The Living Christ at Christmas Time

I thought I would write some of my thoughts from this Christmas season down. I felt we had a wonderful Christmas season this year. We did a lot of things differently and kept many special traditions.

• In the book of Hagai, chapter one verse six there is a great scripture that reads, "Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag
  with holes."

This scripture has several meanings and one meaning might be that we sometimes waste our time on things that have no value or spend our money on things that are wasteful and not necessary. It is like putting our money in a bag with holes-it brings no value to our lives, we lose the money. I did not read this scripture at the beginning of our Christmas season, but I did read it at the end and I felt that we had not spent our money on things/presents that were useless.

I think everyone will do Christmas differently. I think there is no right way to "do" Christmas. For it is about your heart-is your heart focused on the Savior or on the world and the worship of things in it?

I think there are some things I will do differently next year, but I think we are on the right track. One child said it was the best Christmas ever. I think that's a success considering they received a small fraction of the presents they normally receive and we changed many traditions.

For the sake of helping myself remember our experiences I'll write what we did so that I can review for next year.

Treats for friends/family: We did still give treats this year. I feel it is an important time to express love. Of course it could be argued that I need to do that throughout the year. I do feel that I do that, but I don't think there is anything wrong with expressing love at this time of year. We did small bags of candy this year. This is one thing that I will do differently next year. I think I will give fruit instead of candy. That will mean more money, so we'll see. I had thought about giving them a "gift of wisdom." What I had thought of doing was sharing the things we as a family had learned this past year in the form of a letter with a note that perhaps our lessons learned would be of help for them in the coming year. I didn't do that, but perhaps I will, still thinking about this one.
Christmas cards/letters: When we passed out treats this year we gave out Christmas cards. I also mailed cards to grandma/pa's and other close family members. I haven't written a Christmas letter in several years. I would like to, I just haven't gotten around to it. This is probably something I should get back into. Again it is time consuming though and so I have not done it. Excuses, excuses….

Ward Christmas Dinner: This year I was assigned to run the kitchen for the ward Christmas dinner as well as decorate for it. This year I choose to have has a theme "The Living Christ." The walls were decorated with scenes from Christ's life as well as short phrases from "The Living Christ" that corresponded with the pictures. Such as, "He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness," "He went about doing good," "He gave His life to atone for the sins of all mankind." The centerpieces included rolled up "Living Christ's" for each family to take home if they didn't have one. There were numerous other things I did that were neither here nor there, but since I will be assigned to do that again most likely I thought I would share what I had done.

Decorations: This year for the first time we put lights up outside. They were simple, but we did it. I think that we will continue to do that. They have lights at Temple Square and so I decided it would be good for us to some as well. For our Christmas tree we had our traditional Angel Moroni tree topper. This year our ornaments were the little 3X2 cards of Christ's life with ribbon in the corner to attach to the tree. We had gold flowers, white lights, and we did have some candy canes on it also. We had talked about a popcorn strand put we never did. It was very simple. Next year we may have ribbons on it instead of flowers. Who knows?

Stockings: We did not put up our traditional stockings that I made several years ago. They were more Santa-y so we decided not to. We did hang up some wool stockings on the night of Christmas Eve. This year the kids received a silver dollar in it. We also included a letter/testimony from both my husband and I to each child. I have not researched the origin of stockings. If I had the internet at my fingers perhaps I would. I do not know if we will do stockings again. If we do I really enjoyed the simplicity of what we did this year.

Christmas Eve: We have our traditional family dinner on Christmas Eve. We enjoy sharing this time with my extended family. We have a meal, a short Christmas program and small gift exchange. Our money limit is $5. The families do a good job about asking what the parents would like their child to receive so I never have to worry. I have a great family in that way. This is perhaps my favorite part of Christmas-being with my family on this night. We also gave the children pajamas. I was not going to do this this year, but this was one of the few requests of old traditions that they wanted to keep. We used a gift card from a grandma to buy them. She had hoped we'd buy a Wii game with the money, but the kids wanted pj's.

Christmas Day: We opened our few presents in the morning. This year we only gave our children one personal gift. The boys received swords from "Vision Forum." Liberty received a sewing machine. We also gave them some cereal with a gift card for skiing. Receiving cereal has also been a long standing tradition which they asked to keep. This was paid for with the gift card as well. We rarely have cereal and so this was a treat. This year we wanted to give one present and have one family experience. Our children have wanted to go skiing for a long time so we decided this was the year. Their other grandma/pa bought them their own tool boxes with tools-the perfect thing. Liberty received a gift card that she will either spend on fabric or things for her horses-perfect thing again. We did buy two family books and Blokus the game which we love. After short presents we went to my family for our traditional sough dough pancake breakfast and spent several hours visiting with family. In the afternoon we went to the care center and presented a Christmas Nativity Program to the residents with some help from our good friends. We then passed out the lap quilts we had made and collected from the community during the month of December. It was a very neat experience and something we plan to continue to do. The rest of the day was spent with more family time. Since we received so few presents we had to interact with family and we weren't in self-absorption with our new gifts. The boys did put in some good sword time with their uncles though. During the day I also visited two widows from our ward in their homes.
Carols: We did sing a lot this year. We went caroling once. We limited our singing to the songs and hymns that pertain to Christ versus the Santa and the snow songs. We also sung at the care center weekly throughout the month. We will continue to sing weekly to them throughout the year.

Those are the things that I remember. I am sure that I have forgotten some aspect of the Christmas holidays. In reflection I liked the focus on others and on the life of Christ besides just His birth. We will continue to work and rework on having our hearts focused on our Savior not just during the holiday season, but every moment of our lives so that He will become our living center.

Decision Points by George W. Bush

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I loved this book. I went away from reading this book completely inspired to fulfil my mission in life and to make the tough decisions.

I was thrilled to learn about the path his personal education took. He followed the principles of the Thomas Jefferson Education. There were many aspects of his education that I plan to take my kids through. It was powerful to see it in action. If you are unable to read this whole book I would recommend the chapter on his education.

I think this is a great auto/biography to have young adults read. Not only is it inspiring to read about a great man but this book is also filled with information on current trends and social issues as well as a historical record from his 8 years in office.

This book flowed well, it was well-written and witty. I highly recommend this to Bush, history and biography lovers out there.



View all my reviews

The Biography

I think that the biography (or autobiography) is a very powerful teaching tool.  I love to read about others because of two main reasons:

1. I get to learn from their mistakes.
2. They inspire me to greatness.

I have read a lot of biographies and again and again I come away with the inspiration to be better.

Elder Maxwell's biography taught me I need to submit.
Elder Nelson's biography taught me that I need to obey.
George Washington's biography taught me I need to do hard things.
Abigail Adams biography taught me to do my duty.
Abraham Lincoln's biography taught me that greatness is achieved after a lifetime of trying.
Ralph Moody's writings taught me that my parents can teach me a lot if I'll just listen to them.
Louis L'Amour's autobiography taught me the importance of reading great books.
Karl Marx's biography taught me that Satan wants to destroy humanity.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiography taught me that I can triumph over any adversity.
Ji-li Jiang's autobiography taught me that government is not always good.
Clearance Thomas's autobiography taught be that humans can rise out of any situation.
Joseph Smith's biography taught me that great people come from great families.
William Tyndale's biography taught me that we must do what we must no matter the results.
Corrie Ten Boom's autobiography taught me that faith in God can see us through anything.

These are only some examples.  Of course I knew most of these things already from scripture study, but reading about these principles in action further clarified in me the desire to do the right thing.  They inspired me to seek personal greatness and to avoid other's mistakes.

Biographies are also a great way to learn history.  For that reason we read a lot of biographies in our home.

The practical application of this may include:

• Read a biography as a family and discuss it.
• Have a child pick a biography to read on their own and then write a short essay.
• Recognize a trait that yourself or your family needs improvement on and read about someone you know who overcame it.
• After reading about someone present oral reports to the family and field questions about biographies read.
• Act out an important scene in someones life, this solidifies the heroic event in your children's lives.
• Study the history and politics of this time period in addition to the person for further understanding of the world they live in.
• Identify key traits and then set personal/family goals to acquire these traits.
• Recognize these key traits in others you know personally and thank them for their example in living this principle.
• Identify attributes, behaviors or habits, for good or bad, that the person had and discuss or write why having these traits led to success and why, or how a bad habit resulted in a negative situation.
• Compare and contrast the person's core values with yours.  Why did they believe that way? Is it truth?

I believe that biographies should play a huge role in our home education experience.  Remember many of the scriptures are the biographies and histories of our prophets.  I conclude since God used so much space in the sacred canon on reviewing people's lives it is important!

Home Educating At Heart

I've decided I need to write more posts specifically about how I home educate.  It is one of the things I love most.  All my other posts still allude to home education because in our home education/learning are going on all the time in many ways.

The ability to recognize the snares of Babylon or allowing God to fight my battles are all crucial elements in the master class I teach everyday and every moment-parenting.  All of the elements I blog about I have found are vital components to the over all education of my children.

I think though that I want to write some posts about the day to day teaching of history and math though.  When and if I get into that it must be prefaced by restating my education model for you.

I know some people don't like pigeon-holeing themselves into a model or method.  I think a lot of people do not need to.  I don't think it is wrong though to have a method if you feel that is what you need to do.  My ultimate model and method is Jesus Christ and what He says for my family.  The scriptures and the prophets are my ultimate resource.  I read and study my scriptures and the living prophets for several hours every day.  I am constantly learning, growing, changing, pondering, and applying new things for each new day.  I believe that my mission of rearing my children in the last dispensation requires more out of me (and us) than parents have ever been called on to give.  I know that immersing myself daily in the Spirit is my way for success and conquest over Satan.

That being said I have adapted numerous methods and made them my own through the guidance of the Spirit. My overall outline still continues to be The Thomas Jefferson Education Model or TJEd.  I have been implementing TJEd principles in my family for over seven years and have seen success after success.  I have also found scriptures, scripture stories and other real life examples of this model played out repeatedly and I feel confidant that it is necessary for our family.  I have  added a good dose of Charlotte Mason and Headgate principles because I believe they match up with our overall mission and contain true principles.

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father allows us to have variety.  My brain works well with these principles. 

In the past I have sometimes started steering away from TJEd and have gone after other things.  However, I am quickly reminded that these principles are truth and God wants me to follow them. I know they contain the structure for education implementation and lifelong learning for my family.  The basic principles of TJEd include (Celeste might not come up with the same list, but that's what the list looks like to me):

1. Classics
2. Mentors (leaders, teachers, coaches...)
3. Personal Experiences
4. Personal discipline, established during Core Phase

Classics. I learn from great books just like the scriptures teach us we must. All of the truth contained in any book has it's origin in God-the source for ultimate truth.   Why don't I read just my scriptures then?  Just as I blog and share ideas, writers around the world also share their ideas about what they are learning.  These ideas further improve our lives as we judge them first to know if they are of God (Moroni 7) and then, when having passed the test, we take them and work with these new ideas in our own life. 

President Hinckley grew up with a great library in his own and studied under great teachers at college.  He said this about what he learned at college,

" I read Carlyle and Emerson, Milton and Longfellow, Shakespeare and all the others. And from there I went on to study Latin and Greek. I couldn’t do it now, but once I could have read you the Iliad and the Odyssey in the original Greek. I finished up my work at the university with a minor in ancient languages." See link here.

We also do it because we are commanded to seek out the best books.  I have studied hard and long about the concept of rejecting Greek Western thought in our lives.  I have researched it, pondered about it, and many more personal things in my quest to see if it is evil for me to study Shakespeare and Greek.  The answer has always been forceful-I must study Greek thought.  Perhaps this is unique to our family.  Our nation would not have been built had the Founding Fathers not studied in depth Greek thought.  President Hinckley was instructed and mentored in Greek thought.   Great people in the last several generatiosn have been great because of the classics. Am I different?

As I read classics and books that I feel impressed to read I see human nature at it's best and worst.  I see where my own misconceptions have been created and stemmed from.  I see where society has gotten his mixed up messages today.   I see clearly what happens when others follow truth and when they do not. 

To prepare to meet God requires that I learn how to think, how to be and how to live.  I get this from the Word of God and from wise men and women who have gone on before me and left their words. I am grateful for the scriptures and best books that bring home these powerful messages to me.

Mentors. I learn from my leaders and other great role models alive and past on.  Learning from someone is a powerful way to learn and grow.  I love reading biographies of great people.  I also enjoy talking with the elderly.  They have a lot to teach me.

Experience.  I take my knowledge and apply what I've learned that I may have my own experience in knowing good and evil.

Discipline. This concept is taught in TJEd as "core phase."  I learn to submit and to become a little children through the whisperings of the Spirit and to establish key habits that will keep me focused on God.  Through a strong foundation I gain my freedom.

Again, the TJEd model simply helps me clarify principles I already believe in.  I think many people don't need to read certain things and apply certain things outside the realm of the scriptures because they already do it and they don't need clarification.

I'm grateful for a model that makes sense to me.  I love to home educate and I love to learn personally.

Developing Our Talents

We recently had a lesson in Young Women’s about developing our talents. I have been thinking all week about what my talents are. I know I don’t want to bury my talents, I know I want to use them. What are they though?

Sometimes in our sacred role as “nurturer” it may seem that anything we are good at has to take a back burner. While that may be true I believe that it is embracing our role of nurturer that we truly begin to recognize what our talents are and the things that we are passionate about. Too often I have thought that I need to separate myself into being “Deanna, the organizer,” from “Deanna, the nurturer.”

I have learned that when I submit to my role as nurturer (wife, mother, sister, friend, daughter) I have found along the way that I do have multiple talents and abilities. Not only have I come to recognize talents but I have come to find out that I am able to magnify them more fully while I am submitting. The moment I say, “eureka, I have a talent” and try to separate it out for selfish gain or glorification I fall on my face. However, when I use a newly discovered talent to further my role as a mother or wife I see that I am progressing and increasing.

That’s where I have to stop and sigh. It just always seem to fall back to submission. In order for me to progress I simply (yes simply) have to submit to God’s plan for me. (Which God’s plan for me is to be a wife and mother). The world wants me to think I need to be more than this or that I deserve to be and do other things too.

 Elder Maxwell, gave this marvelous quote,

“The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. It is a hard doctrine, but it is true. The many other things we give to God, however nice that may be of us, are actually things He has already given us, and He has loaned them to us. But when we begin to submit ourselves by letting our will be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him” (Insights from My Life, Ensign, Aug. 2000, 9)

What I learn from this is that it’s “nice” for me to do the things I want and create the things I want, but my true submission comes when I let God’s will truly become my will. I have already learned from the Proclamation that my role is to nurture along with multiple other things like: replenish the earth, chastity, love and care for my children, teach my children to love and serve one another, have our foundation be Jesus Christ, respect each family member, and pursue wholesome recreational activities….

David McConkie said in this last conference, “Brothers and sisters, it is contrary to the economy of heaven for the Lord to repeat to each of us individually what He has already revealed to us collectively. The scriptures contain the words of Christ. They are the voice of the Lord. Studying the scriptures trains us to hear the Lord’s voice.”
I take this to mean the Lord has already established my mission and what I need to submit too. I can learn more about my mission and hence my talents as I submit to His plan by reading His word.  As I do so the still small voice of the Spirit will distill upon me as the dews of heaven and I will see clearly His will for me and the talents He has given me.

I have gone in this essay from a + b + c…. How do I get this back to a? Talent acquisition comes in submission, by submission we learn we need to read the scriptures, in the scriptures we learn our mission, while learning our mission we recognize the talents we have inherently already been given and how we can magnify them so we are not burying our talents. Make sense? I think it’s interesting that submission includes the word mission. We discover mission (and talents) as we submit.

That’s of course not saying we are all the same. Each of us have unique families and personalities. As I’ve submitted to my role of mother for example I have learned that I have a talent for organizing, multi-tasking, doing hard things, teaching, testifying, being on time, efficiency, and personal discipline for example. I think many of us have learned these things. That’s what moms do. In the past I looked beyond the mark and thought that my talent acquisition required great and grand things that had to be done outside my home.

I believe that God's plan is truly marvelous.  As we submit we become much more than we would be on our own.  The ability to do hard things and easily testify to others are not unimportant things.  They are vital talents that I must continue to develop in order to successfully navigate myself through this life.

I am grateful for the knowledge of scriptures and prophets which teach and inspire me in the way of these principles.  I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost that allows further clarification and personal revelation in my own life. 

I have seen that personal submission to God is the way to true happiness.  Happiness in my life has not been found as I've submitted to the world's plan for me.  Sometimes it his hard to find value in what we are doing or that our mundane tasks are the seeds to our great talents. 

In the book "Addiction Recovery Program: A Guide to Addiction Recovery and Healing" written by LDS Family Services available through the Church Distribution Center it says,

"As Elder Maxwell observed, this submission to the Lord is hard doctrine.  It requires us to rededicate ourselves to His will at the start of each day and sometimes every hour or even from moment to moment.  As we are willing to do so, we find the grace, or enabling power, to do what we could not do for ourselves." (pg. 14)

I seek to purge out the world's version of developing my talents.  I choose to stay focused on Christ and allow Him to define my talents and mission.

Music in the Home

I was able to attend the World Wide Training for the new church handbooks in November.  It was a great meeting and I have LOVED reading the handbook. I've read it several times.  It has so many wonderful things in it that have blessed our family already as well as clarified some things.

I won't quote anything from the handbook, but the church as put the whole handbook on line for everyone to read.  Here is the main link for Book 2.

One section that I've found particularly useful is the "Music in the Home" section located in the music section.  Here is the link for this particular section.

Since reading this section we have made music a more active part of our home.  We sing a hymn before families prayers twice a day.  We have done this in the past, but it never stuck.  We have made it a priority now. 

I've also tried to implement more singing in the car together when we are driving.  Since we aren't listening to the radio, rarely CD's, and movies there can be a lot of dead air time.  We read a lot and look out the car window a lot.  (It takes us 45 minutes to go grocery shopping and that's driving through sagebrush the whole time).  The kids like to see how fast they can sing the Books of Scripture songs that are found in the primary book.  We learned them last year and they still sing them all the time.

We've added back into our morning routine singing time.  Why is it that I'm always going in cycles with things?  We've been singing a lot of Christmas hymns and Children's Christmas music this month.  We have learned a lot of regular hymns too.  They have really enjoyed learning, "Carry On."

What I find that is interesting is that when my children are playing they are singing hymns.  I often discover them humming hymns too.  The radio has never been apart of their lives nor has popular music infiltrated their heads so they've never had those songs stuck in their minds. Now though they have had so much more expose to hymns and that is what they have swirling around in their grey matter and in their souls. 

It is such a blessing to hear their sweet spirits sing the songs of Zion more regularly now.

Also it talks about parents encouraging their children to learn musical skills to help in church.  I've mentioned in a post tonight that we dropped out of formal piano lessons.  However, we still play the piano a lot.  I have taught piano lessons in the past and so I've become their music teacher.  They continue to progress in the piano, musical theory and conducting.  We just have elected to forgo the rigors of regular practice times and lessons for the sake of other things.  It has been interesting to note though that two of the children continue to regularly practice the piano on their own.  They seem to delight in it more now that the formal rigors have been removed.  Liberty can play many of the primary songs as well as many of the simplified hymns.  I have always taught them, and they have understood, that one of their duties in the church is to learn the piano and music conducting so they will be able to serve in the church.  I am confidant that they will remain motivated.

I love beautiful music.  Music has the capacity to touch the soul in a marvelous way.  We are truly blessed to have our hymns.  I am even more committed to instilling within my children a deep knowledge of the great hymns.

Serving Others

When Mr. Patriot lost the election I knew there had to be a reason.  What was suppose to be the point of our life now?  We weren't moving to our state's capitol, we were moving into a tiny house and we would be there all week long, all winter long.  What in the world was our new focus to be?

I felt strongly to simplify our life done to the barest of bare bones.  Like I mentioned we did not bring the Internet with us, we dropped our land line, we got rid of lots and lots of "stuff," and we even stopped piano lessons. We opted out of starting in on some "scholar" classes and "love of learning" classes for the children also.  Very little remained standing!  Now what?

I felt strongly again that we were to keep our life in this very simple state of existence and only add one thing: service.  We do a lot of service generally speaking, but where exactly was I suppose to go with that? 

I called all the local organizations around and found out what our options were.  There were food banks, hospitals, soup kitchens, poor people, sad people, old people and young people.  I waded through the options and I discovered what WE, our very own family, was suppose to do.  We were to visit the elderly as often as possible at the local care center.

We have been visiting them for well over a month now.  It is our week's highlight.  We have been added to their list of activities every Monday afternoon.  We come in and we sing to them and they sing with us. We do random projects for  them.  One day Liberty rolled yarn with a resident, another time we went through books on a bookshelf and this past week we decorated their Christmas tree.  We go to the rooms and we visit the residents.  We talk to them about their lives.  We encourage them and we love them.

Most are sad.  Most are extremely lonely.  We have been coming now regularly and so we are welcomed with happiness.  It is just a small nursing home-there are only 35 residents.  Not only are we making a difference in their lives, but many of the workers notice that our family is different from others.  Our kids talk to the residents.  They hug them.  They smile with them.  They seem happy to be there. (And they are!)

There is one resident who is very sad.  As soon as she sees the kids though she lights up and they just hug her and hug her.  She usually gets teary eyed.  She just hugs them over and over.  My little angel kids just hug her back with out a thought.  They've hugged her solid for minutes at a time.

I say that we are making a difference, and we are.  I know this is what the Lord wants us to do.  But where is the real difference being made?  In our family's heart.  They have become our dearest friends.  We love them.  We need them. They are making us who we need to be.  They are teaching us.  They are lifting us.  They are helping me raise my children to be "the youth of the noble birthright" who will usher in the Savior's reign. 

It may sound overly simplistic to say this is changing our lives, but it is.  All of the other things we've given up were great activities for our family, however we have found that holding someone's hand who is sad and lonely is a best activity for our family.

So when it comes time to think what we will do for Christmas the answer is simple.  We will see our dearest friends.  We will sing with them and love them and be with them since the Savior can not.

Imagination (9) has a birthday shortly after Christmas.  When he was asked what he wanted to do on his birthday he said he wanted to go to the nursing home.  Yes, we are finding that love and that peace that comes when we reach out to those that need help.

As part of our efforts to make a difference we organized our first humanitarian drive.  We requested lap quilts from the community to present to these sweet spirits on Christmas Day.  We have received a great response.  Liberty and I were able to make 15 lap quilts of our own in less than 5 work days.  We had an amazing experience.  We felt truly blessed to make and finish them.  Of course we could because we didn't have things going on in the afternoon!

I know that your lives and missions are different than mine.  You may feel strongly that you should focus on music in your family, maybe you feel strongly that your mission is to blog and connect with the outside world on a regular basis, or perhaps you feel that pursuing your own classical education is what must encompass your time.  Whatever we feel drawn to do we must to it so we can progress as individuals and as families.  As we do we will become like the Savior, so when he comes we will see Him and we will be like Him.  Also know/remember that we will have seasons for doing things.  Our family had a 9 month season of intense focus on American History, Government and public spotlight, and then it was over-we were called to another field.

I have a testimony that the Lord is always molding us.  He is reaching out to us and hearkening to us saying "learn of me and listen to my words and walk in the meekness of my Spirit."

May you each go forward empowered in your sphere, in your mission, and make impact.

The Christmas Season

The last several months I've spent a lot of time thinking how we can make Christmas special.  We've talked and talked and talked about it.  We've discussed it with our children at length also.  I won't share everything we are doing for the sake of surprise.  Liberty will probably find a way to get on the Internet once she knows I've posted so I don't want to spoil anything for her.  Here are some things we've decided to do:

1. We are only getting one present this year.  (That's from our immediate family).
2. We've spent a lot more time signing the Christmas hymns than ever before.
3. We are putting up a tree (we haven't yet), but the kids only want white lights and a popcorn strand on it.
4. They don't want to hang up their old Santa socks, they want to hang up some wool socks on Christmas Eve.  Leader (8) said, "Don't give us any candy in it either mom."
5. We are spending Christmas afternoon in a Convalescent Center passing out gifts and singing.
6. We actually put up lights on the outside of the house and fence.  So fun.  We've never had lights up before.  (It's easier to put them up when the house is so small, it doesn't take very long at all!)

Like I mentioned we are doing some other things, but I'm not going to share them yet.

We also started the Christmas Season off with another (30th) viewing of Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration right before the lights came on at Temple Square on the 26th of November.  What a wonderful way to remind us of how to live our life and truly honor Christ.  Christ wants as a gift a "broken heart and a contrite spirit."  That's what Joseph gave Him, we must learn from Joseph.

Our family has never "practiced" Santa Claus and so he is not missed.  A long time ago I had an impression that I shouldn't lie to Liberty (12) about Santa Claus.  So they've never believed in Easter bunnies, tooth fairies or Santa and his reindeer.  Despite what others may think they don't seem emotionally disturbed having missed out on Santa.  In the past though we have had some tree ornaments, stockings, watched the silly old cartoon holiday movies and sang the silly Santa songs.  This year we've just sort of skipped those things all together. 

For their one present they are getting something they want as opposed to something they need.  However it is something that fits in our very strict "whole recreational activity" department.  No Wii games, no MP3 players, no whatever gadgets are out there.

Our Christmas season as truly been a season of joy so far.  We have done a tremendous amount of service, which I will talk about in another post.  There has been no rushing to the store to beat the crowds or catch a sale.  It's been peaceful, it's been holy.


Side note:  We have also changed our birthday's around also.  The children get one gift and then we go to a family activity and eat dinner out wherever they want.  Determination celebrated his 11th birthday in this manner a couple of weeks ago and it was "his best birthday ever" and he was crying at the end of the day with happiness.  Their presents will be something practical yet something they want.  For example, Determination received a Leatherman.  We live in a situation where he uses it regularly, so this might not be ideal for some families living in suburbia.

Ramblings

I decided to write a post.  I'm not sure what I'm going to write about we'll see what comes out of these little fingers....

I wonder how many of you remember who I am?  I wonder how many people will read this? It's been so long since I have written...

Let's see we have been in our itty-bitty house for two months and so far we love it.  Well, that may be a slight exaggeration, but we really are doing well and don't mind it.  There are moments that when I'm doing something I have to take a deep breathe because either I can barely get to my side of the bed, we barely have enough room to eat at the table (there are walls on 3 sides of it and we feel like we are pinned against the wall with our little 2 1/2 foot wide table), or hand washing dishes all the time.  OR like when my husband and boys are having a huge rubber band fight all around me while I'm trying to type on here for the first time in a two months.  Those type of things.  If only you could really picture what it is like to have rubber bands whizzing by your head in a very small space with lots of happy screaming and laughing in your ear....

We are reading a lot more, play a lot of chess, playing/working outside, and other wholesome recreational activities.  An interesting thing has occurred since living here with our reading.  Our 11 and 8 year olds have been slower readers than my other two.  However in the last two months they have completely smashed trough their trepidation.  Leader age 8, just finished The Boxcar  Children today.  It only took him three days.  Determination age 11, has read the Wrinkle in Time series, The Narnia series and his 3/4 the way through Eldest right now, having read those in the last month of so.  That's exciting.

I really like not having a TV or the Internet either.  Lots more free time.  I've accomplished a lot more things since removing media from the house.  So wonderful.

Oh, and Mr. Patriot lost the election.  It was a great race and we had a "smashing" time.  I learned that I can handle an immense load of stress and not fall apart.  I learned that I can have random people we've never met write horrible defaming letters to the editor about us and I only smile and pray for my enemies, because I apparently have them.  I've also learned that I can handle it when our competitor's legislative buddy robo calls everyone in our district and defames Mr. Patriot on ridiculous accusations. In those moments and can also smile and pray that I will forgive others.  It was pretty rough, but we were obedient and we learned a lot.

I don't think I mentioned it but our little house is right next to the church.  Very convenient.  Speaking of church I was released from the Primary Presidency (that means SCOUTS! YEAH!!!!!) and I was called back in to the YW as the 1st counselor.  It's kind of fun because before I was in the Primary this last time I was the YW president and my two counselors are the President and the other counselor.  The secretary is even the same.  Happy day!  Alex is still in the Bishopric which means we don't see him much, but that is nothing knew for Sundays.

I haven't read anyone's blogs in a long while.  I hope to catch up tonight.  I'll write a couple more post before I do.  Sooo if I talk about something you all of discussed at length forgive me.  Or worse, I bring up something you've all decided to do away with and I praise it.  I guess I can always delete and edit later.

Lots of rambling.  I'll share some more profound thoughts on another post.

Oh, if I get around to it tonight I'm making my family blog public again.  There's nothing on it so don't get excited.