comparison is the thief of joy

Because I've got a golden TICKET.... (aka season pass to Disneyland thanks to momma)

I really do feel spoiled with every trip I take home to California. It's easy for me to forget all the things I have in abundance. Day to day trials easily sweep us into selfish thoughts... What do I want, what don't I have, Me, Me, Me. Can you believe I actually let myself get down on Christmas day? It really truly is embarrassing, but I can't be the only one that becomes jealous every now and then of other peoples lives. Social media is just so good at portraying things in the right light and Satan really is that good at letting your mind run away in the wrong direction.

The gospel is a sure way to pull you out of it though. Even in my darkest of thoughts, I remember and try to bring myself to read the scriptures. You (or maybe its just me) are never angry when reading through those pages. It's as if Heavenly Father is extending his hand, pulling you back to Him to remember our purpose here. 

I sometimes find myself becoming stubborn when I'm in my selfish angry rants. I don't want to pray, I just want to sleep. Somehow sleep becomes a solution for me when it comes to inner battles with myself, it's as if I wake up clearly seeing how stupid I was being. I often catch myself and realize this while I am in the bathroom getting ready for bed. Yes, sometimes I have to force myself to pray and I don't let myself out of the bathroom until I do. I try to brush my teeth for the recommended 2 minutes, and then I kneel down. I probably should wash my bath mats more often. Regardless, we need to remember, that sometimes we need to individually find the way that works for us. Ways to help keep us in line, and to keep our will, in line with Heavenly Fathers will for us. He is great, He knows all, He has a better plan for us than we ever will for ourselves. 

I'm not big on twitter, but I logged on and saw this on Elder Uchtdorfs Quotes:

"I hope that this Christmas... we will consider, in particular, the many gifts

we have been given by our loving Heavenly Father."

It's okay for us all to recognize that we are not perfect, we are not meant to be that way. But we can constantly strive to progress and grow in that direction, always trying to make ourselves better. It is NEVER too late. If we keep in mind our purpose here and what would make our Father in Heaven happy, we can succeed. I truly believe these things, and I'm okay sharing my personal thoughts and faults in hopes that someone can relate. We can be strengthened through one another. I am grateful for this gospel, and I am genuinely touched by those who have reached out to me. This is just the internet, but we can use the internet for good. We can use the internet to connect and share positive thoughts with those we would have never come across any other way. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

xoxo

a sure solution to help you deal with lifes problems: CLICK HERE and HERE

Merry Christmas Ya'll!

Merry Merry Merry Merry Merry Christmas!

Love, The Fitzgerald Family

Flight 4577

Nothing can take away the comfort of home.

I flew into Ontario, CA saturday night after a delayed flight. Well, it was only an hour later but it seemed much longer than that. I had planned for a nice little nap, in my cute little 2x2 plane for the short hour and a half flight. Instead, I got Tyrone. A 25 year-old guy from Temecula who was a chatty kathy. We got talking about where we were headed and why, I explained to him that I now lived in Utah, but that all my family was still in California. His next question of course was, why Utah? He had just been on a connecting flight trying to get back home from some work journey. I told him I had moved there, needing change in my life. But then I realized that, although that was a huge reason for my move, that was not the main motivator. I moved to Utah for change, and mostly to put myself in an environment where the majority of people held my new standards and beliefs. I feel like I needed that support and looking back now after two years, it was one of the best decisions I could have made for myself.

After my hesitation of telling him the real reason for my relocation, I knew that I should never back down from sharing the gospel and my beliefs. This led to an entire flight of religious conversation. He told me he was Christian, I explained to him that we were the same. Now, I recognize that I am horribly extremely bad at explaining things, but I tried my very best to touch on the main beliefs of the Church. He listened. He said he didn't know much, if anything about the LDS faith and I don't know how helpful I was because as I started explaining things, they led into more and more things. How the heck am I supposed to stay on one topic without jumping to a million other faucets of the Church beliefs haha! Props to the missionaries.

Our plane started to descend, our conversation started to die down as announcements were coming over the speakers and I realized something. That travel Book of Mormon was in the bag I had checked, and how I wished I had just thrown it in my backpack. I would like to think that if it had been accessible, I would have had the courage to give it to Tyrone. I'm grateful for the spirit and how I feel it in promptings. I love that when we are listening, we can hear its guidance. We can know right from wrong and it can impel us to take action in certain situations.

After locating my bag and stepping outside to wait for my parents to pick me up, I breathed in that warm California air. I looked around and saw no snow and plenty of palm trees. What a change from where I had just been! I am excited that I get to spend the next week with my family. Isn't it a crazy thing, that you can live so far from home and family, yet still come back and pick up right where you left off. Relationships are one of the greatest gifts. Accompanied with love I couldn't ask for anything more.

Convenient Christmas Stars

I have come to the realization that I need to purchase a ruler. Or maybe one of those grid boards that people who sew often use. I feel like that is something that would be extra convenient.

Let's talk about convenience though. As I was wrapping up some last minute presents, I kept throwing to the side the odds and ends of the papers I knew weren't large enough to wrap anything with. Knowing me, a light bulb went off in my head... craft!

I had remembered seeing a post online of how to make origami stars. I gathered my scraps and began the work. What would be better than hanging some Christmas stars in front of my snowy window? Holiday perfection.

Every supply needed was something I already owned, I think most people would be able to find them around the house. The list is as follows...

-Paper (wrapping, newspaper, magazines, etc.)
-Scissors
-Glue
-String (I used twine because I'm obsessed with it and use it with everything)
-Some place cute to hang them

1. Start with a square piece of paper and fold every which way possible 

2. You should have something that looks like this. Cut 4 slits about halfway down. 

3. Fold those slits inward to look like this

4. Place a glue dot on one side of each fold-in section, pull over so that they overlap

5. Once pulled over they should look like this

NOTE: you need to make TWO to create the star!

6. Place glue so that you can stick the two together

6. Wala! It really is that simple. Let stand and dry for a few minutes.

I just taped twine to one of the edges of the star and hung!

I think they are fun in different sizes and colors! What an easy decoration to make your place that much more decorated and full of the Christmas spirit. 

I always try and find some way to tie in the gospel to everything I share. If someone were to ask me what were my talents, I wouldn't know how to answer. The first things I think of are singing or playing an instrument. It seems as if every single person in the church is good at these things with the exception of me! But what I really think is that some times our talents aren't as obvious, or maybe they aren't as common as everyone else's. I sincerely enjoy making things. Whether I am giving them as a gift to another, or finding some way to make the space you live in more festive, I would consider that a talent, or a gift. Gifts and talents come in different ways. Every single one of us has something special to share. I know where these things comes from, and I have my Father in Heaven to thank every day for this life, where I can learn and grow. 

Christmas Gifts and Pinterest

I attempted to Christmas shop today. FAIL! It's looking like it's going to be one of those last minute things that I will have to finish up when I get back to California. Home sweet home. Regardless, I refuse to buy gift cards. What kind of joy is in that? I understand how convenient they are, but I love presents under the tree. I enjoy wrapping the gifts with cute wrapping and red ribbon. Plus, you can always get a gift receipt and they can return it if they hate it right? Im never offended with that. I like to at least try and pick out something I think the other person might like. I feel like its more personal.

Even more so, I love the action of gift giving! We have been doing this days of Christmas thing at work that we all signed up for. Thank to pinterest, I gathered some mason jars from Hobby Lobby, picked up those wonderful red paper straws, and put together a jar of hot chocolate, chocolate chips and marshmallows! I adored the way that it turned out. I also enjoyed the picture I was sent of Kendra's cat playing with the jar. As well as, the text that Maya's daughter Hailey put all the chocolate in a single glass! Haha the most simple things can bring joy to others.

It's amazing what happiness the holiday seasons can bring. Thanksgiving and Christmas were back to back this year, with not much time in between. I feel like the great thing about that is we have been on a happiness high, full of love for one another. Maybe it's just me, but I have noticed my lack of excitement in the holidays season the past few years. I blame it on being an adult with no kids haha. Whatever the reason, I re-devoted myself to celebrating all the holidays in their fullness as much as possible. I want to celebrate the joy that each season brings. And this season is much more than presents.

One blessing because of Joseph Smith

My best friend Courtney taught an awesome lesson in Relief Society today. She spoke of Joseph Smith.

One of the hardest concepts for me to grasp was that we have a living prophet here on earth. Someone who receives commandments, prophecies and revelations from God. But why not? The bible clearly states that there were prophets on the earth during that time, why would he ever think to leave us alone now.

I am grateful for Joseph Smith. I know in my heart that everything he did was inspired of our Heavenly Father. What really hit me during her lesson was something that I have slightly struggled with the past couple of weeks. Getting to church.

Now I am going to connect the dots in my mind to both of those things.

This church is AMAZING. The way that it is set up and organized, there is nothing else like it in the world. There are so many things accessible to us because of the restoration of the gospel and guidance from our latter day prophets. I know without Josephs Smith sincere prayer, we all still would be lost people. We have so many resources readily available to us to help us stay on the righteous path back to our Heavenly Father. Every ward, every activity within it, every devotional, fireside, general conference, FHE, etc is there for our benefit.

That is just a fraction of blessings that have come from Joseph Smiths example and sacrifices. Every prophet after that has contributed to the inspired building of this organization. It is so easy to take for granted, but I am grateful for all of it. Without it, I know I would be lost. It would be so easy to forget what is important. It makes it a little bit easier to strive not to be of the world.

You and Me and Her and He.

This past week, I realized how much I enjoy trying to understand people. What have they been through? What are their joys? Trials? If I could make a career out of getting to know and understand people and their motives, I would be the happiest girl.

I think that being an individual, having our own self identity, and being given the ability to make decisions for ourselves is an amazing gift. Being able to share experiences, and shed light from a new perspective helps us to grow.

So often we compare ourselves to others. Most of those times we bring ourselves down and wish we were or had certain things. We should try to always remember Heavenly Father has equipped all of us with the strength to overcome any challenge as hard as it may be. We don't need to have materialistic things in abundance. We have the personal choice to live a healthy life.

I have loved reading all the posts on Facebook and other social media sites, things that people are grateful for throughout the month of November. It's a great reminder of all the good in the world. I sincerely hope that along with sharing those things online in public, we have those placed in private in our hearts as well. And that those things that we are truly grateful for, take priority and show in our daily lives.

This upcoming Christmas season is an exciting one! As it is every year, we have another reason to spend time with our families and friends and cherish those relationships. We can share that love with others around us. We can focus on everything that Christ has done for us, and share that knowledge with others.

I can testify that my full happiness comes from the knowledge of our savior and being able to have a personal relationship with Him. We are never alone in the world if we choose it. Not ever. We have the choice to have Him in our lives. I hope this holiday season to strive to get to know and understand people around me more sincerely. That those surface level friendships can grow deeper, and find ways to recognize where we can help. Service can start with just building everyday relationships!

Love you all and Merry Christmas!