My Very Own Proofing Box!

Well, today is Thanksgiving.  Happy Thanksgiving one and all.  I am trying so hard to not cry and to count my blessings.  So here I start.  I volunteered to make my Mother’s homemade rolls for the mission dinner today.  Thank goodness it is our preparation day.  So I spent most of the day making rolls.  I have discovered in this new little home, my very own proofing box.  Remember a proofing box here in Nauvoo is to raise bread in……..Having said that here is a picture………

My bathroom!  Now keep in mind I had cleaned it this morning.  It has a fan in it that has a heater on it.  Set the dough in the bathroom, turn on the fan, and shut the door.  Magic!!

Finished product, the pioneers have nothing on me!

Then on to the stake center for our dinner.  It is nice to have it full of my friends. 

All of these good cooks here in Nauvoo, there was no shortage of food to eat, in fact we all got to take platefuls home.

Then we had a little program.  Sang some songs and then we have a professional musician here and he played a Tommy Dorsey song on this trombone.  It was amazing.  Then on to the Nauvoo Visitors’ Center to practice for the tree lighting ceremony.

Before it is lit. We stand upstairs and sing a song with flashlights on about turning on the lights on the tree and then wallllaahhh. Pictures to follow.

In the visitors center we have a beautiful nativity.  It is by Fontanini.  I think that is supposed to be very high class. This is before the tree is lit and up close.

So here I sit at 7 PM in the evening and my celebration is over.  I think of everyone at home enjoying one another and I am trying so hard to remember I am here to serve the Lord.  Next year I will be home and I will make the pies and the rolls, but for this year, I am grateful for the privilege to wear a badge that serves others and hopefully is a gift of my gratitude to my Father in Heaven who has given me so much.  I am so blessed in a million ways.  At dinner the other night I got a question, “Who would you trade places with if you could be anyone?”  I thought for only a little while and replied, “I wouldn’t trade places with anyone, I am so blessed, I have the greatest family, the best memories, opportunities, and I have worked hard to get to where I am.  No, I wouldn’t trade places with anyone, and I guess that is what Thanksgiving is about to me this year.  I am blessed and I know it and am so grateful to each and everyone of you who has helped me to be who I am.  THANKSGIVING……………………………………………………..