The one with a CHRISTmas

Here's an email I wrote to a friend with some ideas to help Christmas be more centered around Christ:

Hi Di!

This is the topic to get me started on! I'm over-flowing with ideas!!! Hopefully I don't overwhelm you. lol

I LOVE having a birthday dinner for the Savior. Christmas Eve we have a whole feast, our very best dishes, food and of course the Bday cake. We write Bday cards to Him and put them in a special box under the tree, as a gift for Him. When my kids are grown I will give them their own box with their old letters. Maybe they'll keep the tradition going in their own families.

This year I've come up with a new idea. . .haven't done it yet so I can't swear by it- yet. But I was thinking of tying in the 3 gifts He was originally given (gold, frankincense, myrrh) with 3 service-type gifts for Him. (The whole "if you've done it unto one of these. . . you've done it unto me" idea). And then having the theme of each represent one of the gifts. For example, GOLD could be pulling our money in together and then secretly delivering to someone in need. FRANKINCENSE was a spice so it could have something to do with food (serving at the Food Bank, delivering a secret dinner to someone) . . . MYRRH was an incense. . something you feel more than see. . so I'm thinking something like visiting some older widows in the ward, or ? I dunno. I'm still brainstorming here. I think we'll plan the specifics of the 3 "gifts" together as a family on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. . .after we've put up the tree. Just to start out the season on a spiritual theme.

Is this too long already???

I also like to decorate around a Nativity theme instead of Santa/elves/etc. . .

One of the kids faves is our Nativity Advent calendar which puts another character at the manger scene every night.

Another idea. . .I find a story to read to the kids every year, and I always make sure it's got a really good message. We read a little bit (almost) every night and finish sometime around Christmas. They LOVE it and the Christmas spirit feels really strong.

We still do the Santa stuff, but it's just not the focus of the season. And I twist a few of the traditions. For example, instead of the kids writing Christmas wish lists to Santa, we write Thank You notes to him and leave them out with the cookies on Christmas. Trying to spin as much as possible away from the "me, me, me, I want, mine, mine, mine" part of Christmas that leaves us all so empty.

We've been doing the "warm fuzzy jar" from President Monson's conference talk. So we're going to use those warm fuzzy's (pom poms) this year in the manger (similar to the straw in the manger idea)to make it soft for the baby Jesus. We'll read/act out Luke 2 right before going to bed Christmas eve, using the soft manger.

Ok, I'll stop there. I'm sorry to write so much! I didn't mean to, I swear! Hahah. I've got more, if you want 'em. Maybe I'll do a blog post about it one of these days. Or write a book. HAHAHA! What mother has time to write a book!!??! Give me 20 years.

Good luck! Hope you guys are doing great. Talk to you later.

The one about forwarded emails

I'm not really one to forward the emails. Honestly I delete probably 99% of the ones forwarded to me. (Sorry everybody!) But Autumn called about this email she'd sent, and so it got opened.

I love it.

Maybe why it's so funny to me is because this is TOTALLY the type of thing Kevin would do - if he had the time. Ahhh, the things that man will think up . . .

Which really is why I'm posting this. Once he reads it he's gonna start getting those kinds of ideas again (thanks, Autumn lol) - and this is my way of "spoiling" the joke before he can even pull it- which hopefully will be a great point to consider when I'm convincing him that this is NOT next years outdoor Holiday Decor.

Sorry hon.

Anyway, here you go. Here's my blog-version-way of forwarding a funny email. Make sure to read the bottom part. :)


"Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard."