Just 4 days away!

This Christmas has been weird ... the loss of my brother has made a profound impact on me this year. I miss him ... I miss his love for the holidays! I miss the way he flirted with every child he met and I miss the sheer joy he found in giving. I miss that he can't physically be here to share the festivities with us ...(I do believe he is near us in spirit).

I wish he could be here to laugh with us ... to hug and hold his grand babies! I miss the way we would change the lyrics to any given Christmas Carol just for the sheer thrill of the laugh!

I don't want it to be misunderstood that I haven't felt the Christmas spirit ... I have, in a profound spiritual way. The Savior has stood beside me and I know He will continue to do so. Though twinkling lights and Santa Claus are wonderful magic things, it's time spent with family and friends where I truly find the joy of the holiday!
I have reached into the dusty corners of my mind and looked at the memory pictures stored in my head. I have been truly blessed in my life.

President Thomas S Monson in the 1987 Ensign wrote:

The true Christmas spirit is never found in a surfeit of things. It is less obvious in arrival and more lasting in impact.

An unknown author wrote:

I am the Christmas Spirit.
I enter the home of poverty, causing pale-faced children to open their eyes wide in pleased wonder.
I cause the miser’s clutched hand to relax and thus paint a bright spot on his soul.
I cause the aged to renew their youth and to laugh in the glad old way.
I keep romance alive in the heart of childhood and brighten sleep with dreams woven of magic.
I cause eager feet to climb dark stairways with filled baskets, leaving behind them hearts amazed at the goodness of the world.
I cause the prodigal to pause a moment on his wild, wasteful way, and send to anxious love some little token that releases glad tears—tears which wash away the hard lines of sorrow.
I enter dark prison cells, reminding scarred manhood of what might have been, and pointing forward to good days yet to come.
I come softly into the still, white home of pain; and lips that are too weak to speak just tremble in silent, eloquent gratitude.
In a thousand ways I cause the weary world to look up into the face of God, and for a little moment forget the things that are small and wretched.
I am the Christmas Spirit.
This is the spirit each true Christian seeks. This is the spirit I pray each may find. This is the Christ spirit. No quest is so universal, no undertaking so richly rewarding, no effort so ennobling, no purpose so divine. The Christmas season seems to prompt anew that yearning, that seeking to emulate the Savior of the world.

May the light of Christ warm your soul not just at Christmas time, but always!