Temple Lights, Mary, Merry Christmas and Motherhood

The other night Tyler, Max and I went to the San Diego Temple to see the beautiful lights and nativity they put up. We walked around the Temple grounds and it was so beautiful.



It's nice to be reminded of what really matters this time of year. It's not the presents and the wrapping paper and the "oh no are we going to have enough money for a Christmas tree" and the crowds and the traffic and the lights. While those things are all nice and make for a festive good time, the real reason we celebrate is to remember the birth of baby Jesus. Sometimes through all the hustle and bustle of the season we forget that we are celebrating the magical wonderful sweet birthday of an amazing little baby.

After having a little boy of my own, this holiday seems to take on a whole new meaning. When I look down at the sleeping baby boy in my arms I don't think that maybe someday he will walk on water, or heal the sick or perform miracles. I don't know what Mary thought when she looked down at her sleeping baby Jesus or when she held him in her arms for the first time. But it was probably what all mothers think when they first hold their newborns -- I love you, you are mine and I will forever keep you safe and loved and well, sleep sweetly my baby and I will protect you and love you.

I'm sure Mary had no idea, just as most mothers, of what her son would do for the world. But that moment when he was born, the whole world was changed. Just like the moment Maddox was born, our whole world changed. And although he probably won't be a savior or a even a martyr, he might do great things, or he might have a family and lots of babies or become a soldier and defend our wonderful nation or be a stock broker or just a janitor. Really he could do anything. But I'd like to think that on Christmas night as we open our gifts and eat our turkeys and hams and play in the snow, I'd like to think that Mary and I and all the mothers in the whole world had the same overwhelming feelings of motherhood, gratitude, pride, joy, fright, solitude, peacefulness, love and hope. I'd like to think that Mary was just another mother trying to do the best she could for her sweet extraordinary little boy. I'd like to hold my own sweet little boy and gaze at his bluer than blue eyes and think that Mary and Joseph did the same thing. I hope I never forget that Mary and me and millions of other women around the world are connected in one of the most sacred ways possible -- motherhood.

Christmas has a new meaning for me this year. Christmas is about motherhood and babies and sweetness, something I can now embrace and wrap around myself like a sweater. Merry Christmas everyone!