As we begin Christmas week, I am taking a few minutes to reflect on the past few days and some of the things I am most grateful for...
Last week was cloudy and cool. I love this picture of a big gray cloud with the sun peeking out, which I took Friday afternoon. It reminds me of the way life is....even when we have bad things happen, there is a light that can come through to lighten our way, if we just let it.
I enjoyed taking some time to read one evening last week. I sat down in a comfy chair, put my feet up, covered my self with my granny square afghan to take the chill off, and finished this book.
I love this beautiful Sunday morning sunrise.
I love Christmas decorations and packages under the tree - the excitement of Christmas. I got out a few more decorations this week because my youngest daughter and her husband and four of our grandchildren are coming for Christmas!
I especially love our Savior Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate this season. I sometimes feel so flawed and imperfect. I make so many mistakes - even when I mean well. Life does not always go as planned - in fact it rarely goes as planned, but my faith in Jesus Christ gives me hope and healing from life's hurts and pain.
Other favorites from this week (that I don't have pictures for)....
A nice, long, detailed positive letter from my son Josh. I understand that all the missionaries in his mission are having a big Christmas party tomorrow (Monday) and I know that he will love that. I found out that his Christmas box arrived in Mexico safely (at the mission home) and he will be getting it tomorrow at the party. We will be receiving an email from him on Tuesday, and then, if all goes as planned, we will be able to have a nice long SKYPE session with him on Christmas Day. I am sure looking forward to that!
Christmas cards - especially those that came from my blogging friends. Thanks Rita, Karen and Billie Jo!
The opportunity to spread some Christmas joy to others. My favorite thing about Christmas is giving to others - even in little ways and I am always happy when I get the opportunity to do that.
The opportunity to work with and hopefully help teenagers every single day. Despite the frustrations, I do love my job. I love it when I get to truly make a difference in a young person's life. This past week, I found out about a very real danger that one of my students was facing and I took action and was hopefully able to help her to avoid a potentially tragic and heartbreaking situation. Another student has a really tough situation at home and I was able to come up with a "work-around" to help him be successful in my class and stay on track for high school graduation. I am thankful for these times and just hope that I can always recognize and take the opportunity to make a positive difference.
Finals are finished and grades in! Charly and I are now on Christmas break from school for two weeks.
Lunch with two good friends on Friday. I have known the ladies I got together with for years and they are the best. Though we don't do it often, we always enjoy getting for lunch and a good chat three or four times a year. This week was an early birthday lunch for one of my friends and as well as a much belated birthday lunch for me. It was great to spend an hour relaxing and chatting with these lovely ladies who are almost like sisters to me.
Finally, there is this Christmas thought that really sums it all up and is my Christmas wish for each of you.
I did not get around to doing a blog post this weekend, but I want to start the week out right by catching up a bit on last week and weekend.
It was a gray, cloudy overcast weekend. Our temperatures only climbed into the 60s, which for us desert dwellers feels like freezing!
We had rain on Friday night and Saturday morning. Look at those big ominous clouds in the sky Saturday. (This is a great picture, but I did not take it).
This weekend I spent some time finishing up the last bit of shopping. I was so glad to find my favorite Christmas candy back for the holidays and this time, I found Cherry Sticks, as well as Orange Sticks. Last year, I found my favorite Orange Sticks at Walmart, but this year they are not at Walmart. I found these at Ross and bought several boxes. As I explained in one of my posts last Christmas, my mother used to work at the candy company that makes these delicious little Christmas treats, Sweets Candy in Salt Lake City, Utah. Sweets Candy has been around for a long time because my mom worked there just before World War II broke out. Even after my mom didn't work there, she still bought the Orange Sticks as a special treat every Christmas and they are a very pleasant memory from my childhood. I was excited to find them at Walmart last year and bring back sweet memories of my mom and Christmases past.
I was able to finish the shopping wrapping and mailing for the grand children and family who will not be with us at Christmas. We are excited that our daughter Tiffany, her husband and their four children will be with us this Christmas, so their gifts are all wrapped and under the tree. You can see that we have also received some packages in the mail from family far away that we are waiting until Christmas morning to open.
I also made some "care packages" for some young missionaries who have no or little family support and will not be receiving anything packages from home at Christmas. With my own son serving as a missionary far away, and feeling more than a little homesick right now, I really care about these young people giving two years of their lives in service to others. I cannot imagine being far from home and never getting a package or even a letter from home. If I can do just a little to bring happiness to a young missionary at Christmas, I'm going to do just that. Charly and I have made that the main part of our "Christmas service" this year.
Christmas cards are starting to come and that is something I always enjoy about Christmas. We always put them on the back of the front door and enjoy seeing pictures and cards from friends and family throughout the season. My parents always sent and received lots of Christmas cards and that is a tradition that I also love.
Tonight I have been getting these fun little Christmas gifts ready to give to some of the other teachers I work with. I have been feeling a little under the weather so decided to forgo a lot of baking just now, although I hope to make Christmas cookies with the grand kids when they come to visit.
The reason I have been feeling under the weather is that I have a slight concussion. A few days ago, I hit my head on a shelf in our garage. I didn't think much of it at the time, except, "Ouch, that really hurt." A few days later, I started experiencing symptoms of a slight concussion, headaches, dizziness, extreme tiredness and even some nausea. Of course, concussions do heal and since I'm not a professional football player, I'm not too worried, but I have been trying to follow the medical advice to rest and take it a bit more easy than usual. I was actually feeling much better today, but I did take a nap when I got home and will go to bed early tonight because rest is one of the prescribed treatments for concussions.
Hope you all have a great week. Here is a little Christmas thought to begin this week with...
I haven't been completely offline and out of blogland this past week, but most of my online time has been spent creating and updating a blog I am doing for my son Josh and his mission in Mexico. Since he has been gone almost two months now, and I am trying to do a post telling about each week, I have had a bit of catching up to do, but I am slowing getting there. At the end of his mission in October 2016, I plan to make his blog into a book (as I have my own blog) so he can have a nice book with all of his mission emails and pictures. (I have made his blog private - by invitation only, -but if you would like to follow it, just send me an email with your google account email address and I will add you as an invited reader). As I have been spending time working on his blog, I have neglected my own this past week, so I will take a bit of time this Sunday morning to catch up and remember some the good things that took place.
This is my seven (almost eight-year-old) grand daughter, Emily, She was the 2014 Youth Honoree for the Washington D. C. area Jingle Bell Run benefiting Arthritis research. Emily was diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis when she was just five years old and has had a lot of health challenges due to this life long autoimmune condition. She is in the second grade now and doing much better. Part of being the Youth Honoree meant that Emily had to give a speech to everyone in attendance at this big fund raising event. She did a great job. We were not there to hear her in person, but her mom uploaded the speech to Facebook, so we did get to hear it. She certainly made her grandma proud!
The above pictures came from Josh in Mexico this week. The top picture is the inside of the house he and his missionary companion are living in. The bottom picture is the outside of the house.
We always look forward to hearing from Josh (Elder Jones) every week. Here is are excerpts from his last emails:
Hey Mom,
I´m in Mexico now its very different than the United States and I am very homesick. Its a big culture shock. The members of the ward I´m serving in seem pretty nice even though I can hardly understand them. People here talk really fast its difficult to understand and can be frustrating. Always remember me in your prayers. And never forget how much I love you.
Love, Josh
Hola Everybody,
It´s my first week in Mexico everything is going alright so far. My companions name is Elder Groll from Randolph, Utah. he´s been out 21 months so I think after training me he goes home. Its been an adjustment for me these past couple days. Mexico is very different than the United States I´ve seen some things that I´ve never really seen before so its a bit of a culture shock. The members of the San Rafael ward seem pretty nice even though I can hardly understand them. Yesterday all the missionaries in our ward had to give a talk on missionary work. There´s four in our ward that cover a different area: Elder Fullmer from Sandy, Utah and Elder Lugo from Mexico. I think I did pretty good because after wards everyone complimented me and everything and then an older woman came to me with tears in her eyes and told me that my talk was an answer to her prayers. She had to give a devotional that night and I inspired her and taught her how to be strong... Its still difficult to understand the people because of how fast they talk. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving because they don´t celebrate it in Mexico however they do at President Bird's house. I don´t have any pictures because I forgot to bring my camera but it was a nice time. He live in a nice house on the nicer part of town. What he...invited invited who have or have had leadership positions in the past and since Elder Groll was an assistant to the president (AP) we got to go. Remember that I love and am grateful for each and everyone of you and remembering you in my prayers. I hope all is well with everyone and that everythings okay at home. Anyone who wants to write or email me is very welcome to do so.
Love, Elder Jones
At our house, we truly love these sweet emails from Josh. The best part is to see how he is growing and maturing through his missionary service experiences.
The Christmas cards and family Christmas letter are finished and mailed. Christmas cards are part of our family Christmas tradition. We have sent them out every year of our marriage to keep in touch with family and friends far away. We used to send out over 100 cards each year. Over the years, the list has gotten a bit smaller, but we still send over 70 cards a year, and get many in return. I love displaying all of our cards on the the back of our front door. Hearing from friends and family is one of the things I love about this time of year.
Christmas gifts are coming along. I made this fun pillow cases for the grand kids this year.
I spent a lot of time working on them during the long Thanksgiving weekend. I am NOT a seamstress, but I can make these fun pillow cases. I made some for my own children years back and one daughter liked hers so much that she asked me to make some for her children, and I enjoyed doing it.
It has been a cool and cloudy week, which is a lovely change here in Arizona. We also got some rain - always much appreciated in the desert. You can see the gray skies in this picture of the Gilbert Temple that I took when I went there Saturday morning.
I also love this nativity at the Gilbert Temple. Some Mormon temples- like the Salt Lake and Mesa temples have beautiful Christmas light displays, but the Gilbert Temple has only this simple, but beautiful nativity.
I love the way the Holy Family is portrayed here with Joseph lovingly protecting Mary and baby Jesus.
At home, the Christmas decorations are up as well. This is the little tree and nativity on the table in our living room. We used to have a huge tree, but decided to downsize several years ago to smaller and more simple decorations. I am glad we did.
Here are the three small trees which are right in our entry way. We actually have four Christmas trees in our living room, but they are all small ones.
Another view of our main tree on the table at one end of our living room. It is a bit hard to see, but I have also put lights on the bookcases behind the tree. It looks very homey and festive at night in the dark when everything is lit up.
With all the busyness of the Christmas season, I keep reminding myself that the Savior Jesus Christ is the reason for this celebration. In our society today, most people do their best to keep Him out of Christmas and make this time of year more about shopping and spending than the first gift of Christmas. I love the above 3 minutes video that really puts things in perspective. He is the reason that we celebrate Christmas, but if our celebration removes Him from the center, the celebration becomes hallow and devoid of any real meaning, like so many things in our world today. Please take time every day this Christmas to remember Him, to love Him and to honor Him, because he is the first and eternal Gift of Christmas Day and every day.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life."
--John 3:16
Joining (a couple of days late) with Susanne of Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five.
