its that time of year

i love christmas. i mean who actually doesn't love christmas? i don't think grinch's exist. and if they do....lets be honest..the grinch ends up loving christmas, too...soooooo....point made. 

but one of the reasons i love christmas is because all my friends come home from living far away and we get to play! Our friends, Kirsten and Mckay, came home for thanksgiving and the following sunday had their gender reveal party. she's due about 2 weeks after me. it's been so fun to be pregnant with a friend! and it was so fun to see all these cuties! 

^^is june not the cutest ever?? i can't wait to see what their next little one will look like. ^^

another reason i love christmas? the forgotten carols. while growing up, every year our family would wake up in the mornings, read a chapter of the forgotten carols and then listen to the song that went with that specific chapter. i learned to love the story and especially love the music. i knew michael mclean would be coming to idaho falls again this year to preform it and so i purchased tickets right away. it always gets me in the christmas-y mood. and every time i go i can really feel the spirit. there truly is something about this time of year that makes it the most wonderful time of the year.

^^a nice low quality iphone pic for you^^

now this may seem silly...but i had a moment the other night at the forgotten carols. there's a song called "let him in" and it's about the innkeeper that turned mary and joseph away. it's probably one of my absolute favorite forgotten carols. there's a line in the song where he says:

 I didn't sleep that evening
Though I'd sold out my place
Somehow I felt uneasy
Something about her face
Why did I wish
That I'd let them stay?
I don't think they could have paid
Or could they have paid?

for some reason when he sang that part i thought about mary being pregnant....not only pregnant...but 9 months pregnant. and not having anywhere to go...and what the expression on her face must have been when she realized there was no where for them to stay. i mean...i'm scared to death to give birth...in a clean hospital, with trained professionals, who have delivered hundreds and hundreds of babies, and modern medicine, and all my family supporting me. so i cannot imagine what she was feeling, giving birth in a stable...with animals and dirt and no one there who's ever delivered a baby before or had a baby for that matter...it made me feel for her. i just have so much love and respect for mary. i'm in awe of her. for being so strong. for bringing our savior into this world and maybe even being scared to death about it. 

 ^^a belly pic i took at 24 weeks 1 day pregnant^^

so there ya have it...some reasons i love christmas. oh, and did i mention that we probably won't be putting christmas up in our apartment this year? not for a while anyway...bummer...but we're moving! which is good news. right now we're in a little one bedroom apartment in the basement of a hotel...with no windows. we need a little more room before our little one comes. and a little more vitamin D. so we're planning to move the middle to endish of this month... before christmas hopefully...so i don't want to put up my tree and everything else just to pack and move it all. CURSES! oh well....the hotel we live in has a nice big christmas tree in it...does that count?

it'll have to.   

happy christmas, harry!

ps. here's a video of the song "let him in" by michael mclean to get you in the christmas-y mood as well.