Do you feel like a new person, ready to face the future with faith and joy? Does the spirit of Christmas fill your soul to the point that you cannot contain it all? As I write this post, I am filled to overflowing with joy and contentment! My celebration of Christmas was complete and wonderful.
My husband and I invited family and friends into our home to share our Christmas Eve festivities. We faced several problems before our company arrived: We discovered water where it should not have been. The printer ran out of ink just when I needed it most. The ham had not finished cooking when I thought it should have been. In spite of these problems, we had a wonderful evening celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and enjoying the special spirit that children bring to Christmas. The dinner was delicious, and the children brought rich excitement into the evening as we acted out the Nativity. The evening was topped by singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and eating angel food cake.
Celebrating Christmas Day on Sunday is extra special. We had a perfect day! We attended sacrament meeting with many of our brothers and sisters in the gospel. In addition to partaking of the sacrament and renewing covenants with God, we enjoyed the program of music and the spoken word. I was particularly touched by the beautiful solo rendition of "Silent Night." The speaker reminded us that as we prepare for Christmas we need to not only think about the birth of the Christ Child but to think about what His birth means to us personally. Our journey to Christ is not physical like the shepherds and wise men, but it is spiritual and emotional. The words "come unto Christ" are an invitation to feel of His spirit.
Our wonderful Christmas celebration continued at the home of our youngest son and his family where we feasted on leftovers and pumpkin chiffon pie before opening our Christmas gifts. Our gifts were simple and mostly inexpensive, but we felt as though the windows of heaven had opened to us. My favorite gifts were family pictures and individual pictures of my grandchildren.
I appreciated very much the gift given by one of our daughters. I told the children years ago that they didn't need to purchase items for us because we don't need very much and we can go purchase whatever we need or want. I suggested that they use whatever money they wanted to spend on us to do good in the world. I felt great joy as my daughter told me how she and her family - along with some other people - gave small gifts for the Twelve Days of Christmas to a co-worker who was struggling and the comments of the co-worker on Facebook. It was one of the best gifts I have ever received. My day was complete by calls from the children away from home.
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