I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas,

Ich wünsche ein frohes Weihnacht!!! With Everyday getting closer and closer to Christmas, I am getting more and more excited to call all of you! Really, I am so excited and can hardly wait. This week we finished setting up our huge/small christmas tree. I remember at home, spending hours decorating the whole house with ornaments, snowmen, lights, the nativity scenes, angels, stockings, candy and so on. The ganz Christmas time is so exciting, and is nur ein Happy time. I can always feel it in the air, when Christmas comes closer and closer.

So Like I said, we finished decorating the Christmas tree this week, and continued through our adventkalendars. The Chrsitmas tree is beautiful, not real, but still beautiful, and I can say this may be the greatest Christmas I have ever had.

This past few weeks I have been pondering about Christmas and what makes this time such a special time. What makes it special? I think about past Christmases... What part made this day such a wonderful day? I think about the gifts I gave. I remember being more excited to see others open their presents, then I was about mine. I remember, hoping that Jessica, Ashley, Jeremy, Mom, or Dad, would really enjoy the gift, that they would be happy and smile and laugh. So is this why Christmas was so special to me? Giving, brought me greater joy then getting.. Then I think about what we all got. All of us collectedly as a whole. What have we all received? Gifts? Toys? Candy? A Testimony? This day we all received, Jesus Christ. That day, He was born and He is the greatest gift to us all.


I love the picture, The Spirit of Christmas, by Greg Olsen. I will include it in this email. Truly it shows the true meaning of Christmas. Receiving gifts is fun, giving gifts brings happiness, but remembering the true meaning of Christmas brings us everlasting joy:) I find this art to be quite inspiring. It makes me wonder, what do we focus on when it comes to Christmas? The world may focus on Santa, but even Santa seems to be focused on Christ. Thomas S. Monson talks about the true meaning of the Spirit of Christmas. He says, "We must only drop the last syllable and it (The Spirit of Christmas) becomes the Spirit of Christ." What a wonderful, yet simple sentence. We must only drop the last syllable, we must only drop the focus of buying, buying, buying, shopping, shopping, shoping, and this becomes the Spirit of Christ:) Again, this art is amazing, It reflects the true meaning of Christmas. I hope we all remember the real meaning and that we are happy, not overly stressed, but reflect on Christ.

I love you all!
Love,
Elder Annen