Christmas Memories 2

My husband had to prepare to speak in church. He was assigned to speak about Christmas and the Christ. He had sent out emails to each of the children asking them what their memories of Christmas were. He asked them if one or two Christmas experiences stuck out. I had a lot of fun reading them and going back in time, when the children were young and still thought that mom and dad were cool Both our girls said the Christmas that really stood out was the Christmas they got a trampoline. It was amazing how the two girls said just about the same thing, word for word! This topic of favorite Christmas' started me thinking. What was my favorite Christmas, and did one stick out?

Yes, one did stick out for me. It was a Christmas that stood out for Melissa too. It was the Christmas that two of our children were serving missions. (That is why it stood out for Mel, she was one of our missionaries.) That Christmas, we had only one child home, and she was home just for the holiday and would be returning to BYU-I. We put the tree up on my birthday, the 17th. It was not very a jolly time either. Try as I could, I was missing my two missionaries. Our youngest child, Fay, picked up on this and put her arm around me telling me to cheer up, because the next Christmas was just around the corner. I survived the tree!

On Christmas day we did something very out of normal. We gave up our Christmas dinner and worked all afternoon and evening at a homeless shelter. It was very hard work to prepare all the food to feed the tenants. But what I liked best of all, was the behavior of our Fay. She was busy actually filling plates up and bringing them to the individuals. I often saw her place her hand on someone elses hand and saw her speak words of encouragement to them. I saw a beautiful young woman care for others, more than she cared for herself. It's no wander she is a nurse, taking care of others.