A merry Christmas from Dixie

It sounds like we made it out of town in just the nick of time, if news reports are to be believed about a major winter storm that slammed most of the state of Utah on Christmas day and evening. We had a nice visit with Chris, Camilla, and Sam inside the airport. They had arrived from Seattle just before 10:15 Christmas morning, and our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:45. They had not expected to get out of Seattle, whose airport had been closed a couple times earlier in the week, because it was snowing heavily in Everett as they left home. As they headed south the snow turned to rain and, by the time they reached the airport, the rain had stopped altogether.

Mom and I flew out of Salt Lake International at a little after 1:00 Christmas afternoon and made good time to Chicago's Midway Airport before immediately boarding our second flight from there to Birmingham, Alabama. Conditions in Chicago had been terrible both before and after Christmas Day, so our window of opportunity was particularly narrow and fortunate. We then drove a rental car from Birmingham the 165 miles to Paul and Eliza's place in Duluth, Georgia, where we greeted them and saw our new little grandson for the first time. We encountered a little rain, but our trip east on I-20 and then northeast on I-85 was without incident, precisely what you want a road trip to be.

Season's greetings from the land of Dixie.

Aaron arrives

A new little one begins his journey through mortality. Aaron Marvin Challis was born a little after 7:00 this morning (Georgia time) to Paul and Eliza. Today was his actual due date. We understand he weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces. In her initial call this morning, Eliza did not know how long he was.

We anticipate that either Paul or Eliza will post more details, including pictures, concerning the arrival of their new child. Our congratulations to them all.

Elder Wirthlin's funeral

For those of you who may be interested, the funeral services for Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin will be held in the Tabernacle on Friday, December 2, at 12:00 noon. The services will be broadcast live on KSL, BYU-TV, and lds.org.

The Church Office Building and all other downtown Salt Lake City Church facilities will close at 11:00 a.m. on Friday and will be closed for the rest of the day.

Elder Wirthlin dies

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, a member of the Twelve since 1986, passed away during the night. I had the privilege of working closely with him for many years when he served as a member of the Missionary Executive Council. A great and honorable man.

As he taught us at this last conference, "come what may, and love it."