A marble, a song, and a story.

Returning to one's blog, in order to begin afresh and find joy once again in the art and action or writing can be an interesting challenge. After all, I am accustomed to being of a witty disposition and a charming display of character in writing. Now, the problem becomes how to portray that once again when I am so very much out of practice. I admit that I wondered if I should open with a blatently bad pun, a horribly concieved joke, or a simple reference to a rather humorous situation, such as is common among those people who are in the dating phase of life.

But, in this case, I desist, because this blog is about the Christmas Spirit that is so much talked of.

I've heard that the Christmas Spirit can be defined as a lot of things. The pure love of a child, the accepting and giving feeling that comes from giving the perfect gifts to family and friends alike, the joy felt by so much sharing in music, the laughter of parties with friends and family, the happiness and peace of the time all are things that have been said to be the Spirit of Christmas. I discovered a little bit more of what Christmas is like, and I wanted to share it with as large a group as possible.

The story is really what portrays the Christmas Spirit, because it ties in the marble and the song. These past couple of weeks the Ogden LDS Institute performing groups have been preparing to present their christmas show, "Where Are You Christmas." The show is about a young mother who is trying to do a million and one things, and on top of that she decides to do a christmas pageant. She works hard at it, and eventually becomes discouraged, realizing that she has lost the true spirit of Christmas and the peace that Christ gives us. In a peaceful realisation she comes to know that Christ loves her, accepts her, and she finds once again the spirit of Christmas.

For this show I played the part of the rather frustrated husband who can't understand why his wife wants to do so much. It was a fun part, if only because I got to scream in frustration, and then have people laugh at me. It's a lot more fun to have people laugh at you then you think. Anyway, there is one scene where I'm carrying an exercise bike (so my 'wife' can do exercise during rehearsal of the christam pageant) and I set it down in frustration. During the last performance, though, a marble popped out of the handle of the exercise bike. I'd done this scene plenty of times before, and I've never had the marble experience, so I thought that was kind of random.

Part of the show is that there was a little kid who acted as our child. During the last perfomance, he bonked his head while playing around. Bonked it pretty good, too, because he had a monster goose egg afterward. However, he was pretty upset, and that's not that great. Turns out that he likes marbles. A lot. So I gave him the marble that had popped out of the exercise bike to play with. It calmed him down and distracted him from the pain.

And then came nearly the final scene, where Jennifer (my 'wife') sings to the Christ child in a nativity. It's a moving scene, and has always been a favorite of mine. The song is a mix between "Who is this Child" and "What Child is This." During that song, I realized that it wasn't so random that the marble had popped out of the bike. It popped out of the bike on precisely that night because Jesus, of who they were singing "This, This is Christ the King" loved that little boy, and wanted him to be happy. I contemplated on all the things that Christ has done to make me comfortable, and to forget pain, and I realized that that was the Spirit of Christmas. The very personal love of Christ in my life making me want to be a better person. More like Him.

And so, Merry Christmas to all! May the Spirit of Christmas find you this season.