answers

I am so good at answering questions...I like this a lot better. Anyways, I had a decent flight home. Okay, I'm lying, it was terrible. I got to Salt Lake right on time and boarded as soon as I got to the gate. We were a little late because of de-icing the plane and all the snow, but got to Denver just barely in time to board my next flight to Chicago. This one went off without a hitch. I even talked to the man sitting next to me (a rarity for me) and he convinced me that I should take tae kwon do. So there's another thing for my bucket list. I actually would love to though -- I think it would be fun and very good for me. I got to Chicago fifteen minutes before my roommate who lives there. She had a nonstop from Salt Lake and should have gotten there two hours before but had gotten delayed on the runway in Salt Lake. So, I ran to her gate and welcomed her back home. I then found my gate and saw my flight was delayed by an hour. Every time that I subsequently checked it was delayed ten minutes later. I saw some missionaries on their way home and shared some snacks with them. They had come from Italy and were delayed for six extra hours. And I waited. And I waited. And I waited. FINALLY, 2 gate changes later, 2 and a half hours late, we boarded for Memphis. I slept the whole way -- didn't even realize that we had taken off. I arrived back to Memphis at 1:30 in the morning to find that they had lost my luggage. Long story short, Hollie picked me up, I survived Saturday in her clothing and got my suitcase back that evening.

The other answers are not nearly as exciting. I don't carry a purse and I haven't read for enjoyment in at least a couple years. I've read the Bible and the Book of Mormon and my textbooks...do they count? I just feel too guilty when I sit down with a book because I know I have so many other things to do...maybe someday. Next semester I'm taking: Dance History, Modern Technique 3, Dance Composition Intermediate, Women Entrepeneurs, Doctrine and Covenants, and Kinesiology. I really am trying to avoid school at all costs right now though. When I think about it I start to get stressed out.

All right...any more questions?

fine.

Okay, look, see? I'm blogging. YAY! I just don't have anything to say...what do you say in a blog when you no longer are required to blog? Well, I'm home (hallelujah choruses are still ringing in my ears!). Tennessee is beautiful and much warmer with A LOT less snow than Utah. The semester ended brilliantly. I did better than I thought I'd do. And...um... I've made lots of Christmas cookies. Sugar and gingerbread and pumpkin cookies. The gingerbread are adorable if I do say so myself. If Clayton will teach me how, then I'll post a picture of them up. And we've made muddy buddy's and strawberry bread, and, honestly, I've eaten much too much for my own good. Also, unless anyone has any request on what to write about I really don't know at all what to say. So, leave a comment and ask a question and I will answer in my next post. Otherwise, I have NO IDEA what to say... Sorry I'm so very very very bad at this... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Umm...I don't have to blog anymore

So, it's weird not being required to blog anymore. I'm finished with that class and now I feel like I don't have anything to say. Sad...um...yeah, never mind, I don't have anything to blog about. I have FINALS!!!!!!!!!!! this week. I have one starting in nine hours... maybe I should sleep? or study? or get off the phone? or just stop blogging and concentrate on my conversation? Last year I had to spend twenty minutes twice every week typing without stopping. We called it word-vomit. It was for my english class. I should do that one day. It's very very fun. Interesting thoughts come up. They are sometimes very deep. And sometimes they are just plain weird. So, yep, I've now come to realize that I have too much studying to do to blog, but I tried!!!!

Traditions

The most shocking thing to happen to me in the past couple months was to have my mom call and confirm my suspicion: we are NOT going to be in Pensacola for Christmas this year. This will be the first Christmas of my life outside of Florida. Instead we will be at our new home in Lebanon, TN. When I consider my upcoming vacation, I get a little anxious, because I have no idea what is going to happen. I mean, of course Santa will find us no matter where we are (we were always assured of this when we left our house for Florida), but will we read the same book and still have a talent show on Christmas Eve? Will we have watergate salad for Christmas dinner? We won't have all the extended family around, and we'll actually be sleeping in our own beds! (Well, I'll share Taylor's like I always do). This is quite the improvement from the pull out couch that all the girls sleep on Christmas Eve that slopes down so your head is lower than your feet no matter how many pillows you sleep on. :-) But, what will we do with ourselves all day since we won't be roaming the neighborhood seeing everyone's new presents and gathering for family meals? It will sure be different. But, I'm very excited to have a more quiet Christmas for once. I think it will be well worth the sacrifice.

Seeing how hard it is for me to break tradition about something as simple as celebrating Christmas, I can start to understand a little bit more fully what it must have been like for the Jews in Christ's day. He asked them to change their whole lifestyle! This was not just how they celebrated Passover, but how they lived and interacted everyday. He asked them to change their view of salvation! It is little wonder that Christ exclaimed so many times of their resistance to break from traditions of their fathers, the elders, and men. It may be a little bit of a stretch, but we are all resistant to change. I don't like it much myself. If you were a Jew in the time of Christ, would you be willing to change everything because of His word? It would be very difficult. I think we should all be a little more wary of judging the ancient Jews as well as people around us. Change is HARD. Especially when you've been doing something one way for a long, long time.