I cannot believe how easy it has been

I am 95% done with my Christmas shopping and it has all been done on the Internet. No long lines or roaming aimlessly from one store to the next not really finding what I want for the people I love. I am tremendously pleased with what I have found and most has been with free shipping! Not worrying about the drama of shopping this year is great! I am glad I won't be drowned in the sea of shoppers that are in a hurry and irritated sales clerks that are exhausted. My focus can stay on the true meaning of the season and teaching my sponge of a 3 year old the story and meaning of Christmas. I am ready to decorate cookies, spend time with family, attend parties, and my church's candle light service that has been a family tradition for years. This season is an exciting, scary, and sad time for our family. My sister and her family have surrendered to missions which is the exciting thing. The scary thing is them leaving us for 3 years to a foreign country. The sad thing is for 3 years we will have only limited contact with them and no visits during those years unless we go to them. Only for selfish reasons is it sad. And I do experience those emotions from time to time. Then I remember the eternity I will have with them. And what they are doing is trying to spread the gospel to those who have not heard it to give as many people as possible the opportunity to be with us for eternity. How cool is that. I am so proud of them for their obedience and sacrifices they have already gone through. I am excited to see what other things God has in store for them and to get to watch it all happen and experience the presence of God working is unexplainable. It is a wonderful thing to watch as each step they take is proven to be the correct path God has for them. We all have things we love about the holiday season. Some of them are sad, some happy, some we try to have every year. The one thing that will never change about this time of year is the excitement in celebrating the Savior that was born for us, the one that loves us unconditionally with perfect love, the one we strive to be like but fall short of, the Almighty one that shed his blood for us so we could have everlasting life and have peace in knowing the sufferings we have are well worth it for the eternity we are provided and what suffering compared to what He endured for us.