Getting in the Christmas Spirit

It helps that it is cold outside.  I don't really like that the cold is literally blowing inside though... I see some changes in our front door in the near future!

Jeff always tries to convince me to get a real tree and it was easy this year - we couldn't find our fake one.  Did we give it away in Wisconsin? Did we leave it at our old house?  Who knows; Jeff wins this year!

This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions now... the hats on the pictures.

Christmas cookies were fun to make while the kids were out of school.

...and last night we had our ward Christmas party.  It was all decked out as a night in Bethlehem and everyone dressed up.  It was a lot of fun.  My kids were dressed up when we went in, but it didn't last two minutes.  Ah well.

I've also had some very enjoyable shopping trips with both Jeff and my mom.  

Shopping is a lot more fun with a friend!

Sledding Just Isn't the Same!

We got pretty spoiled with our awesome sledding hill in our backyard in Wisconsin... Jack decided to create his own sledding hill on the driveway.  Not quite the same.  On the plus side he never got tired of climbing the hill.

Puzzles

Growing up we always had company or were company over the holidays.  We played lots of board games and there was always a puzzle out.  Over the break days of Thanksgiving I had a million things I could/should be doing, but to make it feel like a holiday I got out a puzzle.  I was hoping to have a little more help from the boys, as one of the best parts of putting a puzzle together is the time you spend together at the table.  Even if it's quiet time.

Lincoln helped me a little at the beginning and again at the end, but I spent the hours in between drawn into finding the right pieces and putting them in the right places.  As soon as it was finished I got out a second puzzle and have been spending some good time with this one as well.  It feels like home and family to be doing a puzzle.  I have Christmas music playing, or I listen to a book or a talk. It is a good time of reflection.  Organizing relaxes me and a puzzle is something I can organize into a finished piece.

I feel like I'm trying to do the same with my life.  The ordinary day hasn't felt ordinary for such a long time.  I've come a long way toward getting my pieces back in place, but there are still some tricky areas that take more focus and attention. As I work on my puzzle I've started with the easy parts.  Get the frame done - start with the basics. Put the obvious ones into place.  As you do that some of the other pieces become easier to distinguish and as you stare at the patterns and colors and shapes, you begin to know it intimately. You can pick up a random piece from the box and know exactly where it belongs.  You've done the work, followed the pattern so many times that it comes naturally it to put it into place without struggle.

As I listened to a talk about the atonement and how it becomes real to each of us as we need it to be real - usually in a time of great loss or trial more of my personal puzzle became clear.  I found that I had finished up some of the simpler parts and learned that it is time to move forward to more difficult ones.

I'm feeling a change of heart and I'm ready to pick up a few more pieces.