our Christmas

was awesome! We had a fun party-filled week leading up to it, a magical Christmas day, and even a lovely day-after party.

Clint and I are sort of clinging onto our newly-wed tradition of moving out mattress into the family room and sleeping by our tree. We love it so we figured we will keep it up as long as possible! :)

We woke up early Christmas morning to go to church early (about 8:15) where I sang in three choir numbers and Clint sat by himself in the congregation. It was a great meeting and we sang some of my favorite songs including "O Come O Come Emmanual" and "The First Noel." I felt like ending with "Joy to the World" but I was fine with the classic closing song choice "Silent Night."

Then we came home and promptly changed into pajamas again for our gift ravaging session. Clint and I have come up with a way to make the gifting session last as long as possible while enjoying every minute. We take turns picking out a gift for the other one to open, and watch each other open it.

Among other things, I received some nice cold weather gear, jewelry, a laminator, a nice weight set, and these ultra cozy slippers which I am wearing right now.

Clint thought this was a funny picture of me trying to remember what things were in each of Clint's gifts as I tried to decide what he should open next.

Clint received some nice, dressy casual shoes, running shoes, a new gym bag and lock, ties, jeans, and lots of chocolate. :)

Santa also brought us a few new movies and.... (drum roll) dum dum de dum! A new laptop! I was super surprised and excited to open up that little nugget. Of course we will both have convenient uses for a laptop, but I especially am salivating at the prospect of taking my work en plein air. That is, having freedom to work from wherever and also testing out my creative writing powers under various natural settings.

And so in conclusion I must say: Clint is a fabulous gift giver. As are my parents, his parents, and our siblings. We have been inundated with blessings.

We also refuse to follow in the steps of the local radio stations and pretend that Christmas is just a day that comes and then goes. So we still happily play Christmas music at our house in the evenings while sitting next to our tree and admiring our stacks of opened presents.

Hope your holiday season continues to be magical as well. :)

Happy New Year!

downtown days of christmas

Clint and I traveled downtown 3 days in a row last week.

And we feel like we don't need to do it again for a very, very long time.

Each time it took us at least twice as long as it normally would because of extra Christmas traffic, including accidents on the freeway each night. We were travelling in the evenings on days that I can only assume the rest of the valley was heading downtown for the same events that we were. I also decided that some people who were heading toward these Christmas-related activities are people who do not normally drive on the freeway, and during busy conditions.

How else can I possibly account for all of the accidents on the freeway between the south end of the valley and downtown? It wasn't as busy as rush hour, nor have we had any snow to serve as people's excuse for driving poorly.

Anyway. Once we made it downtown, we had a great time going to one performance of Pioneer Theater's "Annie", the Utah Symphony's surprising spectacular of "Cirque de la Symphonie", and Clint's office party.

Just in case you've been wondering what we're up to.

Sam: now a Christmas candy maker!

Oh yes. It is official.

I am the candy-making queen!!

(Well, at least with the help of some more experience candy makers.)

I had the jolliest time last week making these chocolate mints with my mom (not my own picture but exactly like our same process):

...which look and taste just as good or better than these wonderful babies:

And then on another day I made these with my mom-in-law:

I made enough of both to give away some gifts to a few of our luckiest neighbors but am finding it extraordinarily difficult to give them up... even though I am withholding some for me and Clint! They've been sitting in wrapped bundles in my basement for about a week now. I think I just need to do it!

Anyway, this has got to turn into an annual tradition. I love the home-made candy. However, my exercise routine does not - the two are currently fighting to the death and they appear to be in stalemate. 

Mmm!

I guess I'm fighting the "Christmas war"

The Salt Lake Trib had this provocative cartoon in Sunday's paper yesterday:

It's right on the money.

I've been thinking about Christmas topics a lot lately. And yes, I will speak of my faith for just a moment.

This is a busy week for me. I have a Young Women activity on Wednesday, the theater on Thursday, the symphony on Friday, an office party on Saturday, an extended family dinner on Sunday which I have to preparer something edible for, and I am also giving the Christmas lesson this Sunday to the combined Young Women classes. Oh yeah, and somewhere in there I have to send out greeting cards, neighbor gifts, and squeeze in more Christmas shopping.

I'm booked solid, even though it's mostly with fun Christmas stuff. It's easy to see why we get caught up in the stress of Christmas and forget what it REALLY is about.

And, surprisingly enough, Christmas is not actually about what the media is telling us that it is about: that Christmas is about "giving." While generosity and consideration for your fellow men are worthy  principles that we should be following all year round, they are NOT all Christmas is about. Not really. Actually, they're by-products of the true meaning.

The media will do anything to take Christ out of Christmas and appeal to a larger shopping and money-spending demographic.

Christmas... really... is about Christ. The Savior and Light of the world. Christmas is a Christian holiday, whatever the media says.

I've been making a point of wishing strangers "Merry Christmas" instead of just "Happy Holidays." The best gift we Christians can give  is the simple reminder of what this life is all about, and we can share Christ's love with others. I think I'll challenge my Young Women on Sunday to be eager to wish people a "Merry Christmas" this season.

I love Christmas, I love Santa, I love the songs, the trees, the lights, the gifts... and the giving, of course! I really don't think any of these celebrations are bad. But most of all, I love the way that all of these secular symbols are really just that - symbols to turn our hearts toward the birth of Christ and what that really means to us.

So on that note... Merry Christmas! May it be magical. :)

Here, have some Christmas spirit!

This could be the most magical 5 minutes you spend today. Promise. :)

Drumroll... and now for an online bookclub!

Right now it's called: Sam's Magical Book Club; and it will be fabulous. Always.

By the show of comments and/or votes, how many of you would like to join my new book club? (It will be found on my writing blog - you may also click the tab above or on the sidebar.)

Everything will be done online, from choosing books to reviewing them to sharing ideas and handing around virtual biscuits and jam and sparkling lemonade slushies. (Okay, so maybe not the food.) the point is - you get to be a full-fledged member just by reading my blog and commenting.

So far it has one member: me.  But a bunch of people have said they're interested, so I am afraid that positions of V.P., Secretary, Miss Bookworm, Book Club Greeter, and Miss Betsy-Bo Bookish McGoo will be granted on a first-come, first-serve basis. (I can come up with as many as positions as there are people who want them...)

So... let's get this thing started!

Reasons why you should join my book club:

1. You don't have to leave home to go to book club meetings (but you can if you want... more details later.)

2. You can read the books on your own time - about 1 book a month.

3. You do NOT have to cheat on your old book club. You can join both at the same time.  And if you have too many books to read - suggest a book that you're reading in another book club and we'll do the same one!  One book; two places to talk about it.

4. You get to suggest and choose books you want to read.  We'll pick books ranging from Paranormal Young Adult to classic literature to New York Time Bestseller list books. You choose what you want to read and what you don't want to read. 

5. You can read my review of the book each month on Sam's Magical Book Club website and post your own reviews.

6. I'll update the site throughout the month to talk about developments in the book and you can too.

7. You will never be kicked out.  Take a month off if you want.  That's why it's called Magical, my friends.

8. You really don't have to do anything besides read the book and then make as many comments as you want online.  I'll manage pretty much everything else.

9. IT'S ALREADY STARTED!!!  December's read is Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.  This fits the Young Adult category and the NY Times Bestselling category. 

Sorry for the sort of late notice - we will extend the reading time for the Uglies series into January.  If you've already read Uglies or if you think you can read it a lot faster than one month, feel free to go on in the series (with Pretties, Specials, and Extras).  

Then at the end of January we'll talk about the series and meanwhile be deciding on the next book!