Christmas Letters...

This is it. This is the year. The year I finally get to write a Christmas letter! You get to summarize all the wonderful things that happened in your family throughout the past year, catch up with people you never hear from all year long until you get their Christmas letter, and brag about the wonderful things your children do, and wish everyone in one fell swoop Merry Christmas and Happy New Years'!

The Christmas Letter can be thought of as a primitive form of Facebook. For you youngsters out there, its an actual piece of paper that has words on it, and it comes in an envelop with curbside delivery. It usually printed on beautiful holiday stationary with a border of poinsettias of a little image of the Nativity in the corner, sealed together with a fun Christmas sticker.

Now that I have a little family of my own, it's more acceptable to write a Christmas letter. Yes I could just choose the latest design from Tiny Prints and add a darling picture of my daughter for all to see. "Merry Christmas from the Smiths," the only type added. But typing out a Christmas letter takes a little more thought and lets you share with others your gratitude for all the blessings you've received throughout the year.

If there's only one or two young kids in your family, your mom tells everyone about the new words you're learning, what grade you're in at school, what your Halloween costume was. As you get older it boils down to who you're dating and what job you have. If you're an adult still living at home, the language is tricky. You don't want your mom to announce to everyone that you're a failure - you're unemployed or something. I lived at home between graduating for college and getting married. While I basically had the basement to myself and came and went as I pleased, it's not like living at home until you're 24 is an accomplishment. My mom attempted to make it sound like a wonderful thing, that I was living in my "own apartment style living downstairs." I made her take it out and just say I was keeping busy by working and dating. This also makes it sound like I was dating lots of people, instead of the truth, not dating anyone.

I got a sneak peak at my Grandpa's letter this year since he still hand writes his and my mother types it out for him. It's a big deal if you make an appearance in this letter because with the family sprawling out bigger and bigger every year, there's only so much room on a one page letter and and so much to cover. You have to do something big to get rewarded with such an honor. Back when there were fewer than 30 cousins your high school graduation or new job may have been enough. But that doesn't cut it anymore. Unless you're serving an LDS mission or recently had a baby, kiss your chances goodbye. With little Liberty joining our family, our chances this year are good.

While sharing all your fun and excitement the  year has brought, the most important and exciting part about writing a Christmas letter is getting to share the spirit of Christmas by expressing your love and thanks for the Savior, Jesus Christ. My grandpa's always expresses his testimony of the birth of the Christ child, and his gratitude for this beautiful time of year. Whether I've "made it" in the letter or not, this part truly is my favorite part of reading Grandpa's Christmas letter. And I'm looking forward to putting our own thoughts about the true meaning of Christmas in our own.

What a marvelous time of year Christmas is. When its cold and dark outside, we have the Light of the World to bring us warmth, peace, and joy. The birth of Jesus in that humble stable in Bethlehem gives us the most wonderful reason to be cheerful and full of joy. It truly is most wonderful time of the year.