Author Archives: Ellen

A Very Merry Christmas Day

Christmas Carol

Hallelujah! hark! from above
Angels come on their wings of love;
Loud hosannas welcome the morn;
Christ our Redeemer’s born.

Refrain

Glory to God the choral strain;
Glory to God the sweet refrain;
Glory, glory, glory to God!
Christ our Redeemer’s born.

Chiming, chiming, hark! ’tis the bells;
Joy to all now their music tells;
Floating onward, greeting the morn;
Christ our Redeemer’s born.

Refrain

Hallelujah! joyful we sing,
While we praise our exalted king;
Let our carol welcome the morn;
Christ our Redeemer’s born.

Refrain

Words: Fanny Crosby

Hallelujah tis done, I believe on the son, I’ve been saved by the blood of the crucified one.

Christmas Eve 2017

Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming

Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming, as men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright, she bore to men a Savior,
When half spent was the night.

The shepherds heard the story proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of glory was born on earth this night.
To Bethlehem they sped and in the manger found Him,
As angel heralds said.

This Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere;
True Man, yet very God, from sin and death He saves us,
And lightens every load.

O Savior, Child of Mary, who felt our human woe,
O Savior, King of glory, who dost our weakness know;
Bring us at length we pray, to the bright courts of Heaven,
And to the endless day!

Michael Praetorius (1571-1621)

We will be attending and serving at a couple of our Christmas Eve Services today. After the services Katie and Andrew will join us for a quiet Christmas Eve enjoying Dear’s famous Tomato Rice Soup and some Pesto Tortellini, red and green food. Josh and Laura will arrive at our home late after their festivities with Laura’s family. Katie and Andrew can greet them as Dear and I will be fast asleep by then. We will all wake up on Christmas morning here except for Dan, Jamie and Addy and enjoy Christmas day together. Dan, Jamie and Addy will enjoy their first Christmas together as a family in Colville.

Hoping your celebrations will be filled with the love and peace that the Holy Babe in the Manger came to provide.

The Day Before the Day Before…

The stockings are all hung even though some won’t be here. Santa got the memo so he won’t be confused.

The new star is on the top of the tree.

Matthew 2:10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

Are we in trouble or what? Look at this face. Love this look her mommy captured while Addy enjoyed her pears. Looking forward to photos from her first Christmas Eve and Christmas!

Hope all is close to being ready for your Christmas celebrations!

Mystery Tree 2017

We are again pleased with our stress free Mystery Tree for 2017. We bought it at Home Depot this year and brought it home tied up with string. We skipped having it netted since we had the truck to bring it home in. This is a tradition we have kept going for several years now borrowed from my sister-in-law.

It’s a taller and chubbier tree then we’ve had in the past few years. My decorations have always been down home not fancy. Red glass balls that have now seen better days and ornaments we’ve received or collected over the years.

Our new ornament this year is Addy’s hand print and she turned 9 months old on December 20th!

Looking forward to the day that Addy will be able to enjoy the hands on Nativity sets.

I’m pleased to say that all the gifts I’m responsible for are wrapped and under the tree. Now I’m moving on to making the shopping lists for the meals we will enjoy on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

I’ve been asking myself what day it is each day this week. How are things going for you?

An Adoring Hodgepodge

1. Where have you found unexpected magic or delight this holiday season?

See collage above. We decided last Friday night to take a quick trip to northeastern Washington state to see our kids who can’t make the trip to be with us on Christmas day. It was worth the drive to enjoy the day and a half and to see all Addy’s new skills and expressions and to enjoy time and meals with her fabulous parents.

The other delight for me is sitting in view of the Christmas tree with it’s lights on and enjoying Christmas music.

2. What’s your favorite type of holiday gathering? Will you/have you gathered in your favorite way this month?

Gatherings that include good food and Christian fellowship are my favorite. Besides my immediate family gatherings on Christmas Eve and Christmas day my favorite is our annual Christmas gathering with the Mennonite Girls and our husbands. The only thing that would make it even better is if our Manitoba girls could fly in for the party.

3. Time has named ‘The Silence Breakers’ (women who came forward with stories of harassment)  ‘person of the year’ for 2017. Would you agree? If not, who do you think deserves the title?

I’ll consider the source for this yearly announcement and honor in giving my opinion. I don’t expect high standards from “Time” anymore. It really is the season of discontent and finding fault in our nation. I don’t discredit women who have suffered harassment. I hope women in the future will be able to speak up boldly as it happens and not hold onto the grief for years.

Who I think deserve the title this year are Firefighters and other First Responders who have come to the aid of so many during hurricanes and wild fires, sacrificing their own lives!

Then from a Christian perspective I’d have R.C. Sproul on the cover, the founder of Renewing Your Mind, who went to be with His Lord this past week. He was a faithful servant and teacher of God’s Truth.

Renewing Your Mind is an outreach of Ligonier Ministries, an international Christian discipleship organization founded in 1971 by Dr. R.C. Sproul. We know that God uses his Word to change lives. In Romans 12:2, Paul tells Christians to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” That is our aim. We’re committed to faithfully presenting the unvarnished truth of Scripture, helping you to know what you believe, why you believe, how to live it and how to share it.

4. How did you spend your time this year? Are you happy about that? Elaborate

Accepting and embracing changes that have come to us. Accepting the retirement stage and the reality of what comes with that. Accepting the fact that we will be making a major move across our state next year and preparing for that. Accepting the new aches and pains that come with our stage of life. Embracing our freedom of doing what we want each day without many time restrictions. Totally embracing our new family dynamic with the addition of sweet little Addy into our family. This has been fun from a grandparenting perspective but also amazing to watch our children in a parenting role and our other children in an auntie/uncle nurturing role.

Yes, I am content and happy about it.

5. Bid farewell to 2017 in ten words or less.

Thank you for introducing us to the world of grandparenting.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

As I’m typing this my tree is getting it’s last string of lights so I can start putting the ornaments on it. I’m okay with the delay since our 3 day travel diversion yielded some sweet memories of Addy’s new skills.

We finally figured out her little tongue was feeling a new upper tooth that was trying to pop out.

Yum, unsweetened canned pears from Baba’s and Gramps’ pear tree.

She’s standing a lot more without holding on and still only takes a couple of steps at a time. Walking isn’t far off.

I just want to clap my hands! She really is enjoying clapping.

Thank you to Joyce From This Side of the Pond for asking the questions for Wednesday Hodgepodge! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my answers.

Yahoo! The tree is finally decorated so soon I’ll have my Mystery Tree post ready to go.

Last Minute Trip…

…over the mountains and through the woods to see this little one and her parents!

We decided Friday evening to hit the road on Saturday morning to see our kids in northeastern Washington. We wanted to see them since they won’t be traveling to be with us at Christmas this year. I’ve been absent from visiting blogs because all my time has been spent chasing and enjoying our little Addy.

Addy recognized us and was willing to come to us with no hesitation. That is always a relief since there are weeks that pass between our visits.

Addy is cutting a new tooth and she continues to take a few steps at a time. Snow fell for most of the day on Sunday. We are heading home on Monday because of weather forecasts and the conditions on the roads and…I still need to decorate our tree.

It was a short and sweet trip getting caught up on all the new things Addy is enjoying from food to chatter to movement.

Fun times with gramps!

The Christmas tree was found and cut down on our kids’ property.

You have to catch a photo of her fast as she’s always on the go! She’s enjoying “pat a cake” and she can really move about in her walker!

It was fun to visit and have some sweet cuddles until next time.

The adults were able to complete a couple of projects, too, with extra hands keeping an eye on Addy.

We are hoping for clear sailing on the roads between Colville and Seattle today. Christmas is just one week away. Are you ready? We are more ready now that we’ve spent time with our kids in Colville.

Update: Thank you all for your good wishes and prayers. We made it home in great time and with very nice conditions most of the way home. We are very thankful we decided to come home on Monday as Tuesday welcomed snow and bad conditions on most of the roads we traveled yesterday. Today I will finally put the ornaments on the tree and since it is so rainy and blustery outside maybe I’ll even start wrapping some gifts.

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day;
To save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray.

Refrain

O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy;
O tidings of comfort and joy.

In Bethlehem, in Israel, this blessèd Babe was born,
And laid within a manger upon this blessèd morn;
The which His mother Mary did nothing take in scorn.

Refrain

From God our heavenly Father a blessèd angel came;
And unto certain shepherds brought tidings of the same;
How that in Bethlehem was born the Son of God by name.

Refrain

Fear not, then, said the angel, Let nothing you affright
This day is born a Savior of a pure Virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in Him from Satan’s power and might.

Refrain

The shepherds at those tidings rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding in tempest, storm and wind,
And went to Bethl’em straightaway this blessèd Babe to find.

Refrain

But when to Bethlehem they came where our dear Savior lay,
They found Him in a manger where oxen feed on hay;
His mother Mary kneeling unto the Lord did pray.

Refrain

Now to the Lord sing praises all you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas all others doth deface.

Refrain

God bless the ruler of this house, and send him long to reign,
And many a merry Christmas may live to see again;
Among your friends and kindred that live both far and near—

That God send you a happy new year, happy new year,
And God send you a happy new year.

Saturday’s Critters

Our little Addy loves Rayna. Addy’s mom says that Rayna tolerates Addy. I’m sure when Addy is older Rayna will appreciate her more.

It’s been almost a month since we’ve seen little Addy face to face. Hope a trip across the mountains can be accomplished before too long.

Here’s some other critters Dear and I saw on our overnight trip to La Conner. These lovelies were very curious when we stopped on the road to take photos of them at South Fork Farms in Mount Vernon, Washington. Love their faces!

The alpaca is a member of the camelid family, which also includes the llama, guanaco, vicuna and the camel.

Alpaca produce a specialty fiber in 16 different natural colors – white, beige, lt. fawn, med. fawn, dk. fawn, lt. brown, med. brown, dk. brown, bay black, true black, lt. silver grey, med. silver grey, dk. silver grey, lt. rose grey, med. rose grey, dk. rose grey.

Alpaca fiber is five times warmer than sheep wool and more durable than cotton.

Linking up to Saturday’s Critters at Viewing Nature with Eileen. Thank you Eileen!

Happy to say our mystery tree is up with most of the lights on it. As soon as another string of lights go up I’ll be able to put the ornaments on and show you what it looks like this year. Are you ready for next weekend? We’re enjoying our Christmas music and worshiping the one who came for us to live among us and to die on the cross to save us, Emmanuel.

Christmas Past and Present

These vintage cards are from my mother-in-law’s stash of Christmas goodies that ended up with us.  Happy to know our cards with our Christmas greetings are on their way to friends and family. We also have antique postcards from Dear’s great great aunt. The postmarks are from 1908-1912.

PM1910

We still need to buy our tree to bring home and decorate.

PM1908

PM1912

We’ve had several dry and very cold days. That is about to change so I’m telling myself that today might be the day to go buy our Mystery Tree before the rains come. For those of you new to my blog our Mystery Tree tradition is an idea I borrowed from my sister-in-law Kelly several years ago. We go to the local big box home improvement store and grab a tree that is wrapped with netting and throw it into our truck or car and bring it home without knowing what it will look like. The one thing we look at carefully is how straight the trunk at the bottom of the tree is. When we get it home we set it in it’s tree holder in the right spot in our living room before we cut away the netting and see what we got. We choose to enjoy it no matter what. We’ve found it to be a tradition that works well for us instead of searching for that perfect tree that caused a lot of stress in the past. (The only problem with this reveal is that we don’t get the chance to shake out all the needles that might have accumulated in the netting)

Do you have traditions that carry on from year to year? Do you still send out Christmas cards? Do you do live or artificial for your tree?

Happy Hanukah to any of my Jewish friends who stop by here.