What Christmas Means to Me

December is a month that is looked forward to by many. To most kids it means Santa Clause and gifts, to many in the world it means a hectic month of shopping and parties to attend, and to many Christians it means a celebration of the birth of Christ. To me Christmas means a variety of things. It means all of the above, but it also means so much more. To me it means family, friends, and memories in the making with them all. Every December since I can remember has been busy and full of people. And in all honesty, I like it that way. For you see, to me Christmas means spending time with those that I love. It means gathering together with friends and family doing a variety of different things. Some of the things we do are always the same. These would be the traditions. The decorating the tree, the listening to Nat King Cole, the Family Christmas parties with the same food that we have always had and that we always look forward to, the baking of treats, the Christmas movies that always get watched, and the stories that always get read. And every year along with all of these traditions there are always a few other things that I tend to do with others that add to the fun of the season. As you can tell, and as you probably know, December becomes a very busy month. And since I have been mia from posting I figured I would let you know what I have been up to. So here is my month of December in both words and pictures.

~ Festival of Trees

~ Craft Nights- Many nights, and some afternoons, were spent making gifts for some of those I love

~ Oyler Family Party
 

~ Messiah Christmas Concert - this was a new experience for me. I went with some friends to see the Messiah concert that is held at the Grand Theater. Scott had been many times before and said we had to join him. Melissa and I eagerly joined and had quite the time. The concert is a spin off of Handel's Messiah. I felt Like I was at a Baptist concert. The music was good and the atmosphere was fun. It wasn't at all what I was expecting, but I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and the show.

~ Christmas Shopping with Mom

~ The Eclipse Christmas Concert - Every year since they started doing Christmas concerts I have attended their show. Each year the company has changed a little, but it is always great and we always love the show. This year was no different. Jenny, Mindy and I met up for dinner at the Training Table and then headed down the hill to the show. The show was great as always and we had a fabulous time singing along and dancing in our seats. This concert is definitely becoming a favorite tradition.

 

~ Fab 5 Christmas Party - I do not think words are needed to, or even would, describe this event. It is always full of laughter, love, and great memories by the time it is over. This year was no different with enchiladas, rice, beans, gingerbread houses, gifts, music, and everything that comes with hanging out with some of your best friends.

~ Zoo Lights - Over the last few years I have heard people talk about going to see the Zoo Lights at Hogel Zoo. I have wanted to go and see them for my self and this year I did. It was fun to walk around and see all of the displays. There were a few of animals chasing each other and some of them fighting where I was a little thrown off, but I guess that is what animals do. My favorite display was the under the sea one. It made me smile. Overall I enjoyed the night and liked the displays as well as the company of Melissa and Scott. I will probably have to go again sometime in the future. 

~ Tuesday Movie Nights - I love having a group of friends to get together with every Tuesday to make dinner and watch movies. It was especially fun this December when we watched a variety of Christmas shows. Some that were old favorites and some that were new.

~Stake Temple Night - I love going to the Temple anyway, but it was a great experience to go with members of my ward and stake. It was fun to have all the people there in the same age group and the people I knew working that night. I will definitely be going each month.

~ Dinner at the Roof and Temple Square- It turns out that I have a friend who just happens to work at the Roof. Melissa and I wanted to visit him so we called and he got us a reservation. That was the first time that I had actually eaten at the Roof. It was such a great atmosphere and sitting by the window where you could look out and see the temple and all of Temple Square was awesome. The food was delicious and it was nice to just sit and chill over dinner for 2 hours. Plus it was also fun to visit Jeff and see him at work. We will probably have to go and visit him again one day. After dinner we went and looked at the lights on Temple Square. This is something that I always love doing. I love looking at all of the displays and the peace that comes from just being on temple grounds.

~Whiting Family Christmas Party - This is a party that I look forward to every December. We always have the same food of egg sausage casserole, scones, and fruit with juice and hot chocolate to drink and we always play the same game of white elephant, and I love every minute of it. We are a pretty close family and it is always a great day when we can get together and laugh about old memories while making new ones.

~ Girls Lunch and Pedicures - Sometimes it is really nice being a girl :)

~ Christmas Eve Dinner - Stuffed steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, steamed veggies, cheese sauce, homemade rolls, chili sauce, stuffing.... Yum

~ Christmas Day Adventures - Going from house to house, family, laughter, fun....and this year a glorious sacrament meeting with joyful and inspiring music of Christ. There is no other way I would have spent Christmas morning then sitting in church with my family and singing Silent Night with guitar accompaniment. It was simple and sweet and brought a joy and peace that only the spirit can bring. 

~ Whiting Family Photos - It has been many years since one of these was taken and I am glad that we took a new one. Especially since nine people have been added to this wonderful family. I will never forget however, the antics of the photographer and how weird we thought he was. Oh, what memories we have from this night. 

~ Fab 5 Sleepover - New Years is always an adventure and is especially fun when you get to spend it with friends doing the simple things that you all love. Granted, this year it was the night before New Years Eve, but still just as much fun.

~ My Savior - But my favorite part of December, even with all of this, is simply celebrating the birth and the life of  Jesus Christ. Everyday I am grateful for his birth, and even more grateful for his life. For if he was just born in a manger and did nothing else, then all he would have been was a baby in a manger. But he did so much more. He lived the life he was meant to live. He brought joy, peace, mercy, knowledge, hope, charity, lessons and words of a loving Heavenly Father, faith, baptism, repentance, and the Atonement. And he brought all of this with a humble and graceful spirit that has not been surpassed. He was everything that a man should aspire to be in all human characteristics.He was able to teach others lessons of forgiveness, lessons of love, lessons of good works, lessons of charity, lessons of God, lessons of repentance, and do it all with kindness and faith in those around him. So even though I am grateful for his birth and know that it is worth celebrating, I am even more grateful for the life that He lived. And that is something that is worth celebrating, because I know that it is because of him that I can find my way back home to my Father in Heaven. It is because of him and the infinite Atonement that he provided that I can grow and learn and fill peace and love and have all things restored unto me.It is because I know that he still lives today that I can live again.  (art by David Bowman and Greg Olsen)

My Child

 Innocence

 Joy

 Lost and Found

THE MASTER'S TOUCH

Discouraged and alone, we're not easily consoled
The school of life gets difficult, just as we were told.

Doubt shrinks us at the threshold of the darkened way,
Despair creeps in upon us and is hard to keep at bay.

Light now dims as the shadows grow in length
Heaviness engulfs us; we stop to pray for strength.

It seems we're going nowhere; life's a dead end street,
Relief is what we plead for, when it all feels like defeat!

The fun has disappeared; dropping out is on our mind,
The test has overwhelmed us, the answers hard to find.

In these trying moments we must stop and be so still
That we can feel His promptings and know that they are real.

Only then can we be ready to sense the Master's touch,
To know He's always there and that He loves us very much!

He knows just how we feel He's been this way before,
He's also climbed these steps He's walked this corridor.

He is our tender tutor sent here to be our guide,
All wisdom opens to us when He is by our side.

Earth's halls are not so dim when the Master lights the way,
He reveals a "world of wonder" that brings joy throughout our stay.

Hand in hand He'll lead us to a life that never ends,
To a brighter day in a world unseen, together eternal friends.

Greg Olsen - 2010

Uprooted

There are many things that can be uprooted in this world. I watched many of them come up this last week with the wind. Stop signs snapped in two and blown away. Fences destroyed and falling over, power lines broken and lying in the road. Power polls falling over. Trees split in two with branches broken off. And whole trees completely uprooted and on their sides.

While looking at these trees, I realized something about them. Most of them that had fallen over were pine trees. Trees that where tall, wide and fat with needles. Trees that had grown upward for years. But
I also realized that they were trees with very short root systems. They all had many roots but none of them were very long or went very deep into the ground. The root systems had been good for the threes and had kept them growing and standing upright through everyday life. But their systems had failed them when the true trial of the wind came. With the wind blowing strong each on of the trees could not stay standing. They were quickly uprooted and left alone on their sides. They had crumpled to the ground and were left to be chopped up and thrown away.

I realized in a way we are like these trees. We grown up in the world. A world filled with destruction and trials as much as it is filled with good. And as we grow up in this world we need to make sure that we are growing down as well. Each of us have our own root systems that need to be growing. And they need to be growing deep into spiritually solid ground. For it is our root system that will either keep us strong and standing tall or crumble when the wind comes.

I started thinking about my own root system and realized that currently I have not been doing much to strengthen it. In fact, I am pretty sure that some of the things I have been doing have probably weakened it. And I decided that some things were going to have to change.

Since that storm I have continued to think about uprooted trees. I have also continued to think about my own root system and what I want it to be like. Through all of this thinking, I realized along the way some of the things that help strengthen it and that help it grow. and I realized that it always seems to come back to the little things that I am realizing in fact are not so little. These would be the things of prayer, reading and studying the scriptures, attending all church meetings, fasting, temple attendance, faith, charity, and repentance.  It is all of these things and more that not only help to build and strengthen our foundation, but strengthen our root system as well. It is by doing these little things that give us the strength and power to put off, and one day overcome, the natural man that is within us all. These are the things that help us stand mighty and strong so that when the winds come we shall be able to remain upright and be even stronger for it. For it is only by growing deeper that we are then able to stand taller.