We will never complain about putting up Christmas lights on our home ever again. Piece of cake compared with this ambitious Temple Grounds Christmas Lights Project.
It was a hazy, cloudy, cold Monday morning. Of course with camera in hand, there was no way we could resist taking pictures of the Temple. President Foulger, Assistant to the Temple President has admitted he has more pictures of the Temple than he has of his grandchildren. Sorry to admit, we agree with him.
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| Unavoidable photo opp |
First stop: Christmas storage area in the basement of the Visitors' Center. (Are the old-folk missionaries expected to put lights on the trees with that scary equipment? Pray for us!)
A prayer and hot chocolate for everyone.
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| Sorry about the hazy picture. Cold camera plus humidity equals foggy camera lens. |
Whew, the prayer was for the hot chocolate, not for the prospective cherry-picker operator. The cherry picker was off limits to the likes of us. But come to think of it, most of the prayer was for protection of us rickety old missionaries.
Do you have any idea what these shelves contain? Christmas lights! Millions and millions of Christmas lights. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
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| Come on, Gary, quit your socializing. So many lights, so little time! |
Star Performers of the Season waiting for their yearly debut.
This poor Shepherd needs to make a doctor's appointment before December first!
Load up those lights!
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| Another irresistible photo opp: gorgeous chrysanthemum gardens |
Sad that we old missionaries needed instruction on how to plug in lights.
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| "No, THIS end goes into THAT end." |
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| "Keep practicing! You need more practice!" |
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"I give up. Just get to work!"
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| Happy to serve. Until....... |
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| .....Yikes! SPIDER ALERT! |
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| It's all yours, Gary! |
How many missionaries does it take to put lights on a small tree? Twelve. Two to put on the lights and ten to stand around watching, having just eaten all the donuts.
The workers test the sections of lights as the lighting project progresses. So we sometimes see the lights on as we arrive for our early-morning shifts. Gorgeous!
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| Taken early one morning last week by one of our talented missionaries. |
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
HOLY SMOKES! Did you know that this was one of your duties when you signed up? I kinda thought "professionals" handled this job. Cut backs, I guess. Someone ain't payin' his or her full 10%.
ReplyDeleteThe results are beautiful. It makes me want to come visit you this Christmas.
So if I keep putting Temple Christmas lights on the blog, will that guarantee you'll come for Christmas? Please?
DeleteThanks for the comment. It makes me happy....even at 1:30 in the morning. Why can't I sleep? Boo!
Love, Mom
Wow is that going to be beautiful. Wow what a job. It is cool to see the behind the scenes of a temple where everything is stored so orderly. This will be a fun Christmas for you guys to remember, and lots of friendships to remember.
ReplyDeleteJoin Laurel and Gang and come for Christmas. We'll even decorate our apartment for the occasion. Who knows, we might even have snow. But we might be a jinx on the snow, like we were the last 2 winters in Utah.
DeleteThanks for your comment.
Love, Mom
Mom, you crack me up! It makes me think of all the times I let my kids decorate the tree, then after they're in bed I come behind and "fix" it. Oh, but I'm sure no one had to come behind you missionaries...right? ;) Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteNat, I thought the same thing when we were putting up the lights: "I bet the in-charge people rearrange all the lights as soon as we leave!" We were assured that wasn't going to be the case. Yeh, right!
ReplyDeleteLove, Mom
Hmm - cheap labor. What else are they going to make you do? Cleaning, holiday decorations....- get your work gloves ready for the spring, planting all those flowers. We just put up our Christmas lights, but your job puts ours to shame.
ReplyDeleteSteph, maybe they'll even let us be a part of snow removal. It would be fun to drive one of those little tractors, but I'm sure that's professional man's work. I think we will be part of the take-down-the-Christmas-lights crew. But we have been told taking the lights down is easier than putting them up...unless they are all iced in place. We can take Jeff's approach when he took down our house lights in Centerville one year. Just yank those puppies until they end up in 15,000 pieces. Worked for him!
DeleteThanks for your comment.
Love, Mom
This looks like it was so much fun! I can't wait to see more pictures from the nighttime lights. You guys always work so hard at whatever you do. Those folks out in DC are lucky to have you!
ReplyDeleteDoug