The 'w' in Christmas

This is one of my favorite Christmas stories.

The W in Christmas

Each December, I vowed to make Christmas

a calm and peaceful experience.

I had cut back on nonessential obligations -

endless baking, decorating, and even overspending..

Yet still , I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments and, of course, the

true meaning of Christmas.

My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year.

It was an exciting season for a six year old.

For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's Winter Pageant.

I didn't have the heart to tell him

I'd be working the night of the production.

Unwilling to miss his shining moment,

I spoke with his teacher and she assured me

there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation.

All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then.

Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.

So, the morning of the dress rehearsal,

I filed in ten minutes early,

found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down.

Around the room I saw

several other parents quietly scampering to their seats.

As I waited, the students were led into the room.

Each class, accompanied by their teacher,

sat cross-legged on the floor.

Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.

Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas,"

I didn't expect anything other than fun,

commercial entertainment songs of

reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.

So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love,"

I was slightly taken aback by its bold title.

Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates,

adorned in fuzzy mittens,

red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads.

Those in the front row - center stage - held up large letters,

one by one,

to spell out the title of the song.

As the class would sing "C is for Christmas,"

a child would hold up the letter C.

Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on,

until each child holding up his portion had

presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."

The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her;

a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down -

totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W".

The audience of 1st through 6th graders

snickered at this little one's mistake.

But she had no idea they were laughing at her,

so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W".

Although many teachers tried to shush the children,

the laughter continued

until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together.

A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen.

In that instant, we understood the reason we were there,

why we celebrated the holiday in the first place,

why even in the chaos,

there was a purpose for our festivities.

For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"

This is the message I wish to share with all of you out there this Christmas. Christ was love. he was born in a humble stable in Bethlehem and gave his life for our sins. He suffered for us and without Easter there would be no Christmas. I love Christ with all my heart I know he loves me.

It's Christams time again!!!!

One of my very favorite holidays is Christmas. It's not so much the receiving anymore, no, it's more about the joy I receive in giving.

The past few years I have made the presents I give and when we choose presents on Christmas Morn, I always go for the ones, not to me, but from me. It always makes me feel good to see my siblings and parents unwrap the present I worked on for hours. The fruit of my labors you might say. It feels wonderful to give a little of myself.

We have many traditions to help us keep Christ alive in our hearts during this Christmas season, many of which take place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
some even take place 4 weeks before Christmas. We always to Advent. We start on the 4th Sunday before Christmas and light one of four candles. on the last Sunday before Christmas we light all four candles having lit a succeeding candle each week preceding. Advent signals the coming of Christ. Then, starting on the first we have Advents we do every day of the month.

On the 5th of December we set out our best shoes and on the morning of the 6th we find treats and books and maybe a little toy from St. Nikolaus. This is called St. Nikolaus tog.

Somewhere in the week before Christmas we decorate sugar cookies and make Austrian Cookies/put them together, all while watching The Sound of Music. I love that tradition sooooo much. It is definitely one of my favorites.

Then on Christmas Eve things really start to hop, but not till the 'eve' part of Christmas Eve. First we go out into the cul-de-sac and sing Christmas carols around a fire with the neighbors. A tradition that was started by a family that moved away about 5 years ago.

After Caroling our family goes inside and eats a feast. It consists of bread, meat, cheese, deviled eggs, smokies, and chips. plus many other good things I can't think of. Then we have a 'concert' a tradition recently started. We sit in the front room and each child that plays an instrument, this year all of us, plays a song and some of us play two.

After the concert we move into the family room where we talk about the true Christmas story, the fact that Christwas. Then we each read our testimonies to the family. Afterword we have the cookies and candy we have made and then we go to bed.

Christmas also happens to be Isaak's birthday so we have to celebrate that. When we wake up on Christmas morning we have to wait until everyone is awake, properly dressed, and showered. Then Dad goes down first (we all have our bedrooms on the same level.) As soon as he says the word we part the curtain and go down the stairs. then Isaak makes a choice, Birthday presents first or Christmas? Truthfully I used to HATE that he could choose this and he would always choose birthday but now if he chooses birthday first it's no big deal because it's all wrong if he chooses Christmas.

After Isaak opens his birthday presents we all line up in age order youngest to oldest. when we hear the glockenspiel we know we can go in. from there it's Christmas, with family, and that's all that matters this time of year.

Have You Ever?

Have you ever had a day where anything you did seemed to go wrong? Everything went right?
For my family this week (yes I know the week has only been two days so far) has been the everything's going wrong.

Yesterday the bleach bottle at my grandma's house spilled into her dryer where all of her best clothes were, totally bleached nothing to be done. Then as Uncle Ed was emptying the dish washer the butter bell fell and broke. Later as we all gathered for dinner, grandpa dropped the pizza in the oven. then he under-cooked one and, well, the pizzas were a disaster. then, the pumpkin part of the pumpkin pie got on the crust and that part of the pumpkin pie was burnt.

My day didn't seem to go horribly but it could have gone worse. My brother felt the same way. He was grumpy too. some NAL people were not happy with quarter assignments or who was captain of what quarter. after a while I just didn't care anymore.

The things that did go right, however were for the better, I hope. We ended Davis Youth early so we could celebrate Beethoven's birthday which isn't actually until the 17th. It was really nice because I got a chance to talk to Sarah, Kaitie and Camille and we had cake. I learned something very interesting. Kaitie doesn't like frosting. She spent more time taking the frosting off her cake than eating the actual cake.

All in all I think that everyone has bad and good days the way you handle them is the way you feel about them.

Can you imagine having the perfect day, your ideal weather, everything goes great. Even though your day is perfect you have a person with who says, "It's too good to last, days will be horrible from now on." Can you imagine being around that person for even a minute, let alone a day. what a killjoy! you would find yourself talking like them.

Then again can you imagine having the most miserable day you could ever imagine. You forgot your math homework, you didn't study for a test, you don't feel good, and to boot it's the worst weather you could imagine. But, you have the brightest, most cheerful person in the entire world with you and s/he is constantly saying, "Isn't this a wonderful day!! It may seem bad now, but it can only get better!! You can do it, you can do it!!" wouldn't that person turn your day, your frown upside down and help you be a better person?

It's that optimistic feeling, that way of looking at things that can always turn your day upside down, for the better. The wonderful person that can do that for you is wonderful! May we all, be better because of the optimistic people in our lives. Don't be the rain cloud, the sour puss that puts the damper on! Be the life of the party, live life to its fullest, be optimistic! it can only get better.

My Letters about Literature entry

Dear Ms. Montgomery,

As I read your book Anne of Green Gables I am always touched by Anne’s simple but beautiful take on life. It makes me take just one more look at my life and how I see it. Anne rosy outlook is a way I hope to see the world. Her simple mistakes and crazy ways make me feel that maybe the mistakes I make aren’t so bad.

When I was littler I remember trying to be Anne. I remember having tea parties and though every detail is not the sharpest I can almost imagine myself saying “Isn’t this simply divine?!” It is a classic in my family. My cousin, Rachel, also tried to be like Anne, though I thought it kind of weird at the time I realize now what I hypocrite I was. For me, watching the Anne of Green Gables movies and reflecting on the books is a tradition I cannot overlook when we are alone at Oma’s.

Anne’s faults are also reflected in my life. I know that I too hold grudges far too long, especially grudges that I could let go after just a little time. I also find that when someone tells me I can’t then I do it just to spite them and to prove I can, just like Anne climbing the Barry’s roof. When someone tells me my spelling is atrocious or my math is dismal and that they’ve never seen a dunce like me I work all the harder and hope to prove that I am the best I can be.

When I read about “Lover’s Lane” or “Dryad’s Bubble” I want to go out and find such a place in my own world. Anne’s new look at life and her optimistic view of everything helps me to find the good in an outright horrible math test or a dismal score on a project. Her big words often cause me to look them up and, in turn, strengthen my vocabulary.

Anne’s little mishaps often made me cry and even laugh sometimes. I would read with horror the currant wine experience and fervently hope never to have that happen in my life. I would read of the time when Anne lost her temper and crashed her slate over Gilbert’s head. I keenly felt the injustice of having one’s name spelled wrong as that has happened to me on many occasions. Though my name is much harder to spell than Anne I always cringe when I see Bridgette or Brigette, if I were Anne the injustice would be keenly felt.

As with Anne I too love to read aloud and to put passion into my words. Though I am not as good as I imagine Anne is I still enjoy reading aloud immensely. A lot of my passion goes into reading and writing, but, unlike Anne, I put most of my passion into my music. Her passion was bringing words to life, mine is to bring the wonderful, sweet melodies of music to life.

Anne seemed to always be worried about her red hair. I too have red hair, yet mine is a little darker and I like to think of it as auburn. Even so, seeing Anne with red hair brought me that much closer to her. She and I seemed so much alike just at the offset of the story when I first read of her red hair. I sometimes wish I too had gray eyes, just like Anne. I think gray eyes would be absolutely gorgeous, don’t you?

In many ways Anne and I are alike, in many ways we are different. Yet Anne will always be my hero, the person I look up too. The person whose mishaps, I hope, will never be mine! In closing I would like to ask you even one question. Ms. Montgomery, were you inspired to write about Anne because of your own life experiences?

Yours, very sincerely,

Brigitte

What do You do at Mutual?

My ward, we . . . Chat, talk, whatever you want to call it. tonight our activity was to make sugar cookies and decorate them. What that turned into was a huge talk session, some goofing around (we had some "Presents" ) and a whole lot of fun. Christy and I talked forever, about school, about the fact that she might be a dentist when she grows up, and many more things. Allie and Caitie wrapped themselves up. Allie in garbage bags and Caitie with a bow wrapped around her middle. Caitie was a Superman doll. I"m not sure what Allie was. Emilee, Maddi and Lily just had a great time, until they bumped a glass thing hanging on the wall that broke even thought Emilee tried to catch it, as evidence, she got cut. Nomi, Ginny and I talked with Sister H, and Sister B for awhile too. We all have many laughs and much fun.

So here's the question:

What do you do at mutual???

I can almost guarantee that you don't have as much fun as the Mia Maids of the Rosewood Ward.

Favorite Fairy Tale

During the past year I have come to realize that I do have a favorite Fairy tale.
This fairy tale is something I have loved for many years I'm sure, Cinderella is the fairy tale I love.
I guess I've come to realize this in several different ways, the French plays for one, Cendrillon (Sara) was a beautiful sight to behold, lovely with her blue dress, and her hair falling beautifully down her back. The ball scene where I was privileged to play part of the waltz. Half notes was all I got, though the song in it's entirety was wonderful, a perfect fit. It was beautiful. My love also comes from watching several different Cinderella movies.

I'm not sure exactly why I love it but I do.
It seems to me that my love of this fairy tale might come partially from my innate desire, as is every girl's wish, to be a princess, to have a handsome prince sweep me off my feet and carry me to his palace. But since there seems to be a shortage of real-to-life princes around here I have to cope with what I'm given.

As such that all of us are children of a Heavenly King, that, in turn, makes all of us Princes and Princesses. Though we may not realize this, may we soon find out/realize this and act as such. Though I may not feel the Princess I am inside, I am a Princess.

I guess this innate desire to be a Princess also extends to why girls love to where big frilly, beautiful dresses to dances. they are very inconvenient but we wear them to feel our inner Princess. Our royal version of ourselves, don't be afraid to shine your light from within, yet please don't be a snob, people can't stand snobs.

even though girls love dresses (the big poofy kind) I wonder if guys enjoy wearing tuxedos half as much, somehow I doubt it.


Someday when I am older I hope to have a dashing Prince, and young man of good report, worthy to enter the temple, been on a mission and someone who will care for me as a queen, yet let me do what I want. I hope one day to have a man like this sweep me off my feet, and carry me into the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity.

That is the wonderful message of the gospel. We can be together forever as families, as brothers, sisters, parents, children, husband, wife, children, grandchildren, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc.

And one day that prince will find me, I will find him and if my wish comes true, he will sweep me off my feet, and my dreams will come true. I guess that sounds kind of cheesy but it's true, my dreams will come true, I'll be married in the temple to a man of good report, praiseworthy, wonderful. If my dreams come true!

the other part of my love for this fairy tale must also come from the each and every beautiful retelling of it. from Disney's Cinderella, to Ever After, to all the others out there, each and every one is beautiful in it's distinct way. the story itself is a beautiful way of telling a story that we all love, in a way we can all feel. In a way we become a part of the dreams, the beauty the sadness. all contained in one silly, yet wonderful fairy tale.

Time

Time

The day will come (or has already)
When you will shout "I don't have enough time!"
The time for me has come
The week, The day
Savior of the World=No time for homework

5 more days until I'm done,
5 more days of no time to do homework
5 more days of stressing out
and then I will be free!

more poems to write
more people to see
Obligations gone, time will be mine again!

Teen-girls Friday

May 1, 2010

Alarm rings

Day dawns

Rainy cold

she groans and flips

6 AM

Brain, Turn on

6 AM

School

Friday

Another groan and flip

Wait, Friday?

get up

The weekend starts soon

Mechanically eat breakfast

spoon to mouth, back to bowl

Get dressed

Shirt, pants, socks, shoes

Pack bag

Books, pencils, paper

Classes drag

Daydreams, boredom

Suddenly it’s the last class

The noise backs off

The day’s surreal

Soon the bell will ring

Countdown begins

5 minutes

4

3

2

1

The bell rings

Chaos breaks

Weekend has come

After another typical

Teen-girls

Friday

Orchestra

Brigitte E Hugh

May 12, 2010

On they come

First cellos then basses

Mixture all low

Then the violas

With violins right behind

They find their seats

Arrange the stands

And then they sit

And wait

A cellist is watching

A spot off the stage

Then suddenly she leans forward

And whisper’s across

“Concertmaster!”

The concertmaster stands

And puts bow to string

And drawing across

A note gushes forth

One pure note

And then they all

Join and the note is a chord

At once they all stop

And the cellist is watching once more

Quickly she stands

And the orchestra follows

As onto the stage

The conductor comes bowing

She then seats the orchestra

And takes her place

She flips through the music

And raises her face

All bows come up

And sound comes forth

As she moves her hands

The violins with melody pure

The cellos, violas and basses

With harmony clear

Sound comes forth and starts very soft

Increasingly it grows until

The sound is thundering

Just over your head

The song starts to slow and

And then it speeds up

Until it seems the

Bows don’t touch the string

The once again

The bows start to slow

And the music begins to soften

A sense of longing fills you

As quietly and sweetly now

The orchestra sings

It almost seems a lullaby

And the music sways

Sweet serenity

Then the bows sustain a note

For now the song is over

The conductor slowly lowers her arms

And raises the orchestra

She turns around applause breaks out

Thundering, crashing

Rolling in waves

She bows and leaves the stage,

The orchestra following close behind

And longing yet again sets in

As you yet realize

The magic is lost

Never to be regained again

Most of you know this teacher of whom this poem is about, but see if you can guess

Inside this door

June 1, 2010

Laughter thunders here

jokes come down like rain

after broken frogs,

and tests galore

laughter is common

just inside this door

the teacher is always a part of each joke

and always she celebrates

the great triumphs in class

but yet other times

the joke is on her

with spiders on one hand

and leashed flies on the other

with Alaska and island

not connected at all

and yet there are serious times

when we must rush

to get it all done

with malachite and sphalerite

just to start a list

with atoms to follow

and fossils come close behind

sadness fills our hearts

for now we must leave

the dear teacher

who in this room abides

Did You Guess?

Yes it's Mrs. Nelson!!!