Starting Christmas

We have been getting into the Christmas spirit this week and it has been a ton of fun. I definitely needed that boost to make me feel like Christmas is really here!

Wednesday= We went and wrapped presents for the 80 families that are being helped by the Flash Family Foundation. All of the Flash players came after we had been there for about an hour but I don't think they were very enthusiastic about being there... after they had a few pics taken, they would be on their cell phones or by the food. The Flash owner was very nice and seemed like a good guy. It was fun to help make someone else's Christmas better by wrapping presents that they otherwise would not have gotten.

Thursday= We wanted to see the lights on Temple Square with our friends. However, we decided to see the Joseph Smith movie instead and by the time that was done we only had ten mins before they turned all the lights off. Here is one of the few pics we were able to get with the lights on.

Friday= We went to our ward Christmas party. We ran out of food and only had 5 talents in our talent show but it was still pretty fun. And it was a much better turnout than the Halloween party so that's a good sign. It was good to get to know more members of our ward.

Sunday= Our ward had the Christmas program this morning and Richard and I both sang in the ward choir and I also read something about feeling the Lord's love. After church we went to the Awerkamp's for a Shepherd's Feast. We ate "shepherd's food" (like pita bread, hummus, raisins, etc), read part of the nativity story, had all of the kids dress up like shepherds, and sang Christmas carols together. We were also able to meet Esther who Scott had baptized in India. She's here trying to get into the Marriott School of Business and we were glad we got to meet her!

I love this Christmas season but it's hard to enjoy it when you are stressed about finals. Luckily this last week has helped me to focus on the fun side of Christmas instead of all the stress that sometimes comes with it!