"You are the real builders of nations wherever you live, because strong homes of love and peace will bring security to any nation." President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Just a reminder...
Not to forget about our Relief Society Christmas Dinner. We are looking forward for all of you to visit our little tent nestled in the mountains of Aspen. Come get warm by the fire and full on homemade soups! Don't forget that we are NO LONGER exchanging Christmas Jars but will have a R.S. Christmas Jar if you would like to drop some pennies in it. Hopefully this time next year we will be able to give our Christmas Jar to someone who really needs it! We look forward to seeing you all there and don't forget to wear your jacket, it's cold in Aspen!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Relief Society Christmas Party
We are looking for a decorating crew for the R.S. Christmas Party. Can you help? If so we will be decorating the church on Wed. night. If you can be there please email Sister Ballarini at dballari@tampabay.rr.com. Also, does anyone own a fake Christmas tree you would be willing to donate for the evening? Thank you all so much for your constant support!!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Christmas Jars- Synopsis
Louise Jensen was eating her traditional Christmas Eve dinner at Chuck's Chicken 'n' Biscuits on New Year's Eve a week late because she had gotten the flu. While eating she heard a muffled cry in the booth behind her. She discovered a baby with a note that read: To the next person to hold my baby girl, She is yours now. I'll miss her more than you will ever know. But I love her too much to raise her with a daddy that hits. Truth is, he didn't even want me to have her anyways, and her life will be better without a mommy that will always need to run. Please tell her I love her. And please tell her I will hold her again. I cannot give her much, but this year I give her the life her daddy wouldn't. And a little bit of hope.
Louise was not in a position to financially care for a child but she did believe that this was not a random moment and took the baby home. After months of family court dates and suprise visits, the baby was legally hers. From then on she stopped calling her baby and named her Hope.
Hope had decided at 5 years old that she wanted to be a writer and from then on her goal was to be a famous journalist and make the front page. After highschool graduation she attended college and interned at the Daily Record. She quickly moved up the ranks to editor. Hope was well on the path to becoming a great journalist when her mother told her the news that she was dying of cancer. Hope and her mom Louise were very best friends who did everything together. Four days after Christmas Eve Louise layed her head in Hope's lap and quietly passed away.
The next Christmas Eve, sore from crying and desperate for her mother Hope ate her traditional Christmas Eve dinner at Chuck's Chicken 'n' Biscuits. After dinner she headed for home to discover her apartment had been robbed. While the police were conducting their investigation Hope found a jar of change at her door step with the words The Christmas Jar written across the front. Hope decided at that moment that she would solve the mystery of the christmas jar.
The next day she went to work looking through data bases to see if anything had been written about the Chritmas Jars. What she found were letter written to the newspaper by people who had received a Christmas Jar from an anonymous source. She went to work finding and questioning these people but no one seemed to want to share details of who they thought the giver might be. All agreed that the money did not change their life so much as it changed their faith in mankind. Months later a letter came into the newspaper from a man who told of receiving a Christmas Jar. Hope found the man and after prying the man told her who he thought gave them the jar- some neighbor girls down the street whom he had never met but he knew that their parents owned a furniture restoration company that they ran out of their garage.
Hope decided to investigate. She knocked on the door of the Maxwell's and made up a story- she told Adam and Lauren Maxwell that she was a college student who was studying to be a journalist and needed to write a story on a small business. They invited her in and warmly invited her to come back the following day and they would get started. The next day Hope spotted a jar with the initials CJ on it. She tried to ask questions but Adam Maxwell would not budge. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months and Hope had become a part of the Maxwell's family. After dinner one night Mr. Maxwell had decided to tell Hope about the top secret "Christmas Jar." He recounted how as a young married couple he and his wife had decided to put their leftover change in a jar, whatever they accumalated by Christmas Eve is what they would use to buy presents with. The tradition continued as they had children. One Christmas Eve their oldest daughter Hannah who was 7 at the time was honored with carrying the Christmas Jar into the bank. But on the way to the front door she noticed a pregnant woman sitting on the sidewalk crying. Hannah had decided to give the jar to the woman. On the way home her father had announced that they had given away Christmas and so a new tradition began. Each day they would put their change into a jar that they would give to another in need on Christmas Eve. As Adam Maxwell told the story of the Christmas Jar tradition Hope cried and later when she and Mrs. Maxwell were alone Hope told her the story of being left in a booth at Chuck's Chicken 'n' Biscuits, about her mother that adopted her and how a year ago her mother had passed away. When Hope returned home that night she wrote the story of the Christmas Jar, she knew this would make the front page of the paper but couldnt help feeling guilty about lying to the Maxwells. Unfortunaly, she was right. The guilt of lying to Adam Maxwell, his wife and their daughters who had become like sisters to her was too much and now with the story printed on the front page she knew they would never forgive her.
Hope stopped going to the Maxwell's and weeks turned into months and still she didnt call or stop by. How could they forgive her? Hope decided that she would start her own Christmas jar as a peace offering and give it to the Maxwell's on Christmas Eve. But before she had a chance Adam Maxwell had died of a heart attack. His funeral was scheduled for Christmas Eve. Hope got up that day, gave her jar to a homeless man and slipped into the back of the funeral. Afterwards she waited for the family on their front porch. They embraced her and explained that their father had never seen the piece she wrote on the Christmas Jars and so therefore was never angry just confused at why she stopped coming over. Hope excused herself and headed to Chucks Chicken 'n' biscuits for her celebratory traditional dinner.
Later that night the door rang at the Maxwell's house and someone had left a jar full of change. This continued well into the night until the living room was full of Christmas Jars brought by people who they had never met but who were offering their condolences and gratitude for this tradition. The last person to knock on the door was a woman named Marianne. Mrs. Maxwell invited her in and Marianne told her story of receiving a Christmas Jar outside a bank from a little girl named Hannah many years ago. Marianne explained that her husband was abusive and didnt want her to keep the baby she was carrying. He cleaned out their bank account and left. The Christmas Jar gave her hope and the money she needed to get to a friends house where she could stay. A few days later she gave birth to a baby girl on New Years Eve and left her at Chuck's Chicken 'n' Biscuits with a note. Mrs Maxwell and Hannah loaded Marianne into the car and headed to Chuck's where Hope would be eating her dinner. Mother and daughter watched as Hope and Marianne became aquainted and once again became a family.
Won't you start a Christmas Jar? I know I will!
Louise was not in a position to financially care for a child but she did believe that this was not a random moment and took the baby home. After months of family court dates and suprise visits, the baby was legally hers. From then on she stopped calling her baby and named her Hope.
Hope had decided at 5 years old that she wanted to be a writer and from then on her goal was to be a famous journalist and make the front page. After highschool graduation she attended college and interned at the Daily Record. She quickly moved up the ranks to editor. Hope was well on the path to becoming a great journalist when her mother told her the news that she was dying of cancer. Hope and her mom Louise were very best friends who did everything together. Four days after Christmas Eve Louise layed her head in Hope's lap and quietly passed away.
The next Christmas Eve, sore from crying and desperate for her mother Hope ate her traditional Christmas Eve dinner at Chuck's Chicken 'n' Biscuits. After dinner she headed for home to discover her apartment had been robbed. While the police were conducting their investigation Hope found a jar of change at her door step with the words The Christmas Jar written across the front. Hope decided at that moment that she would solve the mystery of the christmas jar.
The next day she went to work looking through data bases to see if anything had been written about the Chritmas Jars. What she found were letter written to the newspaper by people who had received a Christmas Jar from an anonymous source. She went to work finding and questioning these people but no one seemed to want to share details of who they thought the giver might be. All agreed that the money did not change their life so much as it changed their faith in mankind. Months later a letter came into the newspaper from a man who told of receiving a Christmas Jar. Hope found the man and after prying the man told her who he thought gave them the jar- some neighbor girls down the street whom he had never met but he knew that their parents owned a furniture restoration company that they ran out of their garage.
Hope decided to investigate. She knocked on the door of the Maxwell's and made up a story- she told Adam and Lauren Maxwell that she was a college student who was studying to be a journalist and needed to write a story on a small business. They invited her in and warmly invited her to come back the following day and they would get started. The next day Hope spotted a jar with the initials CJ on it. She tried to ask questions but Adam Maxwell would not budge. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months and Hope had become a part of the Maxwell's family. After dinner one night Mr. Maxwell had decided to tell Hope about the top secret "Christmas Jar." He recounted how as a young married couple he and his wife had decided to put their leftover change in a jar, whatever they accumalated by Christmas Eve is what they would use to buy presents with. The tradition continued as they had children. One Christmas Eve their oldest daughter Hannah who was 7 at the time was honored with carrying the Christmas Jar into the bank. But on the way to the front door she noticed a pregnant woman sitting on the sidewalk crying. Hannah had decided to give the jar to the woman. On the way home her father had announced that they had given away Christmas and so a new tradition began. Each day they would put their change into a jar that they would give to another in need on Christmas Eve. As Adam Maxwell told the story of the Christmas Jar tradition Hope cried and later when she and Mrs. Maxwell were alone Hope told her the story of being left in a booth at Chuck's Chicken 'n' Biscuits, about her mother that adopted her and how a year ago her mother had passed away. When Hope returned home that night she wrote the story of the Christmas Jar, she knew this would make the front page of the paper but couldnt help feeling guilty about lying to the Maxwells. Unfortunaly, she was right. The guilt of lying to Adam Maxwell, his wife and their daughters who had become like sisters to her was too much and now with the story printed on the front page she knew they would never forgive her.
Hope stopped going to the Maxwell's and weeks turned into months and still she didnt call or stop by. How could they forgive her? Hope decided that she would start her own Christmas jar as a peace offering and give it to the Maxwell's on Christmas Eve. But before she had a chance Adam Maxwell had died of a heart attack. His funeral was scheduled for Christmas Eve. Hope got up that day, gave her jar to a homeless man and slipped into the back of the funeral. Afterwards she waited for the family on their front porch. They embraced her and explained that their father had never seen the piece she wrote on the Christmas Jars and so therefore was never angry just confused at why she stopped coming over. Hope excused herself and headed to Chucks Chicken 'n' biscuits for her celebratory traditional dinner.
Later that night the door rang at the Maxwell's house and someone had left a jar full of change. This continued well into the night until the living room was full of Christmas Jars brought by people who they had never met but who were offering their condolences and gratitude for this tradition. The last person to knock on the door was a woman named Marianne. Mrs. Maxwell invited her in and Marianne told her story of receiving a Christmas Jar outside a bank from a little girl named Hannah many years ago. Marianne explained that her husband was abusive and didnt want her to keep the baby she was carrying. He cleaned out their bank account and left. The Christmas Jar gave her hope and the money she needed to get to a friends house where she could stay. A few days later she gave birth to a baby girl on New Years Eve and left her at Chuck's Chicken 'n' Biscuits with a note. Mrs Maxwell and Hannah loaded Marianne into the car and headed to Chuck's where Hope would be eating her dinner. Mother and daughter watched as Hope and Marianne became aquainted and once again became a family.
Won't you start a Christmas Jar? I know I will!
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