Soon It Will Be Christmas Day

There are some times when I just love being an aunt. Saturday morning brought on one of those moments. I visited Kelly's family for a few hours, and when I arrived, Nicole and Jake answered the door, calling to rest of the house that "Megan's here!" Andrew came barreling down the stairs like he normally does, yelling my name excitedly. These three I expected. Then another voice screamed out my name! No, it definitely wasn't Kelly or Nate; it was Ali! I've been certain in the last year or so that she definitely knows me, but this was the very first time she ever said my name totally voluntarily (and excitedly, thank you very much). And it completely made my day. It even topped the moment she hugged me around my knees during Thanksgiving, because she wasn't saying my name then. Looks my quest for the title of Favorite Aunt is being handily won.

Not only did I visit Clinton on Saturday, I paid a visit to Temple Square with Betsey and Lisa that evening. I haven't gone to see the lights for several years, so I was pretty pumped to see them, even with the cold. The price you pay. We had a good time walking around, and of course it was two minutes after we talked about the possibility of seeing people we may know when, shockingly enough, we ran into a family I know from back home! (and it's never me that is the lucky one to run into people, really.) So that was a fun incident, but we moved along, thinking it was a one-time thing. It wasn't, to my utter delight. Twenty minutes later, who should get in my path but the Swensons?!?!? It was the most unexpected thing to see Uncle Brad walking right at me, but I was totally excited to see Camille, Brad, Dane, and Aimee, barely a month later than the last time I saw them. Lisa and Betsey were both kind of astounded at my small-world happenings, but they were good sports about it.

Aside from running into the family and friends, I've got to say that one of my favorite things about walking around Temple Square was when we watched the presentation at the Nativity scene next to the Tabernacle. There was quite a crowd gathered to listen to the narration, and it was kind of a chore to try and see the figures as they were lit up (thank goodness i'm tall), but I think my favorite part of watching it was seeing all the little children up on their parents' shoulders. It's a small and simple thing, but it's sweet. We all wanted to see the Baby Jesus. Joy to the world, for sure.

-Me

"A turkey never voted for an early Christmas." -Irish Proverb