A time to reflect and rejoice on the birth of our Savior. Yes we in our church believe that he was born in the spring but that does not stop us from honoring Him and rejoicing with everyone else, singing praises and Hosannahs to the Christ Child and all that he means to us.
We are in the middle of rehearsing music for our annual Christmas Sacrament program, Stake Christmas program and The Messiah sing along. Lots of wonderful music, some in arrangements that I have never heard before. All glorious and guaranteed to have everyone feel the spirit of rejoicing.
Early Saturday morning we had a ward choir rehearsal. We were few in number but worked out many details. Then it was back home to start decorating the family room. Nikolas had put up the tree in our absence. I had spent a good chunk of the past week painting our family room and we are enjoying the new color.
Later in the day John and I attended the Nashville Temple with the HPG (High Priest Group). Full to overflowing and such a special feeling to have many of us in attendance. We witnessed Raquel E. going through for the first time in preparation for leaving on her mission to Ogden next Wednesday. Afterwards everyone went out to dinner.
I enjoy Fast and Testimony meeting Sundays. Michelle C. I think summed everything up well with her feelings of happiness about the celebration of Christ's birth and life. We need to focus on the joy and not the stress that many feel as they become overwhelmed with family celebrations.
Relief Society had to be rearranged because Meg E. is sick and could not give the lesson. Many of us shared a favorite scripture and a story about Christmas. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" Matthew 6:21. My story was about the years we have been involved with singing Handel's MEssiah and our interactions with the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Stake Choir practice was like a group of old family & friends (and some new) meeting up again for the first time in a while. The Carols are gorgeous and some of the arrangements I had not heard before. We are singing part of one in Spanish. This was our only opportunity to practice properly before conference next week-end and as usual the Tolks inspired us beyond our normal abilities :)
We watched The First Presidency Christmas Devotional from home this year. Wonderful, as always, and such a great start to this season of celebration. After that we read a Christmas story with Kris and Nik and they headed off to bed. We stayed up for a while listening to our new Christmas CD for this year "David Tolk Christmas", short but pretty. We are giving it as a gift to family members this year.
May the joy of this time of year continue on in all our hearts through the coming year and may we each look to our Savior and grow in our relationship with him.
Monday, December 6, 2010
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