Stay calm and listen to Christmas music. Our new 6 CD changer arrived yesterday and we are happy to have our favorite Christmas music playing again. It’s not fun to have your trusty cd changer stop functioning at Christmas. We realize that Cd changers might not be around for long so replacing ours while only two models are available on Amazon was a good move for us. How about you? Do you still use a cd changer or have you moved on to some other source for music?
In January of 1958 our little brother Tim was born. I was so excited to have a baby brother. I’m seven in this photo. I was the baby of our family for seven years until Tim was born. We had to put the tree on a table to keep it out of Tim’s reach. That tinsel is so inviting to those little fingers along with everything else that sparkles. It was fun to enjoy Christmas with an 11 month old. I was a sick little girl during this time. The best information I have is that I had some kind of kidney infection that required a hospital stay and then a few months of recovery. I remember having a home teacher and missing Valentine’s Day at school. My home teacher brought me a bag full of Valentines from my classmates. I also remember not being able to have any salt and having to drink a lot of water. After a while a glass of water looked like medicine to me. Hmmm, maybe that’s why I don’t like to be told to drink water to this day. I enjoy it in moderation. 🙂
Bloggers are very busy this week and have little time for visiting so I’m taking the opportunity to put a little Christmas history on my blog that will help my memory now and later.
We’re having a little Christmas Open House on Sunday and I need to come up with a few appetizers and some sweets and we need to decide on some festive drinks. There are so many great choices out there, I just need to choose from among them! Glad our first beyond the family event at our Country Bungalow will be small.
2013 Nativities. I’ve gone a little overboard adding 5 more nativity sets since 2013.
2014 Joy is always a strong theme at Christmas time.
2015
2016
2017: Our most delightful Christmas addition.
These are all mosaics made with Picasa on my good ole laptop that died in November. I’m still looking for a program to create mosaics/collages on my new computer.
Our little Addy has changed so much since last Christmas.
December 2018
And for context, below was our view on our way to church this morning. We had a couple of inches of snow overnight that turned to rain while we were in church so now everything is pretty slushy.
Linking up with Angie for Mosaic Monday. Thank you for hosting, Angie!
Only 9 days until Christmas! Are you ready? We don’t have our tree up yet.
Good People All, This Christmas Time
Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done,
In sending His belovèd Son.
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas Day;
In Bethlehem upon the morn
There was a blest Messiah born.
The night before that happy tide
The noble virgin and her guide
Were long time seeking up and down
To find a lodging in the town.
But mark how all things came to pass:
From every door repelled, alas!
As long foretold, their refuge all
Was but a humble oxen stall.
Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep;
To whom God’s angels did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear.
“Prepare and go”, the angels said,
“To Bethlehem, be not afraid;
For there you’ll find, this happy morn,
A princely Babe, sweet Jesus born.”
With thankful heart and joyful mind,
The shepherds went the babe to find,
And as God’s angel has foretold,
They did our Savior Christ behold.
Within a manger He was laid,
And by His side the virgin maid
Attending to the Lord of Life,
Who came on earth to end all strife.
The Wexford Carol is one of Ireland’s oldest Christmas Carols and is one of the oldest surviving Carols in the European tradition. Dating back to the 12th century the Wexford Carol is also known by its first line “Good people, all this Christmas time.”
1. A Word with an “X.”
PM1909
An Antique postcard from 1909.
2. A Favorite.
X marks the barn.
3. Looks like “X.”
Our daughter making a snow angel.
Parting shots:
The J.M. and Birdie Nix House in San Antonio, Texas. (mostly the sign and not the house)
Here’s the house which is located in the King William Historic District of San Antonio.
Thanks to Tom for hosting The Weekend Roundup.
We traveled south to the big city of Spokane today to do some shopping. The roads were clear and the weather was dry which was a win win for easy access on streets and into shops. Have a good weekend everyone.
Look up, your redemption is drawing near:
“Let’s not deceive ourselves. “Your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28), whether we know it or not, and the only question is: Are we going to let it come to us too, or are we going to resist it? Are we going to join the movement that comes down from heaven to earth, or are we going to close ourselves off? Christmas is coming-whether it is with us or without us depends on each and every one of us.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God is in the Manger-Reflections on Advent and Christmas
“Cast yourself on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only one who has walked through death and come out on the other side.” —Alistair Begg
Listen to the full message at http://www.TFL.org
“Jesus is better than the angels because Christ was more than a messenger—He was a Son.” John MacArthur
“It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ. One look at HIs dear face, all sorrow will erase, so bravely run the race until we see Christ.” Alistair Begg
And on the light side…
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song over hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
~J.R.R.Tolkien
Our little grandson has about 20 more weeks before we see him face to face. Our kids posted this photo last night on Facebook and I had to preserve it here on my blog.
Looking forward to this little girls reaction to a new baby in the house. She’s into the goofy smiles when she knows the camera is going to click.
Wanted to post the beautiful bouquet all our kids joined in sending us with a special greeting for our anniversary on December 6th.
It was a sweet surprise that we don’t take for granted.
Hopefully we’ll cut our tree down soon so I can decorate it. We’re getting closer and closer to the painting that we want done by Christmas to be behind us. We’ve decided we need to add some new Christmas music to our stash this year so we’ve added The Piano Guys, Lauren Daigle and the Three Tenors. One of our favorites is still Twila Paris, It’s the Thought. We also have to have the Messiah so we can hear the Hallelujah Chorus ring through the house. What are some of your favorites?
1. National Ding-a-Ling Day is observed across the United States each year on December 12. Ding-a-Lings on this day call the people they haven’t heard from in a while. It may be an old classmate, co-worker or neighbor from years ago. Or perhaps a call will go out to the child who used to mow the grass during the summer. How about that couple who carpooled for soccer. There are all sorts of people in our lives who manage to slip out of our lives who would love to hear the ding-a-ling of a call from you or me. So tell us who you want to call today!
Well, this ding-a-ling didn’t know there was such a day. If she were alive, I would love to call my first and second grade teacher, Mrs. Nickolaus.
2. Each year on the 12th day of December, people across the United States recognize National Poinsettia Day. I am including this “National Day” too because my neighbor’s poinsettia from last year is blooming beside their house!! Have you ever tried to plant a poinsettia outside?
Another day that has escaped me. I always enjoy going to Molbak’s in Woodinville, Washington to see their beautiful display of poinsettias and their poinsettia Christmas tree. We don’t live close enough anymore to pop into this great garden store.
3. Do you believe in Bigfoot? What size shoe do you wear and do you have trouble shoe shopping?
Well, do photographs lie? I would have loved to buy this huge piece of yard art to put up on our mountain behind our country bungalow but I have grandchildren now and wouldn’t want to make them afraid to go into our backyard.
I am a 7 to 7-1/2 depending on the shoe style. I don’t have a problem finding shoes in my size but it is hard work finding shoes that are comfortable to wear in general. I am way past the stiletto days. Even when I could have managed them I didn’t wear real high heels.
4. What is one thing you refuse to share?
My husband. The only way I will share him is for him to do his acts of service for others. He enjoys helping people.
5. Are you finding that this Christmas is stressful? More or less than last year?
What’s stressful about painting all your interior walls in the month of December? Don’t you love how the Christmas décor intersect with the painting equipment?
But no, thankfully I’m not stressing about the above photo of what real life looks like at our country bungalow. Things will be back in their proper place before Christmas. Our family of 9 and a half chose to only have stockings this year and all of us won’t be together till Christmas afternoon. The 4 who are flying here on Christmas day are staying until the 28th and we are going to take one day at a time while they are here.
6. Tell us something random about your week so far!
We are having our first December snow that will linger and I’ll be driving in it for the first time since we moved. Our road is a 50mph road and I’m watching cars and trucks going slower then usual. They’ll not enjoy driving behind me because I’ll be going real slow and steady. I’m a wimp in the snow. Our motion sensor light above our garage was on this morning because of the snow falling. The little birds were flying under Dear’s parked truck and congregating there. Where do little birds go ?
I’m happy to report I made it there in the snow and then back home again in the dark. When there is snow on the road it is hard to see where your lane begins and ends. I made it up our kids mile long driveway with switchbacks in the light and then in the dark. She is patting herself on the back. It was sweet to spend time with Addy while her folks went to the hospital to have an ultrasound to see how Addy’s baby brother is doing.
Hope all your preparations for Christmas are going well.
I’m linking up with Terri in Florida for the Medley. She asks the questions and we answer them. Thank you, Terri.
When we woke up on Monday morning we were surprised to see a fresh inch of snow on the ground.
It’s actually warmer on this snow day then last week when we had clear skies and were in the 20’s.
This mailbox in front of our home isn’t used by the mail service anymore. The previous owners qualified for door service because of some handicaps. They are talking about more snow on Tuesday.
I forgot to show this cute card Addy’s mommy made using Addy’s footprint and handprints to form a reindeer. This was a card for Addy’s Auntie Laura.
Those of you out there who create collages/mosaics, what site/program do you use? Since I’m working off my new laptop after Old Faithful died I don’t have Picasa anymore and am not sure where to go to create collages. Thank you in advance.
Reminder: Tuesdays With Moisi will resume in the New Year.
… was NOT a hit this year for Addy. It was fun for me to be at her Santa photo shoot, though. She just wasn’t sure about the old guy in the red suit and beard.
She was just fine sitting all by herself far away from Santa.
Later in the day after her nap, Addy’s mommy and daddy brought her to Baba and Gramps so we could all enjoy dinner together. Addy likes to rewind and do all the things we did the time before she was over. So we go to the bedroom where we keep her toys and she gets the dolls she plays with here. She has also decided that it’s fun to put all the manger scene people and animals in a little owl bag. This time around she learned how to turn off and turn on the battery operated candles I have down on her level of reach. That kept her busy for quite a while. She doesn’t like it when it’s time to go home.
Today we visited a different church in Colville where the kids come up to the front of the church right before the sermon. This church had them recite a memory verse they’ve been working on and then they let each child say a prayer to God. The first young boy to pray said “Dear God, thanks for nothing.” I tried not to laugh. His mother in the front row looked mortified. The pastor took it in stride and held the mic in front of the next little one who thanked God for his mother, father, and dog. By this time the mortified mother got her son’s attention and he came down to the front row next to her and then they both exited the sanctuary. When all the little ones were done with their short prayers they were excused to go downstairs for Sunday School. Hope that little guy didn’t get into too much trouble.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 