Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! 

We went to the candlelight service last night and it was beautiful.

Yesterday we had my family over to celebrate and today my mother in law was over.

The little guy had fun!!

Christ was love.............

This is excellent.

Christmas Love
(Also known as "The W in Christmas")

BY: Candy Chand


Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. But once again, despite my plans, chaos prevailed. I had cut back on nonessential obligations-- extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and yes, even the all American pastime, overspending. Yet, still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and, of course, the true meaning of Christmas.

My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six year old filled with hopes, dreams and laughter. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's "Winter Pageant." I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production.

Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.

So, just as I promised, on the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in 10 minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.

Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment -- songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. The melodies were fun, cute and lighthearted, but nowhere to be found was even the hint of an innocent babe, a manger, or Christ's sacred gift of hope and joy. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love", I was slightly taken aback by its bold title.

Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row -- center stage -- held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."

The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her -- a small, quiet girl in the front row who was holding the letter "M" upside down. She was entirely unaware, that reversed, her letter "M" appeared as a "W." Fidgeting from side to side, she soon moved entirely away from her mark.

The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at the little one's mistake. But in her innocence, she had no idea they were laughing at her as she stood tall, proudly holding her "W".

One can only imagine the difficulty in calming an audience of young, giggling students. Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen.

In that instant, we understood -- the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

CHRIST WAS LOVE.

And I believe He still is.

Three Santas

One of these Santas my daughter made many years ago.

As we were unpacking the Christmas decorations we came across this. The little guy wanted to make one. So, we finally made one. I made one too.

Here is the picture of the three Santas. We had fun making them too.

Sparkly stars........

My little guy and I spent the day on Wednesday making these glitter stars. A very labor intensive project but it made the little guy very happy.

He plans on sending one to each of the three grandmas and he is giving one to sister. We are keeping the rest for our tree.

The story behind these stars is kind of fun.

While we were unpacking the Christmas ornaments, we came across big sisters ornaments that she had made when she was the little guys age, and some she made later.

The little guy wanted to make everything that big sister had made, but I made him choose TWO ornaments/decorations. He chose the glitter stars and another decoration that we have not made yet.

My daughter made her red glitter star when she was four years old--it is written on the back of the star. I am positive she made it at her sitters house--she was there for about 7 years and the sitter was just wonderful.

So, here are the stars. I hope you think they are as pretty as I do!!

Caroling...................

I was reading a friends blog and she mentioned that she would like to go caroling at Christmas time.

She thought her neighbors would slam the door in her face.

Well, I think she should try it next year. I can't sing otherwise it sounds like a great idea!!

When I was young, our neighbors used to go caroling throughout the whole neigborhood and it was a treat to see and hear them each year!

Twelve Days of Christmas

I thought this was interesting. I hope you do too.

The twelve days of Christmas:

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Malachi 3:10
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room
enough to receive it.

Merry Christmas!!

Some say the Star that was in the sky when Jesus was born was three planets in close proximity. The bible also does not say that the three wisemen were at Jesus birth, it just says they visited him.

Today is the day that most Christians celebrate Jesus birth, but we all know He wasn't born on December 25. That's ok. We still celebrate His birth.

We have no tree and we don't decorate our house, though I would love a cross or huge lighted star to hang on the house for passersby to see. I do send out Christmas cards because I love to send cards. And we give modest gifts to the children and young adults in the family. We don't have piles of gifts anywhere.

And we donate to Toys for Tots and some years sponsor a family.

I usually bake or make some food item for my brothers, my mother in law, mom and a neighbor .

And the nieces and nephews liked their crocheted hats!! I just have two hats I need to modify so it worked out well!

This time of year can be stressful and I pray you all have a peaceful celebration this year!!

Luke 2:8-14
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 “ Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

December 25..

This is supposed to be a happy time of year. Families getting together, good food, sharing. Celebrating Jesus birth.
All I am seeing is stress and tension. Fighting about where to go, when to go, who to have over, how much to spend on gifts, what gift to get someone. STRESS.
This shouldn't be a time of stress. It is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus--even though he wasn't even born on this day.
I know there are a lot of people that don't believe in God, or Jesus. But they still have the stress of celebrating this day. WHY???
My brother and SIL are muslim and they don't celebrate either. yet we are the odd ones in the family. I also have two brothers married to Japanese women and they are shinto. They don't believe in God or Jesus, yet they celebrate this day. But we are the odd ones!!
About 8 years or so ago, we quit celebrating December 25th in the mainstream way. We haven't had a tree all these years. We haven't exchanged gifts in the traditional way.
We are the odd ones out. The non conformists. And no matter what we say to our families about this day, they are still horrified that we don't have a tree and we don't decorate the house and we don't buy piles and piles and piles of gifts!
We celebrate Jesus' birth because that is what the day is supposed to be about.
But it has turned into this huge commercial, competitive thing that has overtaken the true meaning of the day. I find it disturbing, to say the least.
When we want to buy a toy or something for the kids--we do. We don't need to wait til December 25th to give them a bunch of toys!
We don't need a day to remember the birth of Jesus, we remember His birth all year long.