Young Family Christmas Quiz

The Young Family Christmas Quiz 2008
This has been one of the most remarkable years of our marriage, one of hard exits, joyous entrances, and many transitions. We grieved the passing of Bruce's baby sister, Lynda, in April, and of his mother, Ruth, in July. Only six and a half weeks after Ruth died, we welcomed our third grandbaby into the world--Oliver Wallace Lifferth. As the year ended, he, along with our daughter Kaila and the rest of her family, moved to Indiana. For the rest of our information, you'll need to take this quiz:

1. Through much of the year, Kaila had major problems with insomnia because:

(A) She heard Sarah Palin say that when Putin reared his head, he'd go to Alaska. This gave her vivid nightmares about troops of Russian snowmen that could be stopped from opening their laser eyes only by the words: Klaatu Barada Nikto--which Kaila could never remember.

(B) Hormones from her pregnancy somehow prevented sleep without weekly injections of Vitamin B.

(D) She became addicted to the new "Guitar Hero: Opera" and stayed up until ridiculous hours singing along with Madame Butterfly. The addiction abruptly stopped when she delivered Oliver.

2. Besides taking classes at Utah Valley University, Rob started his own business selling:

(A) Oversized Chrysler vans (generally targeting markets in the Ozarks).

(B) Tahitian Noni Juice.

(D) Subscriptions to the AIG Insurance magazine.

3. Bruce finished

(A) The puzzle of seventeenth-century London which he's been working on for five years.

(B) The correspondence course he's been taking on the advanced chemistry of turning red things into blue things. (His final project, campaigning for Democrats in Utah, failed, however, so his grade was a C-. He plans to re-do the final project in two years.)

(D) Decorating his office, mostly in leather furniture and cherry wood accents.

4. Margaret finished

(A) The documentary she and Darius Gray have been working on for a few years, called Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons.

(B) Cleaning the laundry room. Since we haven't seen the floor in three years, we were a little surprised that it was cement, not carpet.

(C) Another novel, called Why I Can't Write About Vampires (actually a very romantic story of restrained wolverines who love each other dearly but refuse to act on it until it's legal in California).

(D) Transferring all family photos from our old albums into beautiful scrapbooks, each page a separate creation involving lace, buttons, wallpaper, and stencils of gospel messages.

5. Julie (who now works in the "kid's club" at 24 Hour Fitness gym) made a trip to Chicago to:

(A) Shadow Margaret during the American Academy of Religion Conference.

(B) Record music with a friend.

(D) Escape the pile of clothes in the laundry room (which finally prompted Margaret to clean it).

6. Michael found out:

(A) The difference between Valgus and Varus force.

(B) That he needs glasses--and must wear them when driving. (He now has his license.)

(D) All of the above.

7. Bruce and Margaret continue serving in the Missionary Training Center, where Bruce is in a branch presidency. They speak:

(A) Pig Latin (special course for Referral Center prank calls).

(B) In tongues, and don't always know what they're saying.

(D) French.

8. The Youngs all got very involved politically, at both the local and national levels. They hosted parties and made phone calls. Bruce created a political blog and even corresponded with a superdelegate. For president, the Youngs backed:

(A) THAT ONE and the senator from Delaware.

(B) McCain/Palin. (Come on, didn't everyone in Utah?)

(D) Stephen Colbert (but only in South Carolina).

9. Bruce and Michael had a brief beard-growing contest. The results were somewhat surprising:

(A) Michael won easily. Bruce realized that, having been at BYU so long, he is no longer able to grow facial hair. He considers this a sign. (Bonus point: What is it a sign of?)

(B) Bruce won, but most of the beard hairs were white/gray, so if he were to grow a full beard, he'd look either like Isaiah or Santa Claus, depending on how he combed it.

(D) Are you kidding? Bruce would never participate in a beard growing contest. This is a trick question.

10. With everything else going on this year, our various trips seem to fade in significance. Nevertheless, besides trips that Margaret and Julie made to Chicago, our travel included:

(A) Bruce's trip to England, where he saw Shakespeare plays and attended a conference on C. S. Lewis.

(B) Margaret's trips to various film festivals and conferences (in San Diego; Laramie, Wyoming; and Ogden, Salt Lake, and St. George).

(D) Margaret and Bruce's trip to the Mormon Arts Foundation retreat at Aspen Grove in Provo Canyon, where they met artists, writers, musicians, and film makers.

(E) An especially memorable trip to San Francisco, where Bruce and Margaret hiked seven or eight miles around the city, attended the San Francisco Black Film Festival, ate chocolate at Ghirardelli Square and truffles from XOX Truffles, and saw old friends and made many new ones.

(F) All of the above

11. We are all excited about:

(A) Having Julie and Rob take a class together at UVU.

(B) Having Michael play Led Zeppelin on his new guitar.

(D) Life. We love it. We love you. We wish you joy in 2009.

(E) All of the above.