Christmas Lessons

What a wonderful Christmas this turned out to be. Christmas morning I woke to probably the best, most cherished Christmas gift I could have received, which was a thoughtful, heartfelt letter from my mother to all of her children:

Just a Christmas Hello to everyone of my children:

I love each one of you so much. You have each taught me so much in my life; I have truly been blest with the best and brightest children, except maybe for your children which you have been blest with, or the children around you.

I have really been touched this year thinking about our Savior and his birth and his knowledge of each of us and his love and concern for each of us. I know many times in my life I would never make it without that knowledge and faith. I know this to be true, and I know this is true thru the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the church which teaches these things. We are so blest to have the Prophet and leaders to lead and guide us as they are directed by our Savior. I learned a long time ago that if I put my trust in my Savior, and do all I can do, He will and does take care of the rest. That brings such peace to my life, no matter what is going on.

I pray that this year you will all make it a priority to strengthen yourselves and your families and do all you can do to live up to this scripture: “If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.” Being prepared means so many things, in so many areas of life, but most of all I think being spiritually strong is of utmost importance. I pray that you each will take stock of where you are and where you want to be a year from now and then go forward with a plan, strength, and faith.

I always enjoyed when we would sit around and I would ask you each questions like: what do you want to be when you grow up? If you could do anything in your life what would it be? If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? If you could live in any period of time what would it be? etc. Then put these questions in an envelope and put them away until the end of the year, and then let each of you see them and see if your next answers would change. Those of you that have children old enough, this is always enlightening for your children.

I hope you all have a great Christmas. Love your families and give all that I can’t see hugs and kisses from me.

Mom

Poor Mike found me in tears when he came in to our room to say Merry Christmas to me, no doubt wondering what was could possibly be the matter. I was overcome with so many emotions of love for my mother, and for my family. This letter came after Christmas Eve when previous emotions had been building inside after Mike happened upon some of my families old Christmas videos. It is crazy to think how much time has passed and that we were once that young, all living under the same roof. How I miss those years! So, needless to say, by the time I got my mothers letter I could no longer contain my emotions.

I am so grateful for my mothers strength, for her testimony, and for the love she has for her children. She has always been one to keep the "eternal" in perspective no matter the trials she has endured. I will always be grateful for her example to us all; she may not have materialized her thoughts/feelings through words until now, but she has always been an example of these things in the way she has lived her life.

My mother said something in her letter that rang so true to me about the scripture "if you are prepared ye shall not fear," after Mike and I experienced, I would say, a "life changing Christmas Eve." Both of us consistently try and change, to work on our weaknesses, to grow and develop into our "better selves," on a daily basis (luckily both of us have it in our personalities to always strive to be better even when we continue to fail), but this Christmas Eve a deeper desire stirred within us both.

We decided to watch the movie "On the Lords Errand", a biography of President Thomas S. Monson. First, I must say what an inspiring documentary this is! The wonderful life this man has led should truly be an example for all the world to emulate. Watching this together led us to have so many rich and meaningful epiphanies which spawned an hour long conversation about the necessity of living better lives; lives wherein we can listen, follow, and value, the promptings of the spirit. How short and fleeting this life is. Having lived 30 years of it the reality is that perhaps I have another 60 years to go; how pertinent it is to do the most with the time that is given to us. It is so easy to get bombarded with the things of the world; the things society deems necessary in order to be successful, beautiful, prosperous, etc.; when in reality NONE of those things have any significant value. Being of the religious faith that I am, I believe that there is more to this life than just living, just getting by, just filling our life with things that bring instant gratification. There is purpose to our existence on earth: to build character, to serve and uplift others, to edify our lives with valuable things, to build up Gods kingdom, and to prepare to meet Him again one day. It is a sobering thought to know that all of the worldly accumulations I have made throughout my 30 years of living will have no value when I die. The Lord isn't going to greet me on the other side and say, "tell me how financially successful you were on earth," "share with me all of the things you accumulated," "tell me what kind of TV programs you watched and what you learned from them?" If those are the only things I have filled my life with, the conversation I will have with my Savior will inevitably be a brief one.

Thankfully there is a new tomorrow, and that the Savior grants us so many opportunities to change. The most beautiful thing President Monson said in his biography was that change takes place one step at a time. Being overwhelmed with the process of revamping your entire life in order to live a better one is not going to get you anywhere. As Mike and I proactively set in motion immediately upon ending our conversation, setting goals you know you can achieve and starting to work on them till they actually become part of your way of living is how change is not only achieved but can have a lasting effect.

I truly believe that if we use this life to prepare ourselves, to learn all that we can, to reshape our characters, to help others, to serve Him more diligently, there is nothing we shall fear. I am so grateful for the atonement. I am grateful to be Christian, to know of Christ and to believe in something greater than myself, something greater than the things the world consistently projects on us. I am grateful to have a husband that has the same values I do; how much easier and more beautiful marriage is when you are on one path.

I also wanted to make mention that this Christmas was special being able to converse with family. It was so wonderful to be able to see Mikes brother, Jeff, on his mission (he got to call and converse with us via skype). We love Jeff! It was so neat to hear about all of his experiences and how much he is growing and developing into the person he wants to be. We are so proud of him and pray for him daily!

Some of our highlights during the holiday:

Christmas Eve Breakfast:

Christmas Dinner:

Rollerblading; enjoying the gorgeous sunny weather in AZ:

Opening Gifts:

Nika climbed up in the top of our tree to retrieve her present in the middle of the night. Mike found her in the midst of taring the wrapping paper open. I have no idea how she knew that one was for her.

We met up and had dinner with one of Mikes good friends, Mike and his wife from FL. They were in town visiting her family. There is nothing that can replace good, quality friends!