Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Christmas in July

"Merry Christmas!"
"Uhh, I think you are confused, it is July not December."
"I know it is July."
"Ok well Christmas is in December not July."
"Haven't you heard of Christmas in July?"

One tradition that my family has that I love is celebrating Christmas in July. It all started with my Grandmother who saw a tree on the side of the road that looked like a Christmas tree and she wanted to decorate it even though it was July. I can imagine her thinking why limit yourself to celebrating Christ's birth only once a year. So started Christmas in July.

In the last Christmas Devotional President Dieter F Uchtdorf said, "Christmas is a time for remembering the Son of God and renewing our determination to take upon us His name. It is a time to reassess our lives and examine our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Let this be a time of remembrance, of gratitude, and a time of forgiveness. Let it be a time to ponder the Atonement of Jesus Christ and its meaning for each of us personally. Let it especially be a time of renewal and recommitment to live by the word of God and to obey His commandments. By doing this, we honor Him far more than we ever could with lights, gifts, or parties."

When we celebrate Christ, when we remember Him, when we take the time to try to give back to Him we are celebrating Christmas. So why not celebrate Christmas in July and take the time to celebrate that our Savior Jesus Christ lives. That He came down here to Earth for us and fulfilled the Atonement. Let us celebrate Him all year round, even in July.


Monday, July 11, 2011

Pathways

The other day I was listening to a song from the musical "My Turn on Earth". It was about looking for the future outcomes from the decisions that we make today. One line is, "If you choose the very first step on the road you also choose the last. So if you don't like the end of the road you better back up, you know you better back up fast." How very true and the blessing is that we can back up we can repent and start over fresh. We can have the joy and blessing to know that every single day we can make sure we are on the right path.
One thing we need to remember though is our steps not only affect us but also those that we love. I hope we will all have the courage to make the right decisions so that not only we can stay on the right path but those we love as well.