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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas Makes Me Feel Emotional....


I don't know about you, but I get teary eyed while listening to or singing Christmas songs about our Savior's birth, the feelings of Mary, the love that people have for each other, and the peace that comes because of the event that we celebrate this time of year.  Christmas stories do the same thing to me. 
With that in mind, I'd like to take you to our home on Christmas eve, 11 years ago.  Our 3 oldest children had returned from their LDS missions that year.  We had gathered for our traditional Christmas eve activity of eating, reading Luke 2 and acting out the Nativity.  On that particular year we had decided to forgo the acting since the youngest, Jacob, was 7 and didn't want to be the baby Jesus. (I won't tell you the antics my older kids did over the years during the Nativity.  Let's just say it wasn't very reverent.)  After reading in Luke, we read Christmas stories from the lives of other people.  My son, Daniel, had returned from his mission the month before and it was the first time in 2 years that all 10 of us had  been together as a family for Christmas.  Jacob was lying on the floor during the story telling, in his own little 7-year-old world.  As Dan read his story, the spirit touched his heart and he became emotional.  He paused to work around his tears and the lump in his throat.  It touched all of us and we were all quietly waiting for Dan and struggling with our own emotions.  At that point, Jacob realized that the REAL world around him was quiet.  He went from his lying position on the floor to sitting up to look at his brother and said, "Oh! Is there a picture?"  That innocent response from him, got us all laughing and has been used as a way to lessen the embarrassment during an emotional time.
We have since added 13 people to our family and more chaos to our Christmas eve tradition.  But I love to remember that Christmas eve when we were all together, with the spirit of Christmas enveloping our home and our hearts.
Merry Christmas!

15 comments:

cindy-stitches-n-stuff.blogspot.com said...

Hi Connie, I'm Cindy@stitches-n-stuff. Thank you for visiting me and joining my followers. I try to visit my followers 2 or 3 times a week. I also have my drawings from my followers. So now your one of them. Welcome aboard.

Your family sounds absolutely darling. I love the emotional part. Which Julie did you find me from? I lived in Washington Terrace, went to Bonneville High and Weber State. My husband grew up in Wilson and went to Weber High and Weber Staqte. We have 5 children, 3 married and 8 grandchildren. My son Clint and daughter-in-law Kylie, live in Harrisville. We'll be up on Christmas day to visit them and have dinner with my husbands brother who lives in West Haven.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you.

Have a Merry Christmas
cindy geilmann

gigi said...

You have such a way with telling a story that I really did get the "picture". I loved this story and thank you for sharing it with us. You are a great mother and have such a sweet family. I pray that this Christmas Eve will be the best ever. Hope you have a wonderful New Year too.
Merry Christmas.

Melissa Miller said...

~Beautiful Connie!

Merry Christmas & Many Blessings
~Melissa :)

Julie Harward said...

Oh, me too...we used to re-enact the Christmas story with our 8 kids..we even brought the dog and cat in and made them part of the characters too. Now, there are so many of us and they have to share time with their in laws..so we seem to ALL gather fewer each year. But those were precious times...i love big families! MERRY CHRISTMAS..come say hi :D

Camille said...

Jake has always had a way with words. I usually get emotional around the holidays as well - but it's because of the added weight I put on...
Great post!

cindy-stitches-n-stuff.blogspot.com said...

Connie, my maiden name was Jarrett, I graduated in 1970, Robert, Brent and Arlen are my brothers. Two older and One younger. I'm 57 years young.

cindy@stitches

Erin Ann said...

Love the story - it's hard to imagine anyone of the Langston's being irreverent!!! Such a great thing to feel the Spirit, especially during Christmas. Have a very Merry Christmas!!

Julie P said...

Wait. Three kids out on missions at once?!? Big. Huge. Wow.

Merry Christmas to you!

The Newest Mexicans said...

Your son sounds like a real tool

Yvonne said...

I LOVE THIS--thank you so much. One of the things I love to imagine is that scripture "And Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." It always makes me think of what an amazing woman she is.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas. Enjoy.

Joanie said...

I am so glad that you have Jacob around. I can only imagine how boring your life would be without him. He always makes me smile.

Jenny said...

I love Christmas Stories! You have shared a beautiful one. Have a Merry Christmas!!

Ann Marie said...

I agree! I have been blubbery too!

The spirit brings me to tears.. what can I say...

My thoughts have been to Joseph Smith these last few days also.. Since it was his Birth yesterday also.. Maybe because we have been studying D&C and his teachings for the past 2 years?
Praise to the Man! ~ And I know my Redeemer lives! What a GREAT time of Year!!

THE BADGERS said...

So...was there a picture?

Kazzy said...

That Christmas sounds a lot like the one we are experiencing this year. With a newly-returned missionary the spirit is so strong.

You have the awesomest of awesome families. xo