sidenote: blogging was a fail this month. apologies.
main note: merry christmas!
i always seem to meet christmas with some trepidation. you see in christmases past, things have not always been...well, peaceful. every year is an unknown adventure.
this year will go down in the books as one of the best christmases ever. not because anything significant happened, but because of the peace, joy and love that was experienced.
on christmas eve, my mom and i kept tradition of venturing to the grocery store hours before the sun was out, we bought doughnuts---best tradition ever! after "wolaxing" and finishing a recorded hallmark christmas classic (yes, oy...) we welcomed the day and got to work. christin and i went delivering goodies, we visited friends and spent some time with my dearest friend carly and her sweet babies. they bless my life in so many ways. my heart couldn't help but be turned to my savior who truly is the prince of peace and the light of the world. their eyes send a light into my heart that can't be described.
while back at home, we were blessed with an abundance of visitors, friends and neighbors, puppies and babies. we love visitors at my house (as long as they're older than 10 or so...and that's a story for another time if you don't know my family) and we welcome them anytime, announced or unannounced. as i continued to bake, visitors continued to come which ultimately resulted in me being a little latte for the family christmas eve party as i waited for the pecan pie to be done. the stillness of a christmas eve night; however, was perhaps just what i needed. as i traveled to brigham to be with my family i couldn't help but "count my blessings instead of sheep" on a "silent night, a holy night."
during dinner, favorite cousins of mine who i rarely get to see stopped in. again, can i just say how much i love vistors. i love being with family and friends. i love seeing people, hugging them and hearing how their lives are.
after the cousins had left, the pizza, ice cream and bingo were over. the pajamas were unwrapped and we settled off for home. poor lb could hardly keep her eyes open as i drove the streets of my hometown, soaking in the christmas lights i had somehow missed for the previous 25 days.
returning home set in a new frenzy of getting ready for bed. you see, craig and christin love christmas. they got out santa's cookies, and milk, christin had her sleeping bag on my floor (per tradition) quicker than a flash and before you knew it, we were ready to read the christmas story. somehow that's become my job over the years and i don't mind. but this year, after reading in luke 2, i felt impressed to read something that i have glued in between the pages of the beginning of the new testament...the living christ.
this is a document/proclaimation of sorts published by latter-day prophets and apostles, witnesses of jesus christ who have been called, and set apart with authority in our day to testify of jesus christ. i challenge you to read this document, this simple but profoundly beautiful testimony of the divinity and reality of our lord and saviour jesus christ.
my favorite line is this, we solemnly testify that his life neither began in bethlehem, nor ended on calvary. how true this i and howperfectly it coincided with my evening scripture study as christin tried to find sleep on an anxious christmas even night.
jesus christ's divinity and mission was known and testified of, even by he himself, long before the advent of his birth. i know that he is the way, the truth and the light and life of the world. i know he lives.
christmas morning seemed a little more holy this year, sure there were presents and gifts (with christin and craig, how could there not be), but more than that, there was a peace. there was no squabbling, even over the little stuff. there was no competition, no rush, no nothing that there ought not to have been. it was all good. even as i was slow to get ready for the day...no one got too frustrated with me...in fact they let me finish getting ready at my own pace and come along a few minutes behind since we had to take two cars anyway. that meant a lot to me as i love to be with my family but i also love just a little alone time, time to process, time to think, time to pray.
after visiting the grandparents we brought grandpa to our house for the first time since he moved closer. how peaceful that was. how much craig and christin love our folks, but how much they love the company of my grandpa, or as christin calls him, her grandpa lou. fixing lunch/dinner was a process...but again people came and went inbetween fixing and visiting, no one got annoyed or short tempered, we all just enjoyed the process. throughout dinner, i just kept thinking as i sat with my immediate family and all 3 of my grandparents i just thought...how great is this. everytime it happens, i think it might never happen again given ailing health, but then...here we are. i have so much to be grateful for.
you can get the drift of where this is going. and in no way am i traying to portray a perfect christmas (in fact that's exactly what my mom and i joke about while watching hallmark movies, because people do perfect things...ethey even make mistakes perfectly like slipping on the ice right into the arms of the man you love in just a perfect position for kissing...really??? that's not reality. ever.) but you know, reality is in the moments and its in choosing what each moment is really about. its about exercising those christlike attributes which all too frequently can be a much challenging task.
but aside...i just have to say...god be blessed for the infinite gift of his son.
i know that everything that is unfair about life can be made right through the atonement of jesus christ. i know that we still experience pain and sorrow, confusion and despair but i know that ultimately he will reign as king of king and lord of lords and that things will be made right....in the meantime...we have prayer, temples and chocolate and the sun....a few mortality essentials.
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