christmas apron. I facetimed Bekki to have her help me pick out fabric. We went with a light blue and green Christmas print that I was first drawn to. Kamiko said the lemon cream pie I made was the best pie I'd ever made. Mel and I stopped at JDawgs on our way home that night to share a hot dog and to try their new French fries. They are really delicious, even if they're a bit cold because the place is about to close. 

This year, because I don't have a lot of visitors at my house, I took the poster to work to have my Tuesday classes write on it. My primary activity kids also wrote on it. My favorite...Melia's first contribution..."Our King Jeff Probst" We love Survivor!

After the gym, in front of my thankful poster, making pies

The Crocketts were in town from Colorado, so I joined them on Thanksgiving Day at the theater. Karen and I went on a walk that morning. We saw "King Richard," a movie about Serena and Venus Williams and their dad. They are two of the best tennis players and they have a very non-traditional road to pro tennis, thanks to their dad. In addition to Karen and all kids, Scott and Candice Crockett and some of their kids were there. We always love our Crockett time. The kids were with Keenan at a restaurant. I also did some cooking in preparation for dinner on Friday. Somehow the kids talked me into making a full spread on Friday. I spatchcocked and prepped my turkey for dry brine. I was very proud. Watched a tutorial for help. Also hoped I wouldn't impale myself with my kitchen scissors or my chef's knife. I lived to write this, so it all worked out just great. I had invitations to Starlyn's and mom and dad's but was really happy to just be cooking and go to the movie. A great day! I have so much for which to be grateful. 

Karen and I tried the zipline on our walk

Movie with Crocketts. I'm always front row. Crocketts are always back row. Back: Connor, Cooper, Allie, Chase, Candice, Alan, Elle, Sam. Front: Anya, me, Karen

Look at those rolls!

She doesn't look great, but she was wonderful

My lovely friend RaDawn doesn't generally like Thanksgiving, so I made her an apron years ago to wear. It lets her feel like she's getting a hug and encouragement from me. She sent me this picture on Thanksgiving morning.

Pre-oven

Pre-oven

Friday was a great day. Made beautiful rolls. Again, watched a tutorial to know how to shape rolls perfectly and it worked. Thanks Mel's Kitchen Cafe! My TA Thomas knows how to do it and I wanted to teach myself. They looked like Rhodes rolls. Perfectly round. They also tasted good. I had made apple pie and mashed potatoes on Thursday. Friday left me with turkey and cranberry sauce and gravy. Again, I tried my skills that I've honed in teaching my advanced class and made yummy gravy. I forgot to add some umami in the form of a splash of soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce. I'll do it next time. Since Karen was in town, Jenny wanted to come down and see her. Scott was out of town and I had invited Jenny to join me and my kids for turkey. Karen ended up coming too. I invited Allison and James and kids to come after for pie. Alan and all 4 Crockett kids and mom also came over for pie. It was so much fun. We had about 15 people here. We only had 1/2 of a Costco pumpkin pie and an apple pie, but it miraculously fed all of us, like the loaves and the fishes. Side note...we have good walls. Our neighbors did not hear all o15 of us. It was pure joy. 

Karen Crockett, James DeVuyst, and me

Me, Chase Crockett, Jenny Sykes, and Alan Crockett

Sam and Elle Crockett with Grandma Hunter

Kamiko and Melia with aunt Karen

Grandma and Bekki

Alan Crockett and Allison DeVuyst

Saturday, after all the Thanksgiving festivities, I decorated for Christmas. 

A new decoration from Jenny is the triangle gnome and believe sign. They're both reversible for Halloween. The gnome is a candy corn on the back. 

No little kids, so I set up the advent calendar for things I want and I love it. 

It was hard to go back to work after Thanksgiving. Last year, due to Covid, we finished the semester on campus at Thanksgiving. The rest of the semester was completed remotely. It was hard to go back for 2 more weeks, but we did it. I do love my job, but I also love vacation. 

Debbie gave me this cute Joy to the World quilted pillow

2 Weeks of Interviews and I Need a Nap

In interviewed all last week for a tenured position at BYU. The interviews included meeting with Erin Holmes, our SFL director, an interview with Laura Walker and Makaela Dufur, Dean and Assistant Dean, and individual faculty who wanted to meet with me. I also had a breakfast, a lunch, and a dinner with faculty. The schedule was like this:

Tuesday: 

9:00 am Erin Holmes interview
10:00 am FHSS Dean and Assistant Dean interview
11:00 am work with Starlyn to make pizza and cream of cauliflower soup for our guests to taste
12:30 pm Teach 215 and 340
3:30 pm Practice my Thursday presentation
5:00 pm Dinner with colleagues
7:00 pm Attend special lecture

Wednesday:

7:00 am breakfast
9:30 am faculty came and observed me teach. I also got filmed for faculty who couldn't come
11:30 am lunch with some colleagues
12:30 pm teach
2:30 pm individual interviews with faculty
6:00 pm in charge of activity days activity
7:30 make changes to Thursday presentation based on feedback from colleagues and their questions about FCS

Thursday:

9:30 am get to work and continue to revise my presentation
11:00 am presentation
12:00 pm final interview with search committee
12:30 pm teach

Friday:

Sleep in, go on a walk, take a nap, do some work from home

I really get invigorated when I'm around people. I was really encouraged by all the interactions. I also got ideas and made some changes to my original plan. I totally cut out the part where I talked about my personal history and my kids. I replaced it with information about the history of FCS. I also added information on the relevance of FCS, why it should matter at BYU, and why my job matters. I also talked about my unique contributions and my plan moving forward. I'm really glad I already prepared a lot before I took my vacation to Disneyland because it left just some tweaks. 

I hate practicing presentations, but I'm really glad I did. Starlyn let me practice on Monday. Then I made some changes and practiced again on Tuesday with Natalie. Then, after having had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with other faculty and hearing their questions, I made edits on Wednesday night. I was as prepared as I could be when Thursday came. 

Tuesday went well. The interviews went well. I had read through the BYU mission and aims and the SFL mission. I feel like foods works perfectly into all missions and aims. I got word that some professors were looking forward to trying food on Wednesday, so Starlyn was kind enough to come in and help me make pizza and cream of cauliflower soup. Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant in the Riverwoods. Alan Hawkins, Chad Gibbs, and Ashley Frazier were there. It was a nice visit. I wished I had taken advantage of the opportunity to ask them if there was anything they wanted to learn from my Thursday presentation, so I made the point to ask at breakfast and lunch on Wednesday and got great suggestions. Jeff Hill's lecture that evening was excellent. 

The only bad thing about interviews all that week was that I couldn't wear my Peanuts Halloween sweatshirt. My students asked me to wear it tomorrow, so I'll be wearing it on November 3. Haha. 

When I got to work on Wednesday, Starlyn had a soda for me and she was dressed so nicely. The TA's and Starlyn worked so hard to make it a good day. I wasn't nervous at all about colleagues observing me on Wednesday. I feel like I'm a good teacher and that I have good rapport with my students. I got great feedback and many enjoyed the food we had to share with them. He heated the soup on the stove and heated the pizza using my favorite method - the air fryer. Lunch was with Loren Marks, Jeff Hill, and Ashley LeBaron-Black. Jeff and Loren are some of the nicest, most spiritual men you'd ever meet and Ashley is a new professor and has an office next to me. She is from AF and went to AF high school. She had given me some tips for my presentation and is a great gal. We got my favorite caterer, Beehive Catering, owned by Jon Bryner. Delicious. Individual faculty had signed up for one-on-one interviews. I got a chance to get to know others better, to ask them what they still wanted to know about my position and my qualifications, and to sell myself. Then I ran home and helped run a Halloween activity for our primary girls. I was pretty much in charge of everything because I had volunteered to bring cookies, frosting, bingo, and another game. It went well. 

I got up early on Thursday and wet into my office to make final touches on my presentation before 11:00. Erin Holmes and Natalie stopped to wish me well. Natalie went 10 minutes early with me to help me get the technology ready. My presentation went very well. I was so blessed. I had prepared and prayed and gathered feedback, practiced, and made changes and prayed more. I asked my sisters and mom and Kim Cassetti to pray for me. It went really well. I was nervous at first, but I always am. Then I hit my stride, as Natalie put it. When I opened up for questions, there were NO questions. I guess I had done my job. After a couple of minutes, there were a couple of questions, but nothing tough. I was asked if I think we'll take labs back to pre-covid structure. I had an easy answer for that. NO. We love that the changes with covid brought about deeper learning. They may sample fewer foods, but the learning is deep and they can take the skills home to cook more. I was also asked how my position will free up Natalie to do more tasks. I was complimented and one faculty mentioned that it was mean to make them listen to a presentation about food right before lunch. On the way out, many complimented me. Whew. 

I really took most of the weekend off. I did have to prepare for this week's classes, as I had no spare time last week to prepare. So, I did some work on Friday and Saturday, but not too much. 

I'll be honest that Sunday I was quite emotional. I was feeling sad, a bit angry at Keenan, and alone. The weight of supporting myself and paying all my bills hits heavy sometimes. I had tithing settlement on Halloween. Don't get to do that often. Our bishop is so kind. I told him that I was having a bit of a sad day. he assured me that I am not alone and that I can reach out to him for help anytime. He and his wife are wonderful. Sunday afternoon I had my ministering brother and his wife over for lunch. Kurt Saville just retired from BYU as music education faculty. It was nice to talk shop and he gave me some encouragement in this interview process. 

Yesterday I had an interview with Brad Neiger, Associate Academic VP over faculty. I'd met via zoom with him 18 months ago and he remembered having met before. It was a nice interview, but I felt that I didn't articulate well my stance on some controversial issues. I love all my students (color, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc) no matter what. At the same time, I'm not an activist. I don't see that any good comes of sitting in an extreme end. I find that there is division and hate on the extremes and those serve no good. I wasn't able to articulate that very well. Hopefully he understands my message, although it was a bit rough. Oh well. I prayed and prepared. I can't do any more. I connected via text last night with one of my all-time favorite students, Ashton Burrows. He wanted advice on Disneyland. We texted for quite a while and I asked him to pray for me for today. He's practicing family law in Alpine now. I asked him to find a nice straight, employed man in his mid-50's for me. Haha. He said he'll look. He is a fantastic young man. He's Kamiko's age. 

My zoom interview today with Elder Bassett, on the other hand, was wonderful. I was so nervous. I had been emotional on Sunday and I felt like today might be similar. At 10:57, I texted mom and my sisters and asked them to say a quick prayer for me that I could better articulate what I wanted to explain. Right off the bat, I told him I was quite emotional. He said "let's talk about it." He asked about my kids. I love talking about the kids. I even got to tell him about our Arkansas connection. I told him about the divorce and all that led to it. He was very kind. I finally figured out how to articulate what's in my heart about the gospel and inclusion and diversity. I read my favorite quote from Elder Holland's talk. 

My takeaway from Elder Holland's talk was that if BYU has to choose between the gospel and the world, we will always choose the gospel. Elder Bassett said it's about the 2 great commandments: love God and love our neighbor. When we get them out of order and love our neighbor more than we love God, we find ourselves in trouble. We talked about the family and about marriage. I told him that I go to the temple and feel blessed to have a testimony of my covenants. I love the Family proclamation and I read my patriarchal blessing and see many blessings that the Lord has for me. I told Elder Bassett how grateful I am that the Lord knows me so well that He spoke to me in grammar I don't use to tell me the divorce was needed. I am so grateful that things have always worked out. I have no doubt this will all work out too. I really can't express how grateful I am that things went so well today. He said he takes the responsibility very seriously, that he is looking for people that he would feel comfortable entrusting his kids with. He said he'd give a glowing endorsement to the First Presidency and the Board. In the context of our interview, he also validated many things I've thought about the divorce and my marriage. I'm just so grateful. I also feel way more prepared for my interview with Shane Reese, Academic Vice President on Thursday. I'm finally figuring out how to articulate my love for BYU and for my students. 

God is good. 

Time for me to go to bed. I want to read scriptures and I'm working on reading a book entitled "The Coddling of the American Mind." I'm committed to 20 minutes/day. 

HALLOWEEN 2021

 

A closeup of the sweatshirt I wear every year. Melia has officially asked to inherit this when I die. 

Jim and Michelle Brau gave me this cute pumpkin pillow for my birthday. 

Jenny made me this adorable runner and a matching pillow for my birthday.