Special Time of Year

I love Christmas time. One of my fondest memories as a child was watching my dad put up the Christmas lights on our house. My dad is a professional putting-Christmas-lights-on-the-house-guy. I think he should've majored in that because he is that good. He's a lot older now, so it's not as easy for him to put lights up on the house, but when he did, he was something special to watch. Kelli and I sure thought so, as you can see from our very immersed expressions. My parents always made Christmas a special time for us. But, as children, my focus was inevitable on toys and "what is Santa bringing me this year, hmm?" For instance, on Sunday, Will and I were sitting in the back row of the chapel and lots of families with their youngens sit in the back row, for easy access in case one of their little people decides to throw a tantrum of great magnitude. Don't worry, Will and I knew what we were getting ourselves into. Anyway, we sat behind a very well behaved bunch of kiddos. One of the little girls was getting anxious for the sacrament to be over. She kept whispering kind of loudly to her mother, "Mooooooom, can I please play my game?" Her mother looked her in the eyes and whispered, "Not right now, right now you need to think of Jesus." Her daughter persisted, "But, I can think of Jesus while I play my game!" Her mom shook her head and the little girl gave in to her mothers wish. See, children are so little and aren't able to bask in the gloriousness of our Savior, but it's wonderful when you can see the pureness in a child's eyes. Will and I were observing this little family and how they were focused on the Savior and striving to be reverent. Even though it's unbelievably hard at such a young age when your attention span is the size of a pea. I just didn't realize how important the Savior is to me until I got a little older and wiser. Presents are very special, thoughtful, and make you feel so good. But, they are also temporal. The gifts you receive under the tree that is. But, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the gift of the Atonement, the gift of the gospel...there are so many gifts that come from our Heavenly Father in the form of the spirit. There is nothing on the face of the earth that compares to the power of the gospel and what our Father in Heaven offers us. True happiness, that's the gift I choose to appreciate most around this time of year. Even though I rarely post, and maybe no one will see this. I hope everyone has the best Christmas! Oh and take some time to read, Shepherds, Why This Jubilee?