christmas at longwood gardens

I went to one of my most favorite places on the east coast this week.

I love gorgeous Longwood Gardens.

All photos are taken with my Droid Incredible 2 phone--Amazing.

See the full album here:

12-27-2011 Longwood Gardens Christmas

thoughtful thursday: participate more fully

"Every new year, people make resolutions. I stole my perpetual resolution a couple of decades ago from a man named Leo who woke up at age 54 and said, "I can't read. I'm going to learn how." I met him through Literacy Volunteers of America.



"He had decided, he said, to participate more fully in his own life and that of the people around him. To do that, he needed to know how to read. Taking that first step must have been hard.


"He'd spent decades trying to disguise what he didn't know before he decided to go for it.


"That's the attitude I want to take into this new year and all the ones that follow it. It's what you don't yet know that leads to the next frontier."


 (Collins, Lois M. "Resolve to turn life's 'what-ifs' into 'so-whats'. Deseret News 29 Dec 2011. online)

i was fine...

until i went back to work today. now i'm needing me a little of all this...

yep, today i'm just a little homesick for family.

things that made me smile this week

totally forgot to mention last week:


*a stunning performance of The Messiah at the Kennedy Center. for the past three years i've attended with wonderful friends, and the performances were beautiful. this year's performance was special and so beautifully done with feeling and musicianship that it is know my favorite performance. the bass and tenor were my favorites to listen to, because they sang with so much feeling and enjoyment, you could feel their love and excitement for what they were singing. the conductor looked like he was twelve, and was so energetic; he was a joy to watch as he directed the musicians without a score in front of him. the choir was so unified this year, they sounded as one voice with no soloists in the bunch. i loved this performance and was moved to tears many times.


and now for this week:


* baking cookies and making peppermint marshmallows with friends. it made the work of baking all the christmas cookies much easier and a lot more fun.


* church bells ringing on christmas eve do my heart good.


* little kids dressed as mary and joseph, the oxen and sheeps, shepherds and wiseman, and angels. there is almost nothing better than this on christmas eve.


* spending quiet time on christmas day. i'm so glad i didn't travel for christmas this year. it was so nice to spend time on my own thinking about the true meaning of christmas, reading the christmas story and watching these new movies.


* spending time with josiah. he's a such a good dog and seems to know when i'm feeling a little homesick.


* listening to nieces and nephews recount their christmas treasures and how much fun they're having.


* skype is awesome. i wish more of my family would join the 21st century and get webcams so we can video chat. it's so fun to see people's faces as we talk.


* finding the differences and commonalities with a new friend and having a grown up conversation and making a grown up decision. all very good things.


* cat sitting for a friend. i was joyously greeted by peter and mimi on more than one occasion when i stopped by to feed and play with them. i love these two kitties.


* homemade beef stew. cooking with my new knives. chopping vegetables was never so easy.


* learning that i know myself better than i thought i did.


* homemade pizza for christmas dinner and the company of good friends. i love my dc family.


* receiving the gift of my first ever power tool, a drill, from a good friend.


* christmas lights.


* during the christmas eve service, having my little friend ask me what the candles were for. mom and i both explained that it was to share the light for christmas. i asked who the light was and then helped her understand that Jesus is the light. she totally got it and kept saying she was going to share Jesus with me.


* not setting an alarm. heaven.


* cold weather. hot chocolate. good conversation.


* christmas eve breakfast date at eastern market with a good friend.


* the missionaries coming over for carols and cookies. they serenade me with christmas carols and i give them cookies in return.


* a new year is right around the corner with lots of good things.

repeat the sounding the joy

A colleague posed this question on her Facebook status: "What does it mean to 'repeat the sounding joy'?" I can't stop thinking about this. What a wonderful Christmas question!


Shepherds near Bethlehem were tending their flocks during the night, when suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared saying: "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is the Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)


These shepherds received specific instructions on how to find this Saviour; he would be a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger (Luke 2:12). They followed these instructions quickly searching Bethlehem for the child and upon finding him and seeing the angel's words fulfilled "they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds (Luke 2:17-18).


I love this story. Good tidings of great joy are given to a group of men who follow the instructions and then share the news of what they found with their neighbors in Bethlehem. If this isn't an example of repeating the sounding joy, then I don't know what is.


Repeating the sounding joy is loudly and joyfully done at Christmas, but it should be done all year through. Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ both in word and by example are the best ways to repeat the sounding joy and to give the wondrous gifts of Christmas. "These are the gifts that we can offer to others for Him. We do that by remembering him and trying with all out hearts to do what he would do and love as he loves" (El. Eyring, 2011 First Presidency Christmas Devotional).


So, repeat, repeat the sounding joy!!!!!

thoughtful thursday: spirit of CHRISTmas

The spirit of Christmas is something I hope all of us would have within our hearts and within our lives, not only at this particular season but also throughout the years.


A wise Christian once urged, "Let us not spend Christmas ... but let us keep Christmas in our hearts and in our lives."


This is my plea tonight, because when we keep the spirit of Christmas, we keep the Spirit of Christ, for the Christmas spirit is the Christ Spirit. It will block out all the distractions around us which can diminish Christmas and swallow up its true meaning.


There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to principles taught by Jesus Christ. 


Pres. Thomas S. Monson, 2011 First Presidency Christmas Devotional, Because He Came.

things that made me smile this week

ugh. what a week. i'm glad it's over and that it ended on a much better note.

* my sister urging me to come visit her for christmas. my nephews explanations of why i should come. my bro-in-law even looking up flights for me. ultimately, i decided not to go (outrageous ticket prices), but knowing that they wanted me to come for christmas just made me feel loved and wanted. thank you.

* making christmas boughs to hang on my front door and the neighbor's door.

* christmas songs. all week long classical weta 90.9 fm has been playing the most gorgeous christmas music. (you can listen too, just click on the link to listen live.)

* thinking about my brother chris and remembering.

* good friends who reached out to me this week to make sure i'm doing okay.

* singing in church. i sang this arrangement of what child is this?

* spending time with a new friend over dinner and a movie. much needed good company and laughter.

* starbuck's salted carmel hot chocolate. sooooooo good. i'm addicted.

* taking a friend to airport, only to realize right before the exit that i was headed to the wrong aiport and that the airport she needed was clear on the other side of the city and in a different state. we had a good laugh after we got to the right airport with time to spare. MW, i love that we are always laughing, or crying, or both.

* talking on the phone with my dad.

* finding the package my mom mailed me untouched on the porch the morning after it was delivered.

* the WaPo funny papers delivered to me by a friend. i'm so looking forward to reading them.

* my roommate and i keep on having moments where people can't decide what we are. it always makes us laugh so hard afterwards.

* helping a friend with some lifting and laundry folding before she headed home for the holidays. i had so much fun hanging out with her and her daughter.

* writing christmas cards.

* some christmas shopping. i have a few things left to buy and then i'm done... or not.

* a prayer of thanksgiving that i didn't kill myself or the person in front of me while driving to work one morning.

* a blessing of comfort that truly helped to calm my mind and spirit.

* my ipod. listening to the scriptures on the morning commute.

* remembering this and writing about it.

a memory

Time flies when you're living, she thought. It was only moment ago she was standing in the middle of a forested mountain hollow covered in snow. She enjoyed where she was, in a silence so deep she could actually hear snowflakes hitting the ground as they fell. She could hear the muted plopping of clumps of snow sliding from branches so laden down they flew back up as their tension was released.

The quiet of a place where no man made sounds intruded, sank deep into her soul and calmed every bit of her. She stood still letting the cold and silence seep into her until she no longer felt warm and would need to move again. She continued watching the falling snow and her breath steaming in and out. Occasionally, lifting a gloved hand to catch a clump of snowflakes for a glimpse of crystalline perfection before it dissolved, she sank even further into the silence. Finally, she began moving through the snow, lifting her knees high, carefully balancing as her feet plunged into depths of snow searching for a hold, back to where she had begun that morning.

She was trying to hold onto the stillness inside her, the feeling that God was so near that all she needed do was brush back a curtain to see him standing there. I need to hold onto this, she thought, I need to remember this. So, she walked without saying anything, just keeping still. Her breath coming a little harder, she was starting to feel a bit warm from the exertions. The snow was coming down faster and in spite of the noise she was making, she could still hear it falling, hitting the ground.

Her heart was so peaceful. She hadn't felt this way in a long time and wondered, why now? But didn't question further, just held onto the peace and the quiet that her soul was feeling. She knew she would need this, that it was important. She stopped in an opening through the trees and lifted her face to sky. She needed to rest, catch her breath. She looked around her, at the black and white perfection of the scene. It was like seeing an Ansel Adams photograph in 3-D. The aspen trunks were silvery white with black markings, and the snow had covered up all the other colors. Such beauty was not seen every day.

The snow touched her cheeks and instantly melted, turning to drops of water that ran down her face like tears. She smiled at the thought. She felt good, renewed. She knew God was speaking to her, calming her and so she said a silent prayer of thanks. When she was done, she moved forward again.

Her companion finally spoke, "There. That's where we left the four-wheeler." She looked at him and smiled to show she heard, not wanting to break the stillness with her own voice. They moved on quietly, not touching or speaking, but enjoying the other's company.

They reached the aspen stand where they had parked earlier. He pulled out the water bottles and she opened hers and drank. "Thank you," she said, smiling at him. Her voice felt a little strange to her, like she hadn't used it in a while.

He smiled back, his green eyes crinkling. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"You’re awfully quiet."

"I know. Sorry. Lots on my mind."

"Do you want to talk?"

"No, not right now." she took another drink.

"Okay," he too drank. "We should head back. You need to get going back to your brother's."

"Yes. I'm not looking forward to the drive. It will be hard with all the new snow."

"Just go slow and you'll be okay." he capped off his bottle. "You ready?"

"Sure," she took one last drink and handed him the bottle. He stowed them in the saddle bag on the four-wheeler and climbed on. She took one last look around her, said one last silent prayer of thanks and climbed on behind him.

The engine roared to life, cutting through the silence. He moved it into gear and they lurched forward. She slid her arms around him to hold on and rested her cheek against his back.

"Funny, how there's even a silence in the middle of this sound," she thought and became lost in the rumbling of the engine, the peace that was staying deep down inside her, and watching the trees slide by as they moved down the mountain.

That morning in the mountains seemed so far away, as she stood, a few hours later, holding onto her sister-in-law’s hand, in the middle of the room talking on her cell phone with a family friend, who was also a police officer, listening to him tell her about the accident and that there was no hope, that her brother hadn't made it. 

And now it all seemed so long ago, and blurred with the passage of time. Every year it seemed she remembered a little more. The time spent in the woods with her friend where God had blessed her with so much peace before she would so desperately need it. Feeling that peace from the snow covered mountains come back over and over again, not just that day but many times over the years and knowing that God knew her, knew her needs and was taking care of her. And to her, that was all that mattered, all she needed.