My house overflows with the joys of Christmas. My obsessive candy making tires out my feet. Cookies taunt me from the kitchen. Soon. Soon. Soon. I shall spread the sugar to other realms and watch other people bounce from wall to wall like animated characters. One can only hope they are included in the festivities.

So my feed every day since last Friday explodes with pictures, statuses, and comments about the most recent in a long line of heart-wrenching events. We come to each other for comfort and peace, but do we find it? Sometimes. Other times, we wade through political statements instead of offers of love, support, and hope. I aspire to bring the latter, but I post it here on my neglected journal in order to avoid potentially offending someone.

Last Friday, I had lunch with a friend of mine. She graciously offered to let me look in on her kitties for a couple of days and needed to get me the key. After our relaxing meal, we parted ways and I headed to another friend's house. I had delivered treats the previous evening, but I ran out of time to drop off her box of goodies. I had sent her a text, so I hoped she was expecting me.

As I got out of the car and collected the box of treats, her door flew open and she peered out with a concerned look on her face. She demanded to know why I was there in a way that made me step back a bit. Then she invited me inside, asking if I had heard about Connecticut. As she explained what had happened, I felt the blood drain from my face.

While I have no children of my own, I have nieces and nephews that I love dearly. My heart goes out to the parents, families, friends, and other students. I can't even imagine the fear, grief, and bewilderment that must cloud their minds still. My own feelings can only be a dim shadow of theirs.

Today, I was reading in the Book of Mormon and some of the verses brought me comfort. I hope others may find comfort in them as well:

Moroni 8:12 But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter of persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!

Moroni 8: 17 And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love; wherefore, all children are alike unto me; wherefore, I love little children with a perfect love; and they are all alike and partakers of salvation.

While I know that losing a child, a friend, a mother, or other loved one leaves an emptiness in our hearts, I know that we will see those loved ones again. We may have to wait many years, and we will regret not being able to celebrate milestones and achievements with them, but in time, we will be together again. Find hope in that, my friends, and offer it to those around you.

Sometimes a smaller astral body gets drawn or pushed into a larger one and begins to orbit its larger neighbor. The larger body takes no notice of its neighbor. It expects its small companion to always be where it expects it to be. It takes no notice that this insignificant speck controls the tides.

At times, gravity changes and the satellite slips away. Another piece of flying space debris can knock it out of orbit and change the fate of the world it circles. Worse still, the planet can discover that it actually revolves around what it assumed was its moon, sustained by the greater power of the other celestial body. Know what I mean?

Keep shaking your head. I live to make my readers think and think...and then leave their computer wanting a nice, tasty cookie. Think about one fresh from the oven with melty chips and a soft, warm body of sugar and butter. Mmmm.

I think this failed. I now want a cookie, but my next fattening project should involve my new cake pop pan.

The end of the year slowly settles on us. We should all be in the throes of self-discovery as we struggle to commit to our resolutions for the next year. I should spend some time on that myself. Yay, that means I have a reason to post tomorrow.

Why am I posting today? Because a million thoughts fly through my head, so I feel I am wasting all that genius (oddity) to not throw a couple onto the already overcrowded superhighway that you find yourself on now.

So a few of my random thoughts for the day:

If you expect people to show up, you should give them ample notice, particularly when the weekend is involved.

Cinnamon rolls are delicious, which means my friends are awesome for giving them to me.

Children love playing Jeopardy, but they don't always like being asked to think before answering questions.

My house needs a hefty cleaning. This should result in some interesting creations and some overfull trashcans in my near future.

This journey always begins with a peek at my goals for this closing year. What did I want to accomplish??? Did I accomplish them?

1. Respect myself, my achievements, and my goals as much as I expect other people to. That's going to have to go on next year's list.
2. Learn to play my guitar!!!! I can play a couple of notes now, but I have room for improvement.
3. Sell some of my craft artistry (before it takes over my house). Still need to work on that one.
4. Be a better friend to the people who are true friends... I've been doing this, but I can do better if I break a few more friendships that suck me dry.
5. Stretch out my cranky muscles (after working out, of course). Who doesn't need improvement in this area, besides a few of my friends who are professional exercise gurus.
6. Keep writing, writing, writing. I failed to post every week, but I did post more frequently than in 2011.
7. Organize, weed, use, re-appropriate my craft supplies and other "trash".While I have done this, I have also found more craft supplies and other odds and ends.
8. Love my husband (we all need an easy goal). Oh yeah!
9. Learn to accept praise. (Elder Wallace will be so proud if I accomplish this task). Signs point to no.
10. Keep reading the items in my various "to read" piles. The piles grew despite my ravenous reading. That just means more reading for me.