Full Bloom, Full Blown: "On the Tree or Under the Tree?"

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

"On the Tree or Under the Tree?"

Jordan is home and it feels like the holiday season for sure! So far, he spends most of his time studying, but is here doing it, so we are all happy. Sunday, we attended a "getting into the true spirit of the holidays" family fireside together for our stake. The speaker was a refined lady from LDS Social Services, who I had heard speak at a marriage seminar a few years ago and was very impressed with. We were not disappointed. She talked about the importance of the discussion of the Tree of Life concurrent with Nephi's vision of the birth of Christ and how the meaning of Christmas is what is "on the tree" (the love of God) and not what is merely "under the tree". It was incredibly inspiring. Her name is Amy Curtis and she lives in Meridian, and I would encourage anyone who has administrative influence to schedule her to come and speak in your ward or stake (she also does a parenting fireside, which I haven't heard).

For F.H.E. we wrote down a list of all of our traditions (which took up a whole page) and then labeled them as "under", "on", or "could be either". We decided to eliminate anything that fit more in the "under" category and are making changes to things that could go either way, so they will fit "on" the tree. It was so refreshing and motivating and freeing. We also adopted a new tradition, going against years of family tradition, of playing Christmas music starting the week of Thanksgiving, instead of the day after. I was the only one who wanted to stick with the old ways and because my only reasoning was "tradition!", I was voted down. I am more than happy to concede, but our tree will still not be going up until Friday.

Tomorrow will be a memorable day in the kitchen with my children and Thursday, a much anticipated day with extended family. Friday will be home fires and mistletoe and symbolic "chestnuts roasting" (we tried the real thing last year and they were quite disgusting! :) What a beautiful time of year!

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow Mom and Dad. And Happy Thanksgiving in 2 days to Larsen's, Ben and Renee, Josh and Becky, Joseph and Camille, and Hyrum and Desi who will all be somewhere other than with us on Thursday. We will miss you profoundly. I love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EDEN!

THE GIFT IS A GO!

STYLIN'

DOGPILE, TRICKS AND QUALITY SIBLING TIME

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"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived." (Marjorie Pay Hinckley)

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places--and there are so many--where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand Utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human being s should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory." (Howard Zinn)

“God made the world for the delight of human beings--if we would see His goodness everywhere, His concern for us, His awareness of our needs: the phone call we’ve waited for, the ride we are offered, the letter in the mail, just the little things He does for us throughout the day. As we remember and notice His love for us, we just begin to fall in love with Him because He is so busy with us--you just can’t resist Him. I believe there’s no such thing as luck in life, it’s God’s love, it’s His.” (Mother Teresa)

“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing the things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.” (C.S. Lewis)

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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

"On the Tree or Under the Tree?"

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