Merry Christmas!!

I have gotten all that I had wanted for Christmas.

It's an odd feeling.

I wanted my own Christmas tree.

I got one.

A beautiful 4 foot tall artificial white tree. It is decorated with black and red balls, for my Georgia Bulldogs, with a tiny silver topper. It has white lights. And it is beautiful. It makes me happy. It sits on a table under the window and is almost always on.

I wanted a gingerbread house.

So I got one.

I constructed it and then let the boys loose on it. That was not an easy thing for me to do. I really  like to be in control. Of everything. But I let them do it. And it was ok. More than ok, it was good, and fun. And then to my surprise, they called me in there with them because they actually wanted me. That was my favorite part of the whole thing. Then after supper tonight, I let them eat the gingerbread house. Laughter rolling throughout my house as we all took turns biting the roof. It was great.

Yesterday I got to go to my mom's.

We spent the day talking, cooking, cleaning, rushing, decorating and laughing. And all with great joy knowing that at the end of the day, Ed was coming home! (Ed is my beloved step-father who has been away a lot lately. It's for work and he is really doing great things, but we all miss him when he's gone.)

I even got to doing new and exciting at mom's. I was put in charge of putting the lights on the tree. I had never put the lights on the tree. Someone taller with more experience has always put the lights on the tree. But yesterday, I was the tallest. And mom did have to go pick Ed up from the airport.

So I grabbed a strand of lights and went at it. Round and round, five strands of multi colored lights on this fabulous tree. Then came the magic moment. I was going to plug it in and observe the wonder of the tree. Or so I thought. Apparently, there is a wrong way of putting lights on a tree. The wrong way would be when you try to plug them in and notice that you don't have the plug end in your hand. You have the other end. Yes, I strung 5 strands backwards. After getting up out of a bed of fir needles that I had been rolling in while laughing my fool head off, I took down the lights and restrung them. Sean helped decorate the rest and got to put the star on top. We were both very happy!

So that was quality Christmas time with my mother and a fun story to carry with me forever.

Another thing I wanted for Christmas was my family. At Christmas Eve service. At my church. (Malcolm is usually with his dad or we are at someone's house and unable to go.)

And tonight we got to go! I was in a beautiful sanctuary surrounded by people I love. It was even better than I had imagined. I am still glowing and filled with with so many blessed feelings that I'm afraid I'll explode!

The other couple of thing's that I wanted- Christmas morning at my house (I usually do that at mom's), then off to mom's for what is sure to be an amazing dinner, and on Saturday, we are going to Forest's sister's house to do Christmas there (we're usually trying to get them fit into the rest of our two day crazy schedule.)

When I look at it, it doesn't seem like I asked for much, mostly just my family together. No shuffling of kids. No crazy schedules. Doing things our way at our pace. Peacefulness.

I got everything I asked for.

And then some more. When I asked for Christmas, I got all of it. I got the family, I got the tree, I got my gingerbread house, and I got to play with some lights and a tree.

But that's not all I got.

I got an open heart, ready for the season. I got to light up with the joy of my Savior's birth. With an open heart, I was able to feel so much more of everything. Sorrow and happiness. Joy and grief.

So as I start what is sure to be the great adventure of present wrapping, I count my many blessings. I will laugh and be joyous, I'll be too tired to get up in the morning, and I'll enjoy every moment.

Tonight, I say an extra prayer for those who are hurting, and wish you all a very Merry Christmas!