December 2023 Randoms

 Shutterfly periodically sends me these pictures from the past, and sometimes they really tug at my heartstrings. 😭

You bet I'd like to press rewind and relive those times! They were some of the best of my life. I loved having little kids. I wish I could have had more. Sam was especially a dream child; my dream boy, I called him.

This should have gone in yesterday's Wisdom, etc. post but I overlooked it so here it is now! I try to follow this same philosophy in life.

Anne of Green Gables will always have a special place in my heart and in my life. I need to watch the movies again soon; it's been forever! 

I love this song. 

Sometimes I take pictures of songs I like (yes, it's possible to take a picture of a song, an inanimate object—my innovation knows no bounds 😆) to remind myself to get them and put them in my Apple Music playlists.

It's true. I was very pleased with how the series ended.

😍

My friend Anna showed me this pretty owl notebook she found at the bookstore on Nantucket when we were there, and I had to get it.

Books spotted at the library that I want to read while I was doing shelf-reading in the stacks (specifically the Katherine Arden trilogy). 📚 

Not to state the obvious, but this was when I was shelving books up in the Children's Room. 😊

Someday I'll go to Boston Ballet's The Nutcracker again... 

I met some friends for lunch at Nordstrom at the mall and I saw this beautiful evening dress on my way to the cafe there. How perfectly lovely, modest, and elegant is this dress?! I was tempted to buy it, even though I have nothing to wear it to.

I got a good gift from the Yankee gift swap with my library co-workers. Much better than the husband-wife snowglobe I'd received a few weeks earlier!

I was released from Primary at the end of December. 😔 I love Primary and I miss my class a lot.

This sweet note from Komaki was one of my favorite things I received this Christmas. 💖

Because I'm nostalgic, I snapped a picture from the ward directory of my calling before it disappeared.

Angelic manifestations during the restoration of Christ's church about 200 years ago were the coolest.

I got some new pants on sale from Banana Republic that I really like. I took a picture of the tag so that I can remember in the future what exactly I got.

They're flattering, cute, comfortable, and they fit perfectly. I got a pair in navy and a pair in black. It was the first time I'd bought pants that weren't "house pants" (as I like to call them), yoga pants, or jeans in a very long time. I'm a working woman now, after all! Even though the majority of my work is done at my computer at home while wearing my house pants. 😆

I spotted this cu-hoot owl planner at Barnes & Noble. I'm devoted to my Franklin Planner, but if I weren't, I might have been tempted.

Speaking of Franklin Planners...

This was a fun article. I love Elf!

A beautiful picture of one of the most significant events to ever take place. 

I'm legit a little worried about this. I might have to read this book at some point. 😄

I didn't know this about Myles Standish. It makes an otherwise bellicose man a little more relatable and sweet. He missed out on getting his crush because he was too shy! John Alden got her instead! All is fair in love and war, after all. (This is a good re-telling of what happened in their love triangle—possibly the first love triangle by colonists in America?)

On a related note (get it?), Myles Standish is my third cousin twelve times removed, and Priscilla is my fifth cousin ten times removed. I looked up my recent Mayflower-related post to remember the exact connections. My blog can be so resourceful sometimes! 😉

I got lunch from Chick-fil-a's drive-thru on my way home from the temple and snapped a picture to text to Sam, who was in Pennsylvania at the time. (Chick-fil-a is his favorite.)

"Rockin' around the nugget tray" ha ha

In contrast with the peaceful imagery of Christ's humble and quiet birth several pictures above this one, here is what is prophesied to happen when Christ returns to the earth, this time triumphant in power and great glory in a robe of red instead of swaddling clothes, on the back of a horse instead of on the back of a donkey that his mother rode before he was born. I love these contrasts and the fulfillment of prophecy! I hope I'm there to witness this one for myself.

Wisdom, Humor, and Inspiration in December

 There was a lot of wisdom, humor, and inspiration last month, because that's how December tends to be!

This brings me back to math class and my general feeling about it. 😆 Although I did kind of like long division.

Incidentally, this is one of the best books I've ever read.

This was a really good article. I'm a chronic over-thinker, but I think I've been getting better over the past couple of years. Lots of good advice here.

Well, maybe think just a little bit about it first!

😂😂😂

This reminds me of how when I was young, when there were "swear words" like "hell" in hymns, I wouldn't sing that word and felt a little bit superior to everyone else who did. 😆

No Taylor Swift here!

Guilty of both perpetrating this and experiencing this every once in awhile! 

Although I hardly ever unfriend anyone anymore now that you can just unfollow people. I rarely do that, either, but sometimes it has to be done.

This is great for anxiety-prone people like myself:

(This was soon before she resigned)

😂

The concept of the Sabbath Day is one of my favorite things about the gospel. It blesses my life greatly, every single week.

More hilarity from The Babylon Bee 😄

Although it should be "LDS Family Proud OINKS" 😉 Babylon Bee should hire me as an editor! 

I love the qualities of honesty and integrity. I did a life-changing project about these virtues years ago and it changed me forever. I truly do strive for honesty in the things that I do and say. Despite what it says here, I'm not perfect at it (yet), but it is one of those rare things that you can nearly achieve perfection in.

On a related note, ever since I stopped lying or stretching the truth about not feeling well to get out of things years ago, I hardly ever get sick anymore. Blessings of honesty!

I liked this final text from the Light the World campaign. 

The never-ending dilemma! 😆

I rejoined Instagram at the end of December after eight years of being off it. It's been good to be back on it again, although I'm still figuring out some of the newer things, like Reels and those temporary story things (or whatever they are) at the top. But there's a lot of good stuff on there, like this:

P.S. I was already in my first Reel! For work!

I've found the concept of radical acceptance to be very helpful in my life. It helps me to be happier and more at peace with things that I have no control over.