It's been a good weekend. I guess it's preparing me for a tough next two weeks. With finals approaching I have SO much to do. I can't think too much about it, or I feel like my heart starts hyperventilating. I should have done so much homework this weekend, but I didn't. But this weekend was still magical for me. Friday night, I went to dinner with friends for a girl's night out. It started off with running through the rain on campus to get to the ATM machines. There were Christmas lights on the trees and the lights glistened off the wet ground. Something about running through the rain with friends and with Christmas lights around you is just magical feeling. We then went to dinner and laughed and acted like our crazy selves in between worrying whether or not our waiter hated us. After dinner, we went back to their apartment and laid down in their hallway. How I love my friends!
The next day, we had our pictures taken so that we could make Christmas cards for our friends on missions. That night, I went with my friends Lexi and Becca to a concert outside in the cold. The concert wasn't exactly my type of music. And I wasn't wearing a sweater with sleeves, so I froze. But still it was nice to be with friends, and to meet new people, and to eat cookies afterwards while watching Mulan.
And then today was church which was very good, and I just got back from the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. It was lovely. The music was beautiful, the talks were touching. And to top this wonderful weekend off, I was able to get a sub for my shift on Tuesday, which I am SO happy about, because that means I get to go to our ward's Christmas dinner and special program in Aspen Grove. I felt so bad because I told the bishop I was going, and they paid for the tickets, and then I got called in to work. But all's well.
So hopefully this will be enough motivation to get me through the next two weeks. Those 5 essays I was going to write last week? Yeah I only finished two. And tomorrow is cleaning checks. Who does that? Make us clean on a Sunday?
Well anyways, as it is now December, I would like to say my words on Christmas. Christmas is magical time of year, but only if you make it so. One thing I have learned over the years is that you can't say "It doesn't feel like Christmas" or it REALLY won't feel like Christmas. You have to just start saying "It feels like Christmas" and pretty soon it will. Because each Christmas is unique, and you can't expect it to be the same as last year's, especially since our memories tend to distort things from how they really were. No matter if it is raining instead of snowing, if it is hot instead of cold, if you are the only one in the apartment who will decorate for Christmas, if you are far from home, if you just haven't had time to watch your favorite Christmas movie, if the gingerbread cookies burnt, you can still make it feel like Christmas!
Here's how:
1. Sing Christmas songs.
2. Read the Christmas story during your scripture study.
3. Serve someone. The more you serve, the more you love. The more you love, the more it feels like Christmas.
4. Make a new friend.
5. Every time you see a Christmas tree, take a second to admire it's beauty.
6. Wish everyone you meet a Merry Christmas.
7. And (again) tell yourself that it feels like Christmas.
Because in the end, it's not the place you are in that makes it feel like Christmastime, it's your own attitude.
With that, Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!
Celeste
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