One night Holy and Bright ...

Come and gather 'round at the table

In the spirit of family and friends
And we'll all join hands and remember this moment
'Til the season comes 'round again

Let's all try to smile for the pictures

And we'll hold it as long as we can
May it carry us through should we ever get lonely
Til the season comes round again

One night holy and bright

Shining with love from our hearts
By a warm fire let's lift our hands high
And be thankful we're here 'til this time next year

May the new year be blessed with good tidings

'Til the next time I see you again.
If we must say goodbye, let the spirit go with you
'Til the season comes 'round again.

And we'll love and we'll laugh in the time that we have
Til the season comes round again




Every Christmas season this Kenny Rogers song gets played over and over again. I used to be a huge Kenny Rogers fan.

 Wherever or whatever family is or isn't it brings tears to my eyes. My children would say that everything brings tears to my eyes, but these tears are spiritual tears of GREAT JOY! I always tell my children and our extended family that, "It's all about the family." It is why we attend blessings, baptisms, weddings, funerals. It is why we go to support children and grandchildren and cousins etc. at numerous activities. Our extended family have been so supportive of our children's activities. "Family is Everything," both at the immediate time and in the broader context of the Plan of Happiness. We don't and can't loose family, so we develop patience and kindness and patience and empathy and patience and love. We overlook faults, big and bigger. We help move each other over and over again. We pray for each other and we should watch over each other. We cease to find fault and are quick to forgive. We do not take offense easily, even if we are right and the other person wrong. Family. It is why we go to the temple. It is why we try to be and do "good", so that we can be together as a family forever.  It is why we celebrate with each other and it is why I make a big deal of those celebrations. Every holiday is a reason to rejoice, but Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving are the ones I love most. Actually I have said I love Thanksgiving the most because it is not about anything except gratitude, but Christmas and Easter are about Him and he is the Most.

I decorate and decorate for Hallowe'en, but it is not in the same league!

In our instance it is why we take care of the ranch, so we will continue to have a vestige where we can meet and sing and eat and laugh and worship and work, so we develop strong relationships that will last for eternity. Bless C.B. Stewart and Lester Franklin Hewlett for the vision they had. Although not perfect, we feel like it is our " Heaven on Earth" and worth preserving, even if it takes a little sacrifice on our part.

My own family has lived  a great distance from me for all of my adult life, in fact, more accurately, I have lived a great distance from my family, but I feel so strongly about family that I have always tried to maintain a correspondence with them. I am not very good about it, but I honor my own heritage and those aunts, uncles and cousins who are part of my family branch and tree. My own brothers and sister have tried to support my own children at major events in their life, even though the distance be long.

"And we'll love and we'll laugh in the time that we have, Til the season comes round again"
That "one night holy and bright" is about the Savior and the Savior is about families. They "carry us through should we ever get lonely." It is the Plan. THIS I BELIEVE!