105.Today I am grateful for the ward Christmas party

I attended our ward Christmas party today and I am grateful for all those who organized the party and prepared the meal. I am also grateful that we were allowed to take home some of the wall decorations, paper stars, which I used to put up on our walls to decorate for Christmas.

104. Today I am grateful for my brother-in-law, JJ

Today is my brother-in-law’s birthday! Because I want to write about people I am grateful for as well as things I figure birthdays are a good day to share my gratitude for that person. I am grateful for JJ mostly because he treats my sister well and makes her happy. He also makes me laugh (even though the line between when it’s time to be funny and time to be serious may get crossed sometimes). He’s also always willing to help others out which is a quality that I admire.

Happy Birthday JJ!

103. Today I am grateful for Christmas carollers

One of my favourite things about Christmas is Christmas carollers, whether they are standing on the streets singing or going from house to house. You don’t see it very often these days but it’s something I enjoy participating in and seeing. One of my favourite family traditions is soon before Christmas, usually on Christmas Eve; we go around to the homes in our neighbourhood and sing Christmas carols. We’re not really that musical but we enjoy it and our neighbours love it.

Tonight I enjoyed listening to a women’s choir sing Christmas carols at the Legislature building. Singing really does help to feel the Christmas spirit. They were beautiful singers. As well as the legislature was decorated beautifully for Christmas inside and a beautiful lights display outside. They also served hot chocolate for patrons to enjoy while listening to the choirs. It’s nice to see that our tax dollars are being put to good use. J

102. Today I am grateful for times when life’s trials are put into perspective

I went out for ice cream with a friend tonight and parked in a nearby parking lot. I didn’t see any sign indicating that it was paid parking but a few minutes after I parked I was issued a ticket. The first thing I noticed was that almost every car had a ticket, second it was a Tuesday evening and it was cold, third I finally saw the sign at a far corner of the parking lot. With all these things combined, I drove home feeling very annoyed and then I got to a point where the traffic was backed up. Starting to feel even more frustrated I looked over and saw what appeared to be a very bad accident. My train of thought changed and I realized that this “trial” I was experiencing was not that bad and that it will help me to be sure to scan the whole parking lot for signs in the future.  

101. Today I am grateful for my FHE group

Family Home Evening (FHE) is church program that encourages families to set aside Monday evenings to spend with our family that includes a gospel lesson and an activity. Being that I am in a Young Single Adult (YSA) ward (congregation) were most of the members live away from their families, we are broken up into family home evening groups. There are two leaders (male and female) for each “family” group. Both of my leaders are really young but they are great! I had a lot of fun at our FHE tonight! We played silly games with a Christmas theme, such as playing charades, acting out Christmas songs. It’s nice to have an FHE group where we can get to know people more in a smaller setting. I’m looking forward to getting to know those in my group more.

100. Today I am grateful for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional

The first presidency Christmas devotional is something that I look forward to every year. I love the messages the leaders of the church share to members and others attending worldwide: Their reflections on the Christmas Season, testimonies of the Savior and their encouragement to viewers on the things that we could focus on or do for others.  I also love listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing!

Tonight I was with other members of my ward at our Bishops house, where we had planned to watch the devotional after our potluck. However, due to technological difficulties we were not able to watch the broadcast. When I got home, I put my pyjamas on and crawled into bed with my laptop and watched the devotional from lds.org. I usually go to a church building to watch it and really enjoy watching it in a church-setting but it was also kind of nice to watch it alone and reflect on the messages given without any distractions around me.

 Watch, listen or read the talks from this year’s First Presidency Devotional.

During his talk Pres. Eyring announced the Church’s “gift to the world” – Bible Video’s showing the life of Jesus Christ. I am really excited to watch each of these videos as they become available and hope that they will help all who view them come to better know Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World.  

99. Today I am grateful for a successful bridal shower

In a couple of weeks, one of my best friends will be married and I feel privileged to be one of her bridesmaids. Today me and the other bridesmaid held a bridal shower for her at my place which I am really glad turned out well. It seemed that people had a lot of fun and enjoyed the shower, including the bride-to-be. It was also fun to have people over. Besides the Thanksgiving dinner we had, we haven’t really had too many people over to our home.

Also, I am grateful for all the yummy food that Tiffany (the other bridesmaid) bought and for help from Tiffany and my roomates with decorating. When your short, it's hard to reach high places to put up things like streamers. hahaha. Good thing Tiffany is super tall!