Christmas Eve 2010

It was a busy Christmas Eve. 

Troy painted walls.

Alyssa painted a picture. 

I ran and then did errands and finally cooked.

She found time to read.

We watched the Christmas 2010 LDS Devotional on LDS.org. 

Then, we pulled out Jesus' white stocking.  

We read our former letters to Jesus from the last few years. 

It came time to write him new letters full of promises for 2011 year.   

We wrote in our journals too!

Then it was time to surprise Alyssa, so we sent her to her room to read for awhile.   

She kind of got mad that we sent her away, as she really had no idea.

The scene

Her much earned bike, 6 of us contributed to this gift!

Alyssa paid $213.21

Sold her former bike for $60.00

Grandparents contributed $125.00

We paid the remaining $148.20

Total $546.41

Thank you Grandparents!

Stocking

Wanted, Needed, Thoughtful gifts

Alyssa's spring break airline tickets

Headlamp

Her lip gloss, she finaly got it back! 

You can ask her why it was taken away two months ago.

Her new swim parka.

An electric blanket from Nana.

I think she was most excited for this poster from Sister Miller.

A hat from Nana

Necklace from Troy

Life is good shirt and new jeans only $14.40

Family gift:  security system with four cameras!

Uncle Nick will install this week.

A Merry Christmas today and a white Christmas tomorrow. 

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Karma vs Chance vs Faith

This week I was deeply affected by a situation that happened at work.  I spent the week contemplating Karma vs Chance vs Faith.

First, some background:

We had a pyschologist visit from an east coast university.  He told us about his studies on the unconscious and how it interacts with judgment, behavior and conscious thought.   His program of research on social cognition, looks at structure and function of attitudes, beliefs and identity. His investigations of the predictors of corresponsdence between implicit and explicit preferences.  These interests are applied in domains of social import ance such as ethnicity and prejudice. 

This is an interesting experiment of person swap.  One guy is getting directions from a stranger and in the middle of the interaction, swaps out with someone new, normally the stranger never notices.  Certainly bizarre what we miss in life.

Ideology is essential. It is our sense maker helping us to understand a complex world.  However, it is constraining because often we can not think beyond what our sense maker allows and we miss so much of the world.  Our minds have a big task - it has to gather a lot of information and organize it so we can function in the world.  Without our sensory skills, he says we are blind, deaf and dumb to the world around us. We make top down assumptions based on our earlier experiences, based on things that we know about the world. 

He presented us with many different mind tests to show us as an audience.  One is this ambigious image below.  What do you see in this image?  There is an animal located in it. 

Once you do see it, even if you don't see this picture again for years, your mind will always remember it.  You can not get rid of the image - you do not get to decide not to see it. Your mind has made a decision to see it and says, "this is how I am going to understand this image." Once that conception is available, it just happens. 

One of the purposes for us to have the ability to use these theories, draw these conclusions, is to reduce the ambiguity of the world, fill in the gaps of our everyday living. We do this to simplify what it is we are looking at. This will allow us to think more deeply about how are we going to use this information.

He goes on to say this isn't just about perception.  These same inferences happen in our every day language, our memory, our judgment and in our making sense of the world.

Watch this 40 second video clip, keep the speakers off.  
It is a visual illusion experiment.  You will count the basketball passes. 
It is quite amazing to see what our brains pick up and what they ignore when we are focused on counting the passes. 

Well, somewhere in his 90 minute presentation, I heard him say, not to 'trust our feelings'.  I sat there, confused, frowning (as I am right now remembering the feeling I had), and thought to myself, THAT IS NOT RIGHT!  My heart started beating very fast, I gathered my composure.  I raised my hand, I asked him if I heard him right?!  He quickly realized where I was headed with my tone of voice and said, "I am not going to entertain the religious subject right now'.  My voice began to quiver and I felt the Spirit of the Lord put his hand on my shoulder.   In front of hundreds of people and video streaming through the company, I near tearfully said, "Sir, you don't have to, but I can't sit here and let even one person be misled by what you said, for that would be TERRIBLE.  We most certainly must trust our feelings.  Our higher power has given us that gift and we should use it as a source to guide us through our decision making in life."

After the presentation was over, I had a man approach me and thank me for sharing my coment.   That made me feel good.  I walked out of that room still shaking, disturbed and saddened by the Professor's comment and thinking, "I wish I didn't have to be exposed to such blind thinking here in the corporate world each day, how sad for my soul to be degraded in this way."  

My co-worker had been sitting by me in the meeting, later asked me what I thought of the speaker.  I briefly stated that I thought he had shared a lot of good psychology information.  However, I didn't agree with him on the feelings subject.  I added that I know through faith we can have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion to help us in life and that guidance comes through feelings. Subtle whisperings, dreams, thoughts and feelings that take time to tune ourselves to hear and be willing to follow.  It is an art.... a dance.  It takes effort and desire on our part to gain that sensitivity.  I know when I was first learning how to decipher the spirit, I would question those thoughts and wonder if I created them or even if Satan was trying to confuse me.  Overtime, I developed enough confidence to believe that the ideas/thoughts were from God.  I try to always give Him the glory by acting without questioning.  This will take a lifetime though.

She dismissed my faith comment quickly and instead surprised me by saying that she often tells her daughter that life is made up of karma.  I was sad to hear that she believed that bad things happen to people based on what they have done in their past or past lives.  Karma is simple cause and effect, action and reaction.   I do believe that if you do good in the world, then good will come back to you.  I call this a blessing from God.   I don't believe that bad things happen to good people because they deserve it.  Instead, I find peace knowing that trials and challenges are meant for our growth and that Heavenly Father does not leave us alone to deal with hard things, we have many ways to find support from Him. 

I know that Heavenly Father has no desire to move us around like chess pieces and cause things to happen or not happen.  He definately has his hand in our lives, but he has the difficult decision to not save us from every negative situation.  Life isn't meant to be fun every moment and certainly not easy.  We should also know that living isn't about chance either.  There is more to life than waking up and rolling the dice about how our day will go. We were given order through his Plan.  There is a purpose for everything. 

Today, I am grateful for that experience which strengthened my testimony in the Plan of Salvation.  I feel so relieved that I learned and believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  What comfort this knowledge brings me.

Merry Christmas

May you Have the Gift of Faith

the Blessings of Hope

and the Peace of His Love

at Christmas and Always 

Santa is a holiday, Jesus is Christmas

And as for me and our house, in the month of December, we keep in mind two things:

Santa is a holiday.

Jesus is Christmas.

There is a difference.

I’ve never been a big fan of the Santa tale.

 ~ Santa’s coming down the chimney to bring gifts for all the good little children ~

It is still hurtful to me to remember the day I found out.  

My parents had been lying straight to my face for years.  

How could I believe them about anything now?

Upon finding out the truth, I questioned the existence of more important figures, like God.

Friends I know have shared with me the joy they felt when they were grown up enough to know the secret.

However, we can't escape Santa in this culture, so I know it is here to stay.

I understand those that fight to carry the 'magic' on as long as possible in their lives and for their children. 

They say it’s cruel not to let children revel in the magic of Santa.

But let us not allow Santa to overshadow Jesus during this month either!

We try to have the latter, the other 364 days of the year. 

So it’s important that we not edge Jesus out of such a big holiday.

Ways to keep Jesus in mind during Santa Season. 

Say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays

Choose decorations of nativity, stars and angels.

Instead of dashing to gifts on 12/25, wake up and have a family breakfast and read the story of Jesus’ birth from the scriptures first.

Find Joy in giving to the needy

Have Santa write your children a letter about his special relationship with Jesus

Make Jesus real to children

You can avoid lying about Santa, but allowing your child to create the magic in their own heads.  I have friends who have carefully mastered their words so they never have to 'lie'. 

Remind them that Santa Claus is sometimes called St. Nicholas, after a man by that name who lived hundreds of years ago.

This man loved children and often gave them gifts.

 "The evolution from a pagan holiday transformed into a Christian festival to celebrate the birth of Christ in a season that is not really his birthday, is magic in itself. 

The pagan worship of the sun, deeply rooted in Roman culture, was replaced by one of the greatest festivals among Christians.

Christmas has come down to us as a day of thanksgiving and rejoicing—a day of good cheer and goodwill to men.

Although it has an earthly relation and significance, it is divine in content.

The ancient Christian celebration has lived continuously through the years.

So with that I can celebrate this season for Jesus and a little Santa too!  

I love festive music. 

I love seeing decorations that OTHERS have put up!

I love the pretty lights.

And for the record, I will continue to encourage Alyssa to pose with Santa, well because, it just looks fun and I know Christmas is supposed to be FUN too! 

1998 - Santa was at the hospital when she was born

Because one photo that season wasn't enough!

 Christmas 2002 - age 4

 Christmas 2009 - age 11 - taken at Sea World

 Christmas 2010 - age 12 - Maple Valley

Troy with Santa

Nice chair santa! Scheris in 1977

Scheris and Nick 1978

1980

1981

 Why Jesus is better than Santa!

Santa lives at the North Pole ...

JESUS is everywhere.

Santa rides in a sleigh ...

JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.

Santa comes but once a year ...

JESUS is an ever present help.

Santa fills your stockings with goodies ...

JESUS supplies all your needs.

Santa comes down your chimney uninvited ...

JESUS stands at your door and knocks,

and then enters your heart when invited.

You have to wait in line to see Santa ...

JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.

Santa lets you sit on his lap ...

JESUS lets you rest in His arms.

Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is

"Hi little boy or girl, what's your name?" ...

JESUS knew our name before we were born...

Not only does He know our name,

He knows our address too.

He knows our history and future and

He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.

Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly ...

JESUS has a heart full of love.

All Santa can offer is HO HO HO ...

JESUS offers health, help and hope.

Santa says "You better not cry" ...

JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you."

Santa's little helpers make toys ...

JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts,

repairs broken homes and builds mansions.

Santa may make you chuckle but ...

JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.

While Santa puts gifts under your tree ...

JESUS became our gift and died on a tree....

The cross.

Roxy's birthday

Today, Roxy celebrates her 4th birthday. 

What a cutie she was as a pup!

A happy little 8 yr old and her puppy!

starting to grow up

Happy to go on a hike at 7 months.

First birthday celebrated with one of her 10 siblings, PoPo, her favorite brother on the right.

Freshly groomed 

Loves to run and chase

Does not enjoyed being weighed, such despair.

 Can't sleep without something of dad's

 Bath time is so humiliating

 I know it is 70 degrees, but I really want to be in the house with you!

 I don't mind sharing the fire my sista!

 Summertime is the best, this is the life

Bet your bum doesn't look this great <3

Happy birthday special dog!

Easy, quick, subtle and because I like it this way!

Most of you know that we have simplified our life and our home. 

We have been selling off our Christmas decorations and already sold our 9ft imitation tree.  

Below are the 9 photos showing  a complete set of all we did this year. 

It was easy, quick, subtle, and frankly, because we like it this way.  

The little ornament stands are from Ikea, $2.99. 

LOVE THEM! 

I used the curtain rod to dangle my favorites!

 My tree is filling up! Keep them coming friends!

 entry way - with the blotchy paint that needs to be fixed while Troy is out of school for a few weeks. (It only shows in photos, but now we all know it is there, sheesh and ugh!)

Christmas book is a journal of each year for the past 10 years. 

I keep all your photo cards and write up a summary of our Christmas details each year.  

 Jesus' stocking is the center white one - well, that would make sense right?! 

He is the reason for the season!

Roxy and Akasha share the blue one on the left this year. 

Troy and I get red - which leaves kid with the gold one!

 Kitchen area