Christmas Cards

I arrived home after work today and setting on the counter was an envelope addressed to me.  The envelope was silver and shiny.  Excitement was radiating from my body because I knew what it could be.  It was my very first Christmas card of the season.  I LOVE receiving Christmas cards from friends and family.  Every time I receive one, I get these awesome warm fuzzies.   I LOVE reading Christmas newsletters and looking at the photos of cheerful families. I love being included on Christmas card lists.  It makes me feel loved.  I do LOVE this time of year!!

~Michelle

The Gren Village

(This picture doesn’t even do it justice.)

If you know me very well, you know that I LOVE Christmas.  I love everything about Christmas.  I love shopping for the perfect presents.  I love wrapping presents.  I love decorating for Christmas. I love Christmas baking.  I love to go look at the lights.  I love spending time with family and friends.  I love Christmas time!

One of my favorite places to go is my parents home during the Christmas season (ok…I love going there any other time of the year). Mom decorates each room in the home with a Christmas tree and a theme.  It is awesome.  She spends hours and hours decorating.  I love it. It such incredible place to go.  The spirit of Christmas is definitely present!

One thing that I am in charge of is putting together my mom’s Christmas village.  I have named it “The Gren Village”.  Unique. Huh?  My mom has hand-painted every house, market, church, school and the buildings go on and on.  It is awesome.  I love taking out each piece from their designated storage box and creating a village.  It is so cool when everything comes together…snow, lights, buildings, people, trees.  I love creating the village each year.  Aw…I love Christmas time!!!

~Michelle

Visiting Teaching

I love visiting with people. I love to listen to them talk.  I love to hear the sound of their voice.  I love to try and figure out what they are thinking.  I love to hear of their experiences from wonderful ones to the challenging ones.  I love to listen to them talk about the many details of their lives.  I just enjoy being around people.  I REALLY do!

Then…why is it so difficult to have the excitement to do my visiting teaching.  I really struggle with that calling.  I struggle with making the phone call, walking (or driving) to their home, knocking on their door and stepping into their homes.  I am not sure what it is but I REALLY struggle with it. I love who I visit teach…that is definitely not the problem.

I visit three wonderful ladies in my ward.  They have had so many wonderful and challenging experiences in their lives.  I love to listen to their stories.  I feel of their incredible spirits.  They are amazing sisters in the gospel.

Today, I went and visited each one of them by myself.  My visiting teaching companion is in Florida on vacation.  I knew with the festivities of this month, I would really be pushing it to get them visited if I waited until later in the month.  So, with a poinsettia and a Christmas card in hand, I visited each one of them.   I came away from each visit renewed with the wonderful blessing of service.  I am REALLY grateful that they are apart of my life and I know that I receive such wonderful blessings through visiting teaching…but it is a HUGE struggle.  Why?  I just do not understand.

~Michelle

Aw…she just melts my heart!

Today I got to spend time with my little buddy.  She melts my heart every time I see her.   She is just a ray of sunshine.  Oh my goodness, I love her so much. 

Today went shopping…only to a couple of stores.   We both were not feeling too well so we came back to warmth of my home.  We read books and watched Christmas movies.  Aw…this little girl melts my heart. 

She is the sweetest little girl in the whole world.  I love it when we are walking and she reaches up and takes a hold of my hand.  Or when I ask her who her best friend is and replies, “MaHelle!”  Aw…she just melts my heart.  I love her so much.  She means the whole world to me!! 

~Michelle

Favorite things Friday…I love Straight No Chaser

One of my most favorite things is….

Straight No Chaser!

I love these guys.  They make me smile!!  I could listen to them over and over!

~Michelle

Problem solved!

Ok…Gabby and I are great friends…you already know that because she is in a lot of my blogs.  One thing that I love about Gabby is that we like similar things and that includes ICE CREAM.  I love my friends that share the same delicious desires when it comes to that frozen incredible treat. 

(Side note:  I do love all my friends—not just the ones that love ice cream).

Today’s dilemma….Have you ever been craving ice cream and then when you arrive at the ice cream place, you realize that are two flavors that you REALLY want.  But, it would seem so awkward to order two orders just for yourself.  Oh my goodness…that would be so much ice cream.  Well, that is solved if you have Gabby as a friend.  She orders one and I order the other.  Then, we grab an extra cup and split our delicious ice cream.  VOILA!!  Problem solved.   Two flavors of ice cream for the price of one.  Plus, an awesome friend to eat it with…could life be any better?!

Hope you get a delicious frozen treat soon!  If you  need a friend to share it with…give me a call! HA HA

~Michelle

Should it be awkward?

I was having a random conversation with my friend Gabby today.  We were talking about how we love to send things in the mail and how we like to drop things off to people randomly.  We are so much a like with this area of our brains.  We love how it makes us feel inside.  We love that (we hope) it brings smiles to people’s faces. We decided ask a few people that we came in contact…how it makes them feel when they receive an act of kindness.  It was interesting.  At first, it seemed that it was such an awkward topic.  Should it be awkward?  Don’t the scriptures testify to us that when we “are in the service of [our] fellow beings [we] are only in  the service of [our]  God”?  So, why should it be awkward?

See, I love receiving notes in the mail.  I love receiving random gifts left on my doorstep.  I love it when people stop by my house to drop off a plate of cookies or whatever they have created.  I love it when people stop by to just visit me.  I love all of these types of things.  Since I love receiving these types of things, I LOVE to perform this service for others!  I love sending out letters, treats and things that make people smile. I love dropping things off on doorsteps.  I love to share things with others that I have created.  Even if it may be awkward, I truly believe that it brings a smile to their faces and hearts and secretly…it fills my hearts with so much happiness!  Aw…I LOVE IT!  LOVE IT!  LOVE IT!

Wouldn’t it be great if all day long we thought of others and how we could make them smile?  Aw…that would be the coolest day ever!! Thanks for listening to me ramble tonight!!

~Michelle