Post Christmas Reflection

So I was thinking about a lot of things last night as I was going to sleep. One thought/idea that kept coming back was that I wanted to write a little more about Christmas so that's what I'm going to do.

Megan and I have spent some time talking about what makes Christmas Christmas and what the best part of it is. We both agreed that one of the best parts of Christmas is giving gifts. I think it's so amazing how that has changed over the years. I remember so well the pure excitement leading up to Christmas morning and opening all my presents. Gradually I started to enjoy watching people open the gifts I'd given them more than opening my own. That's not to say that I don't enjoy being on the receiving end, it's just that there's a different feeling in giving a gift than in receiving. 
I've been working on Meg's present for a while. Over the course of our relationship we've taken a few pictures and a large number of them have been on my camera. There have been a few of them that I've kept for myself for the express purpose of giving them to Meg as gift. So that's just what I did. I know she loves to scrapbook so I made a bunch of 4x6 prints and put them in a little photo album. I also made an 11x14 print of my favorite picture of us and framed it. So on Christmas Eve we sat down by the fire in my front room to exchange gifts. We both had two part gifts so we took turns. I opened one first and found a scarf/hat combo and a pair of sunglasses. It made me smile because I'm always borrowing Meg's sunglasses when we're driving because I misplaced mine a few months back. I've also wanted a scarf for a while. She opened the photo album first. Next I opened her second gift. The first thing that was really neat was that she made the box for this gift via origami out of wrapping paper. Inside was a deck of cards. At first I was a little confused but after a little direction from Meg I turned the box over to see what was written. "52 things I love about you." I was slightly shocked, it a very good way. This was hands down my favorite gift of the season. It just reinforced my already powerful love for her. She opened her framed 11x14 and judging from her response I think she liked it. It was such an amazing evening.

Once all is said and done however, the most amazing gift we have all received is that of our Savior Jesus Christ. Only through Him can we be forgiven of our mistakes. Only through Him can we hope to live with our families and loved ones forever. Only through Him can we receive the ultimate gift of Eternal Life. Because of what He went through and suffered He is ready, willing and able to run to our aid durning the trials of this life.

Finals and Christmas

Well finals have come and gone as have a few other large events. I feel bad about not writing in so long. I wish I could go back and write about everything but I feel that if I were to try it would end up being a very boring post filled with lists of things I've done.

Yesterday was Christmas and what a Christmas it was. I realized that it had been three years since my last Christmas at home. That's a long time but it really didn't feel that long. In the past on Christmas morning I would usually wake up fairly early and because of this I would do a lot of sitting around waiting for the rest of the family to get there so we could have our Christmas brunch and then head into the front room to open presents. However, this year was different. Anne and I opened presents in the morning, then went to church (which was great) and then the family came in for dinner and more opening.

I spent most of Christmas Eve with Meg and her family up at her grandparent's house. It was so much fun. I find it so interesting how we're on such different ends of the spectrum. I'm the very youngest in my family and Meg is the oldest, or there abouts. It was fun to see another set of family traditions. Meg and I learned a piano duet which we were able to play at her family party and then again at my house. It was a very fun weekend.

Sorry this is such a short and somewhat boring post but I really felt the need to get something new up. For some reason I felt like I couldn't start writing again until I'd caught up and the longer it went the less I wanted to do it. So here it is and I'm just going to call it good.

"Sam, you can do better."

Okay, so this is a post I wrote yesterday (Monday the 5th) and I'm just now getting around to posting it. Enjoy!

Yesterday was such an amazing day filled with my favorite person in the world. My Sunday morning meetings weren't too bad and then it was choir practice. We were supposed to be practicing in the young womens room but some committee from the 1st Ward was using it for a board meeting. We ended up having to meet in a tiny room above the bishops office with a tiny little keyboard. I'm not quite sure what's going to happen with this Christmas program. In Priesthood Cody Lundgreen gave the lesson. He shared a personal experience he'd had while back and it really touched me. He said that he was praying and felt like there was a wall between him and the Lord. As he knelt there pondering why this was happening he had a distinct impression come. "Cody, you can do better." I wonder if that's what I've been feeling these past few weeks/months. "Sam, you can do better." I know that I can. Especially with my gospel study. I love Sunday School and Sacrament because I get to sit with Meg.

After church Meg and I headed up to her home in Syracuse. I was a little nervous because being around her dad stresses me out a little. I feel like I need to prove myself to him and I feel like I'm failing. It scares me because I'm in love with his daughter and I want his approval to be dating her. I feel that I get along with the rest of her family really well even if we do have pretty different interests. One great thing from last night was I being able to listen to Meg and her sisters practice a song they're going to be singing. They all have amazing voices and I was sad that I wasn't going to be able to hear them sing this. I felt kinda bad because I think Adrianna was a little self conscious with me sitting there listening to them especially when they broke it down and had each of them practice their own parts one at a time.

I have a migraine today which is really messing with my emotions and memories. It's really interesting that I have one because I just finished writing a paper for biology about migraine headaches. I think that last night I had a dream about something going horribly wrong between me and Meg and the emotions from that dream and bleeding over.

I'm really stressed about finals. I had my first dream about failing my finals last night and it's got me really worried. I feel like such a bad student because I haven't been studying up to this point and I really need to start. Mostly I'm worried about Math and Biology. In a few minutes I'm going be headed into Biology to start the review days. I missed a good chunk of math this morning because of my migraine and over sleeping. One week from tomorrow I will be done with finals and winter break will have started. Oh what a much needed break that will be.