From all of us, to all of you

We finally finished our E.R.B. Annual Report - 2009, and tried to send it out via email.

(Yes, we know, most of you are on the ball and print lovely cards and letters and send them to people like us in the mail. But, our Christmas/New Year's tradition has been to write up our letter and send it out via email.)

This year, in addition to email, we've used Facebook and now our blogs. Isn't technology wonderful?

I found one response to our email quite hilarious (in a weird sort of way), and thought I'd share it. I'll keep the sender anonymous, but won't change any other names, as no need exists to protect the innocent:

I'm still a XXXXXXXXX in Corcoran and this week will be working in XXXXXXXXX. Charlie Manson is getting old, but actually looks younger than his years. Satan and Prison life have been good to him I guess. Sirhan Sirhan has been transferred out as he had respiratory complications and needed to be out of our valley fever (cocci) area. Juan Corona is really getting old. From all of us, to all of you HAPPY NEW YEAR

Such notable company...

Anyway. Without further ado, from all of us, to all of you [my three blog followers], we present the E.R.B. Annual Report - 2009.

Public Service Announcement

Post office, FedEx to see busiest day today - wtop.com: "The U.S. Postal service says 97 million customers will come to the post office, while 41 million will take advantage of convenient online shipping from home or office.

The post office recommends you send your packages by the following dates:

Dec. 16 - Parcel Post
Dec. 21 - First-Class Mail
Dec. 21 - Priority Mail
Dec. 23 - Express Mail"

First Presidency Christmas Devotional 2009

First Presidency Christmas Devotional 2009:

The First Presidency Christmas Devotional was held on Sunday, December 6. The devotional featured the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. Members of the First Presidency were the speakers. Audio and video from the devotional are available in English below. Archives of the devotional are also available in many additional languages."

Another excellent Christmas Devotional.

First Presidency Christmas Devotional 2009

First Presidency Christmas Devotional 2009:
The First Presidency Christmas Devotional was held on Sunday, December 6. The devotional featured the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. Members of the First Presidency were the speakers. Audio and video from the devotional are available in English below. Archives of the devotional are also available in many additional languages."

Another excellent Christmas Devotional.

Interesting Idea

Saw this over at Millennial Star. New tradition, blending my families' heritages?

My daughter is in the MTC. I made her a Hanukkah celebration that revolves around the light of the restoration.

I sent her a paper menorah to put up. The shamash is labelled “Light of the Restoration”. Each day she opens an envelope with a different theme of the restoration. For example, the first day is “The First Vision”. The envelope for this day contains a paper candle labelled “The 1st Vision” and readings about the first vision. The readings are approved materials for missionaries, such as Preach My Gospel, the scriptures, conference addresses, etc. Then there is a section on “Missionary Application and Personal Dedication”. After all Hanukkah is the festival of dedication. On the first day the reader is asked to “consider your testimony. What should you be doing to strengthen it? What do you need to do to better maintain it? How can you best share it?”

The candles are:
1. The First Vision
2. The Book of Mormon
3. Restoration of the Priesthood
4. Restoration of Christ’s Church
5. The Creation
6. The Fall
7. The Atonement
8. The Temple Ordinances

Of course there are gifts. And we’ve sent enough for her whole district. The first day they will get the traditional dredels and gelt. I was concerned that they get presents that wouldn’t be a problem to transport to their mission and would be semi-useful to missionaries. One day is blank cards on a ring for vocabulary words. The last day is Plan of Salvation cut-outs.

I also sent a tiny Hanukkah bush with silver and blue ornaments and a star of David on top.

Source: Friday Forum