Tuesday, December 9, 2008

May your Merry be CHRISTMAS!

I love this time of year! I am sure we all do. But I think this year has been a bit hard for people to get into the Spirit of Christmas considering the crisis that surrounds us. Although times are tough we can still do much to enjoy this time of year. Especially by just being together with friends and family!
This year for our Relief Society Christmas Dinner our presidency decided to take Christmas to a few women in our ward that are not able to make it out!! We decorated a few small trees and took them baskets filled with all sorts of gifts and goodies! I was able to go to the home of a dear sweet woman who, despite being able to get out because of a recent surgery and stroke, made each of the women in the ward a Christmas pin to wear at the party! She also makes baby blankets for every baby that is born in our ward (I think there were somewhere around 17 or 18 this year!) What a humbling experience it was to go to her home and thank her for her love and service. Then to sing carols to her as she cried and was able to feel the Spirit of Christmas with us was an experience to remember!
This past weekend we went to The First Annual Spring Hill Christmas Parade! We bundled up and brought hot chocolate to sip as we watched the floats and bands go by! Although it was nothing like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade there was something just SPECTACULAR about it to me! Just so much warmth and love was around as everyone went by saying MERRY CHRISTMAS!! And because we live in the South there were many floats that said 'Jesus saves" and "Jesus Loves" and there were church choirs on their floats singing, and many of the floats had nativity scenes. The reason I bring this up is because while watching this go by I sat next to a friend that just moved here from Massachusetts and was taken away by the way people so FREELY spoke of Christmas! She said that people there(Mass.) are offended if you say the word "Christmas"! It is called the Winter Holiday! After that I couldn't help but say Merry Christmas to everyone that went by! Although we may not be of the same faith as most of these people we all come together in celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!
I am so grateful for these wonderful experience I have already been able to have and we are still a few weeks away from Christmas day! I think this will definitely be a Christmas to remember!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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