She Believes

She does.
With her heart.
With her mind.
With her entire being.

She believes.

She believes in Santa.
She believes in our family.
She believes in giving.
She believes in the reason for the season, Jesus.

You can see it in her face.
She believes and she loves.
And I'm so grateful she does.

My children are the second greatest gift God has given.
The greatest--His Son.
His Son will make sure I get to keep my children forever.

Oh how I love her and her brothers.

Merry Christmas!

The Relatives Came

And came and came.

And I loved every minute...

And it reminded me some what off my favorite children's book:
(Thanks for introducing me to it, Beck!)

I love this book. 

Amazing illustrations by Stephen Gammell and beautiful words by Cynthia Rylant.

If you've ever had a houseful of relatives... or if you're anything like my family (hugging aunts or cousins or siblings just to get from one room to the next), I'm guessing you'll love this book too.

You can find it here for only 7.99:

The Relatives Came

Growing up and being the youngest--by quite a few years, all of my siblings were out of the house by the time I was 12. I have so many memories waiting by the window, watching for my sisters and brother to come home from far away places.

This year our family Christmas party was at my house. 

And I felt like a little girl again, waiting for the relatives to come. 

My sister who I hadn't seen in 2 years.

My niece, her daughter who I hadn't seen in 3 years.

My nephew, her son who I hadn't seen in 1.5 years.

And all the others! The all came. They all stayed.

Every bed, every couch, some of the floor... it was all taken up by a sleeping, beautiful, lovingly missed relative. 

And for me, it was heaven.

The relatives came and we laughed and hugged and ate food galore. Without a doubt, it made my mother smile.

Yes. Heaven.

For anyone who wonders if Mormons celebrate Christmas

My sweet sister lives in Oregon--> way too far away from me... but that's another story. 

Last month she called me and laughed and told me about this older woman in her knitting group who told her matter-of-factly that:

Mormon's aren't allowed to celebrate Christmas.

My sister told her-- My sister is a Mormon and she always celebrates Christmas. 

Again and again my sister assured her that members of The Church of Jesus Christ do honor Christmas.

Still, the woman wouldn't believe her.

Of all the misconceptions out there, this is the biggest--

that we don't celebrate Christmas

that we don't celebrate Christ.

Of course we do.

We are  The Church of JESUS CHRIST, after all.

We have programs and choir concerts and gifts and trees, we have lights and Santa and decorations galore--we have it all. 

But most of all, we try to remember the true gift of Christmas...

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son..."

John 3:16

The first Christmas GIFT. The real Christmas gift.

Believe me, we do celebrate. For many of us, like many of you, it's our very favorite time of the year.

Feel the true Spirit of Christmas. Click HERE and watch this beautiful video.

There is nothing in the world like the Spirit of Christmas.

Christmas still comes—even when you’re grieving

Six years ago this October, my cousin, who I lovingly refer to as my nephew, passed away.

Five years ago this October—the same day, but a year after my nephew passed away, we found out my mom had cancer.

Needless to say, October 23 is nobody’s favorite day.

Nick died 2 months before Christmas. And Mom passed just 10 days before this blessed holiday.

 Mom had been in the hospital and we made sure one of us was always with her. It was difficult with two kids in school and one at home and being three hours away. But it was hard for all of us kids. It was hard being away from our families, hard being away from Mom. We all had our difficulties. But she only spent one night alone—and we made sure that didn’t happen again. Still traveling back and forth, enduring sleepless night after night, worrying until it caused physical pain--it all took its toll. None of us had much time to decorate or shop—it didn’t matter. But Christmas came anyway.

It didn’t matter that our hearts were broken. It didn’t matter that we’d just planned a funeral and wrote an obituary. It didn’t matter that at Christmas dinner there would be two gaping holes where loved ones should be—Christmas came anyway.

Thank goodness it did.

I won’t lie and tell you of the amazing experiences I had those years. They were hard. And painful. And I wouldn’t want to relive them. But it was never more apparent than in those awful times WHY we celebrate Christmas. It’s not just about that giant package under the tree. It’s not about finding the prettiest Christmas tree. It’s not about a feast big enough for an army. It's about Christ.

Our loving Father in Heaven gave us the most precious gift—His son. And because of that gift, I will have my mother back. I will see my cousin again.

Yes, thank goodness Christmas comes—even when you’re grieving.

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS....

THIS TIME OF YEAR...