Christmas?

It will be Christmas in 4 days. This year is going to be a lot different than I have ever experienced it. It's not only a a first for me, but a first for a lot of people. It will be Myles and my first Christmas together <3, My sweet nephew Ben's first Christmas ever, Mom's first time not being with all of her kids at least for a little bit on Christmas day, My first Ski season without hitting the slopes with my friends, My first Christmas apart from my family, the first time M&M will have to really watch a Christmas budget closely, and the first time that I get to work like my mom did to bring the Christmas spirit into my own home.

It always struck me that my mom did everything within her means to give presents to a lot of people. Not only that, but presents that actually meant something. Weather or not that present may or may not have been a note, or something cheesy, or even something extravagant never mattered. It was always something that she worked hard on. This year she didn't get time to wrap the presents that she sent to our house. I had to open the boxes to see if the fragile things inside had made it in one piece. The boxes were a little ragged looking so I had to look... I didn't want to because the underside of our tree is sort of bare and I want to have something for us to open on Christmas. I grudgingly looked inside the first box and inspected the glass thing, tears welled up. I had to take a deep breath and hold them back as I searched the rest of the box. I pulled it together, and looked in the next box. All was in tact. Now, I am an extremely emotional person already, but I started to cry because my super amazing, and exceptionally thoughtful mommy sent me a clear Glass picture frame thing with the words, "REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE" in big bold black letters engraved on it. Now, to most, these are just the words from the Lion King that Simba's dad says to him. But to me, these are the words my mom said to me every time I got out of the car, walked out the door, left her presence in any way, or just needed a reminder. She always told me on the way out the door for school, "Bye, love you. Be good. Remember who you are!" To most kids that would annoy, but to me it was always the reminder that I was 1. A daughter of a heavenly king. 2. To be a Shining example to all around me. 3. That I was McKay Boyack (Maxey) and that I am a strong, confident young women that could get through anything.

So when you get a present that is thoughtful, take the time to appreciate it! The people that gave it to you, think you are amazing and want you to be happy.

Now, spreading the Christmas spirit in our house has been a little bit hard. Myles and I are constantly on the go, and work takes up a big part of our lives, even during the Christmas "break". So this year has been different when it came to spreading Christmas spirit. We don't have the money or the time to do it like my mom does! The Christmas goody making was on short supply this year! Usually mom, Hannah, or myself makes a ton of goodies and we put them on plates and either ding-dong-ditch them, or go caroling. We did ditch one loaf of banana bread that I made at a friends house, but our caroling  numbers are on short supply with just the two of us. So we made a total of 4 loaves of bread, and ditched one. We have done no caroling, and basically the only Christmas music we hear is what is played on the radio. My father would be pleased to know that the Carpenters are not forgotten when it comes to "Sunny 99.9". We finally have some wrapped presents under our tree, but sadly most of them will be moving on to Ann's house to be opened with Myles' family because only 2 of them are for either of us. So, to me, it feels that Christmas spirit is lacking within my home, but that's probably just because I'm an adult with a full-time job, and no children to make it seem like the most magical part of the year.

I had a hard time getting presents for Myles because he didn't mention anything he wanted, and he pretty much has everything he needs. I am not very creative, but I finally came up with one present that he didn't tell me he needed after I forced it out of him. I'm really hoping that he likes it, because I thought it was pretty ingenious! Myles, however, is the surprise present extraordinaire and claimed to have lots of ideas for me! I'm excited to see what he came up with!

Ben is having his first Christmas, but I hear he isn't very interested in the tree or the presents. Maybe he will be once he realizes he gets to rip everything apart. I'm sad I don't get to see it, but I'm sure I will get a full report, so I will live through it.

Budgeting is an old hat for us, so managing Christmas has not been too bad. :)

Although these are all things about Christmas, I have been thinking about the true meaning, and why we are all even here on the earth. Jesus Christ is the reason! He is not only the reason for this season, but the reason that we all live in joy and happiness. There are scary things in the world, but guess what? Christ over came it all. He is Almighty, he is the Prince of Peace, he is the reason I find blessings in each day, and he is the Good News! Jesus Christ is born! He died and has risen again, so that we can be free! Let us not forget to live joyfully, but also to live prayerfully, kindly, gently, righteously, and with a true testimony of the love that our Father in heaven and his son, Jesus Christ love and bless us. Extend a helping hand to those in need, smile at the people you come in contact with, be cheerful, find the tender mercies, be the one who reaches out to the one, and live the Gospel to the fullest!

We are blessed to live in a warm home, and an extremely full refrigerator and cupboards, have good friends, a job, a fuel efficient car, families who love and care for us, and most of all, the knowledge that Jesus Christ is our Savior and King.

Merry Christmas to all! May God bless you and your families! May your testimonies, and the testimonies of the Youth of the world shine brightly. Praise to the Lord, The Almighty! He is my all!

Mom, this is for you

My mom was chastising me for not writing a blog recently, so here I am, fingering away at the keyboard trying to think of something fun to tell you guys.
I think since my last blog I have had a few exciting things happen, so here goes! We'll see if I can get them all!

Me and my parents in front of our (Myles and mine) favorite Mexican restaurant! Seriously, if you're in Cruces area, eat at Chopes. Most delicious food I've had. 

I think the biggest thing was that my mom actually got on a plane to come see me! It had only been a week, but she missed me that much! We also happened to be throwing the New Mexico reception on the same weekend so it worked out well. ;)

Pic of us from the Cruces reception

We took them out to eat, which turned out that they took us out even though we had been planning on paying. Silly parents... haha anyway, we got to go back to my parents hotel. They had chairs so we decided it would be better that way. We are still working on getting a table and chairs... We had a great time talking, and giggling with each other, all while the dog across the hallway was going crazy!

My NM BFF Beth and I. She was a HUGE help! Love you!

The reception here went well! It didn't seem like there were as many people, but it was still a blast! We danced and greeted people, my Dad had the slide show going again, we even had little kids running across the gym and sliding on their bellies. It was a lot of fun! I did tell Myles that he was not to shove cake in my face this time. I might have cried. haha. I was too tired to think it was funny. It had been a long week of moving in and jumping back into work and I just couldn't trust myself to react well. All was well, we were kind to each other when it came time to cut the cake. The night ended well and there were a lot of people there to help us take down. It truly was a blessed occasion.

Sunday we were up bright and early to get my parents to the airport. It was not an easy thing to leave them there again. We likely will not see them until June for sandcastles. But I do know that the Lord provides for the things that will bless his children. Maybe if I'm lucky an miracle will happen and we will be financially great! Anyway, we made our way back to Cruces to make it in time for Myles' mom's ward sacrament meeting. We were in such a rush when we got home that I didn't even notice until halfway through church that I forgot to put my bra on! Talk about distraction from the spirit! I was laughing so hard, and I'm sure the people around me thought I was nuts! Good thing I was only visiting. Haha! Today, on the way to church I had to make sure that I had one on before Myles got too far from the house.

Myles eating ice cream on our rockin' 70's couch

We have mainly been working non-stop since we got back nearly 2 weeks ago. This last week was a little stressful. The policies and procedures are changing with some of the dealerships we work with so they wanted to "train" us in the new way. Problem is, we asked them what they wanted us to do different, and they said, "Oh, just look on the website and do what you think looks the best. Uh... We were already doing that, thanks... We did end up changing a few of the pictures to make them more "appealing to the eye". Hopefully it will solve the drama problem and we can go on with our lives.

A different angle

My adorable nativity

Today we went to our new ward. They seemed friendly enough! There was a couple people in there that Myles knows. Some kids from his seminary class are in it, so that is fun! We got all of our information to the bishopric and I assume we will be getting callings within the next few weeks. The lesson for third hour was on forgiveness. Although it was very well taught, I had a thought during the lesson that i never got to share. One of the headers in the lesson was, "Forgiveness frees us from the burden of hatred." Or something along those lines... The thought came to me that not only does forgiveness free our spirits, but it frees our bodies as well. I don't think many people realize the adverse effect holding a grudge can have on our bodies. I learned this, not only from my mom, but it was a huge subject in massage school as well. The minute we have an adverse reaction to something or someone, our body makes a mark, so that we can hold on to it. As LMT's we are taught to be supportive and understanding when clients break down on the table. When you work out a "knot" in someones body, it's brings to the surface emotions which were present when the knot was placed there. If there was anger, fear, confusion, sadness, pain, etc it can all come up. When you forgive a person or a situation, your spirit is freed and you can live with the spirit more fully, but in addition to that, your body can live up to it's more full potential. AH! So exciting! Thanks for reading my thought, moving on now.

Look at that cute Ref! ;)

Today we also in-listed the help of our good friend Trevor and got our couch moved in, so now we have more than one place to sit. It is really wonderful to feel like it's all getting together! Yesterday Myles and I put in a team effort and cleaned the house to prepare. Because my couch finally got moved in, that means my nativity went up too! A lady from my mom's ward gave us an ethnic nativity! It really is beautiful, very different, but beautiful the same! I don't think I've seen any similar to it. 

Our oven is really small and there is no room on either side or our pizza stone.

Myles has been reffing basketball and I think I'm slowly coming to understand the sport. It really is one that confuses me. I don't understand all the rules yet, or why the players or the ref's do what they do, but I'm getting there and I'm enjoying watching! I told Myles all I wanted for Christmas was a stadium seat! On the day's that he works two games, my back starts to kill! I am really glad I get to watch him, even if it does hurt my back sometimes.

Our stockings, made by Kimber! <3

Kimber sent us our Christmas/Wedding present! They are adorable and I couldn't ask for anything more! We plan on getting our tree up by Wednesday at the latest, and I am starting to feel like it's Christmas, even though it's still in the 70's. I hear tomorrow is supposed to be colder, but we'll see what actually happens. 

We had some sniffles and aches recently but those have passed. Myles has been putting thieves and peppermint oil into our humidifier so we wake up as fresh and clear as can be! We are busy, and doing well. I wish you all a merry, happy holiday season.