Christmas! How I love it!

I can't believe how fast Christmas is sneaking up on us. I don't have any complaints this year about that because the sooner Christmas comes and goes, the sooner I get to meet my little baby girl. I finally registered for a few things at Target for the baby showers I will be having in January. Lets see how many people actually look at it. :-) Sometimes registries seem pointless to me because some people are just going to get what they want to get for you and they pay no attention to that registry you spent two hours online creating of the stuff you actually need. I wasn't planning on registering any where, but people kept asking so I just went ahead and did it. So there.

Look it's our first Christmas Tree as marrieds!! Sorry that it's blurry...


We got the tree along with some white lights for free from Emily, my sister in law. I love getting hand me downs from people. Especially ones like this. We bought the ornaments at Target during Black Friday weekend so we got a really good deal on them. And I love the Star, it's my favorite part of the tree. There is just something about Christmas trees that fill me with such delight. Must be the ambiance it creates in the room. It's definitely calming and I love it!


See this delicious chocolate candy?? It only comes around twice a year. For Easter and for Christmas. Of course, the Christmas ones are christmasy colors, but I couldn't find a good picture of those. Anywhoo, this chocolate delight is one of my favorite chocolate candies of all time. I could inhale a whole package in one sitting. They are THAT good! Unfortunately, with this pregnancy, I get a thing called heartburn and indigestion ALL the time and chocolate is a big culprit of this. It makes it worse and sometimes it makes it hard for me to sleep at night. No fun. So I have to eat them in moderation and I can't eat them a few hours before going to bed otherwise I won't be able to sleep. I discovered that the hard way. But man, they are so good!



One other thing I wanted to mention about Christmas. On Monday, James and I went up to Temple Square with his brother Jared and his wife Lindsey and their cute little man, Landon. We went for the purpose of seeing the lights at temple square together. The evening didn't go as planned at all and there were some car troubles. :-( While Jared waited at the car for our ride to come rescue us the rest of us walked around Temple Square for a brief 10 -15 minutes. As we approached the Tabernacle I saw in between the Tabernacle and the south visiting center a crowd of people gathered. At first, I didn't know why they were gathered there, but as I got closer I saw that a large nativity scene had been displayed on the grass in between the two buildings. (I wish i would've gotten a picture of it because it was absolutely beautiful) Then I heard something over the loud speaker. The story of Christ's birth was being narrated along with the Mormon Tabernacles rendition of The First Noel. Which just happens to be my all time favorite rendition of that song. I walked around to the front to catch a glimpse of the manger scene. The presentation was ending and President Monson was heard over the loud speaker bearing his testimony of the true meaning of Christmas and encouraging all to be kind and giving to others. Despite the crappy situation we were in with the car breaking down and our evening not turning out the way we had planned I felt the spirit come over me so strongly. Time froze for a brief moment as I looked at the manger scene and imagined myself really being there at the time of Christ's birth and beholding this miracle. Immediately, I was filled with gratitude for His coming, for His life and ministry and for the ultimate gift of love He gave to me and all mankind. I love that I am constantly reminded of this in the sweetest ways.

James and I have been reading in Luke every night this month. One chapter a day and on Christmas eve we will have finished all 24 chapters. It has been great reading about Christ's life from beginning to end and learning all over again the lessons He has tried to teach those in His time. I love love the scriptures and truly revel in it. It has blessed our home and has helped us to keep an eternal perspective and I'm so grateful for that.

I love the Lord. In Him my soul delights.