christmas gifts

Christmas Day has come and gone.  The climatic ending of weeks and in some cases months of preparations.  The presents wrapped and placed under the tree, the packages and cards placed in the mail, the cookies and goodies baked and plated, Santa's sleigh all packed up and the reindeer at the ready, the Nativity story ready to be read aloud and families gathered together when they can.  All the trimmings of the season and I'm always a bit sad to see them end.

An old friend of mine said to me recently that when he is old and senile and doesn't know where he is, he wants it to be Christmas every day where his mind is.  I like that idea, not the getting old and senile part of it but the idea of Christmas every day where my mind and heart are.  As I've thought recently about things I want to accomplish this year, I've wondered what I can do to make it Christmas every day in my life.  I love the feelings of Christmas, the spirit of giving, the spirit of Christ and the spirit of love.

By living the gospel of Christ and letting His light shine through me, I can feel Christmas every day and just maybe I can help others feel His love and light too.  I think this is the best gift of Christmas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Me on Christmas night after a long day at work.

I had a great Christmas.  It was different from any Christmas I've had.  I didn't get to see my family this year.  I spent the day working here not exactly ideal, but it was still a good day.  I took my small electric skillet in with me and cooked scrambled eggs with cheese and sausage for everyone.  It was a pretty quiet day until this happened, but thankfully it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  I got to eat Christmas dinner with my BFF roommates from London.  It was great to have them here and they shared in my excitement as I opened my Christmas gifts.

photo by my friend sara

happy christmas

“True happiness comes only by making others happy—the practical application of the Savior’s doctrine of losing one’s life to gain it. In short, the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit, that makes our hearts glow in brotherly love and friendship and prompts us to kind deeds of service.

“It is the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, obedience to which will bring ‘peace on earth,’ because it means—good will toward all men.”

Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than things. To catch the real meaning of the “spirit of Christmas,” we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the “Spirit of Christ” (Pres. Thomas S. Monson, December 2008).

image from commons.wickimedia.org

a christmas elf

Dad, this post is for you.

From your Christmas Elf.

This year I really was an Elf.

Aren't these girls so cute?!?!

I'm so blessed to work with such fun people.

Sometimes I can be a little sElf conscious. 

As you can see above, this was not one of those times. 

I had to be jolly and full of Christmas spirit and spunk.

I was part of the holiday spirit posse at the work Christmas party.

This wasn't too hard because basically my normal sElf is very outgoing and happy.

Do you know which Elf movie I'm from?

Everybody told me I could just wear the little costume

and not worry about it being too short.  Ha!

They said I could just be mysElf and no one would say anything.

While that was flattering, my more modest sElf was not entirely comfortable

with the idea of such a short skirt.

As you can see from the photo above, the skirt was short, really short.

I think the costume really was made for an Elf.

 

I was glad I was wearing the Christmas snowflake boxers for two reasons:

they helped me feel modest,

and

because at this point the waist band of my tights were nowhere near my waist. 

I hate to think just how sElf conscious I would have been without the boxers.

I think I would have been labelled an Elf-hibitionist or worse.

Buddy, the Elf, and I enjoying the last dance together.

We closed the party down.

It was great fun!

If you'd like to elf yourself, try this link:  http://www.elfyourself.com/
Let your sElf go and have some fun.

Have fun making this Christmas merry and bright.

photos by my good friend drpA

why?

I called home this evening, and my mom was busy being grandma.  I talked with my nephew Lane and here's how the conversation went.

Lane: Are you coming over?
Me: No.
Lane: Why not?
Me: Because I live really far away.
Lane: Well you can drive.
Me: It would take me three days to drive there.  It's really far.
Lane: Oh...  Well, where are your kids?
Me: I don't have any kids.
Lane: Why?
Me: Because I'm not married.
Lane: Why?
Me: I haven't found a boy who wants to marry me.
Lane: Why?
Me: Because Heavenly Father hasn't said it's time for me to get married.
Lane: Why?
Me: I don't know.
Lane: Well, tell him it's time.
Me: Okay.  Will you tell him too?
Lane: Yes.  Heavenly Father it's time for Christine to get married.

Are you listening, God?
Here's hoping.

thundersnow snowpocalpsepalooza

It won't stop coming down!

This is a serious snow storm.

I love it!

Just a few photos from my walk with my friend AL up to Eastern Market for brunch... yes it was open.

Walked to Frager's and bought a shovel.

Then stopped by a friend's house with birthday wishes.

Cleaned the steps down to my apartment and salted them.

Life is grand!!!!

I can't believe this is DC.  Amazing!

It was easier to walk down the street where the snow plow

had gone through than on the sidewalk in 20 inches of snow.

So beautiful!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Dreams really do come true.

The house where I live in the basement.  Such pretty snow!

P.S. I stole the title of this post from my friend SC.

It made me laugh and it's totally appropriate for today.

photos by me from my cell phone

snow!

This is the view from my doorway this morning.

Lovely marshmallow snow, untouched by humans.

I still need to buy one of these and some of this.

I walked up my stairs to get a better look.

Notice there are no cars parked on the street.  My street is a Snow Emergency Route or SNER.

SNERs are great fun if you park on them during a

"crippling snowpocalypse"

(this is what some of the local media termed our winter storm),

you get towed and reparked on a route that is not a SNR.

Not only do you get reparked, and

have to call the DC DMV to figure where the heck they parked your friend's car

which you're supposed to be using to pick him up from Dulles Airport in less than an hour,

it's also a $250 ticket.

This happened to me during my first week in DC.  I got to learn the hard way about SNERs.

Try pronouncing SNER the way its spelled and that's pretty much how I felt that day.

It's a weird feeling to look out the window to see how much snow there is,

and then realize the car isn't there anymore.

In fact, there are no cars at all parked on the street.

(Yes, the Twilight Zone theme song played in my head.)

I finally found my friend's car parked two blocks away,

 and was able to safely drive through the snow to Dulles and retrieve him. 

We protested the ticket in traffic court.

Now, I don't normally pull out the

I-just-moved-to-the-Big-City-

from-a-small-town-in-Utah-with more-cows-than-people-and-we-don't-have-SNERs-card,

but this time it worked.

The judge threw out the fine.  Yay for the judge!

Moral of the story: Watch where you park in DC during a snowstorm.

My new neighbors learned this the hard way this morning. 

They parked their car and their U-Haul on the street over night last night. 

This morning they're calling the DMV looking for their vehicles.  Poor them.

I tried to warn them but no one answered the door when I knocked.

I'm awake now because they knocked on my door asking for help.

And on a much happier note:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in ev'ry store

But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be

On your own front door.

Isn't my front door so pretty with all the snow!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!!

Oh, and I'm buying these as soon as I finish this post.
Or something like them.

photos by me

 

 

 

the real reason

Six years ago today my youngest brother Chris died in a ski accident.

I'm really feeling it this year, because I won't be going home for Christmas.

I miss him.  I miss my family.

This is a time when we get to reflect on great joy and promise.

I remember how hard it was to find the joy that year.

My belief and faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ made finding the joy a lot easier.

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not:

for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" (Luke 2:10).

The good tidings of great joy are that a baby was born in Bethlehem,

who is our Savior.

Thanks to Him, the promise of life everlasting is true.

This is the real reason I love Christmas.

photo by me

improv everywhere strikes again

I LOVE Improv Everywhere, an improvisation group that stages "missions" on the streets of NYC.  All of their missions are intended to put a smile on people's faces and look like a lot of fun.  I would love to do something like this here in DC.  You can watch more of their mission videos here.


Their recent Salvation Army bell ringer mission is my all time favorite, and it really gets you in the mood for Christmas.  Enjoy!





thanks improveverywhere.com