Letter to Aliese received December 24, 2010

Liesey,

Thanksgiving really to be honest was wonderful. A Tongan sister in the ward gave a "lunch" (we could have taken "lunch" and fed Croatia). Then we had "dinner" scheduled at 2 PM with a family who is known in the entire stake for being amazing cooks. So dinner was really built high up on a pedestal. Anyway, they totally delivered! It was amazing, SUPER fatty though we did not have a Kosher Thanksgiving in their home. Anyway, I did get a bit of weight from that, but my belly isn't much bigger, so I'm cool with it. :) Having a bike area helps burn the calories, and bring my leg muscles back. I'm proud to report that my legs are almost as big as they were in high school and for sure bigger than from before the knee surgery. I am slightly worried though 'cause like I said, I don't see my belly bigger, but nothing else is really bigger either...Yet now I weight 180 lbs. Maybe my "Freshman 15" just came late. :)

Thanksgiving at home sounds like it was loads of fun, the whole weekend sounded fun really, I wish I could have gone up and cut trees. I'm sorry the drive home was less than safe, that would have been quite the car ride. A 12 ft. tree, eh? Well with that only being $10, it sounds like you came out almost even with the broken windshield. Just for fun, Elder James and I looked at a Christmas tree lot. A 5 ft. tree cost $80, unless you wanted a crappy one; they were $60. Needless to say, we are using a 2 ft. fake tree. :)

Glad to hear you are super excited to graduate with you Master's, but even happier to hear that you will be putting the name to good use. Your decoration story sounds uber-funny. Your bunny has done quite a few interesting things it seems. I'm glad to hear you chose to rear your children in the gospel. :) We actually use the "Peanuts Christmas" thing for spiritual thought at dinners we read the scripture and then I say, "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown," and we walk away.

Well, that's all for now...except the fact that I sang " O, Holy Night" in sacrament meeting yesterday. I made people cry...they wouldn't tell me why though. ;) I guess I sung it badly. I also got a baptismal date with an investigator last Saturday. He is scheduled for January 15, 2011, so I am excited for that.

Sorry that you don't get this 'til you go to Mom's house, I didn't know when you were going up there or coming back, so I just figured I'd send it early.

Love ya. Miss ya. Merry Christmas. 19 months.

Elder Jacob S. Chipman