Christmas and a New Year 2011!

Christmas was great for many reasons. I love the holiday season, although I do get stressed out about getting everything done. This year I did pretty good. No last minute wrapping on Christmas Eve, Cards sent out BEFORE Christmas, neighbor gift delivered on time....But I think the best part of this Christmas was the time I spent with my family. I saw more of my older boys and their wives, than I have in a long time. I miss them. I miss seeing them everyday, so it was fun to see them a little more. I know they are busy, so I really treasure the times we spend together. I love Sunday dinners and getting together for even a short time during the week. During the holidays it was like lots of Sunday dinners closer together. It was great! It was also fun to see my darling nieces and nephews and my brothers and sisters. I have a spectacular extended family who I love very much.

Christmas used to be exciting for me because of the excitement the kids had for the gifts they would get. The skateboards, the game systems, the vacations, the gadgets....etc. Now everyone pretty much knows what they are getting and the excitement level is much less. I think I need some grandchildren to bring the excitement back to Christmas! I'll be patient though..no pressure. I enjoyed this Christmas seeing the kids be excited for the gifts they were giving. They were all generous and thoughtful and made sure Greg and I knew we are loved, not necessarily by the gifts, but the kind words and actions.

Each New Year we have a family "toast". It is a time of reflection over the last year and looking forward to the New Year. Some of the family actually kept their resolutions from last year! Way to go!!! Greg dropped some pounds, Ryan went a year without fast food, I am more technical...can't you tell :) I can now put my own music on my I-pod, and I keep plugging along with this blog. Before our toast Greg shared with us some counsel from Elder Jeffery Holland.
I thought I'd add some tidbits of his advise for the New Year.

• As a new year begins and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in....when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives.
• There is something in many of us that particularly fails to forgive and forget earlier mistakes in life--either our mistakes or the mistakes of others. It is not good. It is not Christian. It stands in terrible opposition to the grandeur and majesty of the Atonement of Christ. To be tied to earlier mistakes is the worst kind of wallowing in the past from which we are called to cease and desist.
• God doesn't care nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are and, with His help, where you are willing to go. This is an important matter to consider at the start of a new year--and every day ought to be the start of a new year and a new life. Such is the wonder of faith, repentance, and the miracle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• The poet Robert Browning wrote: Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be....
• Keep your eyes on your dreams, however distant and far away. Live to see the miracles of repentance and forgiveness, of trust and divine love that will transform your life today, tomorrow and forever. That is a New Year;s resolution I ask you to keep!

The entire article can be found in the January 2010 Ensign

As a family we made our own resolutions. They were heart felt and it was a warm fuzzy time for me. I need that sometimes as a mom!

Best wishes for a Spectacular New Year to everyone!