Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

This is one of my favorite times of the year - and this year has turned out to be especially nice. It's always hard for me to really get into the Christmas spirit because I refuse to think about it until finals are over. This year, however, finals ended a little earlier than usual and I feel like I've made the most of the time that I've had. Alison has done a fantastic job making our house all festive and baking lots of goodies that we've shared with friends and neighbors. She also took care of all of the Christmas shopping and finished most of it a couple of weeks ago (I haven't been to Wal-Mart in months!). This has allowed us to enjoy the time together as a family without a lot of the stressful hustle and bustle of other years.

I love Christmas music (well, most of it at least). If I didn't like non-Christmas music so much as well, then I would gladly listen to it the year round. I love eating all of the junk food and treats that happen to find themselves in my way. I love the traditions that our families have (and the traditions that Alison and I are implementing in our own family). Traditions give us things to look forward to all year long - and I think that they are a big part of the reason why Christmas is so special to everybody.

My favorite part of the holidays, though, is spending time with family and friends. I love reconnecting with people that you may only see or hear from once a year. I wish that I was better at keeping my connections to people from my past open. I usually do a poor job at "keeping in touch". It's so fun to have everybody in town with all of their kids. Ada just loves getting to know all of her cousins.

I also try to take a few moments at this time of year to ponder our Savior's birth. In doing this I always remember how blessed we are to live where we live, when we live and the talents and skills that God has given to us. I (just like many of you, I'm sure) make an extra effort to help other people out, to be a kinder driver (I'll admit, I'm fairly aggressive - although I tend to look at it as being defensive...), and to share a bit of what we have with others.

I hope that everybody has a Merry Christmas, full of peace and love!