Singing is an act of Joy

Last night we had the privilege of attending the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. I think everybody should hear them live at least once in their lifetime. They are incredible. Music has a way of touching my soul in a way that nothing else can. One of my most spiritual moments in my whole life was leading a Stake Choir in the Hallelujah Chorus. To this day I can't sing that song without crying and remembering that special moment for me.
The guest artist, Broadway Star, Brian Stokes Mitchell, made a point that just resonated with my whole soul. He said that Christmas is a time of Joy. Then he said, "Singing is an act of Joy."
This I know to be true. I have enjoyed so much the opportunity to sing this year. I know that music is truly a heavenly form of communicating.
It is exciting to think that you can take it with you. We can all be a part of the heavenly choir. (We should all practice up by joining our ward choirs.) Truly, for me, singing is an act of Joy.

Lazy Day

So today is a lazy day. I slept in and have lazily stayed in my p.j.'s.
I did, however, jump out of bed when I heard my favorite person's high pitched voice at my door (pre-9 a.m.) bringing me this:

Can you tell how purple and sparkly it is from the picture? I love it.

Toys for Tots

One other post about doing something to remember Joy this Holiday Season.
I think one of my greatest fears is that people will forget that Joy ever existed.

I invited my nieces and nephews to let Joy participate in the cousin gift exchange by purchasing a gift that a three year old girl would love. I asked them to donate it to “Toys for Tots” or a homeless shelter in the area where they live.
There are lots of kids that might not get presents this year so we thought this would be a nice way to remember Joy and help out another child. If you want to also participate, I would love it. Send me an email and a picture or leave a comment and tell me about your experience.

Here is what each of the kids picked out. It was a fun way to remember their sister.

Gifts for Joy

This year we decided to hang Joy's stocking and fill it with gifts for her. We are all doing acts of service for each other and for everyone we can. It is a way to remember the real reason for the season. We want to bring Joy to everyone. We want to feel our Savior's love by serving others. We want to feel closer to Christ so we can remember that we want to return to live with our Heavenly Father and Joy again. When you perform a kind act, you get to write it on a paper and put it in the stocking. On Christmas Eve, we will read them all. May you, too, feel a lot of Joy this Holiday Season by serving others.

Festival of Trees

Today we sang at the Festival of Trees. I prepared myself emotionally. I couldn't look at the audience because my mom came to watch and I knew I'd cry if I looked at her. There were also some friends from church there. So I avoided eye contact with the audience, avoided thinking about the fact that so many people donated trees and didn't look at the big poster with a sick child in a hospital bed. It was exhausting. We sounded great I think and the people I knew said I was "glowing." So I made it through without crying.
The festival benefits Primary Children's so there are a lot of families that donate trees in memory of a child that dies there. So we walked around and cried over lost children, teenagers, mothers, fathers and grandparents. It was especially touching when I saw three trees for people's children that I knew. There were three "Twilight" trees. The only picture I took was of the University of Utah's golf team who said they were "teed off" because the U is cutting their golf program. I thought my dad would get a kick out of the tree.

I should have taken more pictures. There was a "Joy to the World" tree with no Joy ornaments on it but some large Joy things around it.
There were several Joy ornaments on various trees that I was coveting. Good thing there are volunteers standing by because I might have swiped some. There were these gorgeous purple glitter ones and unfortunately you can't ask people where they found them. Darn.

Rest in Peace

This year, I am singing with a group of ladies that perform at Christmas parties and other events. It has been really fun and challenging. (I am so choreography challenged.) We had our first performance at a retirement center. It's a great place to work the kinks out of our performance because the old people love you no matter what.
There are times in my life where I know something is going to be hard. I gear up, I'm prepared emotionally to "handle it". Then there are times when it comes out of nowhere. You didn't see it coming AT ALL.
We walked in to sing for the elderly people and the thought entered my mind that these people are going to see my Joy a lot sooner than I will. As one lady grabbed my hand while we were walking by I imagined her saying, "Your daughter is with you." I don't know where the thought came from. I didn't feel anything different but the tears started flowing. I was watching these people and had a little envy that they had nearly completed their journey. They have lived rich, full lives and have almost completed their assignments. I wanted to say, "Say Hi to Joy for me." All these thoughts going through my head while I was supposed to be singing. So I cried throughout the entire performance. The old people still loved us and told us we were beautiful and sounded like angels. One old guy remarked, "I love it when hot babes under 40 show up."

Joy Tree

I have been collecting Joy ornaments for the past year to decorate a tree in memory of my daughter. This year it is a four foot small tree with pink ribbons. I am hoping to collect enough ornaments to eventually have a large tree entirely filled with Joy ornaments.
Here are a few of my favorites.



































Every time I see the tree, I feel so much Joy. And then I sort of chuckle and think that if she were here, she would probably pull the ornaments off and carry them around proclaiming that they are "so pretty."