Christmas in New Mexico

There is a special feel in the cold air of New Mexico at Christmas. We've already had our first snow of the year and the low temperature was 0°. It's been fun to decorate the outside of our house (considered a Spanish Territorial design) in southwest fashion with luminarias lighting the way for the spirit of the Christ child to your home. Ron found a way to weight down the luminarias on the roof so that they didn't blow away during the Santa Ana winds. The inside of our home is full of traditions from many years together. Laura was down the weekend we decorated the tree and it's fun to remember where each of the ornaments came from. They all have special meaning to us--the vegetable ornaments from Gordon's Nursery in Yelm, the German ornaments from the Davis Family, the woven hearts that Lucy made containing an English penny, and, especially, the ornaments the girls have made over the years. The speakers in Church last Sunday asked us to remember to put "Christ" in Christmas this year. We have tried to ponder more about what the Savior's birth means in our lives. We are truly grateful for his birth, life, atonement, and resurrection.