Pre-Holiday Madness

Christmas is next week....

I can barely believe it. It feels like I have been off in my own little world for this past month. I have been in what seems like a never ending loop on work, Christmas shopping and sleep. However, I believe my Christmas shopping is done and now I just have to get through everything else. And when I say get through, I actually mean I get to do some pretty amazing things throughout this next week.

Luckily I traded my RS lesson this Sunday with the second Sunday teacher so I don't have to plan for that this weekend. I am however, singing in our branch's Christmas program this weekend and a little nervous about that. But even before Sunday rolls around I am most looking forward to tomorrow night, our Branch Temple Trip.

I have been terrible at using work as an excuse for not being able to go each month to the Temple. The carpool leaves at the same time that I get off work and I would still have to change and walk the dog, etc. But for tomorrow, I have given myself a no excuses rule. I am just going to leave work an hour early. It will still be tight on time and I will miss the pay, but I am determined to make this trip work out.

Our branch is make a big shindig out of it. True we won't really get to do our regular baptisms for the dead, but there will be lights and programs and a living nativity scene, and the EQ is bringing hot chocolate, cookies, chili and other deliciousness. I can already feel the excitement growing stronger inside me.  I have never had the chance to see the Christmas lights at the Oakland Temple, or any temple in person, so I know this will be special.

But more than anything I know that it will give me a chance to be with beloved brothers and sisters, and I will get to share in their spirits as we enjoy the warm feelings that this season tends to bring on. How truly grateful I am to be able to attend this trip. I know this is where I am suppose to be tomorrow and that makes me even more excited, I might explode. Most of all I believe that this trip will continue to remind me to have an attitude of gratitude this holiday season.

"There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus the Christ. Let it be a time that lights the eyes of children and puts laughter on their lips. Let it be a time for lifting the lives of those who live in loneliness. Let it be a time for calling our families together, for feeling a closeness to those who are near to us and a closeness also to those who are absent.

Let it be a time of prayers for peace, for the preservation of free principles, and for the protection of those who are far from us. Let it be a time of forgetting self and finding time for others. Let it be a time for discarding the meaningless and for stressing the true values. Let it be a time of peace because we have found peace in His teachings." - Thomas S. Monson, "A Bright Shining Star," 2010 First Presidency Christmas Devotional

Halloween Madness Done, Just Need To Take Down The Decorations

It is true, I was going to take down the decorations from Halloween last night, but somehow I have received a nice present of a cold from someone, somewhere and decided that I was so tired when I got home from work that I was just going to sleep through the night and that is what I did. I now feel bad because I missed hanging out with some great people, but since I am not feeling as terribly sick right now I think that I will get over it... eventually. I hate missing out on fun things to do (especially the World Series).

Anyways, after 14 hours of sleep last night I am feeling a lot better and hopefully will be able to get out and about tonight and do something fun, but who knows at this point. What I really want to talk about is the change I have felt in the air these last couple of days. Every morning I get up and walk my dog before work, and for the last couple of days I can feel a crispness in the air that just wasn't there last week.

The cool air has a real bite to it, I can see my breath already. The leaves are falling like crazy (yes the leaves do fall off the trees in California), and soon I expect to see the Christmas decorations and lights getting put up. This is by far my favorite couple of months every year. There is a rushed feeling that can be quite stressful but also there is a change in everyone's attitude that always amazes me. A kindness towards others that only this time of the year seems to bring out of people. That reminds me I really need to make plans to take a trip to the mall and do some holiday people watching, it is the best.

But most of all I love knowing that I get time off this year to spend with my family. It is going to be a difficult holiday season for my family with the death of my Grandfather this last May. Our first holiday season without him, but by being together I think that we will all make it through.

I was talking with a friend Skyler last year about what we liked most about Christmas and he summed it up perfectly.  He said to me, it is the one day a year that nothing else matters, you don't worry about finances, you don't worry about work, all you think about is the moment and the other things that trouble you come back the next day, but just for that day they don't exist. That day does not feel like it is going to come soon enough this year.