Christmas joys 2013

There's something tangible about the joy of Christmas.  It starts as soon as the decorations come out, each symbolizing the life and love of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The music starts and the excitement builds.  Everyone wants to help.  Everyone feels how special this is.  

The early morning peace after fresh snow...

Our neighborhood Christmas Party is always fun, getting to sit on Santa's lap.

Even Kevin got to sit there this year, since he came as Buddy the Elf :)

Ryn had her first chance to attend the Christmas Concert at the Conference Center with me, Mama KK and Papa Stan.

BECAUSE she was 8!!!!!  Blowing out candles on Grandma Carma's famous cheesecake

She got a fun candy experiment book from one of her friends and they had a blast doing all the experiments!

Elle got the Star Student award and she and Ryn received medals for their Reflections entries.  Ryn thought it would be fun to make one for the little kids so they wouldn't feel left out.  So Ryn :)

 Darren continually finds new ways to make statements through dress-ups. 

Our lazy snowman lying down on the job....

Fun in the snow with cousin Anna!!  Rolling up the snow-sod :)

Hope waiting by the chimney....

We decided to put our main Nativity set in the middle of our big table and I loved having it there in the center of our home.  

Christmas Eve caroling--our favorite family tradition ;)  Sweet Grandpa Tom came to help us.  

After the caroling, we headed home for our live Nativity.  Beautiful Elle as Mary, Eden as an angel... 

Ryn the Wise

Darren was the sweetest Joseph ever.  He kept holding and softly rocking the baby Jesus the whole time.  

The elves got to work after the kids were all tucked in their beds...

We even caught Santa on the roof!

The staircase line-up

Band-aids and scooters for everyone!

Hope loved her Little People

Darren and Dad loved the Star Wars guys

Hugs all around!

Ryan and Laura headed up the egg Mc Muffins

Zack appreciated Kevin's creative wrapping for his iTunes gift card

Sleepy, happy family

Lots of games

They rode their scooters so much that we had to make stop signs to direct traffic around the kitchen!

New Years day we spent in Salt Lake with my parents, Rae and Conlon, Rob and Christa and Spencer.  

With Ryn's baptism (see separate post) thrown in to all the other magic, it was an extra busy, wonderful Christmas!!

O Come All Ye Faithful

How I love this season!  Singing the Christmas hymns in sacrament meeting today opened the flood gates. There are certain songs that I stand no chance of finishing with dry eyes and "O Come All Ye Faithful" is one of them.  Joyfully, triumphantly, I sing with the choirs of angels in exultation as I try to give glory to The Lord Jesus Christ.  My mornings are happy because he was born, lived a perfect life, and faithfully fulfilled his mission as our Redeemer. 

In our little French choir we are singing "Il est ne, le divin enfant", a traditional French carol.  The words talk about how long the world waited and looked forward  to Christ's coming, because of their faith in the promises made by all the prophets.  That struck me today. Anciently, they waited with faith for the coming of a Lord they knew through the prophets. After Christ's resurrection, his disciples testified of him, built faith in those who hadn't seen or known him, and looked forward with faith for his return. And today, I try to do the same. 

I love in the Book of Mormon, Moroni chapter 7 that talks about this very thing. God has always revealed truth through prophets so that all men might have faith in Jesus Christ. As I sang those hymns and reflected on what it means to truly be faithful, I could see areas in my life that I need to work on. Having faith is much more than believing he lived and will come again. It is more than just going through the motions and waiting for him to come. It is more than believing he is the Son of God and that he came to be our Savior. 

For me, as a mother, a wife, a friend, truly having faith in him means being kind.  Always kind.  No matter how tired or busy I am.  It means giving others the benefit of the doubt and trusting them as children of God--seeing in them the divine worth we each have, instead of focusing on their momentary mortal slip-ups.  It means lifting, building, encouraging and loving everyone around me as he would. It means not being weary in well doing. It means doing the right things for the right reasons. It means letting go of things that have no lasting worth.  It means changing my very nature through the power of his atoning sacrifice  and not justifying my weaknesses as being "just who I am".  

So the gift I'm giving my best efforts to this year: becoming one of the "faithful" so All that I am, all that I do, and every word that I speak will joyfully testify of him. 

Hope turns 1!

Oh, this little girl!  Does she ever make me happy!  

I can't remember if I talked about how she calmed me as a newborn. A little less calm now that she's walking and wanting to make her voice heard, but still she brings us pure joy every day. 

On her actual birthday, we spent the evening carving pumpkins 

Hopefully as she gets older she won't try to eat them....

Then the next Sunday we had mama KK, Papa Stan, Rachel, Conlon, Jane, Spencer, Kayla, Tom, Carma, Ryan, Laura, Erik, Michelle, Ben, Hans, Xander, Gabe and Mary over to celebrate together.  Great people, Cafe Rio salads, games, brownies and ice cream made for a perfect evening.  Hope loved every minute. 

Especially that one :). Happy birthday, sweet Hope!  

The JOY of having an amazing big sister

Today is my sister's birthday. My amazing, perfect, inspiring, hero of a sister, Joy.  Growing up it was a tough act to follow...all As on every report card, lead dancer in our performing group, perfect high-kicker, all the cute guys wanting to date her, accomplished pianist, fluent French speaker, powerful and obedient missionary,... you name it, she mastered it. 

As a mother of five (four boys and one girl), she continues to set the example for me.  Motherhood is something she does well and gives her all to because she knows it is what The Lord wants her to do.  I call her for advice on just about every topic under the sun, and she offers creative and wise solutions without fail.  Master scheduler ;), ultimate gift-giver (HOW can she be on time and on the money for 46 birthdays just on our side of the family?!), calling magnifier, triathlon placer, reunion planner, ETC!  Here is the latest proof for my praise: a picture of her handing out individual surprises to every member of my family when she came to stay over conference weekend. Yes, she does this every.single.time. 

And here we are enjoying our sister Saturday in the conference center 

In this month of things to be thankful for, she is one of my greatest blessings.  As I watch my girls, I see some of the same dynamics in their relationships and I'm so thankful they have each other.  They laugh, play, fight, make plans, work, sing and dance through their days together. Elle wants to be just like Ryn.  And who wouldn't?  Ryn is about as perfect as you can get, and Elle (also practically perfect in every way, but different ways) is already starting to feel some discouragement when she compares herself to such a wonderful standard. How well I remember those feelings (did you sense them way back at the beginning of this very post?).  Eventually I started to find my own gifts to develop and share. As a mother, I'm trying to encourage Elle to look to Ryn's example and follow it, but find herself at the same time.  Tricky. 

 So my heart sang last week to watch Elle AND Ryn win in different categories of their school art competition.  

In the email I received from the PTA inviting me to the awards assembly, they said my "child" had won.  I asked which one and they only responded with Ryn's name.  Thrilled for her--she stayed up late, late writing a really cute song for her entry--, but anticipating Elle's disappointment, my stomach twisted as they started announcing winners.  In this picture, You can't see the joy on Elle's face or the way she is clutching that ribbon to her heart or the joy on my face as I snapped it, when they announced her name, too. 

I know from experience that Elle (and Eden and Darren and Hope) will be forever blessed to follow in Ryn's footsteps. Even attempting to do that with Joy has pushed me to be my best in every way.  I love you, Joy!