MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 26 hours, 18 minutes, and 5 seconds left!!

Merry Christmas!! It is now just 26 ½ (ish) hours away.  Today is Christmas Adam (a.k.a. The Eve of Christmas Eve).  All month I have been getting ready, and now I am so excited that I can hardly talk.  My family and I have done some really fun things, and I’ve decided to list some of my favorites.  

On my dad’s side of the family, we do Advent.  Advent is a tradition in Christmas Tradition, in Germany.  Since my Grandma comes directly from there, we have a lot of German traditions.  During this tradition, candles are lit every Sunday, for four weeks before Christmas.  All of the family, well as many as can make it, gather together to read stories, eat German food, and light the candles.  It’s a great tradition that we do.  Most of my dad’s family was there, and we look forward to going over there to be able to light the next candle.

On Christmas Eve, we have the traditional German dinner.  It is one of my favorite meals, and I look forward to it all year.  It has sausages, bratwurst, sauerkraut, ham, and boiled potatoes, with white gravy.  It is very delicious, and it takes my Grandma a lot of time to make it.  Her parents, both German, always bring dessert, and that is great, too.

This year, my dad wanted to do Advent Calendars.  When he was a kid, he loved to do these with his family, so he decided he wanted us to do it.  These aren’t a German tradition.  They are the paper ones that have doors, which when opened, have chocolate behind them.  Well, the first problem with these is that we never remember to open them.  For the first few days, we did a good job, but then we forget, so when we finally remember, we get to eat four or five at a time.  The other problem that we’ve found is when they get bumped or shaken, all the chocolates fall to the bottom of the package.  Then, to get them out, you must shake it in the other direction.  This causes the others to fall out, too, so now nearly none of the chocolates are in the correct place.  It has made us laugh, though, and that has been fun.

Another tradition we have is to look at Christmas lights.  I find such joy in looking at these beautiful wonders!  Going to Temple Square, Layton Park’s lights, and the lights at Willard Bay.  They’ve taken so much time to put up, and there are so many of them!!  I can’t decide if I like seeing pictures made of lights or if I just like the single ones.  They both have their beauty, but I think I prefer the plain ones.  At Temple Square, I love the lights that are pink and white.  It’s very pretty.

I also love the Christmas music.  This season, I’ve listened to so much Christmas music.  My family has the soundtrack of the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas soundtrack.  It’s one of my favorites, and this year I believe I’ve listened to it at least 50 times.  We have other fun Christmas CDs, such as the Chipmunks and Amy Grant, but I love the Grinch.    

Well, I know this wasn’t my best writing ever, but I’m really excited, and I can hardly wait for it to be Christmas.  The only problem with its coming is, after it’s over, all of the fun and they way everyone feels, stops.  I wish that people could continue it all year long.  The world would be a much better place is everyone did.  Oh well, I can at least start!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!    

The Yearling/Peacebuilder Essay

Jody Baxter was a simple, backwoods boy.  He had very little education, lived in the same area his entire life, and did not live in a populated area.  Yet, he was still able to learn important life skills and how to interact and deal with people.  This is shown through his maturity and actions.  Jody, and his family, learned how to praise people, notice hurts, and right wrongs.
     
Jody’s father, Penny, was a great teacher of noticing things people have done and congratulating them on it.  During hunts, Penny was always quick to notice when Jody had done a good job.  While Penny was hunting wolves with Jody and the Foresters, he made Jody feel very proud by telling him that he had done it right and that he had helped make it a success.   Penny also praised Jody because he had planted the crops and done such a good job in the fields.  Jody learned to make people feel better because of the accomplishments they have done.  This was not the only thing Penny taught.  He also taught his son how to see when something was wrong.
     
Penny Baxter was very good at noticing when something was not right with a person.  He could tell when Oliver, his friend, had been hurt, and later angered, about Lem Forester courting Twink Weatherby.  Since he was able to tell that something was the matter, he was able to get there in time and save Oliver.  The Foresters and Jody also made each other feel better after Fodder-wing’s death.  If they hadn’t noticed how each other were feeling and done simple acts of kindness, they would all have had a harder time coping with the death.  They were able to forgive each other countless times, even though they were often very cruel.
       
After the Oliver incident, the Foresters and Baxters had some struggles, but they forgave each other and helped one another.  A rattlesnake bit Penny, and Buck Forester got a doctor, planted crops, and assisted around the farm, until Penny recovered from the bite.  Their families had been fighting and the Foresters had stolen the Baxter’s hogs.  Buck made sure they were returned, and he made up for all of the things that had happened since the fight.  On a different occasion, Flag, Jody’s pet deer, destroyed the Baxter’s fields.  Penny allowed Jody to replant the crops and make up for the things his pet had done.  Jody was more than willing to do these things, and this shows that he wanted to correct his mistakes.  The greatest example of making something better occurred in the last few pages.  After Flag was killed, Jody ran away.  He didn’t think he could trust his parents, and he was lost (“running away”) for a long time.  When he returned home, his father was there.  Penny was very excited to see him, and he made sure that Jody knew that he was still loved and he was forgiven for what had happened.
     
Even though Jody did not experience going to school or living in a large community, he was still able to learn important qualities that could help him throughout life.  He learned mostly from the example of his father that it’s important to make people feel good, recognize when something’s wrong, and make up for mistakes that have been made.  It doesn’t take a teacher to learn these things.  It does take good examples and experiencing life, which is what was Jody’s experience.

Cheetahs Never Prosper!

No, I am not planning on spending this time talking about a feline that lives out on the Savannah.  I am actually going to talk about a group of people who I think are absolutely despicable, and I cannot believe what they do.  This group is cheaters.

Recently I’ve had some encounters with people who have cheated.  I cannot believe their gall.  It is unfair that people cheat, on anything and everything, and that nearly no one gets caught.  Where is justice?  I listen in class, take notes, do my assignments, study, and then these people get the same test score as me, for having done absolutely no work.  These people goof off in class, never listen, and have awful grades.  I hope that teachers are able to catch the “miraculous” test scores that these crummy students get.  Why would it look suspicious to have a student get an A on a test, when the day before they hadn’t turned in any complete homework?  It just isn’t right.

Then, to make it worse, people are such blatant cheaters.  It isn’t like they try to be subtle about it.  Do people honestly think that if they say they’ll hate me forever if I don’t tell them the answer that I’ll actually tell them?  Or, here’s my personal favorite, “I’ll give you $5 if you’ll tell me the answer.” Don’t people know me by now?  I guess not, because people still do it a lot.  I could be a millionaire if I went along, though.

It seems warped to me.  If you really wanted those good grades, you would study and try.  Yet, they don’t, and then they try to blame it on everyone else.  It really isn’t the teacher’s fault, the parent’s fault (well, sometimes it is, if they encourage it), or the friend’s fault.  It’s the lazy student’s fault.  They want something for nothing, and no one is doing any favors to help someone cheat.

The other day, I was studying for a geography test.  We had to label a map, from memory, and I was studying off of a completed map of Europe.  This girl started to beg me to let her use the map on her test.  She promised that nothing would happen, and that if I didn’t let her use it, she would fail.  I didn’t let her, and she was giving me the evil eye during the test, but it didn’t have any affect on me, since I hadn’t done anything wrong.  Yet, so many times people cave in.  They let them use their notes, they whisper them the answer, or they let them see their test.  Whatever it is, it’s wrong.  The person who facilitates cheating is just as much to blame as the person who actually cheats.  

How does cheating affect a person?  Maybe I’m a different breed of cat, but I would feel VERY guilty about cheating.  I wouldn’t be able to stand myself.  I would cry and be absolutely depressed until I did something to make up for it.  If I did cheat, it would probably kill me so much that I would turn myself in.  So, how do our classmates feel about it? Do they go through guilt complexes and completely shut down?  Obviously not, or it wouldn’t happen so often.  I can’t figure out how people can get to the point that they don’t feel any regret for the things they’ve done.  Maybe it’s one of those examples where you feel that it isn’t too bad or no one will know about it.  People must’ve gotten to the point that they can completely fool themselves into thinking that what they’re doing is okay.  It isn’t, though.

So, what are we decent, hard-working students to do?  Eliminate cheating.  First of all, don’t be a cheater.  Don’t sneak in notes or ask people for help.  If we’re the ones guilty of it, we can’t help others.  Second, don’t help other people.  It doesn’t matter if your best friend begs you to tell them the answer.  If they do something like that, they aren’t really your friend.   Sorry to be blunt, but they’re using you.  Real friends just don’t do things like that.  Then, don’t listen to false promises.  There are the oldies, but goodies, “You’ll be my best friend forever” or “If you really are my friend, you’d help me.”  These things are not true.  People who say things like that are the ones that will forget about you as soon as you walk out of the class.  I believe the final step to rooting out cheaters is this: if it happens a lot, tell the teacher.  Put a stop to it.  If we don’t stand up, it will always continue.  They will get better and better at getting away with things.  It doesn’t do them any favors.  At some point, they’re going to hit a time when they can’t cheat the system anymore.  They’ll have to face the cold, hard facts of life, and it’s going to be a killer reality check.  If we stop their cheating ways now, though, these people will thank us later.  So, stand up to the cheaters!  Don’t let them boss or push you around.  Realize what you’re doing, or helping others do, is very wrong.  Fix the mistakes that you’ve made, and do better in the future.  Once again, remember, “Cheaters never prosper!”        

The Christmas Concert

Wow! Have you ever been to something that made you want to sit with your mouth hanging open for the entire time?  This happened to me on Friday.  I attended the concert entitled: Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Renée something.  It was amazingly beautiful.

I am constantly in awe of the Conference Center.  It is a true architectural wonder.  Just to look at the terrace and see it completely suspended, makes me realize how smart people are, to be able to come up with something like that.  Then as you walk out, you see the stage decorated immaculately, with giant Christmas trees and two cottages, covered with snow.  There was an antique looking stonewall, behind the orchestra, that was draped with snow, ivy, and poinsettias.  It was beautiful and very festive.

When I finally sat down, I had an amazing seat.  We were in the second section, in the very middle.  The orchestra started playing, and it was really great.  I mean, being in an orchestra, I really appreciate the time and talent that goes into things like this.  The choir joined in, and once again I was stunned.  Their voices sounded… angelic. That’s probably the word that best describes it.  Towards the beginning, they sang “Carol of the Bells.”  This is one of my favorite Christmas songs.  It was so clear and crisp.  They also sang the Hallelujah Chorus, from Handel’s Messiah.   To hear such a classical piece sung so beautifully was a great experience.  Renée sang with them on some pieces.  She is a very good soprano, and some of the things she sang were really high.  Her voice, during many of the songs, greatly added to the spirit of the evening.  She had on a very interesting dress.  It was beautiful, but when I examined it more closely, it was odd.  It had a very versatile shawl, and she used it in every possible way, from holding it up, to wrapping it around herself, but the actual dress was a brownish-purple color.  It had braided ropes hanging down on it, in very random places, and it was layered.  The dress had sleeves made of black lace that eventually merged into the dress.  It was impressive that she was able to get away with such a thing.  People would’ve laughed at me, if I were wearing it.  Sorry to get sidetracked and go off on that dress tangent. Back to the music…

A professional actress was there.  She read a sad story about a Russian village.  It was slightly depressing, but talked about the true meaning of Christmas and how Christ still lives.  It made me cry, and I was annoyed that the little girl in it was killed.  She also read the Christmas story, which was happier.  There were also dancers there.  They danced during a couple songs, and I was amazed at how graceful they were.  A bell choir accompanied two of the songs.    

Many other beautiful songs were played and sung, but one of my favorite events was when the conductor turned around, during the final verse of Angels We Have Heard on High, and had us sing along.  It was great to be able to sing as loudly as you wanted with all of those people.  You couldn’t help feeling the great Christmas spirit while you were joined with thousands of voices, singing an optimistic message.  It helped me to become even more excited for Christmas!  Hurray! Only two weeks!!!

    

My Brother, the Toothless Wonder

Have you ever been amazed at how trusting a child is? On Thanksgiving, my cutest, little brother, named Stephen, age two, broke his tooth. It was the front, middle tooth, on the right, so it was really obvious. It broke in 3 places, but none of it fell off. We didn’t know what to do, so we called out dentist. Since we were in Arizona, he told us to leave it alone till we returned. We showed his how to eat on the side, and he was really brave.

When we got home, we called the dentist back. Stephen was to go in early Monday morning. While examining his tooth, the dentist decided that the loose parts, two of the pieces, in the back, must be pulled. He didn’t want to get a shot, so he got absolutely no medicine, while they pulled the pieces. He just sat there, and he let them do anything. It turns out that the nerve had been sticking out, so Stephen shouldn’t have been able to eat or drink without it hurting. I can’t believe that he put up with it so well! Think about it, when a dentist is working on your tooth, you cringe if he gets anywhere near the nerve. Now think about how much it would hurt, if it were sticking out!

Then my dentist gave my mom the option of what to do with the other part of his tooth: put a cap on it or pull it. If he got a cap, if would involve many hours of surgery to get it in, and the dentist didn’t think it was a good idea. So, my mom decided to have the tooth pulled. While it was being pulled, he sat there, next to my mom, and didn’t cry at all. He kept his mouth open and was helpful. As soon as it came out, he cried a little, but I think that’s mostly on account of how much it bled. The dentist was really amazed at how well he had done (he said that usually they don’t try any of this on little kids, but he was really great).

Now, my brother is a toothless wonder. It amazes me that he could be so patient, and that he was willing to submit and do whatever was asked of him. It was a great example to me. I don’t think I could’ve been half as brave as he was. That’s a picture of him, by the way. He looks kind of bad because we've been at the zoo all day and it was 100 degrees, but I still think he's darling!