The Reason for the Season

When we were out shopping the other day, I decided to pick up a box or two of Christmas cards. Having them available in your home, after all, is a crucial step that must take place before the actual addressing of the Christmas cards and mailing them out. And frankly, I felt quite pleased with myself for even thinking of picking some up before Thanksgiving.

The store I went to had some really cute cards. But as I searched the shelves for that one particular style of cards that I felt good about putting our family's name on and sending to people all over the country, I made a startling discovery.

There were no cards that had anything to do with the birth of Christ.

There were cards with snowmen. There were cards with brightly colored ornaments. There were cards with Christmas trees. There were cards with presents tied with pretty bows. But there were no nativity scenes, wise men on camels, or anything else having to do with Christ.

I mentioned this to my husband, and he chided me for my concern. "What does Christ have to do with Christmas?" he said with mock seriousness.

Feeling a bit ornery, I decided that I would buy my cards somewhere else. I did find a couple of religious scenes at the next store I checked, but they weren't in styles I felt comfortable with. I finally bought a box of cards at the third store I checked. There's a picture of Joseph and Mary headed to Bethlehem on the front.

Sending out Christmas cards can be a wonderful opportunity to testify to others of the Savior and of His importance in our lives. As we turn our hearts to Him we experience the real meaning of Christmas.

Now the next step for me, of course, is to get those cards addressed and sent out. I know perfectly well that they won't do anyone any good if they're just sitting in the box. But I'm very good at putting things off like this. Any bets on how long it'll be before I tackle that project? New Years, maybe? Valentines? Easter?

Happy holidays, everyone!

Time Out For Women

I just saw the 2008 schedule for "Time Out For Women," sponsored by Deseret Book, and I just had to make a plug. And no, they are not paying me to do this. I noticed that they will put on an event in Oklahoma City in April, as well as a host of other cities throughout the year. You can check the schedule here at http://deseretbook.com/time-out/schedule.

But with my ties to people in the Oklahoma City area, I did want to put in my 2 cents worth. I attended the event in Minneapolis in September. I went because several other sisters in my ward were going, and I thought it might be a fun girls' day out. I was frankly a bit leery of the way things were set up, with several Deseret Book authors speaking to us in the auditorium and their books for sale in the lobby. Being an author myself, I know how these marketing things work.

But it was such a great experience. From the time the first speaker got up there, I was scratching down all kinds of notes in my notebook and occasionally (I admit it) bawling my eyes out. Because these people were able to address us in a unique position. It wasn't an official Church meeting, so they could address the whole spectrum of what it means to us to be Latter-day Saint women, struggling with our families and callings and jobs, and trying to do the best we can. I came away with so many ideas I could incorporate into my life and with a firm desire to seek out what the Lord really wanted to be doing, and to try to simply become the best ME I could be in my own special circumstances. I felt assured of the Lord's love and His desire for me to excel in all areas of my life--from other women (and a man or two) who were working through the very same things.

It was amazing. And I really encourage you all to go when you have the opportunity. And reread those notes you take, and keep on hangin' in there.

So that's my plug for the day. And by the way, I did not buy any books there. I did, however, buy a very cute Family Home Evening assignment board and a scripture trivia game for my family. And I still love them. (That is, I love the things I bought...and, of course, I love my family.)

Changing Truth

Well, one of the things I did this week was write a blog for LDSBlogs.com on "Things As They Really Are." At least, that's the published title of it. Since it's about truth, my working title was, well, "Truth."

So I hammered it out for a bit on my word processor, and then tried to close the window. Immediately a pop-up came up that said:

Save changes to Truth?

And that struck me as funny, since of all the things you can try to change in the world, you can't change the truth. That's the whole nature of it (and what my blog was about). We can try to change things we don't like, but once you start trying to change the truth, it stops being the truth.

But somehow I beat the system. Somehow, despite the true nature of it all, this week I accomplished the impossible. I successfully made (and saved) changes to Truth.