The Babushka Saga

Christmas 2011 started as all good family days do.. we had decided to get together on christmas eve this year as it was a saturday and we had all day and into the night to enjoy christmas together and eat, drink and be merry!

There is a long tradition in our family since daddy passed - mum buys each of us girls a gift.. and it's always the same.. usually a lovely box with lovely things inside.  This year was as it has been the past couple of years - mum had bought each of us beautiful boxes - Sammy opened her's first.. it had cats on it... and inside was notepads and a few little lovely things.

I opened mine a little time after that.. it was a christmas theme box.. and inside were lovely notecards and some lovely little things for me.

Janne went last about 20 or so minutes after me.  Sam had said just before Janne started opening her christmas themed box "you better have the same things we got" as a jest to how fair mum is in making sure we are always equal (I love that about mum :) )

Sam had her back turned as Janne started to open her box.. but I was watching.. and saw Janne's face pull a 'funny look' and then shut the lid on the box.. and I stood up and as you can see from the photo above... demanded that Yann open her box.. Sam was alerted now to the fact something was going down and LO and BEHOLD.. mother had slipped a Babushka doll into Yann's.. because it was something Yann had always wanted.

Amongst much hilarity Sammy grabbed me in a hug to share the grief of being 'left out'.... picture evidence below of this HILARIOUS moment in our family

We 'commiserated' with eachother.. amongst all the laughter on this day.. this story stands out as one of those moments I love with my family... I remember christmas 2011 the most for the laughter.. and love shared.. despite a tough year as a family... and some challenges we had and are facing as a family and individually - we shared this day ... and I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for those moments that light up the corners of my life!

Learning What Is Important And What Is Not!

One of the greatest journey's in life is learning what is important and what is not.  At the illustrious age I am, I sometimes feel as if I have that worked out.. and then realise... I'm still learning.  Take my recent family vacation.

When my family go on vacation it is lots of laughter.. some tears... some frustration and lots of laughter again.  Sometimes when I watch films like 'The Family Stone'... I relate to how families bump up against eachother.. especially when older and with lives of their own.  Brothers and  sisters who share family genetics but have their own peculiar and amazing way of 'getting on in the world'.  Sometimes the way my mother or my sisters 'get on in their worlds' is VASTLY different to mine.

And so.. I bump up against them.  Put us on vacation in shared flats.. where we live next to and around eachother and there is bound to be some 'friction'.  I always go away with the view to not letting this affect me.. but being the passionate, involved woman that I am.. I invariably end up breaking that at some stage during the vacation.

This time was no different.. but I walked away with a little more illumination this time.  Perhaps because I was 'watching' for those 'learning' curves that I know Heavenly Father sends me.. if I keep watch.

Life is quite simple - if your family are crazy, passionate, funny, infuriating but largely kind, good people.. HOLD ON TO THAT!  don't complain or whinge about it.  YES, they will do things that will make you scratch your head... or something.. or some decision that you do not understand, because you would not make the same decision... LOVE THEM... CHERISH THEM..

and when you get moments like above... shared laughter.. a giggle about something that happened.. and a photo that celebrates that we belong to eachother... SHOUT IT OUT TO THE WORLD!

Learning what is important and what is not is a daily thing.. and I need my family to learn those lessons..

Who Am I?

This morning I could not sleep, I woke at 3.30am, wide awake.  I have had a cold for the past few days and I never sleep well when sick.. so up I got.  I have found I just get more frustrated if I sit in bed willing myself to stop coughing and spluttering....

In need of some 'uplifting' thoughts.. I turned to the you tube morman channel.  I love how they take quotes from recent general conference talks and by sight and sound, represent a powerful message.  AND then I 'tripped' over this video!

I have been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for over 20 years now.  I still remember hearing the story of a young man, Joseph, who knelt in a grove of trees at 14.. and prayed.. and received a vision of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ... of angels visiting and talking of a record written on gold plates..

I remember thinking "what is this fantasy story".. but as I thought it.. feeling something powerful and VERY REAL stir in my heart... of picking up the record now translated.. The Book of Mormon.. and reading it...

To this day... I just have to read a couple of passages.. and something very deep comes alive in my heart and mind...

It is a true record, I know that as surely as I breathe...

Joseph Smith was called to be a Prophet.. I know that too as surely as I breathe...

and where does all this leave me!

There have been many times in the past.. when I have had experiences that have shown me that there is much I do not understand in this world...

We like to believe that in this day and age.. we have the answers.. we have control over what happens around and to us...

Nature likes to remind us through earthquakes, famine, flood, tsunami, and various other natural phenomenon that we are very much NOT in control...

I do know some things however, I do know the full gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth.. and that I am aware of it.

and most of all.. I do know I am a child of God.. who slips and falls and who without the amazing gift of the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ.. and the authority restored to the earth to act in God's name... I can get back up.. and continue travelling home...

Words cannot describe these feelings... they are 'other worldly'.. but not mine alone... millions know of this.. millions more will know of this...

In this moment... at 5.41am on a saturday morning...

I watched the film above.. and felt deep and powerful gratitude.. to know these things.. to have a testimony of these things..

and to connect once more with He who does control all....

Tanya

Some Things I Know!!

This afternoon I was pondering on the 'years and years' worth of good and stupid information I have gathered.   In my infinite confidence in myself, I felt you may like to know some of the good stuff I have gleaned as I have 'wandered' through this life -

* Ladies, don't bother with eyeliner and brow pencils - get a great mascara and experiment using it not only for your lucious lashes.. but also to define your eyebrows and place eyeliner at the bottom of your top lashes and along the bottom... I've been saving money for years using just mascara

* and while I am on makeup tips.. don't bother with blush... just use your lipstick... a dab or two on the apple of your cheek... some light blending and voila.. you are an english rose with a slight blush... and matching lip colour... works a treat.. been using that one for years too

* a kiss from a handsome stranger can solve all kinds of dilemna's (and NO, I am not going to explain where, how, what, why I gleaned that little piece of advice - suffice it to say I have experience with this one)

* on the back of my previous piece of information - I said a kiss.. don't give it all away... just a kiss.. strange, mysterious... and be nice ladies... (and behave yourself lads) - there is nothing like the first time a guy you like holds your hand.. THAT'S IT.. holds your hand.... holding your hand.. there is nothing like it (and NO, that's another story I wont tell)

* Long loud laughter every morning is a prerequisite to having a good day - GO ON, try this piece of advice.. whatever makes you laugh.. guffaw.. snigger.. giggle.. do it.. every morning.. I promise you.. the day is always good after you've released one of those early on!

* children can restore reality to a person and yet also transport adults to the land of imagination and wonder  in the blink of an eye..... put down the washcloth for just a minute or so.. and get down on the floor and play.. just 5 minutes... you will find that life in all it's reality and yet wonder is right there to behold

* I would have been a great primary school teacher!

* the older I get, the more open I am to 'getting in touch with my inner child'.    Next time you get on a swing.. I dare you to say 'wheeeeeeeeee' as you swing high in the air and back down... the wind blowing through your hair

* Just because you are older and have more to say, doesn't mean what you have to say is more interesting... make sure you let the generations to come have equal time in your conversation - you can learn an awful lot

* I like laugh lines.. and lines created by character and expressions of joy and enjoyment.  Men of the world... you may not appreciate these.. but I do.. so NER!

* being comfortable in your own skin does not require a massive loss of weight, plastic surgery or some miracle treatment to take off the years... it means finally accepting the great beauty and the flaws of this all too human vehicle we have.. and loving that you have it

* Julie Andrews is my favourite... Mary Poppins, Maria, the Queen, Cinderella.. Julie.. you rock, always

Ok.. that's just a few... I'm sure you are doubled over with laughter now.. I shall leave with this parting thing I know... whatever truth you have in your life.. live up to it... and greater truths are made known to you!

I've Always Been a Bit of a Clown!

It's a truth universally acknowledged that I've always been a bit of a clown!  My defense is that bringing a smile to someone's face has ever been my goal.. even now.  Humor, the ability to laugh, giggle, snort or outloud guffaw has ever been what drives me.  Sometimes my taste in TV has supported this behaviour:

In fact, I was an avid Goodies fan as a child.. and my mother could never understand what I found so funny!  But I knew why.. to this day.. I cry with laughter at these three boys.. ah, classic laughter

A lot of things tickle my funny bone, in a previous post you'll note I placed a segment with President Monson making me giggle during his conference address.. wiggling his ears... a very becoming thing for a Prophet to do... how I love President Monson's humor.. always good natured, always positive.

30 rock makes me howl with laughter.. literally all the time:

I know people.. sometimes it's rude humor.. but I'm sorry to say.. Tina Fey gets me.. she knows how to press my 'funny' button every time.

There are of course classic movies that make me howl.. in highschool we could quote Monty Python movies... to this day I can still quote some of the funniest lines:

Tis but a scratch.. a scratch. your arms off... come on you pansy!

And I can still quote large sections of The Princess Bride:

Pixar have long been making me laugh... with their long films like toy story, etc.. but especially their short films... For The Birds is the little film I watch when I just wanta get happy... and snort with laughter:

Musicals - Into the Woods.. Stephen Sondheim is a genius.. every time I hear the princes sing agony, I have to smuffle my giggles:

If you ever want to see a musical that makes you laugh, cry, think, ponder - you MUST go and see Into The Woods.

And in the end, I'm always up for something that makes me laugh.. because laughter.. (and laugh lines) are the best way to spend every minute on this place we call earth:

Some Things Are Beyond Words!

Do me a favor!  Just sit here now and listen to this piece of music.. it's long.. I apologise in advance :)  Barber's adagio for strings is one of the most amazing pieces to ever be composed.. when I hear this... I hear angels sing.. really, truly:

How one man can come up with this is amazing and something I celebrate!

Speaking of angels singing - I am also an outrageous fan of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  I know, I know.. you suspect it is only due to the fact I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - but not so.. I was fan before I was a member of the church... there is something otherworldly about this choir:

This song, by Roger Hoffman, is based on the Saviour's sermon on the mount - listen to the words.. do you feel that.. your heart opening up and growing two sizes just by the music and the voices... I wish I could do that!

Beyond words - President Thomas S. Monson - who I have loved all these years - showing his great sense of humor

A read of his biography shows a man who has always simply and yet powerfully loved and served.   How I love to listen to him twice a year in general conference!  How I feel as I listen to him speak are beyond words or expression

My love for my sisters, my father and my mother are beyond words!

My love for my sisters 'babies' are beyond words....

BUT most of all, how I feel about Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, is sometimes beyond words

That is what I have been thinking about this morning, pondering, feeling!

Another Great Love of my Life!

If music is the food that feeds me.. then dance, particularly classical ballet, is the water!  I have loved ballet since I was a little girl and though I never had the talent nor the right body shape to become what I always longed to become.. I can still feel the love for it coursing through me!

Two of the greatest dancers.. and the greatest pairing was Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nuryev.  Dance is a very exacting world, and I learnt at the age of 14 that there was no possible way I could ever be the exact type it required, so I taught and loved it for as long as I could.  There is a freedom and a joy to dancing ballet... even with those torture shoes on.. pointe shoes (and yes, they do cause a lot of pain!)

I don't know why it is so entwined with my heart and mind, but it has been since I was a young girl.  Perhaps it was a kindness from Heavenly Father that I could not devote my body and soul to this artform - because it certainly requires that to 'grow up' and do it - because it does enact some terrible tolls on the body.  Out of every 1000 girls who make it to a company, only 3 or 4 ever have the kind of talent and presence of a Margot Fonteyn, Darcey Bussell or Sylvie Guillem.  Most will end up with injuries and flaws that stop them from being truly great.

Still, as I watch it.. I find my feet twitch, my toes stretch out in the point I learnt at 10 and have never lost.

Ultimately.. though I love music, and I love ballet and dance... there is something I love more.  The gospel of Jesus Christ touches deep into my heart, where I truly live, beyond the music, beyond the dance, there is a recognition that I am His daughter, and I am going home - and a longing to be home that is greater than all these 'loves' I have here.