TRADITIONS

There are just a few traditions that we have actually kept over the years:

1. Chinese food on Christmas Eve - because Harmony pointed out years ago that the wise men came from the 'east'.

2. Open one present on Christmas Eve - except for this year because Joy is working tomorrow, so we exchanged our few presents tonight.

3. Read Luke Chapter 2 together, and talk about what Christmas should really be about.

4. And maybe this is going to become a tradition - Annette posted a great quotation from Elder Neal A. Maxwell on her blog: "Each of us is an innkeeper, who decides if there is room for Jesus."

Tonight we talked as a family about how we can extend Christmas throughout the year with an attitude of caring and sharing. Bill also know of a family whose main bread-winner lost his job on Tuesday - two days before Christmas.

Talk about bad timing.

I firmly believe that God answers our prayers through other people. That's one of the reasons we are commanded to serve one another. And while my family can not reach out physically and do anything tangible for this family, we can include them in our prayers, and pray that God can touch someone who can help them.

Mother Teresa said that we cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.

We're going to try to remember that all this coming year.