It was December 1959 and I was a homesick freshman suffering through my first college quarter of finals at BYU. It was snowy and cold and I was anxious to return home for the Christmas break. Little did I realize why I would remember this Christmas. Shortly after I had left for university, my brother and sister had been sent to live with their grandmother in California. My parents had then sold their business in Oregon and joined my siblings. When I arrived for Christmas I found out that the selling of the business had not gone well and that my father had not found work near my grandmother's home. It looked like it was to be a bleak sad Christmas for our family. We could not even afford to purchase a Christmas tree. A day of two went by and I was walking up near the city park. There was a workman trimming the trees and bushes to install the community decorations for the season. I looked at the limbs cut from the large tree. Could one of these limbs serve as our tree? I asked for permission to take a limb. The worker said, "Sure take what ever you like." I drug the largest of the limbs home. All the family looked at my tree limb. My sister said "Michael what are you going to do with that fir tree limb?" I replied, "You will see." I cut off the bottom twigs and made them into a garland for the front door and the mantle. Then I stuck the rest of the limb into a bucket of sand and propped it up against the wall in the living room. My grandmother had a few strings of lights; we made paper decorations, strung popcorn, and had a Christmas tree!

Elder Richard L Evans, a former apostle and long time writer of
"The Spoken Word" once said, "Learn to like: What doesn't cost much, like Reading, Conversation, Music, Plain Food, Plain Service, Plain cooking, Fields, Trees, Brooks, Hikes, Rowing, Climbing Hills, People, even though some of them might be different from you Work and enjoy the satisfaction of doing your Job as well as it can be done. The songs of birds, the companionship of dogs, Gardening, Puttering around the house, Fixing things, The sunrise and sunset, the beating of the rain on the roof, and windows, and the gentle fall of snow on a winter day. To keep your wants simple and refuse to be controlled by the likes and dislikes of others."

I will never forget that Christmas, it was unlike any other I have ever had. I hope this letter finds you well and happy in your life and may the light of Christ shine bright for you this Christmas 2005.

Here is the letter Sister Harris wrote in our Christmas card this year. This tells all the important events in this blessed year for our family:

...UNTO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY...A SAVIOR, WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD. GLORY [BE] TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN. [LUKE 2:11 & 14]

Indeed we, the Harris family, hope for that long sought after peace and good will toward men. We send our love to you and your loved ones this Christmas 2005.

Our year, as usual, has been full of visiting with our families. They remain in the west and so we go from state to state and city to city. We have continued to work at the Los Angles Temple one week a month. But we have a five-month break as renovations and a preparation for the fiftieth year celebration in 2006. This break has given us time to have a trip to the northeast area of the United States and Canada with Linda Gay's sister and husband Margaret-Lee and Lorin Thompson. In September we flew into Boston, drove through New Hampshire, with a stop to visit a cousin, and on to Bar Harbor Maine and then on into Canada. We enjoyed the mountains, coastline, homes, antiquing and general shopping. Acadia National Park was lovely, the seafood great, and the ride in the park on the original carriage roads in a horse drawn wagon was voted our favorite thing. From Maine we went up the coast to Newfound Land, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Ann of Green Gables country. Then likity split we drove down through the hills of Maine and New Hampshire enjoying the show of turning leaves and their bright splendor. We returned to a busy schedule of preparation for a long awaited wedding of our daughter Laura Elaine.

Back in Camarillo, Nathan was our right hand man. As LindaGay and Laura shopped for a wedding dress and the attending stuff, Michael and Nathan worked magic on the yard. Long delayed projects were completed. Home readied. Many long time friends stepped in and assisted in the planning, preparing, setting up, serving of the food and clean up. All went well, in fact great! More about that later.

Nathan and his wife Ami remain in Camarillo. We love them and enjoy their company. Their dog Ander has had a long hard year. With doctor's visits and medication he continues to add good cheer.

We love visiting with Jonathan and Jennifer and the greatest two grandchildren we have, Jonah and Marguerite [Margo]. They live in Highlands Ranch Colorado. Jonah is seven and in first grade. He is a quick learner and loves to read. He is fond of Rubio's, swimming, friends, bikes and all good fun. Margo is a year and a half old. She has a large vocabulary and can indicate what is needed quite efficiently. We visit regularly. Margo and grandpa have a close bond. That makes the travel miles seem worthwhile.

Enclosed is a photo of our family. We are growing! The October wedding of our daughter to Anthony A. [Tony] Archer was a great time of celebration. They are now at home in Salt Lake City, and busy building a life together. We enjoyed all the well-wishers and visiting with family and friends. The wedding was held at the Los Angeles Temple, a reception was held in our home in Camarillo and an open house was held in Salt Lake City Utah.

We send our hopes of love, health, and well being this Christmas 2005.

Love

Michael and LindaGay Harris