Once more it is the week before Christmas

And it snowed! A beautiful, fluffy, light snow.  About 3 inches.  I was able to use the blower to clean the walks at the Visitor's Center.  Even shoveling was fairly easy.

And when there is snow in Nauvoo, the sleighs come out.  Last year we took a few rides in the long sleigh.  I really wanted to go in the short sleigh, with the padded seats.  It was much warmer.  I thought it might be faster too, but I don't think it was, partly because by the time we went the snow was beginning to melt. Still it was very fun.  The teamsters took us up to Inspiration Point, where it is said Joseph and Emma would go to get away from town.

A  Christmas tradition in the mission is to fill each other's mailbox with treats.  This year several people made ornaments instead of goodies.  I realized what a good idea that was, because they will remind us year after year of our mission in Nauvoo, not to mention will avoid adding inches to our waist.   So I came up with an ornament to give.  It took some time to make,  but I'm glad we made our little cinnamon boys and hearts.  I wrote a poem, too.

A few other ornaments we found in our mailbox.

After the snow was shoveled, it was too cold to work outside until Friday.  We finished our coleus project, of organizing them by name.   Now we know how many we have of each variety.   Friday we finally went outside and found a lot to do.  First we found a pile of leaves, 4 feet high and 8 feet long. We shoveled leaves into our trailer, until we realized the pile was bigger than the time we had to shovel.  We got smart and called Adam to bring the scoop.  It still took him about 30 minutes to get it all, but it was a whole lot faster and easier for us. 

The pile is half gone in this photo

Easy way to move leaves

Elder Howard saws pieces for the porch. 

Note the upstairs door.  This porch will look more authentic. 

Then we picked up a load of sticks, and finally went to check out the Heber C. Kimball house which is suppose to open on Sunday.

The Heber C. Kimball house story 

 I can't tell it like Elder Howard, but basically it is this.  Heber C. Kimball house has been lived in since it was built in the 1840s, so you can imagine how many renovations have gone on.  Bathrooms, electricity, and possibly a front porch - or so the historians thought.  So they wanted to return the house to it's original look and told the carpenters to remove the porch and replace it with ??? They weren't sure.  So last fall, 2018, the missionary carpenters, Elder Howard and Elder Schmidt started making the new railings back at the shop so that when they took the porch down it would go back up quickly.  Next they started removing the balcony over the porch, which wasn't going to be replaced, because it wasn't original - except that they discovered that it was!  The beams went into the wall and were nailed in with old fashioned nails.  The fact that there was a door leading out to the balcony might have also been a clue, but then it could have been a remodel.  The history department stopped all work until they decided what was and what wasn't original.   For sure what had to go was the cement porch. So once again the carpenters started dismantling the porch.  Eventually the historians decided the balcony was original.  The process has taken a year,  and though it won't open on Sunday, it is getting close.

One other bitter sweet event happened this week. The Crumps' mission ended.  They have been good friends, dancing together in our cast, helping me with the various assignments I've been given, and just enjoying our interest in history together.  Elder Crump was a history teacher. Sister Crump and I laugh at the same things.  I'll miss them, but I know they are glad to be rejoining their family.   And we will be following before the winter is over.

Sister Crump just glows - no matter how hard I tried to get the light off her face.