Christmas has to come to an end...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I know that I did!  I was away from my family and friends back home in Canada but the Lord had blessed me with a wonderful Christmas here with the lovely people of Tennessee!  My companion and I did some Christmas celebration hoping and spent time with 3 different families and were also blessed to have a baptism of one of our dear friends on Christmas Eve! It will for sure be a Christmas to be remembered!

Now that Christmas it over that special light of Christ that we saw everywhere seems to have died down. The Christmas spirit is infectious, we are constantly wishing people a Merry Christmas and singing beautiful carols about our beloved Savior Jesus Christ. And then once December 25th comes the excitement and anticipation is over.  We take down our decorations and our trees and we see the empty spots where our decorations used to be.  Now the trick is to keep that spirit of Christmas with us all year round.  As Christians we need to continue to honor our Lord and Savior even after the Christmas holidays and make sure our actions are in line with him.  As a missionary I've thought about this idea a lot more this year. I was baptised and made a promise to my Father in Heaven to follow him and obey his commandments. I promised to...

“humble [myself] before God, … and witness before the church that [I] have truly repented of all [my] sins, and are willing to take upon [myself] the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by [my] works that [I] have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of [my] sins” (D&C 20:37).

I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I will honor him by honoring that convenient that I made with him.  I know that as I have faith and repent of my sins my life comes more in line with what the Lord expects of me.  I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have and the opportunity that I have right now share it with others.  I know that Jesus Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane for my sins and for your sins and I know that he  suffered and died on the cross for us as well.  And I know that you will have an added measure of peace in your life as you make an effort to come closer to your Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ!

Christmas is a celebration about Jesus Christ!

Its easy to get caught up in the flashing lights and bling of Christmas but I encourage you all to spend some times thinking about our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the reason for the season and even though the world might have lost its focus at Christmas it doesn't mean we have to!

We are celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and in honor of him we are giving gifts to the ones we love.  The Gifts we give show our loved ones that we appreciate them. The Christmas season is about giving and not getting.  After Christmas we often hear people ask "what did you get for Christmas?".  Instead of asking that we should ask "what did you GIVE for Christmas?"

For many years I remember our family prayerfully choosing a family we wanted to serve at Christmas and we would leave them anonymous gifts at their doorstep for the 12 days leading up to Christmas. We would leave a piece of a nativity set and then a silly gift that would go along with the 12 Days of Christmas song.  We would try our best to do it early in the morning and not get caught.  I learned a valuable lesson as a child that giving was more important than getting.

Make this Christmas about Christ and think about what gifts you can give to him this year! I love this Video, it shows the true meaning of Christmas! Just focus on Christ!!


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Don't Spend Christmas Keep it all year round!

We had to opportunity this past weekend to hear from the first presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to get us into the Christmas spirit.  It was a great program that brought such a sweet spirit.  President Thomas S. Monson talked about how we shouldn't be spending Christmas each December but that we should be keeping Christmas in our hearts all year round. He said:

"Because when we keep the spirit of Christmas we keep the spirit of Christ, for the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit. It will block out all the distractions around us, which can diminish Christmas and swallow up its true meaning "

I love that thought so much!  We celebrate the birth of Christ because of the atonement that he made for us and becasue he died for us.  We need to take that spirit of Christmas, the thoughtfulness, the charity, the love, and take it into our every day lives.  We need to live the spirit of Christmas all year round.

So lets all remember the reason for the season.  Lets all keep the spirit of Christmas in our hearts all year long!