Category Archives: Christmas

Messiah…

and other beautiful Christmas music is playing in the background as I sit and enjoy twinkling lights and a tree all trimmed and waiting for wrapped presents. For now I’ll savor the moment with some Egg Nog in a pretty glass.

On Saturday our mystery tree was brought in from the cold and unwrapped. We were pleased with it’s fine shape and it’s great price of $19.97.

Dear strung the lights on the tree and the decorating continued with the Angel tree topper added first.

It was fun to pull out my favorites with memories attached and enjoyed.

Baby’s first Christmas ornaments are getting a little tattered.

After the tree was trimmed it was time to set out our favorite things from Christmas’s past.

The kissing Santa salt and pepper shakers and 2 sets of angels are from Dear’s mother. The Santa Matryoshka is from my brother Leonard.

These mugs belong to our 3 kids. I might have mentioned before that this will be our first Christmas since our kids were born that we won’t all be together on Christmas Day. Katie will be in North Carolina and our son Dan has to work on Christmas day in Eastern Washington. Josh, Laura, Dear and I will enjoy the day together. I’ve had some “moments” since getting back home from North Carolina. Those out of nowhere teary moments that last for just a spell when it strikes me that things have changed. It’s OK that they change but I still get caught by surprise by the emotions associated with the changes. When I pulled these mugs out of the attic I stood on the attic stairs crying to think they all wouldn’t be used this year. Ahh…but then I move on.

This is my Christmas Card clothes card line. I love it because I can hang each card that comes our way and keep them where I can continue to see and enjoy them.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.  And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

You can read the whole Christmas story from the Bible in Luke chapter 2.

Hope your week, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day are filled with joy!

I’m linking up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

Joy Bells Are Ringing ~ Christmas Hymn

Joy Bells Are Ringing

Joy bells are ringing,
Christmas is bringing
Tidings of Jesus’ birth.
Candles are gleaming,
Gladness is streaming
Out over all the earth.

Light is ascending,
Nighttime is ending,
Sunshine from God appears.
Hope of the ages,
Foretold by sages,
Comes to dispel all fears.

O what a treasure
God in His pleasure
Lovingly gives today.
Grace to the lowly,
Peace, pure and holy,
Angels to men convey.

Come to the manger,
Kindred and stranger,
Hail now the newborn King!
In adoration
With jubilation
Peoples and nations sing!

Banish all sadness,
Fill me with gladness,
Jesus, whom I adore!
All else may perish,
Thee will I cherish
Now and forevermore!

Words: Nils Frykman, 1881. Translated from Swedish to English by E. Gustav Johnson, 1946.

For more Joy visit the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog today for Bread for the Journey.

In the Meantime…

See this tree on the cart?

It’s still outside my house in this original state. Saturday is the appointed day to cut the base and cut away some limbs and bring it in the house!

No way is it going to look like any of these great decked out trees I saw at Molbaks nursery in Woodinville, Washington.

I enjoy looking at all these trees decorated with fabulous themes in mind but I’m content with my homey classic tree with all our ornaments that have been gathered over the years.

There were other fun displays in this great store, too.

Today…Saturday…our tree is going up and getting trimmed.

What does your Saturday hold?

Lift Up Your Heads, Rejoice! ~ Advent Hymn

Lift Up Your Heads, Rejoice

Lift up your heads, rejoice, redemption draweth nigh;
Now breathes a softer air, now shines a milder sky;
The early trees put forth their new and tender leaf;
Hushed is the moaning wind that told of winter’s grief.

Lift up your heads, rejoice, redemption draweth nigh;
Now mount the laden clouds, now flames the darkening sky;
The early scattered drops descend with heavy fall,
And to the waiting earth the hidden thunders call.

Lift up your heads, rejoice, redemption draweth nigh;
O note the varying signs of earth, and air, and sky;
The God of glory comes in gentleness and might,
To comfort and alarm, to succor and to smite.

He comes, the wide world’s King, He comes, the true heart’s Friend,
New gladness to begin, and ancient wrong to end;
He comes, to fill with light the weary waiting eye;
Lift up your heads, rejoice, redemption draweth nigh.

Words: Thomas T. Lynch

It’s Not Over Yet…

…we’re still in the midst of celebrating here. Monday is our daughter Katie’s 25th birthday. Really? How can it be that she is 25?

To celebrate we are going out for Italian and then headed for some fun at the bowling alley. I’ll be sitting and watching and taking photos since my tennis elbow which seems to be a shooting elbow is keeping me sidelined. In the meantime here are photos from our glorious Christmas day.

 

Santa was very generous with all of us. We start our Christmas morning with opening the gifts in our stockings. Then we head to the breakfast table. This year we went around the table reading the Christmas story from the Bible in Luke chapter 2. Next Dear cooked up his famous Swedish pancakes that are a Christmas morning tradition we will not give up! Dear is half Swedish from his mother’s side. It’s fun to know that Dear’s only brother is also busy cooking up Swedish pancakes at his home in Southern California for his family.

 

Now we head to the tree to open all the bounty. We all said we were cutting down this year but when you have 7 adults exchanging gifts cutting down is still a lot! Everyone was grateful, surprised, and overwhelmed with the love shared.

 

While Dear and I prepared for our meal together, the kids had a few rounds of their new game, Blokus.

 

The kids played with their new toys and Dear and I prepared our main meal of the day.  The red goblets were a gift from our son and daughter in love. I put them to immediate use. Dinner was all very tasty. Dear smoked our prime rib in his new smoker. We had potatoes, creamed corn, salad and Yorkshire Pudding to top it off.

 

Katie, the birthday girl, and her fiance Andrew. Andrew is a Marine and took leave to come to our house for Christmas from North Carolina. Katie is so pleased that she can have him here for Christmas, her birthday, and for New Years!

 

Our son Josh and our DIL Laura.

 

Our son Dan who was able to travel from Eastern Washington for our time together. He had to leave early on Sunday morning to make it back for his work shift that started at 8:00 P.M. on Sunday.

 

Dear and me enjoying the wonder of it all.

 

More sweets then have seen the inside of my house for the whole year all together in this place.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Merry Merry Christmas to All!

 

From our house to yours we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

С Рождеством Христовым (S Roždestvom Khristovym)

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

When Darkness Falls…

…light is good.

John 8:12 (English Standard Version)

I Am the Light of the World

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

 

Our winters bring darkness early here in the Pacific Northwest. Last night we were pitch black by 5:30 in the afternoon. I really enjoy lights in the winter. They always have a special brightness.

All that’s left around our house to do for Christmas is to make sure we have all the items we need to make our Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas dinner. Since we are having a rib roast with all the trimmings on Christmas evening I’ve decided to make Borsch for our smaller Christmas Eve time. Christmas morning it is our tradition to have Swedish pancakes that Dear expertly makes for all of us but not till after stockings.

What do you eat on Christmas Eve and on Christmas?

The Stockings Were Hung…

…by the chimney with care.

 

We have had our 3 and 3 matching stockings for several years now but this year Katie’s fiance is joining us for Christmas so I went on a quest to find #7 that would blend with the others. I knew finding a matching one would be a challenge. I think this one works fine. Finding an initial to put on it was another dead end because these felt letters couldn’t be found anywhere. I did find an A that was the right size. It’s not the stocking that counts…it’s what’s inside it that counts. (chuckle) We’re thrilled that the 7 of us can be here this year and enjoy Christmas Day together!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Filled With Wonder!

Luke 1:46-55 (ESV)

Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

Thinking about Mary and her encounter with the angel Gabriel fills me with wonder. Can you imagine? Our sermon on Sunday was about wonder. How do we discover the sense of wonder in our daily lives? Here are some ways offered to us;

1. By opening our eyes to the wonders of God’s creation (Psalm 19)

2. By opening our hearts to the wonder of God’s presence (Luke 1:39-45)

3. By opening our minds to the wonder of God’s plan for us (Luke 1:26-38)

4. By opening our mouths to speak to the wonder of our life with God. (Luke 1: 46-56)

ht: Pastor Gary Gulbranson (Senior Pastor ~ Westminster Chapel in Bellevue, Wa.)

Have a wonderful week of Wonder!

The First Noel ~

The First Noel

The First Noel is unknown in origin but is generally thought to be English dating back to the sixteenth century. There is a misconception that the First Noel was French and it is believed that this is because of the French spelling of Noel as opposed to the olde English Anglo-Saxon spelling of the word as in Nowell. After England was captured by the Normans numerous words were adopted from the Norman French language and Noel was re-spelt as Nowell, early printed versions of this carol use the Nowell spelling. The First Noel was first published in 1833 when it appeared in “Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern,” a collection of seasonal carols gathered by William B. Sandys.

 

Hoping you experience the love of God today and everyday!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.