Why I Celebrate Christmas

I read a post on my brother's fb page a while ago about the origins of Christmas, and have thought about my response to that article. So I thougth I would write. Let me say that while I looked for that article now, I did not in fact find it, so I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies I may give, for it has been a while since I read it, and I am sure I will be corrected. Let me just summarize the gist of the article as I remember it:

1. Christmas isn't really His birthday
2. It is NOT then the reason for the season
3. Christians are not to be taken seriously


The article stated that Christmas began as a Pagan holiday. In fact that day was originally a holiday to celebrate Jupieter, a Roman God, I believe. That is not in question, at least not in my mind.

As a culture, we celebrate birthdays. We celebrate our families' and friends birthdays with joy. We are glad they are part of our lives. They have touched us, and many continue to do so for years. Early Christians wanted to celebrate the birth of their Lord and Savior, even Jesus Christ. They did not know what day that was, so they chose one. Does this diminish the celebration or make it worth derision? Absolutely not!! If in centuries to come, I found that my posterity no longer knew when my birth had taken place, but felt they wanted to celebrate that I had touched them in some way, I cannot imagine how incredibly honored I would be if they, in their lack of knowledge, decided to choose a day and celebrate my birth. That to me, is a testament of their love. And it is no different for Christians. That it has remained to this day, and grown to a celebration of world wide proportions only serves to reinforce the effect the Son of God had on this earth while he walked it.

As a child, I heard the story of Christmas, and gave it some thought, though not a whole lot. It gave the day some meaning. But really, I remember the gifts. Not just opening them and the getting of them, but the thoughtful efforts of a child with almost zero money to provide gifts for those I loved. We made them, emptied our piggy banks for them, did whatever we could to, with a gift, say I love you. That is what many in the world do now. That often this is overdone is true, but the love behind the giving is there. Much of the world takes time to find the 'perfect' gift for loved ones, spending their time and treasure in doing so. I was no different, and I am sure that many of you are the same. I remember with warmth the gifts I received that I knew took sacrifice to obtain, like the runner sleds my brother and I received from an older teenage brother who worked part time at a fast food restaurant, and chose to spend what little he had on his little brother and sister. I also remember the pains my parents took late at night so that there was MORE on Christmas morning to greet us when we awoke, evidence that Santa had come. They even let us believe that they were not responsible for this generous giving, letting us enjoy the magic of children at Christmastime. We gather family, contact those far away yet dear, share meals, and celebrate each other. Is this not love?

I loved Christmas as a child, and yes, when it was white and cold, it only added to the ambiance. I say with Scrooge's nephew, in response to his Bah! Humbugging,

"There are many things from which I might have derived good by which I have not profited I dare say. I have always thought of Christmas time - apart from the veneration due to it's sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that - as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, Uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe it hasdone me good and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"

I feel that sentiment applies to the first part of my life. Christmas has done me good and there was no doubt that it would continue to do me good. Lots of it. That good came to me regardless of the fact that I was not a devout Christian. That the origin of Christmas is not centered in Christ is RIDICULOUS to me to consider and would have been so even as a child who didn't give it much thought. Does one not recognize, as Scrooge's own nephew, the origin of the name? Christmas refers to Him who's birth many celebrate. Those who celebrate for reasons of tradition, culture, or habit, are none-the-less showing their love, and receiving gifts from those who remember them, and care that they have touched their lives. Christmas, therefore, has indeed done them good, as someone took care to remember them on that day, or in that season. It's roots are in Christ, and that cannot be denied. No longer do I celebrate Christmas solely because my family, community, culture, or tradition does, though I am grateful that those things happened in my earlier life. Very grateful. We, like Scrooge's nephew, kept Christmas in our way. I am sure that keeping it is pleasing to the very being who's birth we celebrate. Now, I celebrate Christmas for those reasons, but more importantly, I celebrate Christ. He is MY Savior and Redeemer, and I am so grateful that we know that he was born in a stall, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, that angels sang of His birth, and the shepherds recorded it. I am more grateful that He chose to dedicate His life, and during His earthly ministry, His comfort to teach, bless, heal thousands upon thousands, and ultimately suffer, bleed and die for me. That He did this is no longer a question in my mind, and has not been since I asked God, the Eternal Father, if it were true that He had done this thing, and whether it was truly that important. The answer I received was so very personal, profound, and powerful. I have never forgotten. The virgin birth would not have been remembered without the cross, and His glorious resurrection, which we celebrate at Easter time. Christmas without Easter is nothing. But He was tortured, died, and was resurrected. He allowed himself to go through agony for you and me. As was said this morning, of all the gifts that we give and receive, this is the most important gift, and I will NOT leave it under the tree, discarded, ignored, derided, or unwrapped because I couldn't be bothered to spend the time to understand it.

So this Christmas, as I remember Christ, I celebrate because He has PERSONALLY, profoundly, and wonderfully touched my life. I celebrate His birth with joy and gladness, and don't care if that wasn't the day He was actually born, I will still celebrate that He was. I also celebrate that this season of giving, with it's origins in scripture and in the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ (anyone heard of the wise men?), has the effect of opening hearts to one another, even those who have no idea where or why Christmas began. The Spirit of Christ permeates the season, whether we choose to recognize it or not. Bah! Humbug away, Mr. Scrooge, but I say, like Tiny Tim, God bless us. God bless us, every one! Merry Christmas, everyone.

Marleigh Savage

Tale as Old as Time...

Us crazies, goofing off in the West Wing...

This is for Leah, who's been BEGGING for posts (; And Aunt Rusty, who wants to see some Beauty and the Beast pictures!! Really, the play was absolutely amazing. MAGICAL. Someone said it was better than the movie, and someone said it was better than the broadway show (and he saw that one as well). That was our BIGGEST possible compliment. It really was absolutely FANTASTIC. Not to brag, but I was great... (: My lead partner Konnor, who played Lumiere, stole the show, I'll admit...but I wasn't too far behind him, I think! I played Babette, the flirty feather duster...affectionately nicknamed Babs (: We got the BIGGEST applause out of everyone in the bows. That was my favorite part of the show most nights. IT WAS JUST SO AMAZING! So glad to be a part of this! The set alone was just incredible, and it stinks to say was instead of is....we had to tear it down the night of our last performance. Sad to see it go (especially since it went up with about 5 months time, and went down in 2-3 hours). But here are some pictures!

Me and my cousin Sarah, after the show

Beast, on the West Wing singing If I Can't Love Her

Principle Cast, plus a little girl and Ms. Coleman, our main violinist in the orchestra!

A good techie friend Ryan, and me in my human get-up!

Belle, the first song...in a poor provincial town

Belle and Maurice

Haha, Belle and Gaston!

Gaston and his silly girls

My leading partner, Lumiere! He's amazing!

THE WEST WING!

Madame de Le Grande Bouche(wardrobe), Beast and Lumiere

Belle's bedroom! Yes we built that, and covered all the wood with foam!

In Something There

Half of the cast, in the finale...I got cut off, as did the other wing. Oh well!

ANOTHER Long-Winded Update!

Alright, I think you know what time it is! 
It's Been-So-Long-Since-We've-Done-Anything-On-the-Blog-We-Have-to-Let-Everyone-Know-We're-Still-on-the-Face-of-the-Earth time!

-Dani and Josh are now BOTH in South America on missions...we haven't heard anything from Josh for a while and we're just hoping it's because he just got out of the MTC down there...?

 -Dani told some investigators that Christ could take away their dead fish...in Spanish, a very similar word to "sins." She's doing great though!

 -Kyle is doing his homework...without being ASKED first. Expect UFOs to appear soon to give us back the REAL Kyle.

 -I'm loving Beauty and the Beast but the rehearsal schedule is driving me CRAZY...get to school 7:50 some mornings and stay there until 7, get to school at 6:30 other mornings and stay there till (can you guess?) 7. FUN. (It actually is fun...just exhausting. And life consuming.) On top of that I have an AP US History class (APUSH), and I'm kind of freaking out.

 -Mom is ALSO freaking out, and its ALSO for school work. She's taking Physical Science and Musical History classes. She has Caitlin, Dani's roommate in her music class!

 -Grandpa is doing lots and lots better after his surgery

 -It SNOWED. The mountains are covered with SNOW. It's the beginning of October! BLAH.

 -(The one I don't want to write about): Yesterday Jarah was put down. She was 10 years old, and she had cancer that was causing her a lot of pain, once it grew back after her last surgery. We could tell it was a lot for her to go through the surgery alone, and we knew next time she had problems, this is what we had to do. Well, recently she hasn't been eating again, and she's had diarrhea. She was just hurting and we knew the cancer was back and we had to let her go. She is the sweetest, cutest, mellowest, BEST dog ever and we miss her a lot, but we're happy to know she's out of pain.

 -We're not sure about our holiday plans yet...whether we'll make it to Seattle, host a party for homeless begging college students...these are questions yet to be answered.

-I THINK that's all for us...everyone out there, come see Beauty and the Beast by Wasatch High School! October 25, 26, 28, and 29! COME SEE IT! IT'S AWESOME!

Nobody read this!

Yeah nobody follows this any more. Our fault for not writing in way too long.

So now, I get to write whatever I want and no one will even know about it!

...if only I knew what to write, exactly.

Double Wammy

Why not put up two posts in the same night, after not posting for two months? It's still Alexis, and I think I'm the only one who likes updating this thing.
So like I just said in the last post, I've decided I'm going to write a book. At school at the end of the year, I've decided to join the amatuer authors club, after basketball died down and I realized I had time to do things after school. By join I mean I show up once in a while, and since I kept coming everyone decided I was a member. I don't know if it counts, because apparently everytime I've been there things have gotten out of control and not much gets done...not my fault! ...Not entirely! ANYWAYS. There is this page on facebook the club has that puts up writing prompts, and I saw one prompt and used it for my book. Here it goes:

Writing Prompt #3: You receive word that someone very close to you has passed away (how and when it happened is up to you). Write them a letter.

I'm going to write a letter from the perspective of the main character in a book I have started to write--THIS IS MY FIRST ONE I HOPE I CAN FINISH IT. Here it goes:

Dear (don't have a name yet...any suggestions? Character type, very sweet but teasing little brother.GO.),

You are the single sweetest little brother I could have ever had, and ever have not appreciated. I realize now how many acts of kindness went unnoticed by me, and I want so very badly to apologize to you, now that it's too late. I wish I could turn time back to that eventful day, when I let it all happen. To go back to that day, when I couldn't overcome my own fear save your life. I still wake up in the middle of the night, screaming for Mom and Dad to help instead of jumping in and rescuing you myself. You have no idea how many times I've re-invented(sp?) that moment in my head, changed it in my mind so that I rescued you and you are still here with me today, nagging me in the mornings to get out of the shower like you used to...to have you to chase the neighbors' cat with, to walk around the corner and see who can find the most absurd looking stranger. But most of all, I miss telling you things: being able to tell you all about my first date, all about high school graduation and how I tripped in front of everyone; that's something I know we would have laughed about for months. I miss telling you how proud I was to ace the test I worked so hard for, and everything else I've ever been proud to accomplish.

What really hurts is when people find out I have a brother who drowned and they say they're sorry. What do they have to be sorry for? They aren't the ones who have to deal with it every day of their life! They don't have to watch as other kids around them have a good time in a normal family where you know everyone will come home at night. They don't understand the reality of having a brother one day, and then having him whisked away the next. I don't want their sympathy--I just want you back. It only brings back fresh pain to hear them say anything about you. It's not as bad now as it was that first year after it happened, but that makes it even worse. I wonder why I don't feel as deeply in pain, and I wonder if I'm starting not to care, to forget you. That's the thought that really scares me the most--I'd prefer the pain over that! Anything but forgetting you. Anything but knowing that the life I once had, being part of a whole and complete family, is gone. The scars never heal totally, and I never forget the little brother who isn't around any more. I have to deal with the fact that you won't be there for the major things in my life--such as marriage, college graduation...everything.

The other worse part (it's all the worst part it seems...ultimately all these "worst part"s roll together to make one huge worst part) is that I could have stopped it from happening. I saw you there, in the water and I didn't help you. I didn't act on an impulse to do the right thing--my first impulse was utter terror, to scream and scream and not do anything. I couldn't have moved my feet if I wanted to--which I did, so very badly. I wanted to do something but my mind froze, and I didn't know what that something was. That is what I really want to apologize to you for the most.

Wherever you are, I hope you can hear me. I hope you know just how much I still miss you and still love you, and still think about you. Most of all, how much I still consider you a part of the family. You hear people say "This girl had a brother, but he passed away a few years ago." That doesn't change anything! I still have a little brother! They can't erase you! I hope you know that. Wherever you are, I hope it's nice there and that you are far away from the pain and sorrow I feel. I hope you can think of something other than how much I want you back, even if this place is a hell hole compared to where you are. Sorry for being so selfish in wanting you all for myself...do you miss me too? Or do you just hate me for that moment--that horrific, endless moment--when I failed you?

Love,
Your Confused Sister.(Name for her needed as well! I'm still thinking about them...I'm not giving up and asking in desparation! Promise!)

Any help that can be offered, mostly criticism, I reeeaaally like getting. Attack it please! It probably won't make it into the book, I'm just working on the feeling I want for my character.

Long Time No Write!

So, guess how long it's been since we've posted on this blog!
Around TWO MONTHS! 68 days, to be exact. If you want to be REALLY technical, its been two months and 7 days. I think that sounds right.

So what do I have to say? Eh. Not much.

Right now, the happenings in this Savage household are:

• Josh leaves for the MTC on Wednesday in Provo, for 3 weeks before he heads to the MTC in PERU, and then out in the mission field!


• Mom cries and cries and cries and cries when he leaves.


• Mom cries some more.


• Dani is still working at the Heber Creeper, not her favorite job, but it's what she can do right now. She has just finished up intramural flag football, and won a championship shirt for intramural ultime frisbee!


• There is 60 days until she ships out fro the Argentina MTC for her Uruguay Montevideo mission! Woo hoo!


• Mom will cry when she leaves too.


• Kyle got his elk tag not long ago, and he plans to use our Uncle Todd and cousins, and he's also still enjoying TaeKwonDo.


• Kyle is ALSO styling the look of a blue mustache. Wonder why.


• I (In case you haven't found out by process of elimination yet, this is Alexis) am doing the school play right now, Beauty and the Beast, and am having fun with that although it is slow going right now. It kicks into high gear when school starts.


• I'm theoretically "recovering from a mild concussion." Pssh. Cute story.


• I have also decided I am going to write a book! Don't ask how far that's coming along, but it's going to happen! I have one scene written down, and that's it! ...great.


• The whole family--minus Josh, that whole mission thing--is going to drive to New Hampshire!


• We are having a LOT of family in and out, seeing them and having them see us.


• PART of that family visiting in and out, is our Uncle David, with his daughters, Rainy and Mimi, stopping with us on their way to Yellowstone where they will be for a week. It's awesome seeing them, for the first time in a bunch of peoples' memories, and in ten years for mom who remembers them all!


• We got a car that went bad not half out of the dealership. Promising, right? But it is in the shop right now and should be ours again tomorrow.


• Grandpa is doing well after surgery for his back, looking better every day we see him.


• Grandma Tuck has been in the hospital for lime disease, but she is out now. The one requirement and GREATEST CHALLENGE is for her to rest and not do much. Well folks, we'll so how long that lasts!


• Jarah is OLD, but funny. And loving. And attention hogging. And we love her A LOT. She is sharing the house (her domain) with Uncle David's dog Mercedes--for the attention hog she is, don't know how much she likes that.


• Thursday (August 4th) is the mile marker of a year since Dad has passed away. That's been rough...it's also the day after Josh leaves for the MTC. This is an emotionally packed week.

Hmm...that's the update on the crazy Savages.

Missionary News!

Most of you have probably heard by now, but here it is again anyway!

Both mission calls are in!

-Dani will serve for 18 months in Montevideo, Uruguay area. She will enter the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 29th.
-Joshua will serve for 24 months in the Lima West, Peru area. He will enter the Provo MTC on August 3rd, then 3 weeks later transfer to the Peru MTC ro polish his Spanish.

Both will be speaking Spanish. Josh is already quite proficient having taken four years in High School, including AP, and two semesters at BYU-H. Dani had two years of High School Spanish, which she says she has largely forgotten. She does speak French, however, which will help her learn very quickly. Both have passports and the visa applications are underway. So now we wait and work on Spanish! Alexis is just finishing her 2nd year of High School Spanish, so she and Josh are teaching me. Actually, they're doing a nice job! Tests are included. This is sweet revenge. They keep telling me to stay on top of my homework... stop slacking... did you study for your test yet, Missy? You get the idea.

No one guessed the country Dani would go to, so we all had muffins. I know people will be blessed as they set aside thier own interests and ambitions for this period of thier lives and serve thier Heavenly Father. They will get to know and love people in a profound way. They are both lit up inside. So in just a few months, South America, here they come!