"Dreams and wishes come true, without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."

Due to my increase in wishes this time of year, and also considering the many, many, many that have recently come true - I would like to spend some time enlightening others on the concepts of wishing.

Wishing 101.
1. You can make a wish on the following:
11:11
shooting star
first star
glow in the dark stars
first snowfall (comes true by the last snow fall..or so I've been told)
wishing bracelets
wishing fountains
eye lashes
holding your breath through a tunnel
if you touch metal while going over railroad tracks
candles
birthday candles (BIG deal)
in your heart

2) Rules to wishing:
Rule #1. You've probably heard that if you tell your wish, it won't come true...well, that's not true. You can tell someone if you'd like to, but sometimes telling someone will spoil it (especially if they are involved in the wish). I personally believe the best wishes are wishes untold, but if you wish to share it, you aren't putting your wish in jeopardy, unlike popular belief.
Rule #2. You have to put your whole heart into it. End of story.

3) Exceptions: Your wishes may/may not come true exactly how you want - the good thing about wishes, is they come true when they need to/how they're supposed to - so even if you end up wishing for something ridiculous like I did once upon a time (to marry one of the members in Dream Street - or something like that) it will not come true if it will make you unhappy one day... (this dream street member is now openly gay)

That's about it. If you read this, and now want to make a wish (which you all should) but find that there are no stars, eye lashes, or candles around - feel free to watch the video above and wish on the shooting star.

"If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme...Like a bolt out of the blue - fate steps in and see's you through, when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true."

The only thing to learn from my ramblings today is: wishes come true.

Monroe.

"I believe everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go. Things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right...and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together. "

word.

'Tis The Season

Christmas is my favorite time of year, but aside from the lights, snow and magical ambiance of the atmosphere, it reminds each of us to be a little better, a little kinder, and a little closer to remembering who it was that set the perfect example of keeping Christmas in your heart all year round.

I once walked into a store to do some of my usual Christmas shopping and ran across this sign:
NOTICE SHOPPERS!
Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy... forgiveness,
To an opponent... tolerance.
To every child... a good example.
To every friend... a smile.
To your family... your love.
To yourself... respect.
To all... your heart.

Now, years later, I have found a miraculous example of someone who followed that wise advice when he had every reason not to. I guess shouldn't have been surprised when I saw this story as the headline on MSN.com, but I was.

"A Korean immigrant whose wife, two young daughters and mother-in-law perished when a military jet crashed into his house [just two weeks before Christmas] says... "Please pray for him not to suffer."
Recently reminded during the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, we heard of what President David O. McKay once declared: “True happiness comes only by making others happy—the practical application of the Savior’s doctrine of losing one’s life to gain it. In short, the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit, that makes our hearts glow in brotherly love and friendship and prompts us to kind deeds of service. It is the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, obedience to which will bring ‘peace on earth,’ because it means—good will toward all men."
President Thomas S. Monson then concluded, "Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than things. To catch the real meaning of the “spirit of Christmas,” we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the “Spirit of Christ.”

I wish everyone the very Merriest Christmas, and will wish (because I always do anyway) that we can try to do the same as old Ebeneezer Scrooge when he promised, "I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."

I'd Rather Be In Love...

I'd rather be in love during Christmastime than Valentines. Come to think of it, I'd rather be in love any day. Period.

Joni Mitchell explains me well:

It’s just another show
You leave em laughing when you go
And if you care, don’t let them know
Don’t give yourself away…

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say I love you right out loud...

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I’ve looked at love that way...

But I’ve looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
Its loves illusions I recall
I really don’t know love at all.

Dedicated to:

The nights on the bleachers, wrapped up in blankets with our penny candy, talking about love.

The night dancing on the bridge to JamisonParker.

The nights we danced with mattresses.

The night on the fence when I was 14.

The night on the phone when I was 16.

The night in my dorm room when I was 18.

And most of all to my 7up girl sister whose been there through most of my "loves illusions" and will be getting married in one week.

"All because I've been cursed by being in love...the sight of him! Heart pounding! Throat thickening! Absolutely can't swallow! All the usual symptoms..."

...I'd still rather be in love.