St. Louis Highlights

Last Saturday morning, we woke up to this:




I was concerned that Mom would be bothered with the snow and cold. But when she came up from her cozy basement bedroom, I could hear her all the way from my upstairs bedroom. "Oh! Oh! I get to see snow again!"

We opted to stay home while Gayle trekked over for her church cantata rehearsal. Mark had two performances with his male chorus. The three girls went out for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. Mom and I had Creamy Herbed Turkey soup with stuffing. Oh my! We are planning a trip to our ST in our area just so we can have another bowlful. After our delicious dinner (Mom's treat), we bundled up and headed out for Gayle's civic orchestra Christmas concert. It was delightful! The conductor spoke before each piece and did a lovely job introducing the music. Mom was just over the moon and I tried to imagine what music would make me that happy. The closest I could come would be a U2 Christmas concert. :)

Sunday morning, bright and early, Mark drove us over to his church for the Christmas cantata. The choir sang, the instruments played (Gayle playing her beautiful flute again), and Mark preached. Mom loved it all!



Afterwards, we went downstairs in the church for Breakfast in Bethlehem. Here, Mom ate pancakes, met tons of people (a stretch for her), and met her match!



(A really funny text conversation transpired when I sent that photo out to my siblings. My brother Loren, who is not as churchified as the rest of us, texted back to ask, "What is that with Mama?" When I answered and told him it was a camel, he wondered, "Gayle has a camel?" Oh my gosh! I laughed and laughed.)

After church, we zipped over to see Mom's great-grandson, Emrys. What a treat!



Our next event was dinner backstage before Mark's final men's chorus performance. His group is called Ambassador's of Harmony. The first act of the Christmas concert was Grinch-themed, and Mark dressed as a Who. The second act told the story of Jesus' birth and Mark was dressed as a shepherd. It was very, very good and again, Mom loved it!



What a weekend. What a woman.