"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"

Like the old favorite Christmas song says, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"--even in the Mendenhall apartment.  Take a look at our tree!  I must admit, it turned out much better than I thought. The tree was left here. When we first took it out of the box it looked a lot like the Charlie Brown tree with just a few branches here and there.  By the time we spread the branches out and put an extra set of lights on it where the old ones weren't working, it turned out quite nice, if I don't say so myself!  I found a deal on ornaments at Sam's Club and voila, we've got Christmas in Connecticut.

I won't lie, we miss being around family and when I played the Josh Groban Christmas CD I had a good cry but now I'm looking forward to this great time of the year when we celebrate the Savior's birth. We plan to attend the Missionary Christmas Conference on Dec 8, the ward Christmas party on Dec. 11 and the Stake Christmas Devotional on Dec. 12.  Let the merry begin! 

Here's our dining area chandelier all tied up in bows.

Check out the wreath on our front door. It was left here too. I just added the bow.

Here's Doc by our back door wreath.  Once again, I just added the bow.  I think it's quite cheery.

Some traditions are just hard to break.  Here's a picture of me with ads in hand heading out the door on Black Friday.  I didn't leave by 2 a.m. like some folks I know in Utah (I would have loved to be there and be a line holder), but I did catch Home Depot at 6:30 a.m. then it was off to the mall.  I didn't purchase much, but it was just fun being in the crowds.

I even had a gospel discussion with the clerk at Macy's and gave her two pass along cards.  At first she read my badge and said, "Oh, you're a Catholic sister?" I politely said, no, I'm actually a Mormon missionary.  She was very interested in the Church and had seen the Mormon TV commercials.  I told her of the new temple that's planned for Hartford and how family oriented we are.  She seemed interested and asked if we had a congregation in Manchester. By the end of the day I came away with a few good shopping deals, gave directions to shoppers who saw my badge from a distance and thought I worked for the store, and a warm feeling by giving out pass along cards.