I love Christmas! The Christmas trees, the gift giving, the lights, the songs. It's all magical, and I love it! This year for Christmas, Scott and I decided to give our neighbors a framed picture of Jesus Christ, a Book of Mormon, and our written testimonies. They have been wonderful friends to us for several years. We love them. After writing our testimonies down, I felt prompted to share them with more than just our neighbors -- I wanted to share them with anyone who reads my blog (which is basically our family). What better time to share our testimonies of Christ than at Christmas? So here are Scott's and my testimonies that we shared with our good neighbors. May we all remember the reason for the season. Merry Christmas!!

SHANNON

I was raised in the LDS faith by two wonderful parents, and from a young age, I gained a firm belief of who our Father in Heaven was, who Jesus Christ was, and who I was -- a child of God. But then a period of my life came where I lost that faith, not just of my religion, but of all religion. I began to doubt even myself and my divine nature. I came to a point where I had to know, one way or another, whether Jesus Christ lived or not, whether there was a purpose to my existence or not, and if the faith I had as a child was true. I began to pray. My first prayer at this point in my life was very difficult. I felt silly kneeling down and speaking to a God I did not know even existed. But I was willing to try because my desire to know was strong. My answer did not come with that first prayer. But I continued to pray daily, and I also read the scriptures daily. One day as I was praying, I felt very warm inside, like someone was hugging me tightly with so much love. As I sat there crying, I knew Heavenly Father had spoken to me. I didn't have all my questions answered, but I knew Heavenly Father was real and He loved me.

I believe in the power of personal revelation and that each person can receive direct communication from Heavenly Father in their effort to find truth. I believe Heavenly Father knows each of us personally and that He loves us individually. I believe each of us on Earth is a child of God. I believe Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I believe there is also a prophet on Earth today, and his name is Thomas S. Monson. I believe the Holy Bible is the word of God. I also believe the Book of Mormon is true, and it is the word of God. This book truly testifies of Jesus Christ and His divinity. I believe families can be -- and are meant to be -- together forever when they are sealed together with the proper authority in one of the Lord's holy temples. I believe in our Savior, Jesus Christ, that He was born in a lowly stable, and that angels appeared on Earth to proclaim His birth. I believe He was the Son of God, that he lived a perfect life, and most especially, that He suffered in Gethsemane and died on the cross for each of us, individually, so that each of us could repent of our sins and someday return again to live with our Father in Heaven and be as He is. I have felt my Heavenly Father speak peace and truth to my heart many times. I know He is real.

SCOTT

Because of the love I feel towards you and the feelings I have about the gospel of Jesus Christ, I want to share them with you. First off, I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that He lived and died so that I can repent and be forgiven for mistakes that I have made and for ones that I will continue to make. I know that He wants us to try to be better and so we have a church that helps us do that. I know that the authority to act in God's name (the Priesthood) is real and can only be found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. With that authority we can be blessed, baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I know that with that authority we can also be married (sealed) for time and all eternity. I have prayed about Joseph Smith being a prophet and I have felt the truthfulness of that. Through those feelings, I can say that I know Joseph Smith is and was a prophet of God. God's church and priesthood were restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I have read the Book of Mormon many times and I have prayed about its truthfulness as well. I know the Book of Mormon is other scripture from our Heavenly Father. I continue to read and pray, and I continue to feel that I am going in the right path. Thank you for letting me share these most precious feelings of mine with you.

It was Wally's birthday last Saturday, December 10. It was his first "friend" party and I have to say I think it was a success. He was so excited for it. He talked about it every day for like three weeks beforehand. The kids and I made a pinata! It was the first pinata I've ever done on my own. It took all week because you have to let it completely dry in between stages, but it was really pretty easy to do. Messy, yes, but no longer intimidating. Growing up, we always did a pinata for part of our Christmas Eve celebration, but it has been quite awhile since I have been home for Christmas. And as I said, I have never done one all on my own, so I was nervous about it. (Although I would have never admitted it to Scott) But it was a huge success and I took pictures! I think we were all pretty proud of it. It is a bumblebee, just in case you couldn't tell. It held up pretty well. The kids all had fun whamming it.

After it was all over for the next several days, Wally kept saying, "I'm so big. I'm already four. I'm four now, huh?" Scott and I have unintentionally taught our children to say "huh" after everything they say. I think we started saying because we wanted verification that our children were listening. Now the whole family does it all the time. A little buggy sometimes, but it's a habit I bet we won't soon break. And we only have to blame ourselves. Have you ever noticed all of your children's bad habits can be linked directly to yourself? That's how I feel...

Anyway, Good Times!! It was fun to do Wally's birthday this year. I have kind of forgotten it the past few years with Christmas and all, but this time we went all out for his birthday and he had a ball. The Spiderman costume is his gift from Scott and me. My sister in law Meghan has one for her kids, and Wally is always wearing it whenever he goes over there, so we got him his very own!! He LOVES it. I have pictures of him sleeping in it. He went Christmas caroling in it. And he wanted very much to wear it to church, but we have to draw the line somewhere. It's fun to give something that is so much appreciated. :) Sure love my little ones.