Winter Song - The Cutest Little Video

I heard Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson sing this song on Jay Leno the other night and I fell in love with it and just recently came across the video for it. It is the cutest little animated short. Here is a cheeky still from the video. Click here to watch.




-Britten

A Little Christmas Angel

Since we are away this Christmas, there were only a few presents for us under our in-law's tree today. Our gift opening will come at home later next week. So for this Christmas day, all snowed in and cozy down in our family's basement, I felt inclined to give myself a spiritual gift and fill my heart as I have felt a little sad and troubled the last few weeks, mostly thanks to the stress of Christmas itself.

Last night after all the kids were fast asleep with the usual Christmas Eve visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads , I settled in to catch up on some blogs I follow. I was reading the last updated blogs on my blog list and stumbled upon a blog through another blog as we bloggers often do. The title is the picture above and it is written by Angie - the mother of Audrey Caroline. She is a Christian, a mother of twin girls (5) and another girl (2), married to a religious singer and she started a blog about her experience with her fourth and final pregnancy and birth of her daughter, Audrey. Audrey was diagnosed with fatal conditions at 20 weeks gestation and only lived for 2 1/2 hrs after being born at 34 weeks. This is the story of one amazing, loving family who experienced great loss. I had just started reading when I knew I was going to be in for the long haul, reading months and months worth of Angie's beautiful writing and touching story, when I got sleepy and knew I had to get to bed so I saved it for today.






Tears, tears and more tears later, this little baby's life and her mother's strength and spiritual journey have completely lifted me up this Christmas day and I couldn't have asked for a better gift. I want to love my children more. I want to pray more. I want to praise my Savior through my trials. If you had told me I would feel this way about 2 weeks ago I would have recommended that you jump off the nearest bridge. haha.

Angie lays out all her feelings and thoughts so beautifully and in such a raw, completely real way, that even if you have never lost a child, you feel you are with her in every step of the journey - that you ARE Angie or part of her family experiencing the gut-wrenching emotion of it all with her. And why would this be an uplifting experience on Christmas Day, you ask? Because the greatest part about Audrey's life was the spiritual journey of her mother and the peace and truth she found in her trials. Even though my own are far different than hers, she was able to find the truth about them for me, the truth I have been seeking for a long time. This was the greatest peace I could have wished for myself, and anyone else bound by a trial in this life, today and always because it was and is all about the Savior.







So Audrey and Angie are Christmas angels for me, who came into my field of view and brought tidings of great joy.



If you can find the time, I have faith they will do the same for you. I recommend starting in February of her blog and working your way through April to get the complete story. If you only have a little time, you can read the letter Angie wrote to Audrey here.

There is also a very touching slide show on YouTube with a song she and her husband wrote called Carry You here. Warning: Get a box of Kleenex.

May the Savior be with you on His birthday and always.

-Britten

Tagged - Bookworm

I was tagged by Kasie. This is also my first tag so it should be cool.

Here are the rules:

1. Open the closest book - not a favorite or most intellectual book, but the closest at the moment - to page 56.

2. Write out the fifth sentence on the page, as well as the two to five sentences following.

3. Then open your manuscript to page 56 and write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five additional ones.

4. Tag five (or more) buddies to do this same exercise


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So the closest book to me was Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. It had fallen from a book shelf and now was lying on the floor next to my computer desk.

The music changed, and Charlie tapped on Edward's shoulder.

It wasn't nearly as easy to dance with Charlie. He was no better at it than I was, so we moved safely from side to side in a tiny square formation. Edward and Esme spun around us like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

(Aww, I love that part.)

I actually have a manuscript but I'm only up to page 28 on it so I will just use this page. After all, it's half of 56. =)

"Let’s try that!” Jessica said, amused. I was so glad they were so willing to get this address for me.

We walked around the corner to the field and carefully climbed through the barbed-wire fence. Lining ourselves up with Brandon’s window, we started hurling tiny rocks from the field at it but kept missing by a long shot.

“This isn’t working. We’re just going to have to call him tomorrow,” Jessica sadly stated. I mused that she secretly hoped the best for me, to get my mind and heart focused on other things besides bad ex-boyfriends.

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*somewhere in Utah* Jessica: "Wait, is that me you're writing about?"

*somewhere in North Carolina* Rachel: "Are you refering to Brandon Brandon?"

*somewhere in and around Fresno and other various parts of the US* Ex-boyfriends: "What do you mean, "bad"? *Dear Lord, please don't let her publish this*"

Me: "I never said this was a memoir." *whistling and looking very innocent*

Okay, I'm tagging Lisa and Candice. I can't think of any others that are writers and read this blog to see they've been tagged. If any of you are closet writers, come out and let me know!

Confession: I am The Christmas Faerie

So I've sorta had another blog now for about a year now and haven't ever linked to it from here because I wanted to get it completely ready for most of my friends and family to view it first. It is a portfolio of the decorating I've done the past couple of years.

Just click on the picture below to be whisked away to a Christmas Faerieland...




The link is http://thechristmasfaerie.blogspot.com/ for blog lists and the clickable button will now be permanently to the right. Check it around each month and I will have new decor pictures waiting for you.

Here's a peek to tempt you...

"River" by Sarah McLachlan

"I wish I had a river that I could skate away on."

There's something about this song that gets to me every time I hear it.
The words meshed with her breezy but yearning vocals, the melancholy tempo and dreamy instrumentals, not to mention the haunting little reprise of Jingle Bells at the end, well, it's just what I need on one of those December days when I wish Christmas didn't have to be so crazy.
When I wish I didn't have to do the everyday stuff on top of the shopping, decorating, wrapping, mailing, and school program going and could just watch Meet Me in St. Louis, The Nutcracker, and The Holiday non-stop while sitting by only the glowing lights of my Christmas tree or gazing out a window upon a winter wonderland and do nothing but dream, dream, dream...

And maybe it's the countless ice skating competitions/specials I've watched over the years, but when I listen to this song I can clearly see myself skating a complete choreographed ice skating routine from start to finish.
I know every move.
I can feel the crisp, chilled air rush across my face and hair as I glide swiftly over the iced river.
My skirt fabric flapping around my tight covered legs.
Bits of snow wetting my knees.
Blades cutting and crunching the frozen water.
My nose red and numb; sniffles coming on.
A fuzzy scarf warming my neck.
Knit gloves only slightly keeping my hands warm.
Dry mouth and lips turned up in an elated smile.
Head tilted back.
Eyelids closed to shield my eyes from the bright, white sun.
Snow covered mountains in the distance and white pine trees flanking the river like great pillars - sentinels marking the path to pure winter bliss.
Spinning, gliding.
Swirling, twirling.

Floating...

flying.

And I don't skate.
But I can see it.
I can taste it.
I can feel it.

Maybe I'm experiencing a really vivid dream about skating or perhaps I'm actually skating having thoughts of my other life I don't have to go back to for a long, long while.

This is my Christmas Wish.