today....

The holidays are a funny thing for me. I think I feel every emotion in the world in these couple of weeks. Happiness, joy, excitement, frustration, stress, anxiety, ugh.. you name it.. I have felt it sometime between Thanksgiving and now. Maybe this is normal, maybe it isn't. In my quest to really simplify the holidays and truly focus on the reason we celebrate Christmas I have also felt a lot of peace. John tells me I have actually been quite bah humbug. ( ie. the absence of the 10th annual neck n' nog... I'm so sorry everyone- next year!). Bah humbug..me?? Oh well. Lucky for me the emotion I feel today is grateful.

Grateful I have a warm house that is full.

Grateful for funny, good kids.

Grateful for generous friends, neighbors and ward members that helped warm and feed some refugee families.

Grateful for full bellies.

Grateful for the presents that are hidden in my closet that I get to wrap up for my kids.

Grateful for our families.

Grateful for friends visiting.

Grateful for moments that remind you just how much you really have.

Grateful for all of you.

I helped my mom a little bit with some service projects for some refugee families from Burma. My ward rallied big time and it was amazing. I dropped all the stuff off to the branch president's house last week. I put it in a big white van with Parker's help and we drove away.

Today one of the service missionaries called my mom and invited us to the Burmese Branch Christmas Party. I took my kids and we got to watch these beautiful kids act out the nativity, sing songs and be so excited over the small gifts they received. The pleasure and the gift of being there was all ours.

It was the perfect way to spend today.