Merry Christmas, Gibersons

Judy:

At Aunt Lois’s funeral, Evan gave a great talk about the power of “remembering”.  I think that ability to “remember” is one of the reasons Christmas is such a great time of year.  As we decorate the tree or place other Christmas items around the house, it seems that each brings with it a special memory—our first Christmas as a married couple, a child’s handmade ornament, friends from past places, or gifts from Gary and our kids.  Memories from childhood Christmas in Richland, Amarillo, and BYU feel connected to music played on the radio.  It adds richness and a wonder to the whole season.

The most important “remembering” is that of the sweet baby Jesus whose birth we celebrate, whose life we remember, and whose sacrifice should be unforgettable.  It is because of those events that the path way back to our Heavenly home is available.  Thanks, Dad, for all the Christmas past, present, and future that we have shared.  Merry Christmas, to one and to all.

Todd:

Merry Christmas Dad and Karla!  The Buda Giberson's are grateful to be part of your far-flung family.

Christmas was always an enjoyable time growing up, with the most persistent memories being the

strength of family bonds.  May you have a wonderful Christmas season.

                                                                       Todd, Lea and Family

Mike:  (was busying grading papers and now visiting with his grandchildren including meeting his two new little ones, Max and Sophee.  We will add his message when he can slow down enough to put it in.)

Robin:

Snow. Snow, snow in Amarillo!   My health is really looking good.  Glad the year is coming to an end.  My apartment is getting really crowded and moving to move into a 2-bedroom apartment.  Looking forward to see everyone at the reunion.  Also looking forward to getting my computer screen so that we can get online with all of you. We listen to Christmas music through the month.  We hold a party on Christmas Eve and have games and food.  Merry Christmas all of you, Gibersons past and present.

Valerie:

Christmastime always draws one's thoughts to family. I love gathering with my own family at Christmas, but there's always a little part of me that goes home in my dreams to Christmases past spent growing up in the Giberson house. I'm grateful for traditions that made it fun and for the truths of the gospel that always brought peace and happiness to our home, and continue to do so in my life. The love of the Savior and celebrating His birth bound us together. Thanks to Mom and Dad and their faithfulness we grew up in light and truth and now have it to share with our own children. We let all kind of things into our lives everyday...TV, jobs, school work, friends, sports...but how often do we let the Savior in? May this be the year that we LET HIM IN! Merry Christmas!!! 

Lynette:

I can remember lots of things from Christmas when we were growing up.  I always liked when Dad and Mom would do “Twas the Night Before Christmas”, their rendition of it.  I liked how we would hang up the stockings from oldest to youngest and then pick them up in the morning  going youngest to oldest.  (Of course, I was one of the youngest which made it work out for me.)  I remember on Christmas mornings in Amarillo, we would all have to wear socks and gather in Mom and Dad’s bedroom and have family prayer.  Then we would get at the top of the stairs and come down the stairs in order and dad would take a picture.  The shutters would be closed to the living room where the Christmas tree was with the presents so we couldn’t see the tree.  We would open our Christmas stockings first in the family room.  Then we would go into the living room to open present.  I remember how Valerie,  Rick, Scott and I would reserve our spots for opening Christmas packages on the night before.  Dad would hand out the presents one at a time.  I loved that.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.  Come visit us if you are ever in Amarillo.

Rick:

Let's see... How to greet one's father for Christmas...

'Twas the night before Christmas...no, no, that's been done -- probably one too many times before. But hey, what's so wrong with rerunning some old messages? Half the fun of Christmas is the traditions! So let's go ahead with the reruns, and remember some classics of Christmas literature, movies, and TV specials.

See if you can identify the source of each of the following. Bonus points if you know the character speaking.

(1) Because when the thermometer gets red, the temperature goes up, and when the temperature goes up, I start to melt, and when I melt, I get all wishy-washy.

(2) Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives.

(3) You'll never fit in! Now you come to elf practice, learn how to wiggle your ears, chuckle warmly, go hee-hee and ho-ho, and important stuff like that. A dentist! Good grief!

(4) What about Santa's cookies? I suppose parents eat those too?

(5) But I think that the most likely reason of all May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

(6) God bless us, every one!

So hopefully you could get most of those, though probably not all. Whatever your score, I won't take it as a barometer of your Christmas spirit. That, I already know, you have in bunches. Enjoy another great Christmas season -- and remember all the great Christmas traditions -- and especially the one good Source of it all!

Merry Christmas from the Rick & Linda version of the Gibersons.

Scott:

Dad, I was commenting to Scotty the other day how shocking it was that it was already December and Christmas was right around the corner.  I shared with Scotty that as a child and young teen it felt like Christmas would never come, but now that I’m old the time travels too quickly and it seems like Christmas comes every other six weeks.  

This conversation took my mind back to the days of anticipation in the Giberson household when I was a child leading up to Christmas … anticipation marked and measured by the tradition of the Advent Calendar that you and Mom hung up each year.  As a side note, I learned from you and Mom the value of establishing traditions in the family, especially around the holidays, and we’ve tried to incorporate certain traditions in our family.  One Giberson tradition that we have not sustained is the use of the Advent Calendar.  I don’t know if I regret not doing this or not.  It certainly did allow the anticipation to crescendo to a fever-pitch within the house as we pinned each felt ornament onto the tree (wasn’t it a tree?).  I remember many nights laying on the sofa next to the decorated and lit Christmas tree (often draped with popcorn chains that I had helped to string), listening to Christmas carols either on the stereo or played live by Mom on the nearby piano (prefer the latter of course), just wondering if The Day, Christmas Day, would ever come.  I could hardly stand myself.  When we retrieved the 2x4 for the stockings I knew the time was nigh.  All of this anticipation often meant that Christmas Eve night (and often even the night of the 22^nd and 23^rd) was going to be a sleepless night … there was no way around it.  Tossing, turning, staring at the ceiling, wondering, waiting … such anticipation …

… BUT anticipation for WHAT exactly?  Was it just the question of what presents had my name on them under the tree?  Well, it was that, but it was more than that … Christmas days and the days that followed were so full of fun, and love, and good times as the family played games together, ate food together, and generally were together having fun that it certainly was an anticipation for the entire experience of the Christmas joy and love that was in our home.  Thanks to you and Mom for making the Christmas season such a great experience that it was so highly anticipated by the children every year!

The Up-date on the "In-laws"

As part of this first year of our extended family blog, we wanted to spot light all of our great in-laws.  We are glad to have them in our family,

Uncle Gary: Gary was the oldest in his family of four children and the only boy. He was raised for most of his life in Syracuse, Utah.  He met Aunt Judy on the first day of freshman orientation and they got married four and ½ years later.  Inbetween time, he served an LDS mission to Hong Kong.  He currently works out of our home for Hewlett-Packard as a system analyst.

Color:  blue

Food (at home):  Meatballs and rice

Food (eating out):  Chinese buffet  

Movie:  Fiddler on the Roof

TV show:  MASH

Sport (to play):  bowling

 Professional/college sport teams:  BYU

Dessert/snack food:  M&Ms

Vacation spot:  cruises

Something you are planning to do this year (before your next birthday):  Go to Hawaii

Church calling:  Gary is currently serving as a Primary teacher, Webelo leader (10 year old boys in Cub Scouts), and Stake Employment Specialist.

Aunt Lea: (I will add her information when I get it.)

Lea with Tillie at the Giberson 2009 Reunion

Aunt Andrea: (ditto)

Andrea must hid from cameras as this is the only picture I can find in my picture files.  I will try to add some other ones as I get them.

Uncle Lance:

He is there in the backrow (2010)

Lance was born in Salt Lake City and grew up in Murray and South Jordan, Utah. He's the 2nd of 5 children. He served a mission to Spain and has lived in Israel, plus has visited a bunch of countries on business, like Germany, Chile, Brazil, and the Congo.

In 1982 he married into the Giberson family. (Did I mention he's really smart?) He and Aunt Valerie were married in the Jordan River temple on a windy winter day in February. Not only is Uncle Lance smart, but he's an amazing husband. (I have that on good authority!)

He attended BYU and ultimately graduated from Utah State University with a degree in accounting.

                                      Lance and Valerie at the Giberson 2009 Reunion

Here are his favorites:

Color: Purple
Food: Chinese, Seafood
Movie: Groundhog day, Inception, The Ultimate Gift
TV Show: Sports, Movies
Sport: Basketball, Tennis
Professional Sport Teams: Jazz, Diamondbacks
College Teams: BYU, Utah State
Snack Food: Bananas
Vacation Spot: High Uintah, Grand Tetons
Game: Settlers of Zarahemla, Civilization, Chess
Pets: I used to have a dog -- outside dog
Something he is planning to do this year (before his next birthday): Buy a Ranch, reduce debt
Current Church Calling: Ward Mission Leader
Job: Manager, Global Business Continuity, Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold, Inc.
Interests and Hobbies: Yardwork, fixing cars, reading, collecting chess sets from around the world.
Favorite Authors: Valerie Ipson, Grisham, Michener, Louis LaAmour

Aunt Linda:

Family trip to Germany

Color:  I am partial to blues, but like lots of color.  I like combining colors for quilts.

Food (at home):  I found this really great (and fattening) recipe out of the BYU magazine for tomato parmesan soup in the crock pot.  I will attach a copy.

Food (eating out):  I'm not picky, but a good tex-mex with cheese and definitely rice and beans on the side.

Movie:  How can I pick just one?  serious/period:  Pride and Prejudice;  sci-fi/comedy:  Galaxy Quest;  Action/fantasy:  Willow;  sci-fi/adventure:  Independence Day, Dr. Who

TV show:  Psych  

Sport (to play):  volleyball; I took up basketball about 2 years ago and really enjoy it also.

Professional/college sport teams:  BYU;  Used to be a Mavericks fan, but I'm pretty disgusted by the whole NBA stand-off this season.

Dessert/snack food:  too many to choose from as I pretty much enjoy anything sweet.  Chocolate is always a favorite.  For Thanksgiving this year we just had our little family so I bought 3 smallish casserole dishes that fit about half of what a 9 1/2" pie plate would.  I made three small pies: apple, pumpkin and pecan. 

Vacation spot:  Somewhere with some hiking, but nothing too serious that you actually have to train for.

Katie and Linda at the last reunion

Something you are planning to do this year (before your next birthday):  Get some of those new-fangled running shoes and learn how to run "bare foot", so I can be ready for the race this summer at the reunion.

Church calling (not sure if this means current calling or favorite!):  I am currently serving as counselor in the ward Primary presidency.  The children are so fun/funny.  I pretty much like the calling I have at the time.

Giberson memory:  My first time meeting the family was when Rick and I were dating.  We drove down to Amarillo at Christmas break and I received my first introduction to playing "real" games (not UNO or Yahtzee for example).

Aunt Sandy:

Color: Black

Food (at home):  Scott’s Rogo  (a shout out for a Giberson traditional dish!!!)

Food (eating out):  Mexican food

Movie:    Glory   

TV show:      Dancing with the Stars    

Sport (to play):        Foosball

Professional/college sport teams:    Steelers/Lakers/Longhorns

Dessert/snack food:  Pecan pie/Celery and ranch dressing  (not necessarily at the same time)

Vacation spot:   Toss up between LA and NYC 

Something you are planning to do this year (before your next birthday):  Take a vacation  (15^th anniversary is coming up as is the Giberson family reunion!)

Giberson memory:  Fondly remembers our First trip to Dallas to meet family for Thanksgiving.  Hanging out at Gary and Judy’s place.  Ashley hanging out with Tosha for the first time.  Remembers holding Tana as a baby.  The second one is our first trip to Amarillo with Scotty.  Taking pictures with Grandpa holding Scotty for the first time … a cherished memory!

A Christmas: Message, Memory, Wish, . . . ???

Yesterday's Church News had the First Presendencies Christmas message (for you out of Utah I guess that will be next week). Tonight (again in Utah) the Christmas Devotional will be broadcast. Of course, you can get that over the internet. Anyway it reminded me of long ago times, when your mother and I had little ones, and then not so little ones around the Christmas tree. I hope this season speaks Joy and Peace and above all Love, in each of your homes.

Siblings

One of the great things this year has been the opportunity to do the "Aunt and Uncle" sections on each one of the siblings' birthdays and to get to know them in some different ways. I think by having a list of questions to ask, I was able to find out some things that I didn't know about everyone as adults. I didn't know that many of my brothers cook, that they follow interesting blogs and also write on them, that we share food and color preferences even long after we were all living in the same house.

It was also good because I made an extra effort to recognize everyone on their birthday----always a goal each year but I think this is the first year that I actually talked to each person on or near their birthday.



Family Picture at the last family reunion
Waiting for "Texas" to start.



Robin didn't feel well and missed the picture taking at "Texas"



The best thing happened during each of the conversations I had with Todd, Mike, Robin, Valerie, Lynette, Rick, and Scott.................I felt an overwhelming feeling of love and gratitude for each one of you. I wished that we were all neighbors and that I could be there to bring dinner and play games or to help with your Church assignments. I would like to have long conversations with you and your spouse about your interests, passions, and life in general. I would like to eat meals with you at your favorite restaurants or share your recipes of your favorite home meals. I was often in tears as we finished our conversations with a home sickness to be with you. I think our giberiginal blog is one step in that direction and I love reading the blogs of our family members who have them. Our upcoming family reunion will be even more valuable to me as I look forward to spent time with you (so I hope some of you will be in Mesa for more than the weekend because we hope to have fun at the pre and post reunion activities as well.)

More than a comment

I just think it very important that I take a moment and thank Judy for her efforts this past year on putting together all the BIRTHDAY posts here. Not only have they been an entertaining read but also very educational. I hope my grandkids as they are able will read through this blog at least for those posts, that they might get to know their progentators a little better. All part of "turning the hearts ... ." I certainly learned some things.

"Giberson Races" (our tentative name)

for the GIBERSON FAMILY REUNION OF 2012!

Mark your calendars for June 22-24, 2012.

Location:  Mesa, AZ

Activities will include:  5 K Run/walk and pinewood derby races

Hope to see all Gibersons or Giberson-connected there.

Watch for more details after the first of the year.

In memory of Mom

.....and fill in the blank with the memories you thought of as you noted today was the 19th of October. A day specifically set aside to remember Mom within the busyness of life. I had a meeting tonight in preparation for a stake workshop I have been asked to give on "Meaningful Traditions that bind us together." Thinking of traditions brings lots of memories of Mom to the forefront so it was fun to be able to talk about her in the midst of our planning meeting.

I read Mom's journal entry for her 60th birthday. Other years she would mention us by name for sending a card or calling. This time none of us were mentioned but she did say she had received lots of cards this year, including one from Dad which he made "with his new graphics on the computer." The day after her birthday she went visiting teaching and the sister gave her a vase of iris and daisies. She noted that she is "especially fond of iris" and it wasn't the season for them. "The Richards family does the most incredible things." I am glad that was a happy birthday for her.

I believe this was when they were dating--not sure.

This picture and the family photos were taken in our house
as part of a YW/YM fund raiser.

Family pictures at Aunt Lois--so glad that Mom
made this happen. It is something that
we do as well.

As you know, Mom had a big collection.



They got to share Hong Kong with us but couldn't go
into China on this route.



Happy Birthday, Mom!

Sidenote: (Feel free to skip. Just interesting in a detail sort of way)

On the title page of this her last early journal (I assume she is still writing up in the spirit world), she had the following things:

top corner--quote cut from a magazine

The moment for calm and rational discussion is past; now is the time for senseless bickering.

Then a stamp of "The Big Bad Wolf" with "This book belongs to Eileen Giberson"

her name is hand written

another quote: "I can't die: it would wreck my imagine" by Jack LaLanne

Remember Mom exercising with him!

another stamp with two little pigs

Date: November 3, 1993-

and a stamp of a fairy tale castle in the bottom corner.

Mom made it to the real fairy tale castle with our Heavenly Parents.

And I am sure she still likes pigs, and story books, wild flowers, and eveything else she loved here.

She is the same as she was but full of health with work to do.

Happy Birthday from all of us.

And we all know the line....

although Todd rhymes with odd, he was the only one born in an even year!  Of the eight siblings that is.  Just a little Giberson trivia to start off Todd's birthday post.  (I know, it is no longer his birthday in Texas but we have another hour here in Utah so hopefully I will get done in time to post today.)

I always thought this was Todd with me and Dad..maybe it is Mike?



The other piece of the set of pictures at our Owen relatives...
they had them displayed long after we grew up.


Todd was the one who carried Dad's middle name of Creighton which he passed to Niles.  It is interesting to note that Creighton is also a town in South Dakota as well as a university.

Here are Todd and Lea and their younger four kids in 2009 : Lora, Ryan, Kaylee, and Tillie
No shown are:  Jordan, Niles,  David, Sierra and Zech.

Todd and Lea have been married around 13 or so years (I forgot to ask) and parent the largest collection of Gibersons in our family with the total being 9 children, one daughter-in-law and one cute granddaughter.  He works for the attorney general's office as a system analyst, centered mostly around redistricting.  He currently serves as an advisor to the school district involved in redistricting for school boundaries.  And he also serves as an assistant stake clerk over special projects.  And those special projects are:   you guessed it--redistricting of ward and stake boundaries.  (Notice a theme in is life.  It is a great topic of discussion to have with Todd. )

He has many passions including:  religion, politics, and geography.  He follows blogs on these subjects and enjoys commenting on them from time to time.  He also will attend other churches in the area to learn more about their beliefs and lifestyle to expand his understand of religion.  He is the one family member who reads Mike's blog, although I hope to do so soon.  He also follows this blog and often makes comments here as well (which is how we all know he is still alive.)  He also can spell.

Todd trying to prove his point during the "Aunts and Uncles"
game in 2009

He also likes to read, including science fiction and "liberal classics" like Catch 22.  He has kept a list of all the books that he has read since the 1990s (Great idea!).

Favorites:

Color-- blue

Food at home--   spaghetti  (if he is cooking)  He likes basic meals like  southwest chicken,  and shepherd pie   (send recipes)

Eating out  Italian

Movie--        Todd is  a Hitchcock Fan!  At one time he had somewhere around the upper 40s  copies of Hitchcoock"s 54 movies  although some were just taped from the TV to a VHS tape.

TV show     football  and other sports ;   political- Fox news or other political channels.  He has taped the current debates to watch when he has time.

sport. (to play): basketball softball volleyball ;football

professional/college sport teams    BYU Cougars, 49ers, He tends to follows individuals Austin Collie,and John Beck.  He follows the Celtics for professional basketball.

Dessert/snack food  tin roof sundae ice cream; cracked pepper wheat thins

vacation spot   places with pine trees  hope to go back to Brazil  Yellowstone   

Something you are planning to do this year (before your next birthday) :  publish an article in the paper----Unfortunately, it might not be able to accomplish this goal because his work does not allow hi to publish articles related to any topic served by their office.  Perhaps he could find another topic like religion, Richland, or parenting to write about.

Church calling;s  .  An assistant stake clerk over special project  (boundary realignments) he calls this a dormant calling at the moment.  He serves as a counselor in the  High Priest Group Leadership.

One thing that you might not fully appreciate is that Todd has added singing to his new interests.  For years, he saw himself as only a good standing for a Ward choir.  But lately he has branched out and has sung in a quartet for a number of different settings.  He even occasionally will sing a solo part.  Awesome for him and awesome for Mom.  A real singer!

Giberson memory--He remembers the trips mentioned before,  He liked going to cousins to visit each year.  He remembers looking forward to those trips to Oregon.  He also loved our trip to Canada when he was almost 13 years old.

Todd and I had a great conversation which I enjoyed so much.  Like everyone else, I learned so much by talking to him....more than I can put in one post. 

Happy Birthday, Todd, Happy Birthday from all of us! 

PS: And he loves pinewood derby races!!

I had no idea.  He was too excited when I shared the plans of the pinewood derby races at the upcoming Family Reunion 2011.  To get an idea...when Ryan had to build his first car, Todd made cars for Kaylee and Tillie as well.  (Then they took a fast race before the actual race to see which of the three cars was fastest and Ryan picked that one to race for the Pack races).

(Reunion note:  So everyone needs to dig up their old cars or start the building your new cars.  Kits can be found at Scout shops and also Michael's and other hobby stores.

We will probably have a "true Cub" class and an Open where most anything goes!

New Topic of discussion...

Moving to Texas and our house there on Carlton...what things to you remember?

Mickey, Mike or Michael?

This picture was one that was in
our Grandma Owen's and other relatives'
homes for years.

Whatever you call him-- it is "Happy Birthday to Uncle Mike day." Back in the day (meaning when we were all little), nicknames like Mickey were very common especially in grade school and younger. And although Michael was a very typical name back then, I don't think I knew anyone then who was actually called Michael. Mom said that Michael was a name that she had always liked and Allen sounded good with it. I think "Allen" was also in vogue at the time. Anyway, I can remember "Mickey" coming home from school (I think it was first or second grade) and saying that he was now only going by "Mike" and he was determined about it. It seemed like he would completely ignore us if we called him Mickey and we quickly adjusted to it. Over the years, I think he has been called by any of those three names, but I think to the nieces and nephews he has always been "Uncle Mike".

Mike was the third of the eight children and arrived just two days less than a year after Todd was born (and considering that I was only 27 months old at the time, things were a bit crazy for Grandma and Grandpa Giberson). Grandma Giberson often said that she was not planning to get pregnant so soon so she was grouchy the entire time. Then Mike turned out to be the sweetest and nicest baby (don't know what that implied about Todd and I!). She said she must have scared him so much, he decided just to be nice. And he still is.



Mike is the one perched up on a stool.



Mike and Andrea live in Lubbock, Texas, with Kyle. Will is going to Virginia Tech and Lisa and Paul (Audrey and Owen) and Paul and Randee (Jay and ? and ?) all live in the Mesa area. Mike is an assistant professor of practice in Energy Commerce at Texas Tech which is where Mike got is BS degree. He got his advanced degree from George Mason University. He met Andrea while attending George Mason University. They have been married almost 16 years if my math is correct.

From Giberson Reunion in 2009

Mike likes....economics (big surprise). He puts a lot of links on his face book page to economics articles and media. In talking to Mike, he mentioned that he does that mainly for his students. I was always wishing I had time to read many of the things he posts and was thinking he must have a group of very bright and dedicated friends who did take the time to read that interesting stuff. He also has a blog where he writes about economics. It is http://www.knowledgeproblem.com/. Check it out.

In addition, Mike likes New Orleans music which includes jazz, blues, and rock and roll. A band he likes currently is Bonerama. He enjoys New Orleans so much that he has begun rooting for the Saints in recent years in football even though the Redskins are still their family favorite.

His favorites:

Color- green

Food (home)-- If he is cooking it is usually pasta or an omelet (I actually didn't know Mike cooked.) If Andrea is cooking it is trying whatever new recipe that she has prepared. A recent one that he liked was---"sweet potato stew".

Eating out--(the two places they ate at this weekend for his birthday) Nora’s-- a Mexican restaurant for breakfast and then Triple J's for green chili burgers. Gary and I had Thai food with them once in Virginia which was excellent so I would guess if you were ever in Lubbock you would be happy with the food at these restaurants.

Movie -"Grand Torino" the recent Clint Eastwood movie. And if you are looking for a great economic documentary, he suggests "Power Trip". It sounds very interesting, but I am not sure if you can order it on Net Fix.

TV show- "House"

Professional/college sport teams-- Texas Tech/Virginia tech, Redskins and Saints, George Mason for basketball. (You will have to ask him his favorite sport. I forgot to ask as we moved right into his list of teams.)

Snack food- granola or cereal bars

Vacation spot- banks of the northern Carolina coast (and Mesa grandchildren, too)

Games- depends if you are talking about computer, PS3 games or "real time"- FIna Soccer 2012 and scrabble and card games of many kinds

Something you are planning to do this year (before your next birthday) --Go to Phoenix.

A Giberson memory --Our big vacation to California/AZ/Utah in 1967; growing up in Richland and not really knowing what a unique place it was until he was much older.

Taking a picture of Mike taking a picture
of the nieces and nephews
chasing down rockets.

Apparently Mike and Andrea keep a low profile
when cameras come out because I had trouble finding
one of the two of them together.
This is at "Texas" where I caught them in a conversation.
Maybe they could send me one to replace this one.

Mom was right...Mike is a kind and sweet person. I am sure it was crazy to have three children so close in age (and many more to come) but I always liked having two brothers near my age. We became a foursome with Dad as we attended softball and baseball games, played badmitton in the back yard, or played games.

He reported that he was a good birthday weekend, but if you forgot....call and wish him Happy Birthday, too.

(I actually had the text of this post done and posted on his birthday. However this morning when I went to add pictures, I realized that I had posted it on my hifromsyracuse. blog. So now it is done and in the right spot.)