Monthly Archives: November 2009

Bountiful Nativity a Work of Art

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Bountiful Temple View - click to enlarge

Residents of Temple View Drive in Bountiful City, Utah have a special love for Christmas, and they have found a special way to share it. The creation of a progressive Neighborhood Nativity started taking shape over a year and a half ago, when neighbors were talking about holiday decoration ideas. Steve Ford, resident and  organizer, is originally from southern California. He liked the idea of duplicating a version of the Hasting’s Ranch Pasadena Christmas displays, where each street is decorated in a theme.  Meanwhile, a neighbor was given a copy of artist Joseph Brickey’s Christmas book, entitled “When Jesus Was Born in Bethlehem“.

The Newborn King - click to enlarge

Brickey’s vibrant, realistic images seemed to leap off of the page. They were not just telling the story of Christmas, but bringing it to life! Each painting had a way of evoking the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions of that very first Christmas. The Temple View community had found their nativity!

Neighbor representatives anxiously contacted the artist about their idea to display his images, and were thrilled when Mr. Brickey happily extended his permission, and blessing, at no charge. Now the neighbors rallied at full speed! Funds were pooled and donations were gathered. A special printer was found that could create large screen-printed banners using UV protected ink on durable high-wind-resistant canvass. Paintings and scriptures for the display were carefully selected, and the perfect display location’s were assigned. Wires needed to be run to provide halogen lighting, and large stakes needed to be driven into the ground to support the banners.

Steve acknowledges his location on the Bountiful mountain bench poses a few extra challenges the folks in Pasadena don’t have to worry about. Namely snowstorms, blizzards, freezing temperatures and severe wind (just to name a few)! In fact, during the nativity’s 2008 debut season, a particularly bad windstorm hit the display. Steve describes how even the heavy foot-long ground-stakes were not strong enough to hold his extra-long banner, and “it took off like a sail”. This year, neighbors have invested in ground-stakes that will be extending over 2 feet deep! Special care is also being taken to ensure that the lighting does not get buried in one of Bountiful’s famous “Lake Effect” snowfalls. The weather may get frightful, but these neighbors plan to ensure each visitor’s experience is delightful.

And the result?

Bountiful Temple Nativity - Click to enlarge

A nativity display that is not only a unique work of art to be seen, but also a work of love, to be felt. [special video sneak peek included below]

This year, the LDS Bountiful Temple joined forces with the neighborhood by agreeing to move their annual nativity scene to the East side of the temple grounds. In its new location, the large Holy Family display can be seen by many more passersby, and creates a beautiful finale for the neighborhood display route. Temple workers recently added a lighted star which hangs tenderly from a tree branch directly over the crèche.

A Bountiful Temple View Drive nativity experience is sure to become a favorite holiday tradition. The display is not only beautiful, but profound. It can be enjoyed from the comfort of a heated automobile, or up close and personal on foot. It offers a lovely way to contemplate the gifts of the season. Steve also assures me that “this is just the beginning”! 

A Savior Is Born - click to enlarge

Apparently, neighbors have been suggesting improvement ideas, additional lighting options, and plans to include more of Brickey’s award-winning artwork in the future. The creative possibilities are endless! However, in the meantime, each visitor to Temple View Drive can rest assured they will leave as a recipient of an incomparable gift.

This neighborhood nativity is free to the public and runs officially from Dec. 1st – 31st. Visitors should enter at the north end of Temple View Drive loop to follow the story chronologically. The display will be kept lit until midnight every evening. (Please note that the Bountiful Temple lights, including the crèche, will be turned off at 11:00 PM). To visit, map your route at this link!

For all of my many readers who cannot travel to Bountiful, or will enjoy revisiting the experience, I have created this musical montage video. I wish for you the special joy and peace promised by Christmas! – MoSop

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Read more about artist Joseph Brickey, at Meridian Magazine

A 29 second Thanksgiving

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The ever-clever and fun-loving creators of WordPress.com have come up with a creative way to commemorate the Thanksgiving holiday. All WP Bloggers have been invited to participate in a little Thanksgiving video contest. The challenge is to express our gratitude in 30 seconds or less. Whether I win a prize or not, my best reward has already arrived: the blessing of counting my blessings! So, with no further ado, here is MoSop’s “creative video interpretation on the topic of [giving thanks]” … for life, family, freedom, faith and fun…in 29 seconds!

A Blogging Toddler

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2nd birthdayThis month ‘Mormon Soprano’ turned 2 years old! It’s hard to believe our little baby has grown into a full-fledged toddler. It seems like just yesterday she was too small for search engine recognition. Now, her posts often make the top ten on a Google Search, and other bloggers ping and track-back. She has even been recognized by professional news feeds, including a spotlight in the Mormon Times.

As many of you have experienced, every day with a two-year-old is definitely a new adventure! According to “experts”, here is some advice for raising the toddler blog:

“As your blog continues to grow, you will notice new and exciting abilities that develop.” - Bloggerting Magazine

childs_eyesThis is definitely true. When baby Mo was born, she didn’t know the difference between a bar code  and an HTML code! Slowly but surely she learned how to create an account, upload, insert, save, edit and post. There was first-time-parental panic when the site went down, and we endured the painstaking process of healing and rebuilding with another server. But, the satisfaction of watching an idea develop on the screen, and the opportunity to experience spiritual, as well as intellectual growth made it all worthwhile. We enjoyed the thrill of success when a photo or quote would finally attach, and celebrated when her stat tracker finally got in synch.

“Speech development is very exciting for parents as they watch their blog become social beings that can interact with others.” – Early Blog Development, PENNultimate State

mom-and-happy-babyWho could ever forget the excitement of receiving that very first comment? The social aspect of raising a blog has been amazing. Baby Mo’s Stat Tracker shows that since her birth she has received visits from every continent on the globe. Currently she has made over 150 faithful subscribing friends located in the USA, Canada, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia!

“Speech at this age is becoming clearer and the blog begins to form sentences.” – Better Blog Care

child_abcAlthough it is a little embarrasing, it is also entertaining to read posts from her early days. There has definitely been some maturation.  We still have a long way to go. One can only hope that Mo’s mastery of syntax and clarity will continue to improve.

“Two-year-olds like to be independent! Favorite words are “Mine” and “No” and “I do it!” A great deal of time is spent exploring, pushing, pulling and touching.” - Dr. Blogjay Goodpost

toddler_poutingYes, I admit. Baby Mo has had her share of extreme emotions as she has explored her life and the world around her. She is very possessive of her family, she refuses to allow mean spirited comments, she enjoys her independence and she is never shy to express what’s on her mind!

Much of parenting a 2-year-old involves the principle of “foreseeing the evil” and avoiding it (Proverbs 22:3). – Blog Guidepost

no_evil

Just like Joey’s Parable, it is critical for Mo to understand that we can choose our actions, but we cannot choose the consequences. Mo is learning to choose her words and subjects wisely. It takes patience and effort to blog responsibly.

Two-year-olds want to do as much as they can and more. They get upset when they find they don’t have the skills to do things, or the words to say what they want. Some bloggers call this period the terrible twos. But when you take the time to learn about and understand blogs this age, you’ll see that they are really the terrific twos! – Early Blog Gazette

learning to tie shoesMo has recently discovered Movie Maker and she has her own MoSop YouTube channel. She loves experimenting with images and music. However, she still gets frustrated that she does not know enough yet, and the end product does not turn out as she imagined. But, with practice, the learning curve will get easier to navigate, and the quality should improve. We anticipate there will be many more media creations in her future. Additionally, she is picking up more HTML words and phrases. She is even thinking of attending  ‘computer kindergarten’ classes. There are always new and exciting things to learn and discover. When she was born, Twitter didn’t even exist! Now, she not only Tweets, but is also learning to cellular text post, and has fun connecting on her Facebook . Baby Mo is living in an exciting digital world. Her future will involve continual change, improvement, and limitless possibilities.

takes a villageA big THANK YOU to everyone who has visited and supported Mormon Soprano through her formative development! Your friendship is priceless, and your comments are always treasured. There are exciting things in store for Toddler Mo! However, her growth and continued survival cannot happen without your help.  Because, as we all know, “it takes a village to raise a blog“.

Honoring The Greatest Generation

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veterans dayToday America commemorates Veterans Day. This is a day to formally honor those who have served our country, in all branches of our Armed Forces. It is a day to remember those who are currently serving, those who are veterans, and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. When I left for work this morning, I got a lump in my throat driving down our street. It was lined with large American flags. The Boy Scouts had been up early, to carefully place them in each front lawn of the neighborhood. Becuase I was running late, I decided to take the freeway. I noticed that a senior citizen was following me awfully close. When I changed lanes, he changed too, and stuck right behind. It was starting to annoy me. As soon as I exited, he followed, and started honking and flagging me to pull over. I rolled down my window wondering what in the world the crazy old guy was shouting. I was startled to find out that my rear tire was in trouble, and he warned “she’s about to BLOW”! I waved appreciatively, and drove off ashamed of myself for being so hasty to judge my kind samaritan. 

I was blesed to be nearby a service station, and was able to get help before “she blew”. While I sat in the small lobby waiting for my tire to be brought back to life, I noticed a program being shown on the television set. It was honoring ”The Greatest Generation” – our World War II veterans. I watched with interest, and gratitude.

dallis-joseph-christensen

Commander Dallis Joseph Christensen

Last year, I wrote a post honoring my own personal hero and grandfather, Commander Dallis J. Christensen. Grandpa Dallis served as a Navy pilot throughout WWII. He’s 94 years old now. He and grandma June had to move into an assisted living center a little over a year ago. It broke his heart. These days, his body shakes from Parkinson’s disease, and there’s a little shuffle in his step which causes him to get off-balance, but his mind is as sharp and his humor as witty as a 20-year-old. It’s been over 60 years since the Great Conflict ended. It was reported that our WWII heros are dying on average 900 – 2000 per day. Within five years, most will be physically unable to leave home, and within 10 years, they will only remain in our hearts and our memory.

honor flight WWII VetsOne organization is racing against time to give these veterans one final standing ovation. They offer a free escourted trip to our nation’s capitol to see the newly dedicated, and long overdue, World War II Memorial in Washington, DC. This organization is called Honor Flight.

I share my  inadequte, yet heart-felt THANK YOU to all of our veterans. May each of you feel appreciated, loved and honored, today, and every day.

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Please take a few minutes to watch this touching video documenting a recent Honor Flight.