Birthday. Birthday. Birthday. Birthday.

My birthday was on December 13th. The first major snowstorm of the year came on that day. It made me appreciate the birthdays in Texas when we visited the beach even more. Vanessa was quite excited about the snow. So, excited she missed the "dress warm" part of it. We had a party at the church that morning. In my mind it was a party just for me. Santa even came! Esteban stood in line with Vanessa. She told Santa she wanted the Tinkerbell movie. Esteban tried to walk away when Vanessa was done but, Santa grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Santa's first question, "Who's your favorite football team?" Esteban's answer: Dallas Cowboys. He wanted a football for Christmas.Here is my birthday cake. I love homemade buttercream frosting. A lot of people tell me it's wrong to make my own cake but, it's what I want. It doesn't look the best but I didn't say it had to be pretty it just has to have homemade frosting. This year there was almost as much frosting and there was cake. I proved to myself you can have too much of a good thing. Savanah's birthday was on December 18th. She turned 6 years old. She was the star student in school all that week. I went in to the classroom to share the book about herself that she made. We also shared cookies with the class.She wanted an ice cream cake. She wanted chocolate ice cream, Butterfinger candy bar middle, and pink frosting. (Aaron cut it before the picture was taken.) Oh well, she is more important in the picture than the cake.December 23rd marks the birth of Joseph Smith. We do not worship him. We do, however, honor him. We believe he was a prophet. We believe he restored the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We had a special Family Home Evening where we talked about Joseph's life. We each took a turn sharing our feelings and testimony of him. It was such a great way to come together as a family. I love family testimony meetings. I do not share that so others think we are such a "great" family but so I will never forget.

Most importantly, we celebrated the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. He came to earth to show us the way to return to live with him in the next life. He was born, He lived, and He died for me. One of my favorite things about Christmas is nativities. Every year I get a new one. This year, my new favorite nativity is the one on Temple Square. I am grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Everything I cherish in my life, I have because of Him. I worship Him this day and every day.