Holidays with the Parker's

     So this holiday season has been fantastic in the Parker house.  We were happy to have the Mister home this year!  The quality time spent as a family and with friends was phenomenal!  We truly enjoyed every minute.  To start off the holiday season, we had our traditional Thanksgiving Dinner.  We had our family, the Castles, and Jason and family over.  First we watched the parade, and then FOOTBALL!!!  Our family are such football enthusiast!!!  We love football season! 

      Shortly after Thanksgiving we received our first snow fall that stuck!  Well I say snowfall, the Mister says BLIZZARD.  LOL!  We got 23 or so inches, and lost power for 10 hours.  We made the most of it though.  It was quite humbling actually.  It is amazing how stress free it is.  The kids were alot less cranky (not that they are cranky kids but lately they have been stuck in the house so they were a little stir crazy), mommy and Daddy were alot less stressed.  Will had to go set up a EOC (for those who don't understand Army acronyms, that stands for Emergency Operation Center).  So he was gone up until Dinner time.  We pioneered a dinner of hotdogs, mac and cheese, baked beans, and fruit.  We ate by candle light (first candle light dinner in a long time I have set through).

Sorry they are so dark.  I hope you can still make them out.

       This actually made me think about a story that our Prophet shared of Gordon B Hinkley's childhood.  It was on a Thanksgiving day more than 50 years ago, and his family had just gotten power on their farm.  He states: "Gordon indicated, however, that the Thanksgiving he remembered most thankfully was the year they seemed to have nothing for which to be grateful".  Thanksgiving came, and what was usually a large feast was not.  Instead his father walked in with a Jackrabbit and laid it at the table for his mother to cook for the feast.  She grudgingly cooked it.  Rains ruined the crops so when the jackrabbit was done, it was served with just a few turnips which survived.  The Children including the beloved Gordon refused to eat, and his mother cried.  At that moment his father got up went into the attic and fetched a old oil lamp.  It was lit and all the power was shut off.  President Monson states: "When there was only the lamp again, they could hardly believe that it had been that dark before. They wondered how they had ever seen anything without the bright lights made possible by electricity.The food was blessed, and everyone ate. When dinner was over, they all sat quietly." 'Wrote Gordon: In the humble dimness of the old lamp we were beginning to see clearly again. … It [was] a lovely meal. The jack rabbit tasted like turkey and the turnips were the mildest we could recall… [Our] home … , for all its want, was so rich [to] us" 
  This story came to mind when we were eating by that candle light.  It was humbling to see all my little ones more than happy with the modest meal provided for them.  It truly was a memory that will always be with us.  Makes me almost want to eat like that every night.