I have a confession. Christmas isn't necessarily my favorite holiday. I seem to get so bogged down by the sheer number of "to-do's" in my life that I haven't always enjoyed the holiday. However, I decided to set a goal to do my best to enjoy it. No matter what.
And, do you know what? I did. The stores were full of rude, pushy shoppers. People drove like maniacs. The lines were long, the shelves were empty, and it took a Herculean effort to take care of everything. But...I made a goal, darn it, and I tried to stick to it. I tried to smile more, to let people in front of me, and, more importantly, to be NICE. And...it worked. I managed to keep a spirit of kindness and gratitude throughout most of the season's less-fun experiences.
I became even more grateful for my abundant blessings after two specific incidents. As I stood at the check-out counter one day, I started talking to the lady next to me. She had piles and piles of winter clothing in her basket. I asked her if she had something special planned for the holidays. She told me she just wanted to have her family see the Christmas lights at Temple Square. Their house burned down at the beginning of the month and they were simply trying to re-build their meager possessions. She told me how they wanted to spend some time at Temple Square together as a family...because they were all safe and grateful to be so. All they wanted were some warm clothes. I may have cried a little as I wished her a Merry Christmas and left the store.
Then, this morning, as I was leaving another establishment I noticed a table set up outside the store offering free gift-wrapping. They had a jar at the end of the table for donations. I threw a couple dollars in and continued on my way. But when someone behind the table recognized me and said "thank you" I stopped and asked her what they were doing the wrapping for. She told me of a young boy who had a degenerative eye disease and insurance wasn't paying for the surgery. The gift-wrappers were simply doing what they could to help out an overwhelmed family.
And that's when I was really able to feel the true spirit of Christmas. I admit I teared up a little as I drove home to my healthy family waiting safe and sound in our warm home. Everything else seemed a little ridiculous. I was determined to spend some time with my family and feel the blessing of what I have in my life.
So...we happily began our Christmas Eve celebrations. We broke a long-running family tradition (my family) for dinner. Instead of the usual Chinese food, we had Mexican. Well, we had Cafe Rio. In spite of being accused of making Santa and baby Jesus weep because of my traitorous act, we enjoyed it.
We then moved on to family fun. We taught the kids how to play Uno. (Can you believe we haven't done that yet?)
Curtis spent a little less time playing games and a little more time showing off his mad-Jedi skills.
We watched a nativity movie and talked with the children a little bit about the birth of the Savior. Then...on to Christmas PJ's.
Mixed in with a little more Jedi maneuvers.
And fake deaths.
The girls helped us put out some milk and cookies for Santa and some carrots and apples for the reindeer. Pretty soon we had three happy but tired children. They all went to bed around 8:30 and promptly fell asleep. Visions of sugarplums danced.
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