Christmas Traditions

I love Christmas for a lot of reasons, but some of my favorite parts are the traditions. In my home, they just make Christmas what it is. We always wait until the day after Thanksgiving to start the decorating. And we always decorate with music, Manheim and Steamroller mostly. Then the music just stays on all month. Throughout the month it's the normal shopping and baking that most families do, but 10 days before Christmas we begin our yearly ding-dong-ditch. Every year we pick one family who we secretly give a Christmas nativity set to and we do it in a series of nine days, one day for every letter of the word 'Christmas'. Each letter has a little poem that explains the gift. My favorite has, and always will be 'R'. This is why: "R's Rambunctious donkey, with Mary on his back. While carrying his burden, Never did he slack." Cute, huh? We had to get a little creative with our poetry, but it works. Because I like it so much, I get to deliver the donkey every year. We also have an advent calendar with 25 pieces that we put up every day of December until Christmas and I get to do the donkey on that one to. I don't know when this donkey-connection was actually established, and who it was established by, but I'll just say it's a good thing I like donkeys. Another favorite tradition of mine is driving around to look at the lights on Christmas Eve. Even though we see them throughout the month, it's a different feeling when we go deliberately to look at them and I love it. We have another tradition that my family probably isn't even aware of. It is that of Christmas stockings and what happens to the contents of those stockings. Every year, Santa fills our stockings with a real orange, a chocolate orange, and almonds, cashews, pecans, and other nuts still in the shells. Everyone takes their oranges, but the nuts go in a big bowl, all together. Everyone's chocolate orange is usually gone first, because it's chocolate, then the regular orange, because it's easier to eat than the nuts which have to be cracked open. Then we always realize after our oranges are gone, that Santa (e-hem, Dad) has been eating all of the almonds and walnuts and pecans that were in our stocking. It happens every year and it's just as funny to me every year. (I'm being smart this year and made Ben hide my chocolate orange so I wouldn't miss out on the almonds.) One last tradition we have isn't official, but has been happening throughout the years. Each year we think of a gift we'll give to Christ. Some years we'll write it in a letter, or sometimes we'll just make a mental note, but it seems that in one way or another, it's become a tradition. And that is really what the season is about.

This Christmas Season

I heard one of my favorite Christmas songs this past Sunday and had my heart opened to the meaning of some of the lyrics. They're really beautiful and I hope you can feel the Spirit and power in them that I felt.

What Child is this who, laid to rest

On Mary's lap is sleeping?

Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,

While shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is Christ the King;

Whom shepherds guard and angels sing

Haste, haste to bring Him laud,

The babe, the Son of Mary.

Why lies He in such mean estate

Where ox and ass are feeding?

Good Christian, fear; For sinners here,

The silent Word is pleading.

Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,

The cross be borne for me, for you.

Hail, hail the Word made flesh,

The babe, the Son of Mary.

So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh,

Come peasant, king to own Him.

The King of kings salvation brings,

Let loving hearts enthrone Him.

Raise, raise the song on high,

The virgin sings her lullaby

Joy, joy for Christ is born,

The babe, the Son of Mary.

Waking Up In the Morning

As some of you may know, I'm not exactly what you'd call a morning person. Some days it's hard to get out of bed and other days its harder to get out of bed. Today was one of those. Luckily, I have an awesome roommate to help me with that. So, this morning I was still asleep when I heard Tegan's alarm (which is the radio) go off. It sounded like a song by the Carpenters and it just kept playing. I thought maybe she was sleeping through it, so I cracked an eye open. Nope. She wasn't sleeping. She was sitting up in her bed, dancing. It's funny now, but as I said, I'm not a morning person, so I groaned, "Teeeeeg," and pulled my blanket up. As she turned it off she said, "Sorry, that's just one of my favorite songs," and started to sing it. I just bit my tongue and prayed that she'd stop, which eventually she did. I went back to sleep, only to wake up to my alarm five minutes later. Ahhh, mornings.

What's Been Happenin'

This past semester has been really busy, which is always good, but it means I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog. So here it goes. After surprising my family, the next big event was a camping trip with my four roommates from last year: Erin, Ali, Tegan, and Kelli. We went to a spot called Silver Lake which is fairly close to the Pleasant Grove area. We took a bea-u-tiful scenic drive up to the trail and then went on a bea-u-tiful hike up to the lake.

Us. :]The Trail

The ValleySilver Lake (and Mountains)

The Fire and Our Tent (which all five of us fit in, no problem)

So, there's a funny story about the fire and our tent. As you can see, they are pretty close to each other. We kept the fire going until after dark and just let it go out on its own. Then we all went to bed, with our feet at the door, towards the fire pit. I was almost alseep when it suddenly got light outside. I sat up, along with everyone else, and saw the front of our tent glowing. We realized the fire had started up again and when we opened the flap, we saw that a little wind had helped it grow right along. Luckily, nothing actually caught on fire, but it gave us all a pretty good scare.

The next morning we had to go back to Provo, which was sad at the time, but I'm glad we decided to come back. Those mountains are still bea-u-tiful, but snowy now.

So back in Provo, I stayed busy with school and work and the awesome social life BYU offers. My ward this year is great, and I've had so much fun with the people here. About a month ago, I went with some friends to a tumbling gym. It was the kind of place where you have to sign an I-will-not-sue-you-if-I-get-hurt waiver before they'll let you in. So much fun.

Our ward also has great FHEs (Family Home Evenings). The first one I went to was penguin ultimate frisbee, boys vs. girls. For those who don't know, ultimate frisbee is THE sport at BYU. The penguin part meant being wrapped in plastic wrap from the hips to the knees. Only the boys had this great privilege. Sadly, they still beat us. But watching them trying to run made up for all the losses. Hilarious.

Like I said before, my ward is great and I was really blessed to have super neighbors this year. Ashley is one of those and a few weeks ago, Tegan and I went up to Heber Valley Girls camp to collect leaves and go on a mini-hike with her. She needed them to make bookmarks (that turned out so cute, by the way) and it was the perfect time to go. Not too cold, and the leaves had already changed colors. I love nature.

Tracks! Nice photography Tegan.Teg and Me.Ashley and Me.Mmm. So pretty.

The latest adventure was last weekend when we (the normal five) went up to Island Park, Idaho, to Ali's cabin. We just spent the weekend there and I'd go back in a heart beat. The five of us made a music video, which is only avaiable for private viewings. It's a little too crazy/embarrassing to post, but when you see me next, I'd love to show it to you. My favorite part about the cabin was the lake behind it. We got some sweet jumping pictures and the dock is even featured in our video.

Tegan

Erin and Kelli

Ali

The View from the Cabin (I love these scenery pictures)

What a weekend. Perfect to have right before a week with three tests, stake conference, and a million other things to do. (Don't ask me why I'm blogging. :] ) So, there it is. I'm all caught up and just lovin' life.

Home is Where I Am! (Was)

This past weekend I drove down to Henderson with Nana, Uncle Vedel, and Aunt Donna, jumped over my block wall, and crept in through the back door to surprise my family! Ben and Spencer were the only people home, and their reactions were pretty good. Ben looked confused at first, but just shook his head and said, "You're tricky." Spencer, who I was standing right behind, had to be told to turn around and he took a minute to register the fact that I was actually there, before he gave me a HUGE hug. Ah, what fun. My parents and I were at the temple, so Ben and I took Toasty for a walk around the desert, mesa area up the street. There's probably about a square mile of desert and Ben showed me a little oasis with a stream and some small waterfalls that were so pretty. I'd lived there for three years and didn't even know it. On our way back home it was getting dark, but we saw Toasty bite at something as it hopped away. A frog! Or a toad, I'm not sure which. But the nature lover/tomboy in me came out an I decided to catch him. He's about as big as a half dollar, and we put him in a giant pickle jar, but the poor,little guy didn't like the jar very much, so we let him go. I don't think my roommates would have appreciated a pet toad anyway.

When Ben and I came home with the frog, my parents were home and they acted very surprised to see me. Come to find out, they had actually seen Tegan's parents in the temple, who gave away my secret. What were the chances? But oh well, I'll get them another time.
That night, we all went to the strip to see the Bellagio Fountains. It was interesting to compare the BYU environment I was in Friday morning to the Strip environment I was in Friday night. Totally different feelings. But the fountains were beautiful and fun as always. I'll try and download a movie sometime when I can get it from Ben's camera.

Friday night I got to sleep on the top bunk of our bunkbed and Staurday was a homework day. That night we went to Marie Calendar's for dinner. The Razzleberry pie I had was delicious. Mmm. At church on Sunday, I had quite a few people ask what I was doing home, and I told some that I had quit school, but they didn't believe me. I guess that's a good thing. Monday morning I went for a quick swim with the boys and then drove home (to my Provo home). It feels like the long weekend went by so fast, but I'm glad I got to spend it at home (in my Henderson home).

Give Me a Break

Give me a break.

Break me off a piece of that Kit-Kat Bar!

Chocolatey-chewy gotta make your day,

Everywhere you go you here the people say!

Give me a break HEY!

Give me a break HEY!

Break me off a piece of that,

Gotta have a piece of that,

Break me off a piece of that Kit-Kat Bar!

Whatever happened to these awesome commercials?

Freshmen Orientation, Again?

This past week was a busy one. I moved into my new apartment, I worked, and I volunteered as a Y-Group Leader for New Student Orientation. This means that I was responsible for a group of about 20 freshmen for three days. What an experience! It started on Tuesday when I went through a day of training and met my partner. At this training I learned that BYU prays about each student by name before they are admitted. BYU also ranks third on the list for using the most church funding. I suddenly felt like I should be a lot more responsible than I am, but it's incredible to think that I'm going to a debt-free university and to have the feeling confirmed again that I really am supposed to be here. The rest of the week was just fun and games and tours and devotionals with all of the freshmen. They are such a great group of young adults and they made my week. How can I not be happy when they're so excited to be here that they'll roll down the hill by the library with me, and play funny games like 'Ninja', and then be able to settle down and give some really profound insight into the type of people we should be? What a wonderful week. BYU is definitely the place for me to be.