Tender Mercy Tuesday - 51st Edition

Well m'dears. The fact that I haven't posted in a week should be a testament to how busy I really have been in the past week. Since last Tuesday I have:

• gotten my hair done - it looks fantastic! I'm in love with it.
• Played volleyball
• Hung out with Monkey Man countless times.
• Made pumpkin bread and white chocolate popcorn as gifts.
• Done my visiting teaching.
• Collected sub-for-Santa gifts from people in my ward
• Sung in my ward's Christmas program
• Hung out with Truit + Husband. They met Monkey Man. It was good times.
• Went to temple square...again. :o)
• Went to a wedding reception
• Caught the bouquet without trying. (seriously. It fell into my hands. No jumping required for this girl!)
• Had roommate Christmas
• Have my bags 75% packed (checked bag is 99% packed, carry-on and personal item are almost done)
• Checked into my departing flight :o)
• Taught several ballet classes
• Went to they gym and worked out with my trainer - twice!
• Worked on my day off. :(

It's been a very busy past seven days. I still have a few things to take care of this afternoon/evening. But once my ballet classes are taught I should be go to go and then I'll get to hang out with Monkey Man all night and have Christmas with him. :o) I'm excited. I'm also sad to be leaving him for so long. Thankfully there is plenty of technology to help us stay in contact for the 9 days I'll be gone.

This is not the point of the post  - the main point is to tell you about the most wonderful tender mercy I had this past week.

Life has obviously been really, really busy for me and I've been very stressed - especially the past couple of days. However, I have had times when the spirit of Christmas has been so strong and has blessed my life and reminded me why I do what I do at this time of year.

I've had the wonderful opportunity to help organize a sub-for-Santa for a couple of families in the home stake that feeds into our single's ward. It has been a wonderful experience to see people from my ward step it up and shower these families with generosity. These families that weren't going to have any kind of Christmas are now going to have a wonderful Christmas filled with love and laughter. There are so many wonderful people in the world and I feel so blessed to be able to know so many of them.

Merry Christmas everyone!