FFF ~ I’m in Hot Water Now…

It’s time to reflect on your past week and see the many good things that you were blessed with. Visit Susanne at Living to tell the Story to join in this worthwhile exercise.

My favorites from this past week…

1. A decorated Christmas tree filling the living room with a nice fragrance. Oops somethings crooked!

2. Nativities to remind us why we celebrate Christmas.

3. Hot Water! Our old water heater was giving up the ghost and we didn’t want to be surprised some morning with a cold shower so Dear with his handiness put in a new one this week. We had to live without hot water for 24 hours but we knew about it in advance and boy are we all ever thankful to have the hot water flowing again.

4. Thankful once again for a husband who can take on most any project around the house and do a good job at it!

5. These great words I read this morning;

2 Timothy 4:18 (ESV)~

The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

and 2 Thessalonians 2: 16-17 (ESV) ~

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

This weekend Dear and I are escaping to Whidbey Island for an overnight at a Bed and Breakfast Inn to celebrate our anniversary. I hope to tell you all about it next week. We have a heavy rain and flooding forecast which might make things interesting on our trip. Enjoy your day and weekend!

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.

Christmas Table ~

It’s time for Susan’s Tablescape Thursday!

This is our everyday Christmas table. I only set it for 4 for now because I only have 4 of the Christmas dessert/salad dishes. I enjoy using the more casual/fun Santa hat chair covers for everyday.

How are your preparations coming for Christmas?

Christmas Brunch…

Our ladies Bible Study had their annual Christmas Brunch and each individual group decorated their own tables.

There were traditional settings and

whimsical table settings.

This was our table. One of our leaders has this wonderful Goebel Nativity set. Each of us brought our own place setting for the table. The Twelve Days of Christmas was the theme of our program and how it relates to Christ. I read this following paragraph on Christian History.net.

The “real” twelve days of Christmas are important not just as a way of thumbing our noses at secular ideas of the “Christmas season.” They are important because they give us a way of reflecting on what the Incarnation means in our lives. Christmas commemorates the most momentous event in human history—the entry of God into the world He made, in the form of a baby. The Logos through whom the worlds were made took up His dwelling among us in a tabernacle of flesh. One of the prayers for Christmas Day in the Catholic liturgy encapsulates what Christmas means for all believers: “O God, who marvelously created and yet more marvelously restored the dignity of human nature, grant that we may share the divinity of Him who humbled himself to share our humanity.” In Christ, our human nature was united to God, and when Christ enters our hearts, he brings us into that union.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

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.

Decorated and Delivered~

Dear’s Great, great Aunt collected postcards. These are some of her Christmas cards. I really enjoy Christmas Greetings. My goal last week was to get our cards out and get the house dusted and ready for Christmas decorations. On Friday my goals were completed and my cards made it to the post office. Ahhh…that feels good. By Sunday night all the decorations that I’m going to put out are out and the tree is decorated in a minimal way. Some years are like that. This weekend we are celebrating our anniversary with an overnight to Whidbey Island and I didn’t want these kinds of things to be weighing on my relaxation.

This morning I have a breakfast casserole in the oven that I will be taking to our Women’s Bible Study Christmas celebration. I’m hoping that the tables will be decorated and that I can share some nice ones with you.

Today is the day the U.S.A. was attacked at Pearl Harbor. A good reminder to thank God for those in the military and to pray that God will protect them and bring them home safe. Also that God will comfort those who have lost their loved ones in battle this year.

Hope wherever you are and whatever you are doing you have time to relax and savor this new day…

Something Borrowed, Something Blue Monday…

Monday December 6th is Dear and my 36th wedding anniversary.

Here we are all decked out in blue at our Russian Baptist Church Shower in 1974.

This is my maternal grandmother, my babushka, at our shower wearing blue, too. She really was a wonderful lady who was a prayer warrior. She was widowed while in Iran and immigrated a few years later then my parents to the USA. She lost her hand and part of her arm when she was a young girl and never let her handicap stand in the way. She raised 3 children, embroidered beautifully, and was a wonderful cook, better then most people with two hands.

This is my maternal grandmother, my mother, and me at Laguna Beach, California in the early 70’s.

Through all the ups and downs of marriage, finances and child rearing I am very thankful for the commitment and love Dear and I have shared. I count myself blessed to have married a man with integrity and faithfulness to me , his family and his God.

Thank you Dear! Here’s to many more years together!

To see more Blue Monday posts please visit Sally at Smiling Sally!

Mystery Tree 2010 ~

Mosaic Monday at Little Red House will be in full swing soon.

We had our mystery tree delivered on Saturday and I’m happy to say it’s another good one. There was no fussing and stressing at a Christmas Tree lot trying to get agreement on the perfect tree. It’s fun to anticipate what it will look like after we cut the strings. We have enjoyed this tradition for the last three years and it will continue.

The lights are going on right now and I should have it decorated by tonight. I did put a few other decorations up. My favorite…

The quilted place mats that I put on the hearth were made by Wendy of Ivory Spring. Thank you Wendy for sharing your beautiful handiwork with me. I appreciate it.

I’ll be sharing more of the Christmas decorations around the house later in the week. How are your preparations coming?

Rest of the Weary ~ Hymn

Rest of the Weary

Rest of the weary, joy of the sad,
Hope of the dreary, light of the glad;
Home of the stranger, strength to the end,
Refuge from danger, Savior and Friend!

Pillow where lying, love rests its head,
Peace of the dying, life of the dead:
Path of the lowly, prize at the end,
Breath of the holy, Savior and Friend!

When my feet stumble, to Thee I’ll cry,
Crown of the humble, cross of the high;
When my steps wander, over me bend
Truer and fonder, Savior and Friend!

Ever confessing Thee, I will raise
Unto Thee blessing, glory and praise:
All my endeavor, world without end,
Thine to be ever, Savior and Friend!

Words: John S. B. Monsell, Hymns of Love and Praise for the Church’s Year, 1863.

Round Robin Photo Challenge ~ Before and After…

Before and After

Hello Robins! Here is my interpretation of Before and After. This is the window I look out from when I’m on my computer. I’ve seen so many sweet birds out in the bushes.

To see more photo challenge interpretations visit the Round Robin Photo Challenge Blog by clicking away!

Stepping Away…

…so I’ll be better prepared to gaze upon His glory!

I’ll be back sometime soon. Just don’t know when. I’m going to concentrate on our Christmas letter and getting the greetings out, family birthdays, our anniversary, and decorating the house. The tree arrives on Saturday and our son is traveling over the passes to spend some time here this weekend. Hope all your preparations are going well. Blessings…

Starting Slow…

…with the Christmas decorating.

This sign was my one new purchase on the girls day out after Thanksgiving. It will be going up on the wall in our eating area. Here’s a little Christmas Prayer from Hilltop Verses and Prayers by Ralph Spaulding Cushman that helps me focus on what Christmas is all about.

CHRISTMAS PRAYER

Let not our hearts be busy inns,
That have no room for Thee,
But cradles for the living Christ
And His nativity.

Still driven by a thousand cares
The pilgrims come and go;
The hurried caravans press on;
The inns are crowded so!

Here are the rich and busy ones,
With things that must be sold,
No room for simple things within
This hostelry of gold.

Yet hunger dwells within these walls,
These shining walls and bright,
And blindness groping here and there
Without a ray of light.

Let not our hearts be busy inns,
That have no room for Thee
But cradles for the living Christ
And His nativity.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage