A lot of you probably don’t know but I sometimes have a really hard time going to church, so when I realized Jon & Jackson were sick so I would be taking Andrew to church by myself I was very tempted to just stay home. Right when I was about to throw in the towel & not go to church I thought of something I had heard (I don’t’ remember who said it or where I heard it) “We need to teach our kids that on Sunday church is where they need to be.” SO…I threw on some church clothes & off to church Andrew & I went.
WOW, I am SO GLAD I decided to take Andrew to church. It was a very spiritually uplifting Sunday & I will remember those moments of quietly sitting next to Andrew & teaching him in those quiet moments.
During the passing of the sacrament it was so nice NOT to have to worry about me or Jon needing to take Jackson out into the foyer. I was able to actually just sit & feel the Spirit. I was also so impressed with how reverent Andrew was during the sacrament too. In fact he just snuggled up to me & read his scriptures. WOW, I am SO LUCKY to be his mom!
Then testimony meeting started & I was just sitting there really enjoying the testimonies when all of the sudden Andrew whispered to me, “Mom do you have a testimony?” My heart just was so touched & I knew what I had to do. Then before I could answer him he asked, “Do I have a testimony?” I said, “Yes, remember when you prayed that we would be able to find Trace (our dog) & then someone found him & returned him to us? You have a testimony about prayer!” Andrew said, “Can I go up & bear my testimony?” I should have said yes right away but I hadn’t born my testimony for YEARS so I was SO SCARED. I tried to talk him into just waiting until that night to have just a little testimony meeting in our home, but he was pretty persistent so FINALLY I did what had to be done & we went up on the stand to wait our turn. WOW, that walk up to the stand never seemed longer!
Well, we had to wait for a while & Andrew was getting really nervous so I calmed his fears & tried to calm mine too. It’s funny how I always thought that when I was a parent I would feel so much more confident & not be scared to do things but really now I realize I am the same scared girl as years ago, I just have more responsibilities & more reasons to overcome that fear.
Finally it was our turn & Andrew wanted me to go first so I said a little prayer for courage & went to the microphone. I introduced myself & then related the events that had just transpired of Andrew asking me if I had a testimony & knowing I had to get up there & bear my testimony. Then I bore my testimony that I LOVE my Savior & I wanted all of you to know that but especially my sweet son. I also bore my testimony about this gospel being wonderful b/c I am able to become a better wife & mother. Then I again bore my testimony that I LOVE my Savior & Heavenly Father.
Then Andrew came up to bear his testimony & this is what he said, “I would like to bear you my testimony. We have a dog & his name is Trace. (he paused & looked at me with a scared look but I knew he could do it so I just encouraged him & whispered you can do it!) He cleared his throat & began again, “One day my dad opened the door & Trace ran outside & we couldn’t find him. We were looking everywhere & I said Mom let’s say a prayer so I said a prayer. “Dear Heavenly Father, thank thee for Trace & please bless him to come home. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.” The next morning he came home. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.”
WOW, I don’t remember another time when I have been so proud of my son. I couldn’t stop crying & just thought, “WOW I really do have a spiritual giant on my hands & I better teach him all I can about this wonderful gospel b/c he really is going to be a force for good in this world & already is.” Sometimes when I realize how amazing my kids are I feel kind of overwhelmed knowing Heavenly Father is trusting me to teach them but this time there was no guilt just lots of gratefulness that I was being trusted by Him with one of his choice children!
The rest of church went great, in fact I actually was feeling so spiritually strong & grateful to my Heavenly Father that I volunteered to help out in primary teaching the 4 year olds.
When we got home Andrew was SO EXCITED to tell Jon about bearing his testimony & retold his testimony so his daddy could hear his first testimony. The spirit was again so strong in our home & just set the mood to have a wonderful Sunday at home.
Since Jon still wasn’t feeling good I pulled all the Christmas decorations into the house & started putting up the Christmas tree. Even though Jon was sick he came over & helped me & we all had A LOT of fun decorating the tree. Jackson especially LOVED throwing the ornaments & then Jon would put him in time out & he would cry & cry & this just continued over & over again until we had moved all the ornaments up higher so Jackson couldn’t reach them. LOL!!!
Along with the ornaments we always put up our “white stocking” which we received a couple of years ago from the Hatch side of my family. It is Baby Jesus’s Christmas stocking & reminds us what this Christmas time is all really about! I know it is something very simple but I love hanging it on the tree each year & remembering my Hatch family & how much I love them!
Christmas Tree is DONE! Now on to putting up the other decorations! YEAH!!!
I LOVE putting this Santa Clause out & these Christmas bears b/c I remember these from when I was a little girl!
This is a Christmas decoration that Jon remembers from his childhood & I think his mom made it! COOL!!!
Also behind Jon’s head is the Christmas card holder that I remember from my childhood.
I LOVE having things up around our house that we had when we were kids! FUN!!!
I LOVE that Andrew loves his little brother & hopefully, despite the fights they have now, they will be BEST FRIENDS when they grow up just like my sister & I!!!
Also we started a new thing last year which will hopefully become a tradition: we bought a new Christmas ornament for each of us & each year we will do that so when the kids have their own home we will give them their ornaments & they can show their kids what they liked when they were little. Jon came up with this idea & I LOVE IT!!! So it was fun to put up our ornaments from last year & remember why we chose those ones but we decided to write the year & our names on them b/c we almost didn’t remember whose was whose.
Next we put up my Nativities that I LOVE!!!
This one is from Germany. My Dad was in the army so we lived in Germany for a little while!
Also right next to it is my Christmas Angel Willow! I LOVE WILLOW figurines & have a pretty good collection of them. They are usually up here on the mantle but for Christmas I take them down & put my Nativities in the place of honor!
This one we bought a couple of years ago in Utah b/c I LOVE snowmen! SO CUTE!!!
My sweet past Visiting Teaching companion, Joy Park, gave me this one as a Christmas gift 2 years ago. We actually just saw her at Walmart & it was so fun to tell her that her nativity she gave me was up on my mantle. When I am putting this one up I always think of her & how kind & understanding she was about my depression & even went & did our Visiting Teaching alone when I couldn’t go with her b/c I was having a bad day! She is AMAZING & I am so grateful for the unconditional Christ-like LOVE she showed me. She also taught me how to be a good companion too & be understanding of when others are having a hard time! THANK YOU JOY!!!
Someday I really want to get the Little People’s Nativity so we can leave that one down where the kids can play with it & I don’t have to worry about them breaking it like I do with my others. I guess we just will add more Nativities little by little & hopefully I will eventually have TONS (100+++) like my Mom. Then my kids can each picked out their favorite one & put it in their home & start their own tradition of teaching their kids what Christmas really is about like my parents did with me & like we are trying to do with our kids.
It is just amazing how traditions get passed from generation to generation even without us thinking about it so I really need to continue my parents traditions & then teach my kids those righteous traditions too!
Another Christmas tradition/memory I have is of always listening to The Forgotten Carols by Michael McLean. If you have no clue what I am talking about you are really missing out on a special part of Christmas & go check out one of my favorite songs here on YouTube
The songs on the CD sound so much better than this but you get the point. The rest of the songs are of other “forgotten” characters in the Christmas Story like Joseph, the shepherd that fell asleep & didn’t get to go see baby Jesus, ect.
Through the years my parents have given me a couple of homemade Forgotten Carol ornaments & I LOVE THEM so I decided this year to do a little Forgotten Carols tree on my table to remind me about their LOVE & how much I LOVE these songs. I love how it turned out!
Here is what each ornament represents:
The star on top represents the star the wise men followed & the gifts they gave Him are the jewels on the corners but in the center there is a pearl which is to symbolize the gift we can give Him.
The flute represents the shepherd that didn’t wake up when the angels came so he didn’t get to see baby Jesus, but just like me & you he still believed!
Sitting on the table in front of the tree is the entrance to an inn & over the door the sign says “Let Him Inn” meaning instead of turning away the Savior like the inn keeper did we need to let Him in to our lives! (I LOVE this one the most!)
The wooden nativity was given to me by my Dad. He got it from Jerusalem when he & my brothers visited there. I think it is made of olive wood, like the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane were so it is really special to me. Even though it isn’t a “Forgotten Carols Ornament” I put it up there b/c the Forgotten Carols are all about remembering the Savior so what better way to remember Him than to see this little Nativity ornament every time I walk by the table!
THANK YOU DAD for this special Christmas ornament!
After getting the inside decorated for Christmas we had to take a picture of the lights we had put up earlier! Now we are TOTALLY done decorating for Christmas!!! YEAH!!!
Well, needless to say today was AMAZING & such a PERFECT SUNDAY!! Which let’s be honest doesn’t happen very often around here so I needed to record this day!!!!
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