The Secret is Out

I have been humbled, thanks to my lovely children.  We had our second annual {that means it's a tradition now} Family Night about giving gifts to Christ for Christmas.  We watched this cute little clip {watch here} and then discussed things we could do that would make the Savior happy.  Things like service, saying hi to someone we don't know, reading scriptures daily, praying daily, breaking a bad habit, etc.  Each family member thought about something they could do and wrote it down on a piece of paper, folded it up, and placed it in an envelope.  We put the envelope on the Christmas tree and will open it up on Christmas Eve as part of our special Family Night and let each person tell us what they gave to Jesus and how it made them feel.  Our "gifts" are supposed to be a secret until we open the envelope.
Well my "gift" was to not yell at my kids.  I struggle with this which is sad because my parents never raised their voices at me growing up.  I'd like to say it was because they had a house full of girls which meant it was considerably quieter than my noisy house full of boys but I know that wasn't the case.  They just didn't do it and neither should I.  Three days into my little no-yelling gift, I almost came undone when Ethan was refusing to obey after I'd asked, nagged, and begged him to practice the piano.  I clenched my fists, took a deep breath and calmly said, "I am so upset at you I could scream but I won't.  Now please go practice the piano!"  Ethan and Marcus stopped dead in their tracks and simultaneously shouted, "We know what your gift to Jesus is!  You're trying not to yell at us."  They were right.  And what's worse is they reminded me that it was also my gift to Jesus last year.  I had completely forgotten but obviously I didn't do so well last year because here I am again trying for round two.  But I'm happy to report that it's been six days since I yelled {in anger} at my kids.  Yelling for my kids to come to dinner or whatever doesn't count, in my opinion.  Throw in the fact that Randy is out of town for several days and I'd say my success is slightly miraculous.