Christmas Eve, 2013

Snow, a nice soft, wet snow, covered our hills this morning.   A beautiful winter landscape in this mountain retreat. It should clear the air, as well as add to the Chrismasy feel needed for this last week of December.

Jimmie and AnnaBeth Olson had a full house with children and grandchildren in abundance. Dana and Charlie Peterson and children were down from Meridian.  Peggy and Jon Flinders and family came all the way from Salmon, ID.  Jerry and Christin Olson and their bunch live in the cooler that usual St. George, and Mike and Anna Olson and children are in Brigham City, UT.

William Kyle Currie was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.   He is the son of Wendy and Clayton Currie.  Their family have recently moved into our community. They are living in the house best known as “Mildred Keller’s place,” recently belonging to Mike Dyer, before it was Parm Keller, Mildred’s son. The Curries come from Tremonton and have three other children, Christopher,  Devlyn, and Larien.

Jessica Larsen, oldest daughter of David and Liz Larsen, has graduated from Utah State University this December.  She has been majoring in environmental science.  Congratulations to Jessica for a job well done!

The funeral of Sallee Keller brought all of the Keller and Torfin children  and families home to Mink Creek.  The Kellers are Kelton, Kim, Kay, Karma and Karla.  The Torfins are Kristi, Casey, Kurt and Clay.    Friends and relatives from the Grace area as well as Franklin county met to remember the life of this good lady.

The Syringa Camp of the DUP enjoyed a Christmas dinner together by going to the Blue Bird Restaurant in Logan.  The majority of the women in this camp live in Mink Creek now, or have done so in the past.  How fitting for a group centered on history to go to the Blue Bird, a restaurant that has a strong historical background in this vicinity.

Well, Readers, it is Christmas Eve, 2013, in Mink Creek.  I have paused to think of stories told to me when I first moved here, in 1963, by a neighbor who was then in her eighties.  I can’t help but think that while many things have changed in this little village, there are still some things that have stayed the same.

She grew up in the Klondike area and told they would drive down in a horse drawn sleigh to come to winter choir practices at the old rock church.   Her mother would heat rocks in the oven of their stove, they would wrap the rocks in quilts and put them in the bottom of the sleigh to keep them warm with more quilts wrapped around them.  What fun it was, she loved it, almost as much as she loved singing.

This good lady shared much wisdom with me and I valued her friendship to a newcomer to the community, a young mother with a brand new baby.  Mink Creek still welcomes new people and reaches out to them in warmth, particularly during the Christmas season.  I have been hearing of driveways being cleared of snow, of baskets of food appearing on doorsteps.  I saw women of the community disappointed to find that all the “give a gift” tags were taken from the Relief Society tree, to the point that the RS Presidency had to extend the project just a little longer, so that more could be given.

 Our hills are covered with white snow, not very much, but the blanket is still there.  We are hoping for more in the days ahead. There is enough moonlight to activate the local owls and coyotes in a holiday chorus.  If you have Mink Creek blood running through your veins, or have lived here long enough to form friendships, know that we will be thinking of you, hoping you are also thinking of us.  Merry Christmas!  Remember our many blessings.