Category Archives: Christmas

A New Tradition ~ The Mystery Tree!

This year I decided to join my brother’s family in their tradition of the Mystery Tree. My SIL Kelly says it started because of their small Pastor’s salary that wouldn’t support an expensive tree. They would go to Target or Home Depot and get the biggest tree they could on their budget. They bought one that was still wrapped. No fair untying it and seeing if it’s a beauty. No walking around the tree lot for hours looking for the perfect tree. Throw it on top of the car, take it home, put it in its stand then unwrap it, stand back and enjoy the surprise! Sometimes you’ll get a Charlie Brown Tree (which some people prefer) but for the most part you get one that is great. So join me on my Mystery Tree Expedition…

Straight to Home Depot and to the garden department. Down the row of 5-6 ft. trees. I picked this one.

I really confused the Home Depot employee when I told him I was taking it just like it was. I told him I wanted to be surprised with our mystery tree and that I had faith it would be great. He sawed off a bit of the bottom for me so it would soak up water in the tree stand…

He was kind enough to put it in my car for me with a smile for the camera…

It fit in my car perfectly and home again, home again, jiggity jig…

 

Here it is in the house still in its mystery stage. Katie had the stand all ready when I got home. She got the honors of cutting the rope.

 

Voila! Mystery solved and oh what a beauty. The best part of this whole story is that the only man required for this adventure was the Home Depot guy. Ladies it is possible to get a tree from the lot to your home and up in the stand if your hubby is away on business or in the service, or if you are a single mom, etc. Maybe it’s more fun to do it together sometimes but don’t despair if you have to do it by yourself. Make it fun. Try the Mystery surprise tree method. From Home Depot to this stage it took me less than 1 hour!

I’ll let you see it again when we get the lights on and decorate it. Blesssings on all your activities this week….

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos I was storing on their site and they are holding them hostage. I am working on updating my more than 4000 posts.

Christmas Tree Treasures ~ 2007

Welcome to Christmas Tree Treasures hosted by Morning Glory at her blog Seeds From My Garden.

This angel is our Christmas tree topper that we’ve used for several years now.

We put the lights on the tree first, then come the red glass ornaments (a few dozen) When they are all placed we add all of our one of a kind that we’ve collected over the years. This was last years tree. This years is not up yet! We plan to get a shorter fatter one this year…

This was our very first ornament that was given to us as a Wedding Gift. We were married December 6, 1974.

 

The top three ornaments in this collage are the first ornaments for each of our children. 1979 was Josh’s , 1981 was Dan’s and 1986 was Katie’s. The second row in the middle was a very primitive baby Jesus in a 1/2 walnut shell that one of my kids made and I’m sorry to say I don’t know which one.  The camel and Winnie the Pooh are from Josh’s baby stash. The little girls on the bottom right are from Dear’s mother and are a lot older than most of our other ornaments.

 

These are the handmade ornaments my 3 kids made that make me smile whenever I see them. Katie made the angel, Josh made the star and Dan made the reindeer below.

These photo ornaments are all from the same year.  Josh with the baseball theme, Katie with the Angel theme, and Dan with the Soccer theme.

This is one of my favorite wooden ornaments.

 

 

I’m a huge Beatrix Potter fan and I was thrilled to find these Christmas ornaments. Hunca Munca and the Amiable Guinea Pig.

My heritage is Russian and these ornaments were gifts from my brother Leonard.

I added this Russian ornament to the tree last year.

My Christmas tree skirt is usually a Christmas tablecloth that I drape around the trunk of the tree.

Thank you Morning Glory for hosting Christmas Tree Treasures. To see more click here.

I’ve also linked to Katabug who is hosting Fun Monday Show me your  Christmas Ornaments version.

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos I was storing on their site and they are holding them hostage. I am working on updating my more than 4000 posts.

Eternal Glory of the Sky ~ Hymn

 

Eternal Glory of the Sky

Eternal Glory of the sky,
Blest Hope of frail humanity,
The Father’s sole begotten One,
Yet born a spotless virgin’s Son!

Uplift us with Thine arm of might,
And let our hearts rise pure and bright,
And, ardent in God’s praises, pay
The thanks we owe him every day.

The day-star’s rays are glittering clear,
And tell that day itself is near:
The shadows of the night depart;
Thou, holy Light, illume the heart!

Within our senses ever dwell,
And worldly darkness thence expel;
Long as the days of life endure,
Preserve our souls devout and pure.

The faith that first must be possessed,
Root deep within our inmost breast;
And joyous hope in second place,
Then charity, Thy greatest grace.

All laud to God the Father be,
All praise, eternal Son, to Thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To God the holy Paraclete.

Words: At­trib­ut­ed to Ambrose of Milan, 4th Cen­tu­ry (Ae­ter­na coeli glo­ria); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to En­glish by John M. Neale in The Hymn­al Not­ed, 1854.

New Presentation Up till December 26th!

 UPDATE: I encountered technical difficulites with the new header so I had to call Lana G! and she did this for me…Thanks Lana!!

Hello y’all I decided to change my presentation for the month of December. I’ll be going back to my other presentation on December 26th! I love Christmas time…

 

“Bless, O God, the little things

This Christmastide…

All the little wild things

That live outside.

Little cold Robins and Rabbits in the snow…

Give them good faring, A warm place to go.

Bless the little things who in

The forest abide

He, too, was just a little one

At Chirstmastide.

ht: Christmas Issue, Ideals, 1964

Photo Hunters ~ RED ~ Oxnard Santa

 

This is a huge Santa on a street that runs right along the 101 Freeway in Oxnard, California. I’ve seen it for years but was never tempted to stop by until now because I’m blogging and because the Photo Hunters challenge this week is RED! This Santa is behind a locked wrought iron fence and is maintained by local corporate businesses. There’s a large sign with all the corporate sponsors and you can see the shadow of the fence that it is behind in my collage below. There are cut-outs on the fence of reindeer and a S and a C which you’ll see in the collage below, also.

 

Fellow Photo Hunters! WordPress is sending my comments straight to Spam for some reason. I’ve commented on all your blogs but my comments do not appear. WordPress is working on the problem for me right now. Update: Yippee wordpress solved the problem!

I’m shamelessly recyling this post for Thursday Photo Challenge where the theme is red also. For more Thursday photo challenge click here.

To see more Photo Hunters click here.

As of June 2017 Photobucket has blacked out all my photos that I had stored there and are holding them hostage. Hopefully I can update my photos on all the posts they have ruined, over 4000 of them.

Show and Tell Friday ~ Christmas Table

I love to set a table for a celebration. This is one of my Christmas or Thanksgiving Tables.

 

Let the celebrations begin. Tis the Season! Blessings on all of you this wonderful time of year!!

For more Show and Tell head over to Kelli’s.

As of June 2017 Photobucket has blacked out all my photos that I had stored there and are holding them hostage. Hopefully I can update my photos on all the posts they have ruined, over 4000 of them.

Christmas Traditions ~ Luke 2:1-20 and Swedish Pancakes!

There are so many Christmas traditions that we have enjoyed over the years. Today I’ll share a couple that have stayed with us since Dear and I were married. His Mother started the rich tradition of reading Luke 2: 1-20 at the Christmas Eve celebrations before everyone tore into their gifts. Over the years we tried different ways to incorporate this rich tradition. We started including it on my side of the families gatherings, too. One year while all the cousins were still young I made a very elementary coloring book with all these verses for each child in each family to color and help them to memorize this passage. At our Christmas Eve celebration I brought  several rolls of quarters and each child that could recite any of the passage got a quarter for every verse they remembered! It was loads of fun. Recently my brother dared his nieces and nephews to recite these in Russian and to whoever could he’d give big bucks. Ha! One of my nephews met the challenge and my brother gave him $100 and my father was so pleased he kicked in an extra $50.

 

This is the booklet I made with a picture and one to two verses on each page. I’m sure anyone out there can make a more artistic coloring book with the help of a computer. I made this by hand before I had a computer. This is the cover of one of the stapled booklets that I think was my son Josh’s.

The other tradition that my immediate family enjoys is on Christmas morning after we see what’s inside our Christmas Stockings, Dear cooks up Swedish Pancakes for us all to enjoy. Here’s Dear on Christmas 2005 cooking them up!

 

Do you have a tradition to share with us? You still have time to post it and join in the fun. To read about other traditions or join in the fun head over to My Quiet Corner.

As of June 2017 Photobucket has blacked out all my photos that I had stored there and are holding them hostage. Hopefully I can update my photos on all the posts they have ruined, over 4000 of them.

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus ~ Hymn

 

 Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

(words by Charles Wesley)

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

ht: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/m/comtlong.htm

WFMW ~Holiday Shopping Carnival

Ok I’m gonna so cheat this week and use my Holiday Shopping Carnival post for WFMW! Enjoy the shopping tips.

 Chili at Don’t Try this at Home is hosting a Holiday Shopping Carnival. Below are my suggestions for some fun gifts with links to where you can purchase them. Enjoy my little shopping post!

I think every blogger who takes a lot of pictures for their blog with their digital camera needs this great Gorillapod flexible tri-pod! You can order it from Amazon.

Aren’t these napkin rings sweet and festive. You can order them from Sur la Table, one of my favorite kitchen stores.

How practical is this for anyone who drives. Gas prices are crazy and this gas gift card would be something anyone would like. You can get them at your favorite gasoline provider.

 

This one is so much fun. Look at this cake pan and look at the marvelous cake you can make with it! You can order this at Sur la Table under bakeware.

Anyone on your list who has enjoyed Jan Karon’s books will love her latest book if they don’t have it already. Order it from Amazon.

I hope these items will help get your mind working for some creative gift giving this Christmas.

I Timothy 6: 17-19 ~ “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with every thing to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

To see more WFMW around bloggy world click here.