feeling the magic

I've had a bit of a hard time feeling the magic of Christmas this year. I really like the tingly feelings that Christmas brings. But we started off the month busy and it just hasn't been slowing down. We were in charge of our ward Christmas party... It was stressful to say the least, not many tingles there! I decided that I am too young to have this calling aren't I? Shouldn't the activities chair person be someone who has at least hosted a Thanksgiving dinner, baked (or maybe it's supposed to be roasted) a ham, made a real from scratch pie? you see, I've never done any of those things and yet I'm in charge of FEEDING and entertaining 350 people???? It was scary and hard and oh so much planning. I was physically ill (I am not exaggerating) for 3 days before the party... I know it sounds lame, but it's one of those things that everyone has an opinion about and they don't mind sharing what they didn't like about your planning and that scares me.... I want people to like me and my planning (is that bad?) Well the stress paid off because our ward party was really great! (I swear I am not bragging) We planned for 350 people and had about 200... so there was PLENTY of food. better to have too much than not enough if you ask me! We started the night with a sing a story of Christmas nativity program. a Narrator told the story of Christ's birth mixed with special musical numbers and singing from the congregation. We had the primary children play the parts, the senior primary sat as a choir and sang a few songs while the younger ones were in costume. the girls as angels, the boys as shepherds, a Mary and Joseph, and 3 wise men. It was short and cute and the perfect way to feel the spirit of Christmas. Singing carols, watching children all dressed up- There were so many things that could have gone wrong, but they didn't! It all came together and despite my nerves, I felt some tingling and I'm pretty sure everyone there did also. We ended with singing Silent Night and reminding everyone about the humble night our Savior was born and what Christmas is really about. For dinner we had french dip sandwiches, cheesy potatoes, salad and green beans. We asked everyone to bring a holiday dessert to share. You should have seen the spread, it was fancy and yummy! We decorated the tables with candy cane striped wrapping paper- it was very festive and classy. We had pine bows, ornaments and pine cones spread down the center of the tables, big wreaths hung on the walls and several trees placed around with white lights. The scenery for the nativity was adorable, made out of old barn wood...a giant star hung center stage. It was really cute. Towards the end of the night we heard some sleigh bells jingling and what do you know, Santa showed up to see all the kids and they were SO excited. I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief once the night was over, and decided that Glen was right, I probably could have relaxed a bit, now if I could just remember that for our next activity... :)


Ok so sorry if I lost you with all those details...

back to the feeling the magic... it's been stressful around here lately...
lots of little and big things too!

I cannot figure out FOUR kids. The older Oliver gets the harder IT gets. Last year I was all romantic doing special secrets for Glen every day leading up to Christmas. I had mini FHE lessons for the boys each night, focusing on the Savior and this year....I haven't been doing that. We've read books and laid by the tree singing Christmas songs a few nights but I have not done enough. I decided that the reason that I had not been feeling very tingly about Christmas is because I have not been doing enough for other people... that is what is magical about Christmas. Having secrets, being thoughtful, serving....

So with just a few weeks left to go- I decide that I had better get it together and I came up with a few last minute secrets. I have been trying to give more and am counting my day to day blessings more too. It has made all the difference! Posted below are some other activities that we've been up to the last few weeks to invite the magic of Christmas.