2011? Whew!

In honor of the many end-of-year lists that proliferate pre-New Year's, we look back at the major events of 2011.
Also, this is as close to a Christmas newsletter as we are going to get.

Executive Summary: 2011 was not boring.

It started early in January on a somber note with the death and funeral of Gabe's dad,  Alvin A. Gabrielsen, Sr.

Dad was a WWII veteran and his death was a loss, but we decided it was better to bury an old soldier than a young one.

He was also an architect, and we have little doubt that mansions in heaven now bear his signature design features.

In the middle of February, we celebrated the creation of the newest family in our circle.  Our daughter, Lynne, married Christopher Burton.  Kit is the guy parents pray for when they find out their baby is a girl.  Smart, funny, outdoorsy, grown up, and good-natured.  Plus he loves Lynne. They have adventures in store.

 It was also about this time we heard about Terisa's APA internship applications, and of her acceptance to a two-year internship/fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  

Our boat was definitely rocked.

We managed a couple more trips to New Mexico to hug the granddaughters.

Lynne and Kit graduated (actually in December, but walked in May); Kit in International Studies/Chinese, and Lynne in Business Management.

In June we packed up the Big Yellow Truck and headed east.

The mayor was glad to see us.

Gabe went to a regional youth conference in July, even though he is not young.

Lynne and Kit embarked on the next of their adventures: Weehawken, New Jersey, home of Fred Astaire and Thelonious Monk.  Kit works in brand management for Unilever, and Lynne works in Harlem for a group of charter schools.

We withstood an earthquake and a hurricane, and the wettest August/September on record.

In September, "ground" was "broken" for the new Philadelphia temple.

October found us in Socorro for a few chilly, but family-licious days.

November brought Dayna, our first of hopefully many overnight visitors.

 

Also in November, the Philadelphia 1st Ward Young Men occupied Manhattan.  All of it.

We had an east coast clan Thanksgiving that explored the limits of what two square feet of counter space can do.

And finally, we got more family, fun, and food in Utah at Christmas time.

Whew! Can 2012 be any more exciting?  Don't touch that dial!

Christmas Nuggets

We've been having a wonderful time with family over the Christmas break.

Here's hoping you are the same.  

It started out with us arriving at our Utah house to find it warm and clean and decorated.  Thanks Jim and Lu and Dayna and Al!

Then we set about recaulking the tub and calling the plumber--not once, but twice--to come and fix leaking things. 

We had plumbers last year, too.  Next year we're just going to set a place for him at the Christmas table.

Brewed up a batch of mac and cheese (thanks, Alma, for sharing your recipe), a new holiday tradition discovered in Philadelphia.

At the Christmas Eve family party, Dayna's meticulously decorated Christmas display was attacked once again.  This year's traditional "pillage the village" was the result of the village denizens rising up and organizing an anarchy support group: Occupy the Village.  Previous years have seen the village under road construction, falling victim to ebola virus, and selling out to corporate interests.  Is nothing sacred? Some day, Dayna will have revenge.

Despite the annual village attack, Dayna, and crew put on a fabulous feast.

We also spent some time in Ogden, where Great Grandma Grace and little Grace spent some quality time together.

Grandma Terisa was mobbed by a gang of granddaughters.

She added girl-sized furniture to their new tea set, and they enjoyed the first of many tea parties.

Finally, we are wondering if our Utah house is too large any more.  More than once, Terisa has had to text or call me from the far end of the house...

We are loving the holidays with only one regret: we can't be in both Utah and Philly at the same time to spend time with all of the people we love in both places.

More Differences Going the Other Way

We came to Riverton to be with family and friends for Christmas.   It has been 6 months, so we paid attention to the first impressions.

1.  There is more light in the sunlight in Riverton.  The quality of the light is different somehow: clearer? brighter? whiter?  Anyway, I haven't thought about sunglasses for months.  Until today.

2. Dry.  Dry.  Dry.  In Utah we have dry sinuses, leathery skin, dry towels.

3. Driving. Parking.  The roads are wider and straighter here.  Not nearly enough drivers honk in Utah.  I can park my car almost anywhere.

And, yes, we fell right back into our habit of driving that 0.5 miles to the church.  Sigh.  In our defense, it was cold that night.

4.  Utah has really powdery, fluffy snow. I've seen no slush yet.  See "dry," above.

5.  And everywhere we look are big mountains. Close up. This is the view outside my kitchen window...

What do we miss about Philadelphia?  Authentic Philly Cheesesteaks.  So many pretenders and wannabees everywhere else...

57-degree December days: the low in Philly today is higher than the high in Utah.

Soft water.  Our Utah water is hard, harder, hardest.

And most especially our new friends in Philly.

Cameo Shots, Random Thoughts

Some posts are built symmetrically, or at least poetically on a theme.  This one is more reflective of the actual chaos of being us: random, disjointed, frenetic, but all kind of fun.

Early in November, Terisa's sister, Dayna, visited for a week.  We did the Liberty Bell,

and the Ivy League campus,

and the most historic room in the most historic building in the most historic city in the country.  Deny this at your own peril...

Earlier, in October, we tried to take our friends, Dale and Mitzi, to see Isaiah Zagar's "Magic Gardens."  We failed because we didn't know it had been closed for a private party.  We were not invited, and so contented ourselves with looking at the outsides.

But we took Lynne and Kit back at Thanksgiving.  Isaiah actually walked through and greeted us.  The place is a bit overwhelming, so you have to concentrate on little pieces of it.

Or on messages sprawled across a hundred-foot wall:

Also in November, we ambitiously took our young men to New York to the Manhattan temple.  Our Philly young bulls really liked being in the city.  Here we are, just before we got lost crossing Central Park.  I know, it shouldn't be hard, but everything was turned upside down for the NY marathon the next day.

In our various tours of the city with family and friends, we visited Occupy Philly (SOOO last month...).

In December, the YM and YW organizations were in charge of the Christmas party (whose crazy idea was it to get rid of ward activity committees?  Occupy Temple Square Now!)  Turns out Chik-Fil-A does a pretty good job with masses of chicken fingers. 

We ordered a few too many fingers, so we fed leftovers to our YM presidencies a couple of weeks later.

To all that, add in a trip (courtesy of Dale and Mitzi) to Winterthur, estate of another one of the duPonts, (this place is a gazillion acres big and had a dozen gorgeous Christmas trees, but the only picture I took there was this antique writing desk?!?),

a chance encounter with the missionary son of my missionary companion from 30 years ago,

and a Santa Bowl (reinforcing the lesson that an old guy should not pretend he is 21 any more...) and that just about brings us current.

We are going to spend the holidays with family, in our first return trip to Utah.  Hope it isn't too weird.