General Conference Weekend

I heart General Conference. A LOT.

We don't go on many vacations (I'll write a bitter post about this at a later date), so I try to concoct mini-special occasions whenever possible to make up for this bitter deficiency. Conference weekend is one of these.

I love hearing from our sweet and fearless leaders. They always say the exact things I need to hear. It’s like they KNOW what my problems are, and are now here to offer assistance. I sent up the bat signal and here they are to answer it. Of course they don’t really know me, but apparently my Heavenly Father does.

I heard a talk one time where a woman related a story about needing insight about a prospective marriage partner. She prayed that she would know if this person was the man she should marry. When she watched General Conference, she noticed that EVERY talk was on marriage. She heard what she needed to hear, and decided that this person was not the man who could be the eternal companion she desired. Later, she married someone else and had a happy life. Years later, she was assigned to give a talk or lesson on marriage. She remembered all the insight in those General Conference talks and looked them up. As she went through those talks, there was nothing specifically about marriage. Hmmm… Yet, she had heard advice about marriage, because that’s what she needed help with.

It’s amazing how that works.

I want my kids to love General Conference, too, so I try to condition them to associate General Conference weekend with FUN! FOOD! PAJAMAS! Laying around and doing NOTHING!If I were to be completely honest, I’d have to admit that this is part of the attraction for me, too. I don’t have to get dressed and go to church; I don’t have to plan a lesson, and I have eight hours of guilt-free television viewing. YAY!

We have food traditions for this weekend. I always make chili on Saturday and we eat the leftovers on Sunday. It’s interesting, though. I remember when we started the chili tradition, probably almost ten years ago, now. Wow. At that time, one pot would last the whole weekend and usually even through to Tuesday or Wed. Of course, babies can’t really eat chili. Yesterday, as I was packing up the leftovers, I realized that we’ll be lucky if it’s sufficient for Sunday dinner. Teenagers like chili. It’s bittersweet.

Collections

I've never been a collector. I prefer to travel light through life. A few years ago my sisters - fully grown adults with nearly teenage children - developed an obsession with - I mean collection of - beanie babies. (If you're reading this, don't deny it. You know it's true :)) This was no small collection. My sisters are perfectly reasonable, responsible, Relief Society Presidency types. You'd NEVER think they had this "issue".

As I said, I'm not a big fan of the idea of collecting anything. Lately, however, I've developed a compulsion for a strangely obscure -but I argue, slightly more practical - item. I've begun a collection of Old Navy holiday tees.For those of you unfamiliar with the product, Old Navy makes a graphic tee for pretty much every holiday or event. My first holiday tee was a couple of Valentine tees the T got me for v-day a few years ago. They're nice and comfy, but I had no idea the depth and breadth of the holiday tee possibilities.

Late last year I made an important discovery that marked the beginning of my holiday-tee habit. I discovered that AFTER the holiday, ON marks down their already cheap $5.00 tees to HALF that. Or LESS. I found a Thanksgiving holiday tee, right after Christmas, for $1.99.

Seriously. Can you argue with that? Can you? Try it. There. See?

I use them mostly for running, which perks me right up because they have that nice Old Navy perfect-fit fit, and they make me feel funky and offbeat. I'm wearing a holiday tee...off-holiday! It fits nicely with the rebel in me.

So now I have (going backward in time) three different Valentine tees, a New Year's tee, a Christmas/Winter tee, a Thanksgiving tee, and an ELECTION DAY tee (my current favorite). It seems like I have more than that...but that's all I can recall at the moment.

So...now, it's time to go scour the clearance rack for the St. Patrick's Day tee! I'm so excited! s