Christmas!!!
Is it just me or did Christmas this year have an extra sacredness about it BECAUSE it fell on a Sunday which gave my family, as well as millions of other Christians across the world, the opportunity to come together and remember Christ by partaking of the sacrament. I VOTE Christmas should always be on a Sunday! {On that same note: Is it just me, or did anyone else consider it would be blasphemous to stay home and open up presents INSTEAD of going to church??? If I'd had done that, I would have felt terribly guilty!} Alright, I'll be honest--- when our bishop announced the Sunday before Christmas that our ward would begin meeting in the new church building just up the street from our home at 9a.m., NO, I wasn't excited!!! {Spencer and I were aware that our ward would begin meeting for church at 9a.m. at the beginning of the new year, we just weren't expecting we'd have to start meeting at 9 beginning Christmas day! Our ward always met at 1!} The new time change meant that we would have to wake up early and from the moment our feet hit the floor, we'd have to scramble to get to church on time! We'd have to shower, dress and feed our boys, without letting them open any presents, just to make the 9 o'clock deadline!!! Sounds easy, if all you have are one or two children, but 5?! And they're all still little so they all still need our help getting dressed. I wasn't looking forward to the change in time for church services--- I didn't get to bed until 2 that morning, then consequently, following 3 hours of sleep, I had to get up to get myself ready before waking our boys. It's a surprise I didn't sleep through the sound of my alarm clock that morning! After worrying about making it to church on time Christmas morning, I'm happy to report, WE DID, with nearly 30 minutes to spare! {We arrived SUPER EARLY just so we could score a bench seat}. Our ward only met for an hour- to partake of the Sacrament and listen to the beautiful musical pieces that were arranged and performed by members of our ward {Have I mentioned that our ward is insanely musically gifted?!} It was such a nice change to be able to go to church Christmas morning, feel the reverence there and reflect on the true purpose of the holiday {no worries, we still got to watch the Disney Christmas Parade which has been a long standing tradition in my home ever since I was a little girl... we just recorded it and watched it the following morning!}... Following church, we came home, took some pictures of our boys together in front of the Christmas tree and not one of them even complained that it was already 11 something and we hadn't opened one single gift yet! It's nice that they have that kind of patience and don't mind waiting. More kids {and adults} could afford to have more patience like our boys have {particularly around the holidays!!!}.
We read The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles {you can click here to read a copy of it} before going to bed... The goal this year was to focus more on Christ and less on the commercialism of Christmas... I believe we successfully reached our goal!
F.Y.I. In case you wondering, no, we did NOT get a pup this Christmas as our boys had hoped for... I know, I know, the boys and I REALLY wanted one but Spence wasn't on board with the idea... yet... he wants to wait another year or two for our boys to get just a little older so they can be responsible for it. We'll see if we {specifically I} can wait that long! I told Spencer after Christmas that he could always get me a cat for my birthday... He sneered at the thought! I was only trying to compromise (wink.wink.)
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