Christmas Time is Here!

December 4, 2005

Dear Family,

The fog is settling in pretty dense this evening. We can hardly see across the yard to the neighbors, but they have hung while lights on their eaves so we know they are still there. Our Christmas tree now has lights and some ornaments. Though we cut the tree last Saturday - with Forrest’s energy getting us out there - it has sat dormant for 7 days because we have been so laden with obligations each evening this last week that yesterday evening was the first time I got to put up the lights. Now they look very nice. We also got up some lights on our yew bush and hopefully this week we will get some more around the entrance to the house.

Why have we been so busy? We are musicians all and this is Christmas time when we are seriously employed (or at least engaged). We had the extended family in the area over for dinner last Sunday where we were reeling from the news that Clayton and Amy are going to "get outta Dodge" and try to improve their lot in Kansas City. They will send off their furniture and things in a pod/container system on the 14th of the month and camp out with us until they leave for Kansas shortly after Christmas. They have a better house and better job and lots of Davidson family support all arranged.

Monday evening we spent helping out a bit at Clay and Amy’s place, got a little something to eat and then sat down at about 9:45 pm to start our "home evening" discussion - about nutrition plans and the "NuLife" class we have both signed up for at Club Sport. Ding, dong! At the door were our home teachers surprising us with four milk shakes from Burgerville and a long discussion together. 45 minutes and a bajillion calories later we finally had a moment to ourselves and just rolled our eyes and went to bed.

Tuesday was the first of the neighborhood presentations by the LDS Church beginning the process (second time around) to seek approval to build a new church in West Linn. I had a assignment from the Stake to set up chairs, so I was there with a little help for the duration, before and after. The church is much better organized this time: a slick website with photos of similar buildings, frequently asked questions about this church and the LDS church in general, building plans etc. The spokesperson this time is a woman from Willamette Ward, a local West Linn resident and she was a well spoken non-practicing attorney. The presentation went very well, I thought, but drew a flurry of the usual responses from the self-focused "me generation" neighbors living within a block of the proposed church - with huge McMansions and tiny or no families. The usual lame arguments ran the gamut - too much traffic (but never mind that there are residential developments currently underway within 3 blocks of this site with more than 100 new homes going in), too much noise, the building traffic will unnecessarily endanger neighborhood children, the steeple is too high, the building is too big, there are too many parking spaces, there are not nearly enough parking spaces, it needs a high wall so we don’t have to suffer the shock of being visually exposed to it from our homes, and one that really set me off - the city is going to loose property taxes because the church doesn’t pay taxes. One neighbor got up and read all the reasons why the previous planning commission and city council and appellate court and supreme court decided the LDS church in their neighborhood didn’t meet the requirements of the city development code. They are ready for a fight. So, here we go again. Stay tuned and hope we have a city council who has the best interests of the entire community in mind instead of a few self-focused neighbors who insist that a residential neighborhood is no place for a church.

Wednesday was a board meeting for the Community Chorus. We learned that one of our board has been diagnosed with cancer and is having an emergency hysterectomy in a few days. The prognosis is not good and this relatively young woman is really almost in shock to find that a "routine" annual test was not so routine. Life is precious and we should be grateful for every day. The meeting went quite late.

Thursday we had our next to last rehearsal for the Community Chorus. It was held in the chapel where we will be performing next week. We had volunteer drummers from the African Traders drum shop downtown - but they were actually inept and hard to deal with. What we really needed was Kyrstyn and friends and siblings. We regretted that we didn’t take the time to audition them first. We rehearsed with the Marylhurst Symphony and it went pretty well. Their director, Lajos Balogh - a hungarian who very much looks the part of an eccentric music conductor - the long white hair and puckish face - wants our group to sing Beethoven’s Ninth with a professional orchestra he directs downtown. It is flattering but presents a whole set of problems to be solved before we can do that.

Friday we had a short performance at a retirement center by our WLCC Ensemble - a smaller group of about 20 folks. Kyrstyn drummed for us on three of our pieces and it made a huge difference. They love her. Me, too.

Saturday Kaaren and I tried a new group exercise class at Club Sport - NIA. It is supposed to be a fusion of Tai Chi, martial arts and dance. But is is mostly dance. Afterward a woman came up to me and said, "you are so brave to come here with this room full of women!" I felt something like Forrest in his first dance class at high school where he was the only guy there and didn’t know any of the moves they were working on. "Something" being the operative word, because I didn’t look anything like Forrest would have looked. Anyway it was energizing and sort of fun. I’ve always wanted to take a dance class. I couldn’t get all 299 lbs of me going exactly the same as out leader, but I at least kept time and held out for the entire hour. Thank good ness for hot showers and a great spa at the club. Kaaren and I did a little shopping at Trader Joes (where we genuflect upon entering), I went alone to Costco (the more profane temple of merchandizing), and before the day was gone, Kaaren and I put up some Christmas lights as I mentioned earlier.
Saturday evening we had a WLCC performance again - this time the West Linn City Hall "Holiday Tree" lighting ceremony. We led carols outside while the Mayor spoke and the besparkled teen princesses officiated in throwing the switch. Then inside council chambers we did a short a cappella set. Kyrstyn drummed again for us. It was our best city gig yet.

Correlation Council started at 7:30 this morning so I am running tired now.

The pictures I’m enclosing show a bunch of things I haven’t written about:

Kyrstyn (and Bryce) fixing her forever mechanically needy Diesel Suburban. She drives this to protect the environment. But at least she is becoming somewhat of a mechanic and will have some skill to ply in her life.

Logan helping me assemble the kid table and chairs I bought at Costco for the grandkids.
Fa La La Cappella singing at our family dinner.

Bryce with Olivia and Caden and Logan enjoying the candy from Bryce’s gingerbread house.

Some of the family at our family dinner last week watching old videos of our picnics, birthday parties, and singing-jamming at home in the Holly Drive house in Concord.

Thanksgiving Dinner here with all of the extended family in this area: Clayton and Amy with Olivia, Addison and Eli and their grandma Jane Davidson; Courtney and Jason with Logan and Caden; Bryce and his friend Kadra: Forrest and his friend Tyler Lake; Kyrstyn. Skye and Jared went to Bonnie Lake to be with his parents.

Most of us went to the Trail Band concert on Friday night. It was a nice beginning to the Christmas Season.

One thing I heard during the First Presidency Christmas Devotional this evening that touched me. President Monson spoke of a visit to a children’s hospital at Christmas time. He realized that among the innocence of these struggling children he was standing on holy ground. I thought how precious our homes are - and I mean that in the family sense - not just the buildings alone. Our gatherings to meet and hug and help each other create holy spaces. I hope that you will make homes such that when you are there you will be standing on holy ground.
Love,
Dad