Symbols

Our family home evening activity this week was coloring Christmas decorations. It gave us all a chance to get into the spirit of the season while showing off our "coloring in the lines" abilities. Here's Krystal with some of her decorations. She's got mad crayola skillz, eh? Kara did an excellent job on her decorations too. She managed to color and smile for the camera, both while under the added pressure of sitting near an elementary school teacher who spends his days professionally critiquing crayon art work. I don't think she had any recess privileges revoked, so she must have done a pretty good job.

President Jones was very focused on his decorations. Notice the crayons in both hands? Talk about "mad crayola skillz". Coloring with both hands at once is something most mortals only dream about, but I guess that is why he is the branch president. Heaven knows that calling calls for some serious multi-tasking.

Our wonderful FHE committee also hooked us up with the behind the scenes info on the meaning of the Christmas symbols we were coloring. For example, "The wreath is a symbol of the never ending eternal nature of love...having no beginning and no end," while the gift bow is, "tied as we should all be tied together in the bonds of goodwill forever." Humm...eternal love, tied together forever...I wonder if our singles branch FHE committee was trying to hint at anything? (oh, and in case you were wondering about the symbolism of the stack of DWA essays the decorations are sitting on, they represent me getting up at 5 a.m. to make sure I had grades ready for my A-day kids today, and the rubric in the corner symbolizes the midnight oil I am going to be burning tonight to get the B-day kids' essays ready for tomorrow).

That evening of symbolic decoration coloring put me in a pondering mood later in the week and (along with my total lack of desire to grade any more essays) inspired me to find the symbolism behind my own Christmas decorations.

As I was searching for symbolic meanings, I tended to focus more on the hand-made ornaments. This photo ornament, for example, represents the innocence my past Christmases. Christmases I spent surrounded by family and friends, eating traditional foods of the season, and coming up with new and creative ways to snoop for presents.

This craft-stick reindeer also represents a special Christmas season. It was a gift from a sweet Canadian sister from my second area in my mission. It symbolizes the Stratford Branch and all of the "stick-y" situations my companions and I got into there (Remember "Dougie", Sister Reese? The just-released-from-the-hospital-for-the-criminally-insane media referral whose apartment we had to escape from? The "Dougie" who referred to himself in third person thought we were crazy for having a testimony of Joseph Smith? Good times, eh.)

And speaking of good mission times, this little ornament symbolizes the legacy of short-hair that I inherited from my mission grandma (my trainer's trainer, for those of you unfamiliar with mission genealogy). All of Sister Fisher's posterity cut their hair short, leading to many an eye-roll from our long suffering mission president.

Now my most treasured decorations are the ones that are lovingly made and presented to me by my cute little kidlets. I got this bear a year or so ago...

...along with what I now realize is a pine cone bird. I suppose the pine cone bases of these decorations could symbolize all of the seeds of knowledge that I have planted in the heads and hearts of my students through the years. Or they could just symbolize that I live in a little town where most of the kids are simultaneously involved in scouting/4-H/church youth groups/etc. and therefore have an abundance of crafts to distribute during the holiday season. I love them either way.
The last symbolic decoration I am going to share with you tonight isn't really a Christmas ornament, but it does symbolize my last mission prep lesson of the semester. And I thought this would be as good a place as any to record that over the last 14 weeks I have watched elders and sisters depart for missions in Argentina, Alaska (2 to the same mission on the same day!), Australia, Canada, England, Tennessee, and various other patches of the world.

And even though preparing lessons to prepare missionaries takes an awful lot of time and energy, I think I am kind of, sort of, going to miss it over the break.

I included this last picture to symbolize my excitement over teaching mission prep yet again next semester. Of course, that excitement comes from the thought of co-teaching with my friend (and All-Star SIOP Coach) Chris, pictured below with her sweet, scarf-wearing sister Cindy. "Co-teaching". Isn't it a beautiful word? So beautiful, someone should write a carol about it. A co-teaching carol. It should include a lot of "hallelujahs" and an optional symphony accompaniment. I'll have to get right on that.

Right after I finish grading the last 45 or so DWA essays, preparing my kidlets for their finals that start on Monday, getting final quarter and semester grades recorded, completing my Christmas shopping and wrapping, writing a Sunday School lesson, spending a full day in SLC with my branch, freaking out about driving back in the snow after spending a full day in SLC with my branch, making treats for our old person potluck, and maybe even doing a little bit of sleeping.

And in case you were wondering, the above paragraph symbolizes my life...and the grin I am wearing as I type this symbolizes how much I enjoy my life, especially at Christmas time.