As we seek Christ, as we find Him, as we follow Him, we shall have the Christmas spirit, not for one fleeting day each year, but as a companion always. We shall learn to forget ourselves. We shall turn our thoughts to the greater benefit of others. Thomas S Monson
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Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace
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Christmas is a time when we find our way back home, whether in person or in our hearts. It's a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, relive childhood memories, continue cherished traditions, and share hospitality and good will with others. It is a privilege for me to share my love of Jesus Christ with you. Throughout the month of December, I will be sending easy recipes or food “gift” ideas along with instructions. With very few exceptions, they are all projects which children can help make. There will be stories, poems, scriptures and thoughts about Christmas. Our world is full of unrest... people strike out in anger and rage, hatred seems everywhere. It’s “us” whoever “us” is versus “them.” Each letter this year will include ideas to help us serve each other, to help us move past the “usses” and “thems”.
We must not let the influence of evil overpower the influence of good. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”
Do those words sound familiar? I wrote that passage several years ago, but find it even more appropriate now. I hope that together we can find the gift of peace through service to others. ~~ Marilee
This year’s music represents a wide variety of genres. There will be jazz, country, choir, instrumental, Celtic, contemporary Christian, and even rock music. Some have wonderful videos with them and will be marked as video. Others will be marked as audio recordings or lyric recordings (which have the words included with the video.) Who could be more appropriate to start off the year with than the Queen of Jazz, Ella Fitzgerald, herself, singing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Ella Fitzgerald
audio recording
Ella Fitzgerald
audio recording
Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas, make the yule-tide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas, make the yule-tide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away
Once again as in olden daysHappy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more
Someday soon, we all will be together, if the fates allow
Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now
Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now
Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more
Someday soon, we all will be together, if the fates allow
Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now
Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now
~~~*~~*~~~
Eggnog Breakfast Bread Pudding
Adapted from Marion Cunningham’s The Breakfast Book
Serves 8 to 10
1 loaf French bread, cubed
4 ounces unsalted butter
3 cups pumpkin eggnog
2 cups whole milk
5 large eggs
4 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar and warm maple syrup, for serving
4 ounces unsalted butter
3 cups pumpkin eggnog
2 cups whole milk
5 large eggs
4 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar and warm maple syrup, for serving
Pile cubes into a 2-quart baking dish. Heat the eggnog and milk in a large saucepan over medium heat until bubbling gently but not boiling.
Combine the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk vigorously until light and frothy. Whisk one cup of the eggnog mixture into the eggs to warm them. Gradually whisk in the remaining eggnog mixture.
Pour the custard over the bread cubes. Set aside for a minimum of one hour or chill overnight in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the casserole dish inside of a large roasting pan. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan, so that it comes halfway up the sides of the baking dish.
Bake for approximately 45 to 50 minutes, until the custard is set and the top is light golden brown.
Serve with warm maple syrup.
Combine the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk vigorously until light and frothy. Whisk one cup of the eggnog mixture into the eggs to warm them. Gradually whisk in the remaining eggnog mixture.
Pour the custard over the bread cubes. Set aside for a minimum of one hour or chill overnight in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the casserole dish inside of a large roasting pan. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan, so that it comes halfway up the sides of the baking dish.
Bake for approximately 45 to 50 minutes, until the custard is set and the top is light golden brown.
Serve with warm maple syrup.
****
Here is a fun craft which can be done with children. They can help make the ornaments, as well as hang them. I have ths pinned to my pinterest page, or you can follow this link. There are two different sets of instructions
Bird seed ornaments
How to Make Birdseed Christmas Ornaments | eHow
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is true story was originally published in the December 14, 1982 issue of Woman's Day magazine. It was the first place winner out of thousands of entries in the magazine's "My Most Moving Holiday Tradition" contest in which readers were asked to share their favorite holiday tradition and the story behind it. The story inspired a family from Atlanta, Georgia to start The White Envelope Project and Giving101, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating youth about the importance of giving. To learn more about honoring a loved one through this special tradition, please visit www.WhiteEnvelopeProject.org.
WHITE ENVELOPE CHRISTMAS
by Nancy W Gavin
by Nancy W Gavin
It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.
It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas---oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it- overspending... the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma---the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat.
Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them."
Mike loved kids-all kids-and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition---one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.
The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.
As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn't end there.
You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more.
Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope. Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.
May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the true Christmas spirit this year and always. God bless.
It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas---oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it- overspending... the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma---the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat.
Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them."
Mike loved kids-all kids-and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition---one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.
The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.
As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn't end there.
You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more.
Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope. Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.
May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the true Christmas spirit this year and always. God bless.
~~~*~~*~~~
This year's emails are available through yahoo groups or on my blog https://christmasstorylady.blogspot.com/
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