We Had Our Annual "O Holy Night" Gathering

Well, last Saturday December 12th we had our 5th annual O Holy Night Gathering! It started out rather spontaneous 5 years ago when Nathan and Suzie Balsar came to see us after moving away from Las Vegas. It just happened that another friend, Cheryl Sessums, dropped by to say Hi to them. I said to her ..."Do You have the music to O Holy Night and she did, so she ran home and got it. It just happens to be Larry's favorite song and he collects CD's with that song and has a list of who sings it best all the way down to the worst. She came back and Nathan favored us with an absolutely stunning rendition of "O Holy Night". Since then we have had Shannon Winkle, Jason Graf and Mike (Frosty) Shepherd and others.
This year was so awesome we had Madi and Becca start out with "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" then our Bishop's 3 children Louisa, Daniel, and Kathryn played several selections on their violins. Then the Mother of the 3 talented children, Tara Skouson, played a beautiful Harp number that was so fabulous. David Skouson, our Bishop, played a piano solo that was like no other. He sounds better than the original!!! They are such a talented and fun family!!! Then we had a unique treat from a Family in our ward the Peterson's Braden on Bag Pipes, Zac on drums, and their Mom Marci on big base drum. It was fabulous!!! Then, Ayna Egbert, an adorable girl in our ward from Russia sang "What Child Is This" in Russian. Her Mother was here visiting for Christmas and needless to say, she was a Mom with proud tears in her eyes!!! Then Karla Huntsman told a precious story of a forest pine tree, trying to be the Queens Christmas Tree, but couldn't help his compassion to shelter a rabbit, a bird, and a deer which bent his branches permanently...it was a great story! We were then favored by a unique Christmas Lullaby sang by Shannon Winkle and it was so touching!!! She certainly is a talented lady!!! And to top it all off a F-16 fighter jet pilot, from Lenny & Amanda's ward, Mike Shepherd sang "O Holy Night" we have not been disappointed yet. What wonderful people they are to share their talents with us. Bishop Skouson called it Larry's command performance! I would have to agree...he works on it all year. The next day in church Shannon Winkle, Diana Ludwig and Anya Egbert sang in Sacrament Meeting..."O Holy Night" so after Larry went up to them and said "Great audition and you are in for next year. MERYY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TOO!!!



We had to take all our furniture out of the living and dining room to make seating for everyone. I think we had about 50 people here!!! What a fabulous night with soup and food and friends and entertainment like nothing you have ever experienced!!! THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU THAT BLESSED OUR LIVES WITH YOUR TALENT!!!