What does Christmas mean to you?

I love Christmas. It is my favorite holiday for many reasons. I enjoy the decor, the lights, the trees, the snow (if you live in the right climate), the music, the gifts, more specifically, the giving of gifts. If someone were to ask me what Christmas means to me, I would say it means family time, love, and learning of our savior Jesus Christ, of his birth and the example he was to us. In my opinion we give, not to receive, but to be selfless, loving, and kind. 

This year is the first year I have noticed the cynicism and complaints associated with Christmas. Looking back on years past, I see it. I chose not to notice it before because I love Christmas so much that I didn't want to let others get me down or impose their scrooge attitude on me. I thought people said those things and acted that way because they were having a bad day. Now, especially today, I am seeing that a good number of people really don't like the Christmas season.

So far this year I have heard people say I hate the snow, I hate shopping, I hate trying to buy gifts for people, I hate decorating, I wish people wouldn't listen to Christmas music until December. Even then, when it is played in December, I still hear people saying that they can't wait until Christmas is over and they don't have to hear anymore Christmas songs.

Let me say that I can understand, not agree, but I understand where people are coming from when they say I hate the snow and I hate shopping. There are a lot of stupid, annoying, and very greedy people that you come across while shopping during the holidays, that does get bothersome after a while, I agree. I choose to blow those people off and enjoy my shopping experiences. I LOVE shopping, especially during the holidays. 

The snow, I understand why people dislike it. It's cold, some people really hate the cold and just can't seem to get rid of the bite that comes with cold winter temperatures. Others hate how hard it is to drive in, that I do agree with but I still find it adventurous at the same time and don't mind to much. Others hate shoveling it off of their driveways, walkways, and sidewalks. I love the snow. I don't go for drives just for fun like my husband does, but I don't mind shoveling (unless I am six, seven, eight, or nine months pregnant) and I don't mind the cold. When I see it snow and see my world covered in white, it brings such a clam, quiet, peaceful feeling to me which is a great feeling to have during the Christmas season. In the world today, you are hard pressed to find a calm, quiet atmosphere like the one that comes with a few inches of snow and a Christmas tree in the corner. The snow keeps people in their houses, snuggled up keeping warm and spending time with their families. I think thats wonderful and enjoy it all winter long, not just on the first snow of the season.

One of my biggest annoyances when it comes to the holidays is people complaining about the Christmas music. I happen to love and adore Christmas music and don't mind listening to it at any point during the year. I don't throw in a Christmas album in May or August or anything but if it is in my playlist on my phone, typically I don't skip over it. People seem to hate it because they hear the same songs over and over again for weeks at a time. But if you are a church goer, think for a minute how many times you have heard church hymns. Do you hear We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet or The Spirit of God (for those LDS readers) or any other frequently played/sung church and hymn and think "oh my gosh! Enough of this song, I have heard it so many times!" In my experience, no. In fact it is quite the opposite. Many people are touched, even brought to tears when they hear certain church hymns because they listen to the words in the song and the meaning in them. So the next time you hear Christmas music and get annoyed, why don't you stop and listen to the words since a good amount of the Christmas songs are about our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, who without, we would all be lost.

Now for the gifts. For a good number of people Christmas is the time when you allow yourself to splurge on the latest, greatest, most expensive, and your most coveted item of the year. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, unless thats all Christmas is to you. In that case, you really need to get yourself a bible or dust off the one sitting right over there on your shelf behind your elf. It's also the time when most children and adults alike are saying I wonder what I'm getting for Christmas, what is in that box, I hope I got what was on my list. Think about it, how many times have you seen "the season of receiving"? In my lifetime, none. On the flip side you see and hear the quote "the season of giving" quite often through the holiday season. When the Three Wise Men gave Jesus their gifts, I doubt they were thinking, "yo, Jesus, where is my present, I just gave you gold, come on man!"They also weren't told to, they didn't feel obligated to give those gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They gave them because upon being in the presence of Christ, they realized, felt and knew that he, Jesus Christ, was truly the Son of God, the King of Kings, the Prince of peace, the mighty God. They felt inspired to give these things to their Savior, whom without they could never be saved. 

I don't truly know what was going through the Wise Mens heads when they bowed down to worship our Lord, but I can imagine the feeling and overwhelming spirit that was present there that night. How truly amazing that must have been and I doubt the thoughts of the Wise Men were ones of selfishness. 

This is a season to love and think of others and remember the selflessness of our Savior. We do that through giving gifts and service to those we love and care about and often that meaning gets lost in the season. It makes me sad to hear people say they hate giving gifts and hate buying people presents, hate serving at shelters or donating food and clothing, or when they say thats just not who I am. Exactly!!! It't not about you! It's about the people in your life, showing love and giving service to those in your life wether you know them or not. 

If you are one of those people mentioned above, then this season try not to think about what you want and how much you hate putting effort into something for someone else. Instead think about what you can do or give to someone else and how much that would mean to them. Even if you don't buy the best and greatest gifts, MOST people are grateful and will love that you simply thought of them. If they aren't grateful or act like Scrooge, then send them the link to this blog post. 

I buy my family presents every year and it is so fun and exciting for me, not just because I love to shop but because I get to see them Christmas morning when they open their gifts and I see the joy and happiness on their faces. That means the world to me, to see my husband and children happy, thats what I always wish for them, is happiness in their lives. 

This season instead of thinking that shopping or doing service is an obligation or an annoyance, try thinking about how happy those you are buying for and serving will be when YOU hand them a gift or do something special for them and say Merry Christmas.

This year I am trying very hard to teach my children about the true meaning of Christmas by reading the story of the birth of Christ to them a little each night. I want my children to know that its not just about getting presents but also about giving and thinking of others and especially thinking of Christ, our Lord. 

Remember Christ in Christmas this year and think about what you can do for other people instead of dismissing the season as and obligation or bother. 

Principals Office??

Today I am so grateful for the choice I have made to make it a point to sit down together as a family with no TV or other distractions and have family dinner.

While sitting down for dinner this evening I was informed by my daughter that she was "bad in school today". I asked why and she said for teasing and punching people. We talked about it and discussed it calmly and I thought the discussion was over. But she continued on. 

"They almost called you" she said. 

"Your teacher almost called me?" I asked. 

"My teacher and the principal almost called you." 

Stunned, I looked at Zac not sure what to say or how to react. I took a breath and calmly looked at her and asked if she had been sent to the principals office and she said she had. 

I wasn't sure how to react so I had to think quickly. Thankfully, I reacted calmly and kindly and prompted her to continue. She still wasn't finished. She went on to tell me that she had written inappropriate things on her school work and that she had upset one of the lunch ladies. When I asked her why she had done all these things, she said that she didn't like doing her school work and that she was bored. I was really worried that this day would come. She really is in a world of her own or as her teacher likes to call it "Kierstenville".

The thought of putting her in school always worried me because of this exact thing. But thanks to her being so honest I now know what is going on at school and why and we can now address the problem and deal with it accordingly.

I am so glad that she felt that she could talk to me about this and I am even more glad that I was able to react rationally to the situation. I am not usually a calm person and I usually over react to things. Tonight was eye opening for me and I hope that I can continue to have these kind of talks with my daughter.

Now as for the school, why in the world did I not receive a call or email or so much as a note explaining all of this to me? I had to hear it from her. Not a lot of six year olds would come home and confess that they were teasing and punching and that they had been sent the principals office. My anger in this situation is directed at the school. But on the other hand, would I have been as nice and calm about the entire thing if I had heard it from them. Probably not. 

This is a lesson that I needed to learn and thanks to my sweet, trusting, honest daughter I was able to learn this lesson which tells me that I will need it for the future. Hopefully this has also taught her that she can come talk to me about things going on in her life. A valuable lesson learned on both sides tonight. 

November Thankful Posts

Holy long time no blogging! Still no one reads this but with the existence of Facebook I might actually share my link…..maybe. 

Anyway…On to other things.

I have been wanting to write again. I have been having this nagging for a while now to write. My dream is to one day write something as amazingly awesome as Harry Potter but we shall see. But until I write that amazing book, I guess I will just write about the things of my life and the thoughts that I have and if you all are so inclined to read about what will most likely be my rants and annoyances and occasionally my inspired and happy moments, then GREAT! I hope you enjoy :)

I have realized that I have a lot to say and most of the time its my poor husband that has the pleasure of listening to me or at least pretending to listen to me. I know I talk a lot hun, I'm sorry. 

Something that has been on my mind since yesterday, that of course originated from Facebook, (what doesn't these days), is the November thankful posts. I know that you all know what I am talking about. Some of you participate in this Facebook started tradition, some of you enjoy seeing these thankful posts and some of you HATE this blasted tradition. 

This year I succumbed to the tradition and started doing the November thankful posts. In years past, I hated this! I hated seeing all these "happy" people so thankful for all these things in their lives and that they NEEDED to share them with the hundreds of friends they have accumulated on Facebook. Admittedly, I skipped most of those posts and continued on down the line of posts.

When I saw that first November thankful post, I thought, oh thats right, I forgot people did that. Here we go again! But then I actually read what this person wrote and it made me stop and think. What that person wrote was a true from the heart statement that most likely would have been posted regardless of the November thankful tradition, it just happened to start with Day 1.

I then started to think that maybe the people writing these posts aren't deliriously happy people that HAVE to share how great their lives are but that they truly are grateful and THANKFUL for that particular event or person or whatever in their lives and it made them feel good to post it for others to see. Then I thought to myself, I should do this this year (I must have been in a really good mood). So I did it! I wrote my first ever November thankful post. After I hit "post" and it landed itself on my profile page, I was rather surprised how good I felt. I thought that was silly so I ignored that good feeling and continued on with my day. 

Yesterday after an eventful, fun day, I decided to browse Facebook and saw the thankful posts and remembered that I needed to post one for the day. So I posted my Day 2 November thankful post and once again, I felt that good happy feeling that I felt the day before. Again I thought nothing of it and went on with my day. 

Later that evening I was again browsing Facebook and saw a post from a friend who is never one to hold back on her thoughts. It was a mostly vague post but everyone knew what she was talking about. I  started reading the comments on the post and saw that other people that are also my friends posted that they too hate this November tradition. My first reaction was embarrassment. I felt silly and stupid for falling pray to something that annoyed other people. And I felt that so strongly that I almost removed the posts that I had put up. Thankfully I wasn't in a place where I could do so, so the posts remained. 

I continued to think about that particular post all evening and even all day today. I asked myself why I was posting these thankful posts on my page and was it worth it to annoy all of these other people who HATE seeing them. I have come to a conclusion, YES, to me it is most definitely worth posting them. When asking myself why I post these things, I remembered how good I felt after posting them. It wasn't a "I'm so glad everyone can see how great and happy my life is" feeling but it was a "I feel really good saying it out loud" feeling. Being able to read back what I write helps me put my life into perspective a bit and realize that I really am thankful for these things or people in my life and I need to stop more often and see these things or people taking a positive role in my life. It makes ME happy.

I will continue to write these posts because they are good for ME and make ME feel happy about the family, friends, and other things that I have in my life. And to those haters, if I hadn't put Day 1 or Day 2 at the start of my post you most likely would have liked the post or perhaps even commented on it. So try not to think of these peoples posts as a bother or annoyance because perhaps these people truly are thankful for these things and just enjoy sharing their joy with others. Next time you see a November thankful post, just cover up the Day # part with your finger and continue to read a post that in any other month would make you like their post.