Making home a holy place part II

            It is because I really liked this article that I had to write more about it. For now, I will be focusing on television, music, and books. I can't tell you enough how many times I have stopped reading a book because of its vulgarity. Music that are extremely sexual and vulgar makes me mad! I enjoy a lot of different types of music, my favorite is heavy metal and classical (I know, two opposites but I love both equally). I am picky though in what I listened to and if I feel comfortable hearing certain songs loud then I know it is good to listen, I know of some people who listen to music and as soon as someone is close by, they lower the volume as if ashamed of what they are listening to and who could blame them? many songs are shameful, old and new songs. Some people think that music nowadays are bad but I have heard music from the 60s or 70s that are equally bad too. There has always been good and evil, therefore there has always been good and bad music.
     What about TV? there are so many shows out there that are family oriented, funny, and uplifting... there are also many that are... the opposite and not even funny when they try to be. Then why watch them? why waste our time on things that are not going to be uplifting? I am not saying I don't watch TV, in fact, my husband and I enjoy of a little "date" almost every night by watching a show on netflix or movies. The thing is, we have the power to choose what comes into our homes and what doesn't. We literally have remote control that enable us to "switch" the channel whenever is needed and to turn it off when TV is not needed.
       Like brother and sister Mouritsen (refer to the article) said: "We don’t feel it’s necessary to have religious or classical music playing constantly. We find it helpful to have appropriate music playing much of the day and evening; it produces the calming, cheerful effect as only good music can."
         It is plain that we are not required to only listen gospel music or classical music but choose wisely. What more about books??? just because it is a book doesn't mean that we can read anything we want. As I mentioned before, there are many books out there that are simple unreadable to me. Also, think about it. Movies and books are almost the same thing, movies, shows and TV are just representation of books that have been written, so... no, books could be equally evil if we let it be as TV, if we let it be.
          I have come to realize how hard is to be become and exemplary woman, mother, wife, person. There are so many things that threaten our families but I am so glad that WE  have the power to choose! I am truly grateful for good TV, good movies, good music, and good books. Thanks to people with amazing talent we can appreciate and enjoy all the things listed above. I don't have words to express how thankful I am towards my Heavenly Father for inspiring people to do good and to show it through their talents so that we can enjoy them too. As I said in part I of this topic, let's keep our houses clean... this time not only dust but from evil things!

Getting ready for Christmas!

We started a new tradition of writing Santa letters the week after thanksgiving. Alexis was really excited about it so that he could tell Santa to bring him back his tools (he saw or knew that his gifts were in the back of the car and we told him that Santa has them now). So, I set out to write the letters and this is what Alexis and Charlotte told me to write:
- Tools, belt for tools, helmet, mac (a truck that carries cars, he calls them mac thanks to the movie "Cars"), and food for Charlotte ( I hope he meant the play kitchen oven that comes with plastic food)
         We put it in our little Christmas tree and I told them that Santa would take it one night, after a couple of days the letters were gone and Alexis exclaimed "yay" while jumping up and down!
         It is so wonderful to see kids so happy about magical things like that. To me, Santa represents the love of Christ. I told the kids how Santa works for Christ and he was really happy that he was helping Christ. I explained to the kids how when Christ was born there were three wise-men who brought gifts to Him. In Christmas we celebrate the birth of the Christ. I loved an article in the lds.org website where it talks about Santa and Christmas. It says that if we eliminate Santa because we think of it as commercialism and then the idea of not celebrating Christmas at all because Christ was born on April not December.... well, it is plainly ridiculous. I have done some research and I loved some talks from Elder Holland and President Uchtdorf in which they say that Christmas is when everyone is united and can feel the spirit of Christmas and when the hearts of people open. I know I have strongly felt it, everywhere I go, I can feel people changing. I also love how President Uchtdorf quoted a story well known "The Grynch that stole Christmas" form Dr. Seuss.
           Let's not be a Grynch, also, don't let anyone steal the spirit of Christmas. Tonight a phrase that stuck with me after watching the devotional was "Don't spend Christmas" Christmas is not about money, or gifts, I am not saying gifts are wrong because even Elder Holland said "I am a little giddy about giving and... receiving" he mentioned he likes gifts but not to make this holiday season only about gifts. I am excited to spend Christmas with my family, this year I made the gifts for my parents and other family relatives, I hope is more meaningful this way to them as it is for me. I learned new skills while making them and I thought about each person as I was making them. It made me happy and it brought the Christmas spirit this season.
           Also we started a tradition a few years back of doing an anonymous service for someone. We love it, we love giving, and meanwhile, we feel like we are receiving blessings. I hope our kids can grow up and see that, I hope they know how important it is to remember the Savior even more during Christmas time. I really hope they can remember the biggest gift that Christ gave to us, salvation through his atonement. May the Spirit of Christmas be with you all. I can't express how excited I am for it and how much I am grateful for all I have and for all the blessings I have received.