Christmas dinner with the missionaries in Nauvoo

We were in charge of organizing the Christmas dinner for 175 missionaries.

We had bone-in ham, baked potato, creamed peas and pearl onions, dinner roll and...

A green salad of romaine, spinach, cabbage, honey roasted peanuts, craisins, and poppyseed dressing, plus...




Orange jello salad packed with oranges, pineapple, bananas and frosted with fruit juice pudding and a sprig of parsley picked from the herb garden at the Lyon Drugstore which is one of the restored historical sites. The parsley hadn't frozen yet, it's tough.




For dessert we had white cake frosted with whipped topping and topped with raspberry sauce.




The food committee was incredible! With a lifetime of experience serving at church functions all I had to do was say, "This, this, and this need to be done, and like a whirlwind meat was carved, salads were dished up, food was plated and then served to everyone in about 15 minutes and it was still warm for the hungry Christmas feasters. Sister Gifford on the left below made us some ham and beans the next day from the leftover ham. It was soooooo yummy.
The Giffords live in the apartment below us.


Dinner was at 4 pm and we were home by 6:30 pm. One of the missionaries' grandchildren secretly went in the kitchen to do as many dishes as they could during the program. So with a little wrapping up to do in the kitchen we were done in no time. Sister Hess on the right of the photo at the sink made us all dish towel aprons; red for the sisters and black for the elders.

Elder Speirs below is a terrific carver. There was hardly anything left on the bone. He is the heavy equipment operator here at Nauvoo Restoration Inc.

These photos are in reverse of the process. Carving the meat was the first order of business.

Elder Hess in front is a bricklayer for NRI and Elder Young below is a teamster with our Belgian horse teams.

This was the scene before everyone arrived. The table decorations were bird houses with our beloved bird of this area, the red cardinal. This is Sister Young, she is a college professor and a descendant of Brigham Young but her husband isn't, even though he is the one with the last name of Young.

Heber C. Kimball Home

We served in the Heber C. Kimball home today. He was a member of the council of the twelve apostles during the Nauvoo years and later in Utah was a counselor to President Brigham Young in the First Presidency. This home was begun in 1843, completed in November 1845 and they left 4 1/2 months later when the saints left for the Rocky Mountains. It is a combination of Greek Revival and Federalist architecture. Pretty amazing for people who were destitute when they arrived in 1839. The east wing was added on after the "Mormon" years. Notice the step chimneys. Theoretically they were supposed to slow down chimney fires. They are a charming feature of the Nauvoo brick homes.

This is Dad in the study. The portrait is of Heber C. Kimball. The chairs are Windsor loop back arm chairs circa 1800.

This piano was built in the early 1800's and was of the type Beethoven played.






This is the parlor with a portrait of J. Leroy Kimball who in 1954 bought his ancestoral home and began Nauvoo Restoration Inc. That round thing by the cabinet is a fire screen from 1830, the red plate you see in the cabinet is cranberry colored glass which was popular for glass at the time. On the table is copper Lustre ware.








The cabinet and tables here are from the 1830's and 40's and the table with the dishes on it was made in Nauvoo during that time. Very little remains of the possessions of the saints. They had to simply abandon most of their life and only take what would fit in the wagons. Their possessions and the materials that made up their houses disappeared over the many years.


Most of the artifacts were acquired when Nauvoo Restoration began its work and don't belong the the original saints but simply represent the time period. The blue dishes are English Staffordshire. The colorful plates in the cupboard are Spode Imari style from the time period.



Heber C. died in 1868 which sticks in my mind because a century later I was graduating from high school during a turbulent time in society for people coming of age. I am indebted to these people for holding fast to the faith in spite of persecution as they searched for a place where they could follow the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in peace. Because they did, it was passed down from generation to generation and I received it in '68 at a pivotal time in life. Between the love of good parents and the teachings of Jesus Christ I was spared alot of grief as those two things helped me navigate those vulnerable years.

Christmas tree 2011

Dad and Elder DeWitt help Mark take down a mostly dead tree.

That little green part at the top is our Christmas tree. It's shedding terribly because it was almost dead. But I wanted a Charlie Brown Christmas tree and I got one.
The Sisters and I are making fun pillowcases as a humanitarian project for hospitalized children.

Here are some of us with our finished creations.

"Yet Knowing How Way Leads on to Way, I Doubted if I Should Ever Come Back."robert frost

Last night was the "Christmas Walk" festivities. We played the part of Jonathan and Elizabeth Browning of Browning gun fame. Their Nauvoo Brick home still stands here and has been restored. Did you know your great great grandpa once lived with the Browning family for a time in Ogden, Utah?

We have a monthly breakfast where we say farewell to the missionaries going home that month. We have been here long enough now that we have grown very fond of our friends. "Knowing how way leads on to way" it's hard to think we may never see them again but we are forever bonded by the experiences we have had together in Nauvoo.
Above, Dad's coworker on the grounds crew and tennis buddy, Elder DeWitt. He will be leaving in a couple of weeks for their home in AZ. Below are some fellow Nauvoo Restoration Inc. missionaries and the young man is Mark, an employee who has become a dear friend to the missionaries. His little one year old daughter has hundreds of grandpas and grandmas.







Me and Sister Leonard. She has gone home to Lewiston, ID. A more loving person you could never know.









Our dear Sister Gibson will be leaving for her home in Orem, UT. She taught us how to perform on a stage and do our vignette in "Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo." She believed in us and we wanted to make her proud.










Elder and Sister Taylor. Her eyes are partially closed so you can't tell how pretty she is. The Taylor's are "mad" with talent and had a great appreciation for Dad and my attempts to learn the arts.

All the Sisters donned their day caps and sang a song about quilting to our mission president and his wife before presenting them with a surprise; a quilt made by some of the sisters. That's me in the jeans in the right front. We go to work right after the breakfast so I'm in my NRI clothes.

President and Sister Ludwig with their new quilt. They will be leaving to their home in Colorado in 6 weeks. They have served here for 4 years. They are wonderful leaders. A little side note; Sister Ludwig's father is a world class physicist.

The Man on the Street

After Dad and I took a bike ride Saturday morning I warmed up the whole wheat pancakes he had made and put yogurt, bananas, and warmed huckleberry jam on top. It looked so pretty I had to take a picture.

On prep day we went to a little artsy town called Galena. It used to be a lead mining town in the mid 1800's. The man on the street is your dad. (I might add: If you look closely, you will notice a box of thin mint Girl Scout cookies next to me. Best day ever.)

This week in NRI Conservation we worked on getting the 1840's dress up clothes laundered.
There is a outdoor site called Pioneer Pastimes for the children and as part of their games and activities they have these dress up clothes. This site closes in the winter.

Fall Activities

Dad kneels among a few of the hundreds of pumpkins the missionaries and the community carved for the pumpkin walk.

Dad dumps leaves that he is cleaning up around Nauvoo.


The mountain of leaves is growing to a mountain range.



Some people aren't happy with me but we had to begin our decorating before Thankisgiving. This is the tree and wreath we put up in the NRI break room. Blue is our color. We have so much to do with helping the sites get their decorations out and up that we had to get started early.

Working at the Family Living Center

Dad gives a tour of barrel making. It's complicated. It takes a 7 year apprenticeship. The good barrels are water tight.

Installing a full length mirror at the Young Sister Missionaries' home.

Ex-Pat school in Japan

More locals in his school than ex-pats.

I love the little girl with one sock up and one down. I think that was me when I was a school girl.

The Brickyard at Nauvoo

We were guides at the Brickyard today. There were 7 known brickyards in Nauvoo in the years the saints were here. They used clay from under the topsoil here and mixed it with sand from the Mississippi river and fired it at 2,000 degrees to get bricks for their homes. It took an average of 40,000 bricks for a home. It would cost them $200.00. The average wage was $1.00 per day so it took them awhile to save up enough to buy the materials for a home and most people didn't have the means to buy brick so they lived in log homes. There were about 350 brick homes in Old Nauvoo. By the time many of them finished their brick homes the time had come for them to leave on the trek to the Rocky Mountains so they only lived in the homes for a few months. There were 49 brick stuctures left standing when Nauvoo Restoration began in the 1960's.

This is a clay pit. When the clay is dug it is this tan color. There are flecks of iron oxide in the clay and when it is fired the iron oxide melts to give the bricks the beautiful red color.
There is an architectural aesthetic to these red brick homes that is so pleasing to the eye.
Could it be because they are made from the very earth where they stand?
Behind Dad in this field is the Hyrum Smith home where you will be staying next year.
The red brick part is the original home.

Fall in Nauvoo by Elder Newman

Outside the Visitors Center

Behind the wagon ride station.

From our yard

Can you find the angel Moroni?

For the beauty of the earth,

Lord of all to thee we raise,

This our hymn of grateful praise.

NRI work and ZC

Dad helps frame up the new greenhouse that will start our beautiful Nauvoo flowers.
I'm replacing brittle slides in the draperies of a missionary residence.





We thought we took a snapshot but we had the camera on video so this is a "super short," but it is so cute I wanted W&S to see it.
This is what they did for 2 1/2 hours while the grown-ups sat and watched.

The Wilford Woodruff home

This is where we served as tour guides today. It is Wilford Woodruff's home, the 4th prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

There were about 350 brick homes in Nauvoo in 1846 at the time of the exodus. The Woodruffs only lived in their completed house a few months when the saints needed to pack up and begin their trek to the Rocky Mountains. It sold for $675.00. It was one of about 49 remaining brick structures that remained in the 1960s when Nauvoo Restoration Incorporated began renovation and restoration. It was one of the few homes that was continuously occupied from the time of the exodus to the time of the restoration.
Here I am in the parlor of the home. In front of me is Wilford Woodruff's leather hatbox/suitcase/stool to sit on while traveling. Pretty nifty huh?

The temple and the fall color change. St. Peter and Paul's Catholic church is down the street. We went to their yummy taco dinner on Thursday night.

A tree in our yard had some outstanding color.