I gave a talk in my church on Sunday. It was poor timing for me, as I was coming off of super high levels of stress from the workshop. Not only that, but, as the 2nd counselor’s wife, I was asked to speak alongside the 1st counselor’s wife and the bishop’s wife for the Christmas Sacrament Meeting. It all felt a little intense to me, and I knew I’d be sobbing through the whole thing – but I don’t think talks are ever meant to be  given during “good timing.” It’s been a whirlwind of a week, and I just wanted to share my Christmas thoughts with you, basing much on the talk I delivered at church on Sunday.

Here’s what I pretty much said, with minor adjustments to include new information.

This week  has been especially stressful and draining, more so than many weeks I’ve had in a very long time. On Saturday I ran a small photography workshop with 20 other people – 13 photographers and 7 vendors – in our home. Leading up to the workshop, I’ve handled confrontations, models getting sick, models dropping out, dresses not fitting, schedules getting behind, and the usual wonderful and complicated details of running a workshop out of my home. Then, the night before the shoot, I went to bed late after getting things finalized and ready, only to wake up a half hour later to Rhenner having thrown up in his crib. So that meant I was leaving Adam with a sick baby to watch while I ran the workshop all day Saturday (and it also meant I only got 3 hours of sleep that night).  I also learned news that my sister-in-law would be getting induced 3 days before our original flight was supposed to take off. It has been incredibly important to me to be there when my niece or nephew is born, as it is my first “blood-related” niece/nephew, coming from my only brother. So I made the decision to change my flight to leave on Sunday. After the workshop ended on Saturday, I fell into bed and collapsed into sleep, until I was awoken by Axton screaming that his ear was hurting. I stayed awake with him for 4 hours, until he finally fell back asleep at 6am. This meant that my Sunday looked like this: Take Axton to doctor for ear infection. Give talk in church. Run to catch flight. Endure 8 hours of traveling with Rhenner throwing up on me every 30 minutes, and I just have to take it and let it wash over me,  my entire outfit soaked in someone else’s stomach juices. I had a layover in Houston, and I almost didn’t get on that second plane ride. I almost said, Give me a hotel room and several days and then I’ll carry on. But I knew that situation wouldn’t be any better. I knew I had already made my choice and I had to push forward. The only thing that kept me going was the hope that my mom would have gotten a security pass and would be waiting for me at our gate. 

 I tell you this not to make you pity me, but to tell you how grateful I am for this opportunity I’ve had to stop in the midst of a very busy week and life to reflect on the Christmas season. I’m grateful for the chance to, as President Monson says,  block out all the distractions around us which can diminish Christmas and swallow up its true meaning. I will be taking much of my talk from two other talks, one from one of my favorite speakers and apostles, Elder Holland, and another from President Howard W. Hunter, who, at the time, was a member of the quorum of the 12.

Elder Holland starts his talk out by reminding us of Dr. Seuss’s holiday “horror” story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He says, “In a nefarious scheme in which the Grinch dressed as Santa himself, he moved through Who-ville taking every package, tree, ornament, and stocking. And after doing so,

He stared down at Who-ville!

The Grinch popped his eyes!

Then he shook!

What he saw was a shocking surprise.

Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,

Was singing! Without any presents at all!

He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming!

IT CAME!

Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow

Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?”

“It came without ribbons! It came without tags!

It came without packages, boxes or bags!”

And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!

“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.

“Maybe Christmas … perhaps … means a little bit more!”

Holland continues, “Part of the purpose for telling the story of Christmas is to remind us that Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Indeed, however delightful we feel about it, even as children, each year it ‘means a little bit more.’ And no matter how many times we read the biblical account of that evening in Bethlehem, we always come away with a thought—or two—we haven’t had before.

I do not feel—or mean this to sound—like a modern-day Scrooge. The gold, frankincense, and myrrh were humbly given and appreciatively received, and so they should be, every year and always. As my wife and children can testify, no one gets more giddy about the giving and receiving of presents than I do.

But for that very reason, I, like you, need to remember the very plain scene, even the poverty, of a night devoid of tinsel or wrapping or goods of this world. Only when we see that sacred, unadorned child of our devotion—the Babe of Bethlehem—will we know why ’tis the season to be jolly’ and why the giving of gifts is so appropriate.

At the focal point of all human history, a point illuminated by a new star in the heavens revealed for just such a purpose, probably no other mortal watched—none but a poor young carpenter, a beautiful virgin mother, and silent stabled animals who had not the power to utter the sacredness they had seen. Shepherds would soon arrive and later, wise men from the East. Later yet the memory of that night would bring Santa Claus and Frosty and Rudolph—and all would be welcome. But first and forever there was just a little family, without toys or trees or tinsel.” 

Christmas began with a baby being born in a stable, and Christmas will stay alive when Christ is born in our lives. Howard W. Hunter says, “It is possible for Christ to be born in men’s lives, and when such an experience actually happens, a man is ‘in Christ’—Christ is ‘formed’ in him. This presupposes that we take Christ into our hearts and make him the living contemporary of our lives. He is not just a general truth or a fact in history, but the Savior of men everywhere and at all times. When we strive to be Christlike, he is ‘formed’ in us; if we open the door, he will enter; if we seek his counsel, he will counsel us. For Christ to be ‘formed’ in us, we must have a belief in him and in his atonement. Such a belief in Christ, and the keeping of his commandments, are not restraints upon us. By these, men are set free. This Prince of Peace waits to give peace of mind which may make each of us a channel of that peace. The real Christmas comes to him who has taken Christ into his life as a moving, dynamic, vitalizing force.

The real spirit of Christmas lies in the life and mission of the Master. Clarence Baird says that “The spirit of Christmas is a desire to sacrifice for others, to render service and to possess a feeling of universal brotherhood. It consists of a willingness to forget what you have done for others, and to remember what others have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and think only of your duties in the middle distance, and your chance to do good and aid your fellow-men in the foreground—to see that your fellow-men are just as good as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts—to close your book of grievances against the universe, and look about you for a place to sow a few seeds of happiness, and go your way unobserved.”

Taking Christ into our life as a moving and dynamic force means that Christ is not only real, but that by knowing Christ is real affects the daily decisions you make. President Hunter gave one more concrete action that we can do right now to keep the Spirit of Christmas in our lives during this busy time. He says, “If you desire to find the true spirit of Christmas and partake of the sweetness of it, let me make this suggestion to you. During the hurry of the festive occasion of this Christmas season, find time to turn your heart to God. Perhaps in the quiet hours, and in a quiet place, and on your knees—alone or with loved ones—give thanks for the good things that have come to you, and ask that his spirit might dwell in you as you earnestly strive to serve him and keep his commandments. He will take you by the hand and his promises will be kept.”

So in the spirit of forgetting the things I have done for others, and remembering what others have done for me, I’d like to take this time to give thanks for the good things that have come to me. I’d like to even go as far as to call them my Christmas miracles. I know when we hear the term Christmas miracles, perhaps we think of movie-like gestures of kindness and goodness, and while those things are indeed miracles of their own right, I like to think of Christmas miracles as any miracle that is made possible because of Christ. So today, during this Christmas season and always, I’m grateful for my Christmas miracles.

As I mentioned, I woke up Saturday night to a crying Axton, screaming that his ear was hurting him. We comforted him, and put a few drops in his ears, and Adam took him back to his bed. I heard him shut the bedroom door, but the light in the hallway remained on. He was taking awhile to come back to our bedroom, and so I got up to see what was taking so long. When I got to the boys’ bedroom door, I saw Adam leaning over Axton, his hands resting on Axton’s head, giving him a blessing. And in that moment, I knew I already had anything I could ever wish for or ask for for Christmas. And first, is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and its restored priesthood.

The priesthood is a miracle that exists because of Christ. Because a young boy, Joseph Smith, knelt in the woods, received an answer to a question, and was brave enough to act on that answer. The priesthoood is a blessing in my life, and a power that I personally believe I share with my husband by virtue of our marriage and sealing. 

The second Christmas miracle is my husband. My husband is forever my Christmas miracle – not because I met him at Christmas or I married him at Christmas but because my marriage to him is a miracle made possible only through Christ. My finding him proves to me that God knows me and loves me. That God knows had I chosen for myself, had I chosen with my own mind and instincts – I would have chosen wrong. Instead, I gave my life to Christ and allowed God to choose my husband for me, and He chose right. He chose right for me.

Adam has been my rock this week, picking up all the scattered pieces I left for him to find when we left in a rush on Sunday. He has ran all my errands, built my table, made shooting the canoe for the workshop even a possibility, and supported me in everything I do.

My table Adam built:

 

Adam power-washing the canoe at 7pm the night before our shoot

And last, is my eternal family. My boys are mine not just for our time on this earth but for eternity. They’re forever mine because I married my husband in the temple – and the only reason I could step through those temple doors on that September day 6 years ago – the only reason any of us can step through those temple doors on any given day, and the only reason any of us will enter into His kingdom after this life – is because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. And in order for the atonement to have been made, a baby was born. And it is His birth, life, atonement, and resurrection that I am eternally grateful for this Christmas season and always. 

 

PS One more Christmas miracle is this new niece or nephew being born!! Can’t wait to meet him/her!!