Christmas 2015

Demitri's face when I asked to see his present...

He immediately ran it over to dad for protection. He didn't trust me with carrying his Halloween bucket when trick or treating either, but that one was probably justified. 

Christmas Candy tastes better out of a Halloween pumpkin?

We didn't really have the traditional Christmas this year, and we missed a lot of the Christmas festivities. I was bummed, but a lot of good things happened because of that. 

1.)   I threw my own Christmas Festivity at my house mid December with a few friends. It was a lot of chaos but a lot of fun. It felt good to be planning things rather than waiting for someone else to do it. We had lots of soups, played Christmas chimes, and decorated gingerbread men. We had 10 adults, and 10 kids with Daphney being the second oldest and Paisley not being the youngest- so emphasis on the chaos.  

2.)   It gave me time to think about the real reason we celebrate Christmas and evaluate my relationship with Christ. 

I started to think about the importance of testimony not only for my own well being but for my kids. In the Book of Mormon we read of the believers living in America who were going to be killed if the signs of Christ's birth did not happen. I think of the parents who had such a strong testimony to not only risk their own lives but their kids by continually teaching them to believe. They confidently led their children when the world might say to take a surer route, give up and just say you don't believe. 

I want to be a mother like that! 

I think of the pioneers who knew that following the prophet and obtaining temple blessings were important enough to cause them to leave everything and travel across the plains even if they or their children died in the process. The prospect of death would not blot out their faith for them. They led their children's growing testimonies, while the world might say to take a surer route, give up and just say you don't believe. I want to be a mother like that!

While I know we must let our children stand on their own testimonies, I want to be ready when they look to me with a relationship with Christ that is strong enough to dispel fear. So this December I set that as my present to myself and my kids - to look unto Christ and to invite Him to guide my scripture study. It made this Christmas really special and meaningful. 

-We all knows parents put first priority on their kids so scripture study sometimes at least for me would be shortened or forgotten after all my kids needs were met, but this mindset helped me prioritize scripture study more than anything else that the world might say we need to be doing for our kids.