11th Memory of Christmas

The 11th Memory of Christmas was a family serive project. This year the West Family service project took place at the Utah Food Bank. We filled out an application weeks ago and hadn’t heard anything, so we called on Monday the 22nd and luckily got someone. They told us we could come by on the 23rd and take food around Salt Lake City to 6 families. On the morning of the 23rd, we woke up to a blizzard! John shoveled the driveway while Amanda loaded up the girls in the car. So with white knuckles John drove down to the food bank. When we arrived, John ran in to find out where we’d grab the food. However, John had to go in and gather all the items and bring them to the dock. Six boxes full of food along with two yogurts, two bottles of dish soap, a gallon of milk, one frozen turkey, one bag of apples, one frozen pizza, a package of sausage and a partridge in a pear tree. So we put all these items in the back of the Aspen and got the 6 addresses where we’d need to go. Actually all 6 addresseswere in the same apartment complex so that made it easy, but then John saw the apartment numbers ranged from 400 to 800. The apartment center was basically a retirement home and the people were so excited to see Brilynn and Maycie. Amanda sat outside in the car with all the food as well as Preslee and Payge while John, Brilynn and Maycie carried the food up to each apartment. So picture this… Maycie carries the bag of apples and frozen pizza, Brilynn carries the two bottles of dish detergent and John puts the box of food under one arm and all the other in his left hand in wal-mart sacs with the frozen turkey hanging from his finger. Up they went 6 times to the 4th and 8th floors. It was so funny because several times people would get off the elevator and just stop to talk to the girls. Quoting John, “So there I stood holding all that food trying to keep a straight face while I watched the elevator door shut behind the people talking to Brilynnand Maycie. I would watch the numbers crawl on that 1970’s elevator up to the 10th floor and then down again praying I could atleast get on the next time. The second time in the elevator Brilynn got John laughing through his pain when she said (remember John is loaded and Brilynn is carrying two bottles of detergent), “Dad, you are gonna owe me big time for this!” Well we got it all delivered and were able to teach the girls that Christmas isn’t about all the gifts, it’s about how much you give to those around you through little acts of kindness.