Thankful Thursday, Slacker week

The week between Christmas and New Years Day is one of my favorites of the year.

There's minor difficulty associated with this week. The abrupt death of Christmas magic that is suddenly lacking when listening to the music of the season or watching Christmas movies always astounds me. And then there's the struggle to think of all I have accomplished this year and being excited for the new year versus the pull to feel like a continual failure and fear the new year.

But aside from that, this week is great!

Bret calls it National Slacker week. I think that's a brilliant name for it.

There's a leisurely vibe hanging in the air.

No school.

Sleeping in.

The boys are engrossed with new toys and games. And with new toys and games come expanded imaginations and new pretend scenarios. (I could watch these guys pretend and play for hours.)

I barely cook because there's so many leftovers from Christmas that need to be eaten and enjoyed.

I stay up late with my husband eating goodies and watching any Christmas movies we haven't had a chance to watch or taking in a new video one of us received as a gift. (Though I do have to battle some guilt at keeping him up so late when he has to keep a normal work schedule...)

And though the major holiday has passed, there's still the exciting anticipation and preparation for New Years Eve and fun with friends. I'm so excited!!

I LOVE this relaxed week and one last hooplah before getting back to the daily grind.

I'm so thankful to live a life that can include National Slacker Week.

What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday

What a lovely time of year this is.

Sun shining on snow.

Beautiful music.

Warm smells in busy kitchens.

Cookies!

Wrapping gifts with fun paper.

Classic, feel-good movies.

Brief reprieves from illness.

Soft blankets and warm houses.

Giddy kiddos.

Songs e-ver-y-where.

Extra gatherings with family and friends.

Reading wonderful stories of Jesus and wonderful Christmases with my family every night before the boys go to bed.

Haltingly plunking out Christmas tunes on the piano, as far as my limited "skillz" will let me.

Walking down the stairs and smelling the Christmas tree.

Lighting up the house and seeing all the lovely lights in the neighborhoods.

Life is good:)

Here's the exciting conclusion to one of my favorite Christmas movies. Skip to about 5 minutes in and then click on "part 11" when this one finishes. Always always makes me smile!


What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday *cough*sunday*cough*

After my twinners were removed from my body, due to some complications and such, there was a period of six+ months that sitting down or standing up involved much pain and careful movement.

In the years since, I will regularly think (usually after flopping myself on the couch or jumping out of a chair) how wonderfully blessed I am to have a healthy body.

As I've healed from this latest sickness, I realized that it had been longer and longer between those kinds of thoughts. And I don't recall thinking anything like it since the summer at least.

Perhaps this latest bout, among lessons of patience and faith, was a reminder to be grateful for my health and my family's health.

Swallow.

Did it hurt? No? Then you are one lucky person!

Take a deep breath through your nose.

Possible? Catch the delightful scents of Christmas, to boot? Lucky you!

Did you have the strength to shower AND get dressed today? To make a meal for your family? To stand and walk across the room?

Good health is an amazing blessing!

I am taking great pleasure in swallowing without pain and having the strength and energy to be Mom again. And with antibiotics to kill this sinus infection, soon I will enjoy the smells of Christmas, too.

It's the little things:)

Merry Christmas! Happy late Thankful Thursday!

What are you thankful for today?

"That I can tell you in one word:"

"Tradition!"

One of the reasons I love Christmastime so much is that it is so full of traditions.

Every year, I can expect the same wonderful things to happen and share in them with those I love.

My favorite traditions all take place on Christmas Eve.

I make reuben loaves to go along with our traditional potato soup for a lovely dinner.

We play games, we chat, we eat way too much good food.

And then before the littlest ones head to bed, the best Christmas stuff happens. The whole motley crew gathers into one room and either Bret or my dad (depending on who we're spending Christmas with) reads the Christmas story from the scriptures. We sing Christmas hymns and carols throughout the reading, too. I love singing together:)

I particularly love doing this with Bret's family. As there are more kids, Bret has devised ways to keep their interest longer. We wrap small gifts and each child gets to unwrap a present and read part of the story to the rest of us. Then Bret finds a story that illustrates in a simple way what Jesus has done for each of us and reads that, too. For example, one year this was the story.

We usually end up singing any and all other Christmas songs we can think of before the youngsters head to bed.

It's a beautiful night! One of my favorites in the entire year.

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

Perspective

I'm upset.

Whatever bug it is that we've been stricken with was formulated by Hades himself. There seems to be no end to it's ability to change and torment us.

Perhaps we get sick so often because I refuse to have the patience to be content with it 90% of the time...

Anyway, I am upset.

In going through my blog roll, I saw that Jocelyn is hosting a Christmas-themed Book of Mormon blog hop.

"What a better way to banish my upset-ness (however momentarily;)) than to share one of my favorite scriptures!?!?," thought I.

To start, back story-

Five years previous, the prophet Samuel announces to the people that the Savior of the world will be born in five years in the land of Jerusalem. As a sign, so these people would know that the Son of God had indeed been born on the other side of the world, there would be no darkness for a day a night and a day. The sun would go down and rise, but there would be no darkness.

Many people believed Samuel. Many didn't.

Those who didn't believe mocked those who did. They also had the audacity to say, "If the sign doesn't happen by such-and-such a date, we're going to kill all of you crazy believers."

Needless to say, the believers were getting pretty anxious and scared, but watched and waited faithfully.

Nephi, a prophet and of course a believer, was none to happy to see such evil among his own people (the unbelievers wanting to kill the believers).

So Nephi went out and prayed. He prayed for his people, he prayed for the believers, he prayed ALL day.

And so we come to the end of my ridiculous summary and to my favorite verses-

And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying: Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.
3 Nephi 1:12-13

Makes me cry. Every time.

Can you imagine?

Thousands of years of prophets telling people that Jesus is coming.
Your life and the lives of those you loved being threatened by people who refuse to believe the truth.
Knowing that tomorrow! the Redeemer of all mankind was to be born.

Amazing, amazing, amazing!

I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the testimonies of Christ that I read in it. I am so thankful for this touching story of the very first Christmas in the ancient Americas. And I am looking forward to being healthy with my family and enjoying this beautiful, wonderful, happy season of the year together.

Thank you, Jocelyn, for this chance to share:)

And then...

...the plague fell upon me with a vengeance.

I've spent the last three days ridiculously sick.

Lucky for me, the last two days were the weekend and Bret could take care of all of us.

I'm a bit scared about tomorrow, but I've been told I'll have the strength and patience I need. So at least we know that we'll come out of this alive;)

I wish that made this easier, though. Listening to little ones cough and knowing they're not sleeping comfortably is HARD. Seeing sweet little boys with glassy eyes and high fevers whimper because they feel so miserable and there's nothing I can do to make them better is HARD. Lying awake at night in pain is HARD. Having someone else take care of me AND my responsibilities is HARD. Getting behind on life and missing fun Christmas activities that only come once a year is HARD.

Being sick/taking care of sick kids is HARD!

I'm looking forward to having this plague behind us. Please send all the good health vibes you can spare our way;)

Wishing you all a healthy and happy holiday season!

Thankful Thursday

All three boys and I spent the entire day on various couches.

After an insanely long night with Al and/or Goose needing me every 20-40 minutes, they thankfully slept until 9:15 this morning.

After that we were all wrapped up in blankets, watching Christmas movies. There was a brief period when we moved to the living room and laid on the couches there while talking about Christmas.

I am definitely sick, but not as bad as the boys seem to be. I have been able to get up and get what they need, lift and carry, cuddle and hold, and take care of little sickies today without feeling too awful myself.

BUT, it turns out that I have been blessed as their mother and caretaker today. Not five minutes after all my boys were sleeping, my body was flooded with aches and pain. It all settled on me so fast and I knew that I had been strengthened long enough to take care of my boys.

I am thankful for tender mercies like this. I am thankful for Christmas movies. I am thankful for young children who feel better just knowing I'm in the same room with them when they don't feel well. I am thankful that the five days without my husband will be over in just a few minutes. I am thankful for my parents who are so amazingly awesome.

And I am thankful for sleeeeeeep.

What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Thursday. It's official-

I'm sappy.

There. I said it.

It became quite clear to me just a couple days ago that I have quite high levels of sappiness.

See, there's this song.

It's a Christmas song that I grew up hearing, but didn't truly begin to appreciate until my later teen years.

Once I moved out "on my own," I would look forward to coming home for Christmas and putting that CD into the player and skipping to number three to hear the best version of "Angels We Have Heard on High" e v e r.

Imagine my shock when just a few years ago I could not find the CD in the cupboard and no one seemed to know what I was talking about.

WHY hadn't I taken the time to figure out what CD I was listening to all those years?? My song was gone and I had no idea how to find it because I had no clue who performed it. You'd think in this day and age it'd be super easy to find what I was looking for. Well then, you try to find the right version of such a classic hymn. Needle in the proverbial haystack, indeed.

Recently, I was lamenting to my younger brother (who was on his mission back when I discovered the CD missing so he didn't know my plight) that I missed listening to that song, but I didn't know who played it so I couldn't find it.

He looked at me and said simply, "Is that the one with the french horns at the end?"

*heart.stopped* "Yes...you remember it, too?!"

"Yeah. And I think I have it. Want it?"

"YES!"

On Tuesday, he emailed it to me and I tried not to get my hopes up as I clicked on the link to listen to it. Immediately, I recognized it as my long lost song.

I'd been having a bummer of a day, but in that moment this intense feeling of gratitude flooded over me as I got lost in this beautiful song.

I thought about how lucky I was to live in a time when I could experience such amazing music at the touch of a button. I thought about how much I love good music. I thought about how lucky I was to have a brother who pays attention to the details, loves music, and has built a massive collection of amazing songs including ones we both (unbeknownst to me, aka- the oblivious one) loved in our youth (this is not the first time he's helped me find a song). I thought about how ridiculous I was to be crying because the music was so gorgeous...

The intense feeling peaked, along with the music, and I felt like Heavenly Father was saying, "For you, Lindsey." I forget it easily, but that little moment reminded me that Heavenly Father loves me, that he knows me, that he's mindful of me, and that I am doing the right thing with my life.

And so today, I am thankful for music, for brothers, for technology, and for tender mercies.

What are you thankful for today?

P.S. In case you were wondering, it's "Angels We Have Heard on High" from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's Joy to the World album.