Christmas Eve gift!

            If you were in charge of developing a town that would be the most peaceful place to live on earth, which particular features would characterize it?

            My town would have plenty of open spaces for star gazing and be on top of a mountain with beautiful mountain views all around.

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

    -Luke 2:1-20

Thank you so much for reading my Advent blog! I hope you have a very merry Christmas!

the Lord's maid.

            If it were socially acceptable for you to play with any children’s toy, with which toy would you be spending a lot of time?

            American Girl dolls, hands down.

            “Go, Gabriel; go and tell Mary.”

            On a wave of worship I flew, this time alone. I circled through the clouds and over the ground. Below me was the city where Mary was born. The Father was right; I knew her in an instant. Her heart had no shadow. Her soul was as pure as any I’ve seen.

            I made the final descent. “Mary.” I kept my voice low so as not to startle her.

            She turned but saw nothing. Then I realized I was invisible to her. I waved my wings before my body and incarnated. She covered her face at the Light and shrank into the protection of the doorway.

            “Don’t be afraid,” I urged.

            The minute I spoke, she looked up toward the sky. Again I was amazed.

            I praised my Father for His wisdom. Her heart is so flawless, so willing. “Greetings. God be with you.”

            Her eyes widened, and she turned as if to run. “Mary, you have nothing to fear. You have found favor with God. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call His name Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Highest. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; He will rule Jacob’s house forever – no end, ever, to His kingdom.”

            Though she was listening, she was puzzled.

            “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”

            Before I spoke I looked up into the heavens. The Father was standing, giving me His blessing.

            I continued, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the highest hover over you; therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God. Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.”

            Mary looked at me then up into the sky. For a long time she gazed into the blueness, so long that I, too, looked up. Did she see the angels? Did the heavens open? I do not know. But I do know when I looked back at hear, she was smiling.

            “Yes, I see it all now: I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say.”

            As she spoke, a Light appeared in her womb.

            -Cosmic Christmas by Max Lucado

a Christmas parable.

            What is your favorite Christmas decoration in your home? (The Christmas tree doesn’t count!)

            I have many favorites, but I especially love our Advent ring.

            And Jesus said a certain man, while doing his Christmas shopping, fell among muggers, who stripped him of everything, beat him to within an inch of his life, and left him in an alley behind St. Luke’s Church.

            The minister came along on his way to a service, and, when he saw the man hurried into the church, afraid of becoming involved. And likewise an elder of the church came by and hurried past, as frightened as the minister. He even dropped the holly wreath he was carrying and didn’t return to pick it up.

            But the neighborhood agnostic, who didn’t even believe in exchanging Christmas presents, when he heard the poor man groaning, investigated and felt sorry for him.

            Bringing his car around, he helped the man into it, ignored the blood on his velvet-pile seats, and drove him to City Hospital.

            “Here,” he said to the receptionist, who presented him with a battery of forms. “This is my credit card, and he is my brother. Give him a private room and the very best of care, and, if it exceeds the limit of my charge account, I’ll borrow the money and pay you. What the heck, it’s Christmas Eve!”

            Which of these three men, do you think, was neighbor to the man who was mugged? And which one had a merry, merry Christmas?


-Parables for Christmas by John Killinger

the perfect gift.

            What would you choose as an international symbol for the word Christmas?

            I would pick a star, like the one that led the Wise Men to Jesus.

            “In whom (Christ) are hid all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge.”

            -based on Colossians 2:3

            Gifts, presents, treasures. Get them or give them. Want them, wait for them, wonder about them, or worry about them. Gifts seem to be what Christmas is all about.

            At the beginning of this century, William Sydney Porter wrote a story about Christmas presents. He called it “The Gift of the Magi.” Just as he did for all his stories, he wrote it using the name of “O. Henry.” “The Gift of the Magi” is one of the most popular of all Christmas stories, and it begins this way: “One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies.”

            O. Henry’s story is about Della, the woman who had the one dollar and eighty-seven cents. It was all of her Christmas money, all she had been able to save to buy a present for her husband, Jim. Jim’s salary was twenty dollars a week. Even in those days, that wasn’t enough to have extra for gifts. Della had saved her pennies one by one out of the grocery money. When Christmas Eve came, with only one dollar and eighty-seven cents put aside to buy something for Jim, she wanted to cry. She couldn’t buy something wonderful with just those few coins.

            Then Della remembered her treasure. It was one of the two treasures in that poor little family. Della’s was her long, brown, beautiful hair. Jim’s treasure was a gold watch that had come down to him from his father and grandfather.

            O. Henry wrote that Della and Jim were so proud of Jim’s watch that they were sure that it was better than any of King Solomon’s riches. And they loved her hair so much that they felt like the Queen of Sheba would have been jealous of it.

            But because Della loved Jim more than she loved her hair, she sold it to a lady who made fancy wigs. Della got twenty dollars for her hair, enough to buy the perfect gift for Jim – a long, lovely silver-white chain to hold and show off his precious watch. Jim, too, had found the perfect gift for Della. O. Henry’s story ends with Jim giving Della her Christmas present – a set of jeweled combs to hold up her long hair. Della had admired the combs in a shop window, but she didn’t expect to own them someday. They were such expensive combs that Jim had needed to sell his watch to buy them for Della.

            So Della had her hair ornaments but not the hair to put them in, and Jim had a lovely chain, but no watch to hang on it. Della and Jim, wrote O. Henry, were “two foolish children…who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house.” But, he continued, “of all who give gifts these two were the wisest.”

            At Christmastime we hear a lot about gifts of love and about using our hearts and our treasures wisely in order to find the right Christmas spirit. Perhaps that is why O. Henry’s story is so popular. We admire Della’s and Jim’s sacrifices. We know that the love they had for each other was more valuable than the expensive Christmas presents that they had bought. We realize that presents can get old and boring, clothes wear out, and gadgets break, but love is the gift that really satisfies. Almost everyone wants to experience such peace and love at Christmas.

            But sometimes there is a difference between what we know and what we feel. We would like to have Della and Jim’s wise Christmas spirit, but sometimes it just doesn’t seem possible. Relatives or friends might drive us crazy. There are times when we don’t feel loving or lovable. There are times of sadness, even at Christmas. At times like these, the talk about the true meaning of Christmas seems a little bit unrealistic. At such times, the presents gleaming bright and beautiful for us under the Christmas tree seem more attractive than the troublesome people or events that come our way.

            At Christmas and all year round, we need more than good intentions and happy thoughts. We need God’s help. We need God’s presence. We need wisdom to live rightly and to love rightly. The beginning of the Bible’s book of Proverbs tells us that God’s wisdom brings life, joy, peace, safety, justice, righteousness, and faithfulness. His wisdom is the gift we all need, the gift we all want. It is the most perfect of Christmas gifts.

            In Christ we find the wisdom that we long for. His treasures alone bring real meaning to our Christmases and to our lives.

            -The Handel’s Messiah Family Advent Reader by Donna W. Payne and Fran Lenzo

goblin attack.

            If Frosty the Snowman really did come to life for a day, what one national attraction or tourist site would you encourage him to see before he melted away?

            I would tell him to go see the lights at Opryland!

            Cliff House, near the North Pole

            December 21^st 1933

            My dears

            Another Christmas! And I almost thought at one time (in November) that there would not be one this year. There would be the 25^th of December, of course, but nothing from your old great-great-etc. grandfather at the North Pole.

            Goblins. The worst attack we have had for centuries. They have been fearfully wild and angry ever since we took all their stolen toys off them last year and dosed them with green smoke. You remember the Red Gnomes promised to clear all of them out. There was not one to be found in any hole or cave by New Year’s day. But I said they would crop up again – in a century or so.

            They have not waited so long! They must have gathered their nasty friends from mountains all over the world, and been busy all the summer while we were at our sleepiest. This time we had very little warning.

            Soon after All Saints’ Day, Polar Bear got very restless. He now says he smelt nasty smells – but as usual he did not say anything: he says he did not want to trouble me. He really is a nice old thing, and this time he absolutely saved Christmas. He took to sleeping in the kitchen with his nose towards the cellar-door, opening on the main-stairway down into my big stores.

            One night, just about Christopher’s birthday, I woke up suddenly. There was squeaking and spluttering in the room and a nasty smell – in my own best green and purple room that I had just had done up most beautifully. I caught sight of a wicked little face at the window. Then I really was upset, for my window is high up above the cliff, and that meant there were bat-riding goblins about – which we haven’t seen since the goblin-war in 1453, that I told you about.

            I was only just quite awake, when a terrific din began far downstairs – in the store-cellars. It would take too long to describe, so I have tried to draw a picture of what I saw when I got down – after treading on a goblin on the mat.

            Only ther was more like 1000 goblins than 15.

            (But you could hardly expect me to draw 1000). Polar Bear was squeezing, squashing, trampling, boxing and kicking goblins skyhigh, and roaring like a zoo, and the goblins were yelling like engine whistles. He was splendid.

            Say no more – I enjoyed it immensely.

            Well, it is a long story. The trouble lasted for over a fortnight, and it began to look as if I should never be able to get my sleigh out this year. The goblins had set part of the stores on fire and captured several gnomes, who sleep down there on guard, before Polar Bear and some more gnomes came in – and killed 100 before I arrived.

            Even when we had put the firs out and cleared the cellars and house (I can’t think what they were doing in my room, unless they were trying to set fire to my bed) the trouble went on. The ground was black with goblins under the moon when we looked out, and they had broken up my stables and gone off with the reindeer.

            I had to blow my golden trumpet (which I have not done for many years) to summon all my friends. There were several battles – every night they used to attack and set fire in the stores – before we got the upper hand, and I am afraid quite a lot of my dear elves got hurt.

            Fortunately we have not lost much except my best string, (gold and silver) and packing papers and holy-boxes. I am very short of these: and I have been very short of messengers. Lots of my people are still away (I hope they will come back safe) chasing the goblins out of my land, those that are left alive.

            They have rescued all of my reindeer. We are quite happy and settled again now, and feel much safer. It really will be centuries before we get another goblin-trouble. Thanks to Polar Bear and the gnomes, there can’t be very many left at all.

            And Father Christmas. I wish I could draw or had time to try – you have no idea what the old man can doo! Litening and fireworks and thunder of guns!

            Polar Bear certainly has been busy helping, and double help – but he has mized up some of the girls’ things with the boys’ in his hurry. We hope we have got all sorted out – but if you hear of anyone getting a doll when they wanted an engine, you will know why. Actually Polar Bear tells me I am wrong – we did lose a lot of railway stuff – goblins always go for that – and what we got back was damaged and will have to be repainted. It will be a busy summer next year.

            Now, a merry Christmas to you all once again. I hope you will all have a very happy time; and will find that I have taken notice of your letters and sent you what you wanted. I don’t think my pictures are very good this year – though I took quite a time over them (at least two minutes). Polar Bear says, “I don’t see that a lot of stars and pictures of goblins in your bedroom are so frightfully merry.” Still I hope you won’t mind. It is rather good of Polar Bear kicking, really. Anyway I send lots of love.

            Yours ever and annually

            Father Nicholas Christmas

divine heart of love.

            If you were going to write an editorial column for you city’s newspaper covering any Christmas topic of your choice, what would you write about?

            I would write about various local Christmas light displays, such as the lights at Opryland or the best decorations on houses in the area.

            The Father’s love was so unlimited that he wanted us to know that love and to find in it the fulfillment of our deepest desires. So, he sent us you, dear Lord Jesus, with a human heart big enough to hold all human loneliness and all human anguish. Your heart is not a heart of stone but a heart of flesh; your heart of flesh is not narrowed by human sin and unfaithfulness, but is as wide and deep as divine love itself. Your heart does not distinguish between rich and poor, friend and enemy, female and male, slave and free, sinner and saint. Your heart is open to receive anyone with total, unrestricted love.

            The Sacred Heart of Jesus

            “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for you souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

            Matthew 11:28-30

            Prayer

            Lord, let us place wreaths on the doors of our own hearts, so that the Holy Spirit may find these doors, enter in, and take up his lodging there, and by his presence, make us holy. We ask that the entrance of the Holy Spirit create an island of calm and gentleness within us. Amen.

            -Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J.M. Nouwen by Henri J.M. Nouwen


This little set of carolers is another find from our trip to Europe this summer - we got it in a Christmas store in Rothenburg.

our shepherd.

In your opinion, what would the ultimate winter wonderland look like?

            There would be lots of Christmas trees, covered with twinkling lights and snow, with the scent of a bonfire in the air.

            Jesus said that He came to be our Shepherd (John 10:11). In Israel, 2,000 years ago, that phrase probably didn’t need very much explanation, because most people would have known someone who was a shepherd. They would have known what shepherds did. But not very many of us have met shepherds or been around flocks of sheep to understand what that means. So what does a shepherd do for his sheep that Jesus wants to do for us?

            The Bible gives us a good idea of what shepherds do in the 23^rd Psalm. It was written by David, who was also a shepherd. And David writes that shepherds do eight things:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (The Shepherd provides for all the need of the sheep.)

            He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. (He gives them safety and rest.)

            He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. (He leads the sheep.)

            Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff (He protects the sheep), they comfort me. (The Shepherd comforts the sheep when they are afraid.)

            You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies (He feeds the sheep, even in difficult situations); You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. (The Shepherd pours oil on the sheep so their wounds can be healed.)

            Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (The Shepherd promises that the sheep will always be with Him.)

            So Jesus, in saying that He wants to be our Shepherd, is telling us that He wants to do those things for us! How? He promises to provide everything we need. He feeds us when we read our Bibles. He comforts us when we’re afraid and gives us peace by making His presence real to us. He helps us know where we’re supposed to go and what we’re supposed to do with our lived. He protects us. He heals us when we’re sick in our bodies or hurt in our hearts. And he promises that He will live with us and never leaves us alone.

            Isn’t it great to have Someone to do all of those things for you?

            -The 25 Days of Christmas by Rebecca Hayford Bauer

My dear twin graduated from college yesterday! I'm so proud!

the little ant.

In your opinion, what is the most timeless toy?

            Well, the most timeless toys for me are American Girl dolls.

            Today I have another story about Benjamin Bear for you.

            On the next day, Benjamin opened the next door and found a little ant.

            The little bear continued his long, long journey. Sometimes when he felt tired and discouraged he would look up and see a little black dot in the sky. It was the eagle following the star, and it cheered the little bear and gave him energy to continue.

            In the middle of a field the little bear discovered a large anthill. The ants all stopped work to greet him – all except for one ant who was busy leveling a large pile of sand one grain at a time. The little bear watched her in amazement. “Why are you doing that” he asked.

            “My friend is at the bottom of the pile!”

            “I would be glad to help you,” said the little bear.

            “No, no! Your paws are much too big,” said the ant. “You could hurt my friend.”

            “Ant,” said the little bear, “you will never remove the sand pile by yourself, even if you live to be 100 years old.”

            The ant paused for a moment, then said, “I am going to try to save my friend anyway.” And she continued to work.

            Suddenly there was movement among the other ants. They had been listening. The little bear watched as the ants began to help, each carrying off one grain of sand at a time. Before long, the entire pile was gone and a little ant crawled out safe and sound!

            “That was amazing!” said Benjamin.

            “You see, Benjamin,” said Mother Bear, “faith can move mountains.”

Forever’s Start.

You’re in charge of developing a brand-new sport – a Christmas sport. The season begins on Thanksgiving and ends on December 25. What is your new Christmas sport going to be?

The days are growing noticeably shorter; the nights are longer, deeper, colder. Today the sun did not rise as high in the sky as it did yesterday. Tomorrow it will be still lower. At the winter solstice the sun will go below the horizon, below the dark. The sun does die. And then, to our amazement, the Son will rise again.

Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come

In your fearful innocence.

We fumble in the far-spent night

Far from lovers, friends, and home:

Come in your naked, newborn might.

Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come;

My heart withers in your absence.

Come, Lord Jesus, small, enfleshed

Like any human, helpless child.

Come once, come once again, come soon:

The stars in heaven fall, unmeshed:

The sun is dark, blood’s on the moon.

Come, Word who came to us enfleshed,

Come speak in joy untamed and wild.

Come, thou wholly other, come,

Spoken before words began,

Come and judge your uttered world

Where you made our flesh your home.

Come with bolts of lightning hurled,

Come, thou wholly other, come,

Who came to man by being man.

Come, Lord Jesus, at the end,

Time’s end, my end, forever’s start.

Come in your flaming, burning power.

Time, like the temple veil, now rend;

Come, shatter every human hour.

Come, Lord Jesus, at the end.

Break, then mend the waiting heart.

-Madeleine L’Engle

This nativity was a gift from Mary Love to Mom last year. It's from 10,000 Villages and we've been enjoying the light coming through it in the kitchen window.

Posted by Mary Love because Sarah Beth and Carl are driving from Texas to Tennessee today!

he shall be a king.

If you could go anywhere at all to reflect and meditate on the meaning of Christmas, where would you go?

            I would want to go to Bethlehem.

            Luke 1:31-33:

            The angel said to Mary:

            “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

            So now, the word. The very first word of the herald from heaven, announcing the child to come.

            Who is he? What sort of hero approaches? What is this Mercy soon to be born among us?

            Why, he shall be a king! He shall be the king whom God had promised a thousand years earlier to David – not only a king like David, but a king to fulfill all that David represented. For David was a king bounded by time and space. His reign existed within the history of humankind. But this King shall gather time and space into his kingdom, and shall himself embrace the history of humankind, for of his kingdom “there will be no end….”

            In the eternal view, God was looking at the son of Mary, the only begotten “Son of the Most High.” And here is the deeper meaning of the angel’s words: Messiah is coming. In Messiah shall the house of God be built (wherein, with God, we all may dwell eternally). In Messiah shall goodness finally arise to rule the world. In Messiah shall we find a place of peace; for “I will appoint a place for my people Israel,” said the Lord (v. 10). “I will plant them that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. Violent people shall afflect them no more…and I will give you rest from all your enemies.”

            This is he who is to come; this is the hero: Jesus.

            “You shall call his name Jesus.”

            Jesus. He is our mercy. Jesus. Jesus.

            -Preparing for Jesus by Walter Wangerin Jr

paksu and valkotukka.

If you were the coordinator in charge of staging a nationwide Christmas event, one in which every American theoretically could participate, what would this grand event be?

            I would organize a nationwide Christmas caroling event, where everyone could gather in stadiums or churches or schools and be linked together by webcams.

            Cliff House, North Pole

            December 23^rd 1931

            My dear Children

            I hope you will like the little things I have sent you. You seem to be most interested in Railways just now, so I am sending you mostly things of that sort. I send as much love as ever, in fact more. We have both, the old Polar Bear and I, enjoyed having so many nice letters from you and your pets. If you think we have not read them you are wrong; but if you find that not many of the things you asked for have come, and not perhaps quite as many as sometimes, remember that this Christmas all over the world there are a terrible number of poor and starving people.

            I (and also my Green Brother) have had to do some collecting of food and clothes, and toys too, for the children whose fathers and mothers and friends cannot give them anything, sometimes not even dinner. I know yours won’t forget you.

            So, my dears, I hope you will be happy this Christmas and not quarrel, and will have some good games with your Railway all together. Don’t forget old Father Christmas, when you light your tree.

            Nor me!

            It has gone on being warm up here as I told you – not what you would call warm, but warm for the North Pole, with very little snow. The North Polar Bear, if you know who I mean, has been lazy and sleepy as a result, and very slow over packing, or any job except eating. He has enjoyed sampling and tasting the food parcels this year (to see if they were fresh and good, he said).

            Somebody haz to – and I found stones in some of the kurrants.

            But that is not the worst – I should hardly feel it was Christmas if he didn’t do something ridiculous. You will never guess what he did this time! I sent him down into one of my cellars – the Cracker-hole we call it – where I keep thousands of boxes of crackers (you would like to see them, rows upon rows, all with their lids off to show the kinds of colours).

            Well, I wanted 20 boxes, and was busy sorting soldiers and farm things, so I sent him; and he was so lazy he took two Snowboys (who aren’t allowed down there) to help him. They started pulling crackers out of boxes, and he tried to box them (the boys’ ears I mean), and they dodged and he fell over, and let his candle fall right POOF! into my firework crackers and boxes of sparklers.

            I could hear the noise, and smell the smell in the hall; and when I rushed down I saw nothing but smoke and fizzing stars, and old Polar Bear was rolling over on the floor with sparks sizzling in his coat: he has quite a bare patch burnt on his back.

            It looked fine!

            That’s where Father Christmas spilled the gravy on my back at dinner!

            The Snowboys roared with laughter and then ran away. They said it was a splendid sight – but they won’t come to my party on St. Stephen’s Day; they have had more than their share already.

            Two of the Polar Bear’s nephews have been staying here for some time – Paksu and Valkotukka (‘fat’ and ‘white-hair’ they say it means). They are fat-tummied polar-cubs, and are very funny boxing one another and rolling about. But another time, I shall have them on Boxing Day, and not just at packing-time. I fell over them fourteen ties a day last week.

            And Valkotukka swallowed a ball of red string, thinking it was cake, and he got it all wound up inside and had a tangled cough – he couldn’t sleep at night, but I thought it rather served him right for putting holly in my bed.

            It was the same cub that poured all the black ink yesterday into the fire – to make night: it did and a very smelly smoky one. We lost Paksu all last Wednesday and found him on Thursday morning asleep in a cupboard in the kitchen; he had eaten two whole puddings raw. They seem to be growing up just like their uncle.

            Not fair!

            Goodbye now, I shall soon be off on my travels once more. You need not believe any pictures you see of me in aeroplanes or motors. I cannot drive one, and don’t want to; and they are too slow anyway (not to mention the smell). They cannot compare with my own reindeer, which I train myself. They are all very well this year, and I expect my posts will be in very good time. I have got some new young ones this Christmas from Lapland (a great place for wizards; but these are WHIZZERS).

            Bad!

            One day I will send you a picture of my deer-stables and harness-houses. I am expecting that John, although he is now over 14, will hang up his stocking this last time; but I don’t’ forget people even when they are past stocking-age, not until they forget me. So I send LOVE to you ALL, and especially little PM, who is beginning her stocking-days and I hope they will be happy.

            Your loving Father Christmas

            P.S. This is all drawn by North Polar Bear. Don’t you think he is getting better? But the green ink is mine – and he didn’t ask for it.

            -Letter from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien


I have another cookie recipe to share today - Lemon Cheese Logs!

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 pkg. (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1 egg yolk

2 1/2 cups flour, Golden 86  (white whole wheat)

1 cup finely chopped pecans

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1 pkg. (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate morsels, melted

Colored or chocolate decorating sprinkles

Cream sugar, butter, and cream cheese.  Beat in egg yolk.  Stir in flour, nuts, salt, and lemon peel.  Refrigerate covered at least two hours.

Pre-heat oven  to 325 degrees.

 Shape about 1 tablespoon of dough into a log, 1-inch long.  Place on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake until light brown, about 12 minutes.  Slip  the parchment paper with the baked cookies onto wire racks to cool.   Dip ends of logs into melted chocolate and then into decorating sprinkles.  Let stand on wire racks until the chocolate sets.  Store between layers of wax paper in airtight containers at room temperature no longer than 10 days or in the freezer no longer than three months. 

Makes 9 dozen

From the kitchen of Sally Bennett, 11-08-10

the light shines in the darkness.

If you could go back in American history to experience Christmas dinner and conversation with a typical family of that day, which of the following years would you want to go back to?
a. 1620, the year the Mayflower arrived.
b. 1787, the year the Constitution was signed.
c. 1863, midway through the American Civil War.
d. 1899, the turn of the century.


I think I would have to go with d, the turn of the century.




Have you ever noticed that when you open a closet door, the room you're in doesn't get darker? Instead, the closet gets lighter! That's what the verse in John means when it says, "The light shines in the darkness: the darkness can never put it out!" (John 1:5, Simple English Bible). "The Light" that verse was talking about is Jesus! Jesus came to fill our hearts with light. And He promises that if you will open the door of your heart to Him, He will come in and make it light! He will do for us exactly what happened with the closet.

Before Jesus came, the world was in total darkness. That doesn't mean there was no sunshine, but that people's hearts were dark with sin and there was no light to show them how to find God.


Before Jesus came, there were no pastors or missionaries. There were priests and prophets, but they taught that someday the Messiah - the Savior - would come and help them find God again. Then into this darkness, Jesus was born.


The Bible calls Jesus the Light of the world. He is the Messiah that the prophets said would come someday. He is the One who would give us a light to find our way back to God. If you're lost and can't find you way, what do you use to find your way around? A light! That's why God sent Jesus and called Him a light...so that Jesus could help us find God and not be "lost in the darkness of sin" any more.


When we put lights on our house and Christmas tree, or put candles around the house at Christmastime, it's to remind us that Jesus came to be our light. The next time you're driving around and you see a Christmas tree or some beautiful lights on a house, you'll know why they're there! Because Jesus is the Light of the world!


-The 25 Days of Christmas by Rebecca Hayford Bauer


The first picture is of the massive 50-year-old Christmas cactus that my parents inherited from my grandfather. It's a treat every year when it blooms. The second picture is picture that my dad took of the snow in my parents' backyard this morning! Sadly, I missed it, but I guess I can't really complain about getting to spend time with my fiancé in Dallas.

the grand miracle.

A large snowman has been built in a popular city park; it is your job to supply the hat for his head. What hat would you choose to make this snowman unique?


I would of course choose my "hatband."





Supposing you had before you a manuscript of some great work, either a symphony or a novel. There then comes to you a person, saying, "Here is a new bit of the manuscript that I found; it is the central passage of that symphony, or the central chapter of that novel. The text is incomplete without it. I have got the missing passage which is really the center of the whole work." The only thing you could do would be to put this new piece of the manuscript in that central position, and then see how it reflected on the whole of the rest of the work. If it constantly brought out new meanings from the whole of the rest of the work, if it made you notice things in the rest of the work which you had not noticed before, then I think you would decide that it was authentic. On the other hand, if it failed to do that, then, however attractive it was in itself, you would reject it.


Now, what is the missing chapter in this case, the chapter which Christians are offering? The story of the Incarnation - the story of a descent and resurrection. When I say "resurrection" here, I am not referring simply to the first few hours, or the first few weeks of the Resurrection. I am talking of this whole, huge pattern of descent, down, down, and then up again. What we ordinarily call the Resurrection being just, so to speak, the point at which it turns. Think what that descent is. The coming down, not only into humanity, but into those nine months which precede human birth, in which they tell us we all recapitulate strange pre-human, sub-human forms of life, and going lower still into being a corpse, a thing which, if this ascending movement had not begun, would presently have passed out of the organic altogether, and have gone back into the inorganic, as all corpses do. One has a picture of someone going right down and dredging the sea-bottom. One has a picture of a strong man trying to lift a very big, complicated burden. He stoops down and gets himself right under it so that he himself disappears; and then he straightens his back and moves off with the whole thing swaying on his shoulders. Or else one has the picture of a diver, stripping off garment after garment, making himself naked, then flashing for a moment in the air, and then down through the green and warm and sunlit water into the pitch black, cold, freezing water, down into the mud and slime, then up again, his lungs almost bursting, back again to the green and warm and sunlit water, and then at last out into the sunshine, holding in his hand the dripping thing he went down to get. This thing is human nature; but associated with it, all nature, the new universe. That indeed is a point I cannot go into here, because it would take a whole sermon - this connection between human nature and nature in general. It sounds startling, but I believe it can be fully justified.

Now as soon as you have thought of this, this pattern of the huge dive down to the bottom, into the depths of the universe and coming up again into the light, everyone will see at once how that is imitated and echoed by the principles of the natural world; the descent of the seed into the soil, and its rising again in the plants. There are also all sorts of things in our own spiritual life, where a thing has to be killed, and broken, in order that it may then become bright and strong and splendid. The analogy is obvious.


-"The Grand Miracle" by C.S. Lewis


This nativity set came from Israel. Our tradition is that each time you do an act of kindness, you get to place a piece of straw in the manger. And, of course, Baby Jesus doesn't appear until Christmas Ever.

in the midst of our dark world.

            You’re the author of a new Christmas novel that you hope will one day become a classic. What would you choose as the setting for your Christmas story?

            I probably wouldn’t be able to resist setting it in Victorian England.

            I keep expecting loud and impressive events to convince me and others of God’s saving power…. Our temptation is to be distracted by them…. When I have no eyes for the small signs of God’s presence – the smile of a baby, the carefree play of children, the words of encouragement and gestures of love offered by friends – I will always remain tempted to despair.

            The small child of Bethlehem, the unknown man of Nazareth, the rejected preacher, the naked man on the cross, he asks for my full attention. The work of our salvation takes place in the midst of a world that continues to shout, scream, and overwhelm us with its claims and promises.

Hidden Hope

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,

            And a branch shall grow out of his roots.

The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

            The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

            The spirit of counsel and might,

            The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

            -Isaiah 11:1-3

Prayer

            We welcome you, small child of Bethlehem, whose coming we await with quiet attention. Shield us from the shouts, the screams, the empty promises of the season, and encourage us to turn our hopes to your coming. We know that the promise is hidden in the stable in Bethlehem and rooted in the offspring of Jesse; let us look for our salvation there. Amen.

            -Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J.M. Nouwen by Henri Nouwen

Here’s a picture of my nephew, Patrick, with his Advent calendar. He doesn’t quite understand the concept of just pulling out one figure a day yet, but he still has fun.