Spiritual Christmas

Christmas Day dawned bright and clear for me this year. No snow (of course) :) Christmas day was more of a focus on Christ than in years past and I loved it so much! I look forward to trying to keep more of Christ in my life than in the past.

Christmas day start out with keep Jasers entertained while Nicole was making breakfast (Kneaders French Toast) Yummm!!! That bread had to travel over 600 miles to make it to my house (from Kneaders in Provo, UT to the airport in SLC, flying to LAX, and then driving home to Ridgecrest). Wow. What a long way for some little loaves of bread to go, haha.

When breakfast was winding down my participated in something that we can make a yearly tradition (if not I'll make it a tradition with my own family when I have one). We went around the table and all shared something that had to do with the spirit of giving or the true spirit or meaning of Christmas. It was one of the most meaningful and spiritual experiences of my life.

I started everything off by talking about my experience with Sub for Santa. To read about it click here.  It really set a good tone for what my sister in law and I were trying to get across with focusing on the true meaning of Christmas. Zach shared a story from when he went caroling with some friends and they were able to make a huge difference in a sick lady's day. Jimmy shared a story about how the military gives so much for us. Donald Eugene shared a story from when he was younger that he helped doorbell ditch some gifts are Christmas for a family that literally had nothing. Ariel talked about how when she was in Young Women's someone she didn't get along with gave her some support when needed. Nicole talked about a tradition that her family does with choosing a poorer family to give gifts to at Christmas and one particualar year they gave up having some gifts of their own to bring Christmas joy to someone else. Mom talked about her earthly angels that have been around for her this year when she needed some huge support to help with Dad's health issues (Donald Eugene and Ariel).

With everything that we were discuss it brought so many tears to my eyes. Not out of sadness but out of joy and all the good that we were able to talk about and the real meaning of Christmas. The cutest thing was that Sammi was sitting on my lap and she asked me "Gramma sad?" Because my mom was crying. I told her that grandma was crying because she was happy and later she asked me the same question about Aunt Ariel. And I told her the same thing and I suggested she go give each of them a hug. She is so adorable!!

The rest of the morning I spent with my family played some games and got ready for church where I was able to play the prelude music. It was so much fun just getting to sit there and play Christmas Hymns. Jimmy also spoke in church (his farewell talk for leaving on his mission). He brought tears to my eyes because he told me that he was grateful for my idea of Christmas sharing because it really got him thinking about the real meaning of Christmas.

After church we were finishing getting Christmas dinner ready. So good. I want more right now :)

That night Jimmy was set up as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Such a neat experience to have that happen on Christmas day. Before he was set apart he met with the stake president and Nicole and I had Zach play the piano while we sang some Christmas hymns. Such a neat experience.

The rest of the night we got to spend together as a family and play some games

What a good Christmas!! So sad that I had come back to Utah the next day. Miss my family so much!