There are some holiday traditions that were purposefully planned and others that just happened. This is one of the latter. A few years ago, I decided to combine decorating sugar cookies with watching the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional...and it stuck. It's actually a pretty simple tradition where we are filled physically and spiritually. The devotional usually lands on the Sunday when we celebrate Danny's birthday so I always record it then we find an evening during the week (which is no easy feat) to indulge our stomachs and our hearts. It is actually pretty fun to see how invested the boys are in their cookie decorating. Danny can get really into it (although he might have reached that stage where he's too cool for that now). Jonas is just getting to the point where he wants his cookies to look good; he just cared about the taste before. As we decorated our cookies, we listened to beautiful music and inspiring messages about our Savior. As fun as the cookies are, I hope the boys are more filled because of the words spoken rather than the cookies consumed. I realize that's a tall order and I'm not entirely certain they pay attention, but they are present. Personally, I need this devotional each year. I need to be reminded about the true reason of the season. That reason is always there, but sometimes it takes a backseat to the other traditions of the season. Without His birth, there would be no life today; there would be no meaning or purpose or hope; there would be no love. He is our Reason. He embodies hope and love. He shows us the meaning of this life and our purpose here. He is the reason I keep trying. He in the Inspiration I need to be better. He is truly why I have reason to celebrate!
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