To Erik from Kevan. Merry Christmas!

 

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Merry Christmas Dixie! ~ Love Hannah

This year for Christmas, I got the wonderful and amazing Dixie!! It took me a while to figure out what service to do in name of Dixie, but once I found out that she dresses up as a princess for parties (!!! Like, how awesome is that?!?!?!!) I thought it was a no brainer. I had to something to do with princesses and serve little kids in Vegas. I immediately started getting the idea of making a princess dress and visiting the children's hospital and just spend time with them. But, alas, being the person I am, I procrastinated and didn't have enough time to make a princess dress. So I had to alter my idea and accommodate to what was within reach. I finally decided to make a princess themed goody basket type thing for a family in our ward. They live across the street from us, and have three adorable little girls. No Boys. I immediately went to Pinterest (my personal social media stress relief) and found a bunch of princess crafts I could do. I settled on making three paper dolls and printed and cut out multiple dresses of different styles and colors and made a set for each girl. I then moved on to make a Popsicle stick princess house thing. It has lots of glitter and pink... Some of my pants are doomed to be glittery for the rest of its short life (which I guess isn't that bad of a fate). I also printed out princess themed dot-to-dot fun little worksheets and made cute little wand pens to go with it. Those wands are also very glittery and pink and magical. I am sorry to admit, but I don't have any pictures because my phone broke before I could save them onto my computer, but if the data on my phone is salvageable, I promise to send out the photos to you Dixie! I had so much fun doing this service and definitely explored some of my creative side that I had no idea I had. I greatly admire Dixie and the amazing things she does for everyone around her! Merry Christmas Dixie!!!!!

To Jackson, From Darcy

I thought about this for a long time. I knew Jackson was way into theater and I wasn't planning on doing anything in college pertaining to the musical but there was a need for help in the costume department so I decided that I could offer a  good 9 fingers (my thumb is mostly enable to move) but thats what I did we started with hours of measurements for the big cast and then going through all the costumes we have and then found out whoch we will alter and what we must make from scratch. It was a lot of fun but we are still not done! The show isnt until the new year!

Break a Leg in the New year Jackson!  Mele Kalikimaka!

To Brianne... Our Awesome Missionary!!!

Dear Brianne,

I am so excited for you to serve your mission.  What a tremendous blessing it is to serve our Heavenly Father.  After all he has done for each one of us, it is a privilege to share the gospel with others.

Katherine and I work with the Young Single Adults just like you in our stake.  We teach and plead with them to pursue one of three options in life.  We call it the 3M plan...

1.  Mission
2.  Means (Education or Training)
3.  Marriage

You have done all the right things by choosing to further your education and now serve a mission.  You make us all proud by choosing the right and doing those things which the prophets teach us will bring lasting happiness in our lives.

My service for you Brianne has been to recommit to helping our YSA in the stake to serve full time missions.  I used to teach a Mission Prep course when I was the Stake YM President.  Since our calling has changed to YSA, that Mission Prep course has fallen by the wayside.  I am starting the class again in January to help prepare our YSA to be the best missionaries they can be.

I want to share with you and our YSA the one key to missionary work.  If you want to be successful and reach the full measure of your missionary service, you must abide by this one key... OBEDIENCE!!!  If you obey ALL the mission rules, you will be find joy in your service.  If you are disobedient, you will not reach your full potential.  Obey the mission rules regardless if you like them or not.  Obey them regardless if you think they are stupid or not.  When you obey, you are eligible for all the blessing of heaven.  When you disobey, you basically are on your own.  True happiness comes from obedience.  This principle is relevant throughout our entire lives.

Lastly, some of us participated in a family "Biggest Loser" competition the past few months.  I was lucky enough to win by a very SLIM margin (no pun intended LOL).  Katherine and I decided a while ago that if I was the winner that I would donate my winnings to your mission fund.  So I am excited to tell you that we are sending you a check for the winnings!  Every missionary can use a little extra cash!!!

We love you Brianne and you are an excellent example to our kids.  Maisie, Lydia and Andrew are watching everything their older cousins do... so keep up the good work!!!

Love Uncle Ben...

To: Hannah From: Dixie

As I think about Hannah I think witty, funny and musical. Hannah is very talented musically so I decided to make people feel more welcomed and included by music. So when I started this year I met two exchange students one from Brazil named Maria and one from Switzerland named Michelle. Maria was a very cute shy girl who a lot of people had difficulty understanding her with her strong accent. Michelle didn't have a good host family that helped her progress in her time in America and also had very hard time in school translating everything and had many tears of missing her family and friends in Europe. I loved seeing them each day and helping them improve there English. so every day id listen to music with her and sing with both of them at school the popular American music. I also invited them both to every stake dance there was within this school year. the music I shared with them allowed them to see a culture difference and learn slang American terms to improve there modern English. it was also great seeing there lives steadily improve and developing world wide friendships. It was awesome thinking of Hannah while doing this and the untold effect music can have on people.

 

For my Lovely Libby from Mais

When I got your name and pictured you in my mind, I imagined you in your little Who Ville costume from like, a million years ago and you had a cup underneath your hair to make it super tall haha. I thought it was the cutest thing! Then I fast forwarded to the past couple times my family and I have visited and you almost always had a flower, headband, bow, clips, in your hair (or a cup). Soooooooooooooooo for my service I decided to make Hair bows and flowers for the little primary girls in my ward. I had fun making them and I enjoyed thinking about you in the process. They turned out super duper cute and the girls loved them:D Merry Christmas Libby

To Hawaii From Alaska

Dear Masie,

I thought of service I could do for Masie; I thought of things that would relate to her and things that I can do...most of them did not match up. Masie is always thinking of others and there is a woman in my new ward that reminds me of her, Sister Gage. Our two families have gotten very close and we have always been willing to help. I decided that I would serve her. She and I decided that I am a lot more organized than she is so I will be helping her organize her laundry room and her kitchen. I don't have pictures, I apologize. Merry Christmas Masie I love you! And not to brag but I probably live the closest to you now.

Love

Darcy Dittbrenner