* Christmas! The entire week was filled with family time and fun memory making activities! We made Gingerbread houses, Went Caroling, had our Christmas dinner at the Chinese Buffet, opened up new Christmas jammies and the homemade "Sibling Gifts" from each other on Christmas Eve, had a quiet Christmas day, entertained the Missionaries and enjoyed being a family!
Spiritually Speaking...
Well besides the obvious fact of talking and rejoicing in Christ this week as we celebrated the birth of our Savior - I also had 2 other moments I wanted to remember...
1) As we went caroling at the retirement center - I was touched by the Spirit and brought to tears on several occasions throughout the night as we sang our hearts out to the residents there! You could see the joy and gratitude on their faces as we caroled down the halls and stopping as doors would open! Bringing cheer to others this Christmas made it even more special and magical! I was especially touched by Aubrie's thoughfulness to make cards for everyone! Many were shocked when she handed them one and they would ask "For me!?" (side note: Aubrie commented later that night that she knew for sure that she was on the "nice list" because of her service!). One resident opened her card immediately and then hung it up on the outside of her door for all to see! I would really like to continue on this new tradition as it really demonstrates the true spirit of Christmas!
2) As we were in the midst of purchasing the new minivan - I took some time to really appreciate how wonderful the old '89 Suburban has been to our family! We talked with the kids that how for the past 5 years, this vehicle that we only paid $1,000 for has provided our family with the transportation that we needed (even making the trek to the Oregon Coast, to Nebraska and also hauling a uHaul here to North Dakota!). Also in the past 5 years, we figured we only put about an additional $1,000 of repairs into it. We shared out testimony with the kids on how we truly feel that this was a direct blessing of paying our tithing! The scriptures tell us that there is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven that was set even before the earth was made and that when we pay our tithing, the Lord has promised to open the windows of heaven upon us (and we saw many of those this year - most of which have been documented here in the Spiritually Speaking! While checks from heaven didn't magically appear, we have certainly been blessed beyond measure with our health, things lasting longer than they "should", finding amazing deals that have our money stretch further, etc).
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