So, after dinner tonight, I was reading in the “Parents” magazine to which Corinne has subscribed. The article that I was reading talked about how to keep a family close together and, I must admit, it had some very creative ideas. The problem that I had with the article is that it was missing one of the most important aspects to a close-knit family; religion.
It was interesting for me to read this article and see how the politcal correctness of this nation has even pervaded the idea of what family should be like; we can’t even have God there anymore. I could just imagine the author slipping the newly-written piece to her boss only to have it rejected because the magazine couldn’t afford the negative publicity that religion “might” bring them. It made me sad to see that after such a short time (two-hundred years is nothing compared to many other places in the world), America is no longer a Christian nation; nay, we are fast becomming a nation of individuals who bow to the minority even when the majority of its people still profess to be Christian.
I guess my narrowed perspective doesn’t allow me to see what the worth of having a family is without religion; more so, without the belief that after we die, all of our hard work on earth will result in some greater good and that we will be able to be with our loved ones forever. Without that knowlege, it all seems pretty worthless to me.
Well, my first Christmas with my little one was wonderful, i have to admit. There was just something really special about having a baby at Christmas, and sharing her 1st Christmas. This has definitely been my most enjoyable Christmas so far.
i really had a deep feeling of appreciation for my Father in Heaven as i reflected on the many things we have been blessed with this year, especially the birth of our daughter, Milaena. She has brought so much joy into our lives and we have realized the amount of love we possess and have to give to her.
My favorite presents this year was the comforter my husband got for me. It’s a white down comforter for our new king size bed (we’ll be getting in the next month or two). i also got 2 sign language books, one with mormon terminology and one on how to teach your baby sign language before he or she can speak, so that you can communicate with your infant. i also go a candle, perfume, and some jewelry from Jared. Debbie and Larry got me a new collection of garments which i’ve need for a long time. My mother gave me some Weight Watchers books that i’ve wanted for a long time and the baby sign language book i referred to earlier. We also got an awesome touch lamp from Grandma Mitchell. I put it together myself this morning.
Milaena got her first babydoll from Great Grandma Mitchell, and it was sooo cute, she hugged the babydoll when i gave it to her. She also got some a few outfits from Grandma Mitchell and one from my Mother and from my little brother Nathan. Milaena also got $10.00 from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Ferguson and $10.00 from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Call.
Before we opened presents this year we talked about what we were going to give to the baby Jesus since it’s really his birthday. Jared said that this year he is going to work on having more self control and self discipline. i said that i was going to try to do better on my scriptures and prayers every day. It was nice to focus on that before we opened our presents to help remind us of the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place.
Thanks to all of you who made our Christmas a special one. We Love You All!!!
Yes…it’s definitely time for a redesign of this site. I started using Adobe Illustrator tonight and I was SUDDENLY EMPOWERED! OK, so I may be exagerating a bit there, but really now…can you blame me? I’ve got a creative streak going now.
I believe that I’ll be switching my blog software from b2 blog to Wordpress. Supposedly, I can import the data right over. I do believe that I’m going to make a local copy of the website to my new laptop (aaah..the power of having a n*x backend) and edit it from here so that I don’t screw everything up too badly.
I can’t decide if, at that point, I want to upgrade my server’s Linux Operating System to a higher version of SuSE or a different Linux distro alltogether. Those are decisions that will have to be made later. I guess the important thing is that I only have another week and a half left to do this before school starts again. Then again, school “shouldn’t” be too hectic this next semester so perhaps that will leave me a bit more room to play.
Regardless, look forward to a serious redesign of the site in the next few weeks. I’ll be looking into doing something “else” with the pictures section as it’s simply to manually intensive at this point. In addition to the previously mentioned blog change, I’m sure there will be some more changes; though I’m not quite sure what all will change yet.
;)
Aaaaahhh…it’s the day after Christmas and it’s really hard to believe that it’s over. As usual, this year has flown by. Things seem to go by faster and faster every year. As I got older, things really started to speed up and marriage really started to push things faster; however, having a child has really made time fly.
So, here is my Christmas checklist:
- New pair of pants
- New denim jacket
- Tie/Belt holder
- 5 Pair new undergarments
- $25.00 gift certificate to Sam Goody
- Beef jerky, cashews, and pistachios (always a winner)
- Minolta 3.3Megapixel SLR-Type digital camera w/ 10x optical zoom (family present)
Thank-you so much to all who sent us gifts. I know this is not the purpose for Christmas; we all know this. I do have to say though, that this has been the most fun Christmas that we’ve had so far. Of course we know that this is because we have Milaena with us now, but the reason why is not important. All I know is that I have many more wonderful Christmas seasons before me with my family and that alone makes me happy.
In remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice for us, Corinne and I have started a new tradition of finding on thing that we are going to “give” back to Christ. Basically, it’s an early New Year’s resolution. My gift to Christ was that I was going to be more in control of my temper. Corinnes’ was that she was going to work harder on her daily personal scripture study. For the record, I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, but I do believe in the spirit of Christmas and to giving to him who has given so much for me.
UPDATE: Went to the mall today and exchanged my jeans for a shorter pair that “fits”. I actually didn’t buy a 36″ waist. I need to start wearing clothes that fit me better. It’s like I just can’t break the skater look. LOL. Anyway, picked up a few new CDs as well with my gift certificate. I got Coldplay’s “Parachutes” for myself and Black Eyed Peas’ “Elephunk” for Corinne.
It’s funny when I think about how I “was” a few years ago. I wouldn’t think twice about spending $80.00 (that I may NOT have had mind you) on a pair of jeans. Now, it’s like $30.00 is a stretch. It’s not that I’ve become more budget-minded, but I think that I’ve become more tuned in to the fact that the money could be spent on my daughter. Anymore, walking through the mall is just painfull, whereas it used to be enjoyable. How times change.
I have decided it is high-time for a makeover of this website. Now that I have my new Mac, I’m hoping that sometime over the holidays I will be able to get it done. So, while I’m waiting for Photoshop and Illustrator to finish downloading, I figure that I’ll get on the design “concept” pronto and see what I can come up with. Please send suggestions to idont@reallycare.com. :P Okay, so I’m kinda joking about the suggestions part.
I realized recently that I’m the type of person who really looks back in the past too much. I look back at times that I “had” instead of looking forward to the great things that life still has in store for me. I hate this very much actually. I think the reason for this though is that have simply have so much going on in my life that I yearn for more mild times. Perhaps I’m fooling myself; perhaps not. At least making a new page will give me something to look forward to, right?
