Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Arizona Christmas

I wasn’t sure what kind of a Christmas we would celebrate in Arizona. Here’s some highlights we enjoyed:


Favorite desert decoration: a many-headed cactus sporting a Santa hat on each of its separate
heads (like a hydra).

Favorite lighting display: Downtown Tempe with a London Bridge appearance as you enter the town, quaint shops with outdoor tables at the restaurants and large imperfectly shaped white lighted stars hanging randomly in the trees lining the sidewalks.  Glendale also had nice lighting and offered outdoor hayrides around the town park.

Favorite Fun Activity: Attending a live performance of The Forgotten Carols on stage at Arizona State University.

Favorite respectfully reverent activity: Bringing 6-year old Emma and her mom to Remembering Christ at Christmas. It was more than an exhibit of nativities. There were live animals–3 burros, a couple of lambs, baby chicks and rabbits and a huge turtle. Hot cocoa and elephant ears were served for refreshments, and singing groups entertained. 2nd favorite activity was attending the Mesa Temple grounds to view millions of beautiful colored lights and hear a short outdoor concert performed by the Mesa AZ missionaries. [It was pretty cold outside or it might have been first on my favorite list.]

Favorite family activities: Hearing grandson Tom’s talk before he left for his mission to Argentina; going to a ward Christmas party with Mike and Ayesha’s family, and having friends from Utah stay at our place for a couple of days.

Favorite ways to interact with others:  We filled eight goodie baskets and took them to people we know.  We bought some school clothes for Emma.  Mike's family came to our home for Christmas dinner then serenaded several of our neighbors  by singing Christmas Carols to them.

Favorite Foods: Ham in mustard/brown sugar sauce, cheese potatoes, peas, salad, rolls, fresh pineapple, COOKIES and ice cream.

Favorite Charity: [not in AZ] Options 360 of Battle Ground, WA, a pregnancy clinic which helps young women choose not to abort their babies.



Arizona Culture: I didn’t get an opportunity to taste the tamales but I’m told they are a special treat with Arizona families. A cultural aspect of the Christmas tradition here are the luminaries (paper sacks) lining front yards with a soft candle glowing inside each paper sack.