TEMPLE SQUARE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

Last night was the first night for the Christmas lights at Temple Square. For those of you who do not live in Utah, this is a big deal. The Mormon Temple is lit up with beautiful colored lights. The visitor's center is jam packed with on-lookers gazing at the sight. Since we had out of town guests, we thought we would take them to see the spectacle. As an added treat we parked at a Trax lot and took the light rail into town. Isabella and her little cousin loved the train ride. Riley was oohing and ahhing the whole way. Then as we neared the temple, Isabella started pointing out things and telling me what they were. Finally she pointed at the temple and said, "And there is the haunted house."

I started laughing and said, "That's not a haunted house, that's the Mormon Temple." The lady seated across from us started chuckling. If you have read previous stories you will know that my daughter has a fascination with the fact that we are not LDS (Mormon). Once we were in the temple grounds Isabella asked if we could go in the big building. I told her that we couldn't since we were "Mexican". She looked at me and said, "Well, you're half Mormon, you can go in."

THE TOOTH FAIRY

Yesterday my daughter lost her third tooth. This was very exciting for her because the first two never really became loose and fell out – her permanent teeth had come in behind them so the dentist had to pull them. This is where I will warn you that if you believe in the tooth fairy you should read no further.

When she lost her first two teeth my sister was staying with us and she told her that she had to put her teeth under her pillow so the tooth fairly could come at night to bring her money in exchange for her teeth. My sister continued to tell her that the tooth fairy also left behind fairy dust. Since my daughter insisted on sleeping with her aunt that night, she got the honors of being the tooth fairy. I found some craft glitter for her to use as fairy dust. During the night she replaced the teeth with four quarters and got a little carried away with the “fairy dust”. When my daughter woke she was so excited because she was covered in fairy dust and now had “some monies” as she put it. She was blinking the dust out of her eyes excitedly!

I tell you this story because my daughter came home from school yesterday with the tooth fairy bag. She proceeded to tell me that she had discussed the tooth fairy with her classmates and was told by her friend that if she washed the tooth and made it all nice and clean she would get more money. I told her that I didn’t think the tooth fairy really cared about that. Around 2:00 PM I realized the house was unusually quiet, so I went in search of my daughter. She had curled up in my bed, with her tooth in a bag under her pillow and the tooth fairy doll next to her in hopes of the tooth fairy coming early! I quietly snuck in there, pulled her tooth from the bag, put one dollar in the too fairy doll’s bag, and sprinkled “fairy dust” on her.

When she awoke, she was upset because she noticed her tooth was gone, but there was no money – until she saw the money was in the bag. She came out screaming excitedly that she had money and that the tooth fairy had come. She said she didn’t even know she had come and then asked if I had seen her. Then she tells me, “I think I did saw her.”

“Really,” I asked, “What did she look like?”

“She was really small and pretty.”

I just laughed. I wonder how much longer she will believe in the Tooth Fairy? I hope until all her baby teeth fall out!

GEOGRAPHY LESSON NEEDED

I am wondering if they teach geography in school anymore or is it one of those subjects deemed unnecessary and cut out of the current curriculum? My husband, a cell tower technician, called me today to tell me a humorous story. He had gone to a site that was down. After he corrected the problem he called the company's technical call center to let them know it had been fixed. When the call center employee answered, my husband identified himself as “Doug from Utah.” The call center employee responded with, “Um, what state is that?”

“Utah?” my husband answered a bit sarcastically.

“Is that in Texas?” the call center employee asked.

My husband was dumbfounded as he replied, “Uh, No, it’s Utah.”

He said the call center employee just got quiet after that.

Seriously people, is it too much to ask that we at least know the names of all fifty states in this fine country of ours? Oh and by the way New Mexico is part of the USA!