We entered December with some challenges for our extended family who had gathered for Thanksgiving. Although we were all vaccinated,(except some of the children under the age of 12), and Crismon and I had had our booster, there was a super spreader that happened from our gathering. Turns out that 14 out of the 29 ended up getting Covid. Two of the younger grandchildren got it for the second time in just a few months. Many of the adults and older grandchildren were hit hard with the virus. But gratefully after 10-14 days everyone was feeling much better. Sadly I got it, but Crismon never did, although we slept in the same bed, we didn’t wear masks in the house, and we ate together.
Gratefully I was well enough to attend church, my first day out of quarantine, to hear Ondalynn give a beautiful talk in our Sacrament meeting. It was one of the highlights of the Christmas season for me. Another highlight was two weeks later she sang with a small group of sisters, along with her daughter Julia, “Away in a Manager.” We love being in the same ward to see their family participate in our meetings.
Crismon attended the stake conference in Centralia where his good friend Ken Smith was being released as a stake president. He and his wife were in the same ward with Crismon at BYU. They reconnected at a breakfast held by the Area Authority and his wife several years ago. Crismon came in to the meeting not late, but too late for a good seat in the chapel. Just then, he saw the mother of one of our missionaries and she said that she had room for him to sit on the 3rd row with them. Pres. Smith saw Crismon up close in the chapel, and was given permission by the visiting General Authority to recognize Crismon to all the stake as the new Service Mission Leader. After the meeting a sister came up and asked if Crismon was from Arizona. Then she asked, “Is Malin Lewis your father?” This was so surprising! She began to share the story of receiving a priesthood blessing from Dad Lewis back in about 1975. She had been struck with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, that crippled her and she had four young children. She said that the blessing went on for about 20 minutes, assuming that Pres. Lewis (serving in the stake presidency at the time) was stalling, waiting for the Lord to say to heal her. She wasn’t blessed to be healed, but she felt the blessing was that she would be able to manage, even with a brace on her leg that she still wears. It was amazing that this tender mercy of hearing that story happened in such a remarkable way. The Lord is in the details of our lives.
We enjoyed attending the Festival of Lights at the Grotto, and hearing Julia (Vance) sing with the concert choir from her high school. She is among a few sophomores in the group. The acoustics made it especially beautiful, and there was an amazing display of lights outside the Grotto.
Other highlights were watching Sydney’s Women’s Chorus and other choirs at BYU perform for their Christmas Concert, thanks to streaming features, seeing grandsons Spencer and Elliot Johns (Alice-Anne) perform in the piano recital thanks to Zoom. They take piano lessons by Zoom from Charles Bennion, (LeGrand’s son-in-law). It was pretty exciting for 10-year-old Elliot to see an advanced student perform his original musical composition. It was very impressive!
We had a special FHE with Vivi’s family and the Vance’s, the Monday before Christmas. Along with singing Christmas Carols, and individual musical numbers, we shared the miracles that have come to us individually over this past year. It was a sweet, spiritual time together. Later granddaughter Julia was telling us all about the latest Spiderman movie. Since Crismon and I have not seen any of the Spiderman movies, or any of the marvel movies, we mentioned we needed a tutorial if we were going to see it. Julia Vance jumped on that idea, and put together a slide presentation of what we needed to know before watching the latest movie. A fun project for her, and much needed for us.
On Thursday, Dec. 23, Seth’s family were skiing together near Eugene. They had a great day skiing and were going to do one more run for the day. Sadly, Tiffany tore her ACL on that last run. She had to be taken down the slope by ski patrol. It was a long evening after waiting in the ER for hours to be seen. Sadly, she’ll have to have surgery and then a long recovery before she’s back to her active, busy self. We hope she can still manage her graduate program.
We drove up to Graham on the 23rd to be with Meredith & Bryan’s family for Christmas. We drove straight to a farm where Evelyn has been taking horseback riding lessons, and saw her finish grooming the horse and then riding him. She’s doing really well and loves everything about horses. That evening we attended Hudson and Christian’s karate class. It’s fun to be close enough to see these cute grandchildren in their activities.
Christmas Eve Day, Julia, Austin & Dallin came to make Gingerbread Houses, join us for a special ham dinner, and do the Christmas Eve program acting out the Nativity. Bryan scheduled massage appointments for Meredith, Julia, and I for that afternoon. We loved that relaxing gift! Meredith & Bryan give pajamas to their kids each year. This time the kids all wanted “onesies.” They thought Grandma & Grandpa should each have one, too!
Christmas morning with children is so fun! We loved being with them and being a part of all the excitement. We were watching the weather closely as there was a bad winter storm approaching. To beat the snow, we left early that afternoon to head home, stopping first at the Doutre’s home in Olympia. As we continued our trip home, the snow was coming down heavily. We saw a number of accidents on both sides of the freeway. We were so grateful we arrived home safely.
We had a Christmas miracle!!! After 10 years of hoping and praying for a baby, Crismon and Danielle have been blessed with a beautiful healthy baby girl! She has these beautiful deep blue eyes. 6 lbs 7 oz. (Crismon shared). She was born at 10:21 PM in Manhattan. She came about 11 days early. Two days before Christmas Crismon and Danielle were among hundreds that were waiting in line for a Covid test. They had to stand outside an urgent care center for two hours, all the while Danielle was chilling and feverish. She tested positive. Crismon tested negative, but the next day Crismon felt sick and did a home test and he was positive too. New York has been hit hard by Omicron. We are extremely grateful that Crismon was able to be with Danielle for the delivery. We are so very grateful for this Christmas miracle! Emma at day two tested positive for Covid, but thankfully they all recovered quickly, and Emma didn’t have a fever.
Seth & Tiffany came up December 27, Monday evening, as they couldn’t get an appointment for Tiffany to be seen for her ACL tear. It was their 21st wedding anniversary. Not the way they would have wanted to celebrate, but we are glad they could come so we could help out with meals and assist Tiffany. Tuesday the Gee’s drove the boys to Mt. Hood to ski. Seth picked them up that afternoon, and then they all were here for dinner that evening, along with Jane (Jackson). Later, Jane showed us the video she made for her parents Christmas present. She finished up the last few months of their stay in Oxford. It was tremendous! What an incredible experience they had that year on Seth’s Sabbatical abroad.
Thursday, December 30th was Crismon 73rd birthday. There was a lot of snow in Graham and Olympia, so the William’s and the Doutre’s couldn’t come down to celebrate with us. We didn’t get the snow in this area as forecasted. We went to the temple with Vance's and Vivi, and then back to our home for Chinese food that we had picked up earlier for everyone. It was a nice meal together. Sydney had made Grandpa a carrot cake for his birthday. We joined with the grandchildren at the Vance home, and all the children shared what they loved about Grandpa.
Isaac: He is so kind and loving, he is the best!
Sydney: Grandpa knows so many people. He is so loved. He has friends everywhere he goes.
Asher: He is so nice. Whenever I go to his house, he makes me feel so good.
Julia V: He thinks of others before himself.
Bryson: He agreed with what others had said. Ondalynn added, He teaches you to work.
Paxton: He’s funny.
Gary V: He is always so kind and thoughtful. He is my hero.
Ondalynn: I love his thirst for the Gospel and how he teaches it to his family.
Vivi: Dad is always trying to be better; to be more Christlike. He sees service that needs to be done, before it’s even needed.
Me: I am so thankful he asked me to marry him. He’s so patient, kind, and loving and much, much more!
On the last day of the year, we drove Asher back to Eugene. The day before, Asher helped me make a soup that we could take to Eugene so Tiffany didn’t have to prepare a meal. We had a nice day with them. Dad enjoyed watching a football game with Seth. We were glad to get home before it was too late.
What a year it has been! We are so grateful for the miracle that the IVF procedure for Crismon and Danielle worked, and that they have a beautiful, healthy baby girl on Christmas Day! Then Oliver’s recovery from his Vocal Cord paralysis, was another amazing miracle this year. It was a huge blessing that the children are back in school this year, although they still have to wear masks. We hope that we can somehow beat Covid, so our lives can get back to some sort of normal, if there is such a thing. We look forward to 2022!
