Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
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Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world – stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death – and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas. – By Henry Van Dyke
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Where are you Christmas
Faith Hill - Where Are You Christmas? - YouTube
Where
are you Christmas
Why can't I find you
Why have you gone
away
Where is the laughter
You used to bring me
Why
can't I hear music play
My world is changing
I'm
rearranging
Does that mean Christmas changes too
Where
are you Christmas
Do you remember
The one you used to
know
I'm not the same one
See what the time's done
Is
that why you have let me go
Christmas is here
Everywhere,
oh
Christmas is here
If you care, oh
If there is
love in your heart and your mind
You will feel like Christmas
all the time
I feel you Christmas
I know I've found
you
You never fade away
The joy of Christmas
Stays
here inside us
Fills each and every heart with love
Where
are you Christmas
Fill your heart with love
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Bacon Chestnuts
1
pound thick cut bacon
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts
Directions
1 Slice bacon in half; wrap one piece
bacon around one chestnut. Skewer with toothpick to hold in place.
2
Broil in toaster or conventional oven, turning frequently, until the
bacon is evenly cooked. Serve warm.
Makes 2 dozen
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Decorating tip
Making herbal decorations for the Christmas tree brings the warmth and fragrance of the herb garden to the Christmas tree. Some herbs, like rosemary, are associated with Christmas through legend. It is said that Mary, Josph and Jesus stopped to rest during their flight from Bethlehem. Mary spread her blue cloak on a rosemary bush. Since that time, rosemary has had a blue blossom in her honor. Thyme is associated with Christmas, according to legend, because Joseph cut branches from a wild thyme bush to make a bed for Mary. Sweet woodruff is said to have been used in the bed for the baby Jesus. Lavender received its lovely fragrance when Mary spread freshly washed laundry on it to dry.
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TRADITION
No matter what religion you are, take time to put together a list of things you are grateful for this Christmas. The last 2 years haven’t been easy for most of us, but there are always things to be grateful for. Start a gratitude jar and have everyone in your family drop a note in the jar each day saying something they are grateful for. Have a blessing jar – fill it with notes about your blessings. Start each day with a prayer of gratitude for God’s love, and ask Him to help you to do good, to serve someone that day. Recognize the little miracles in your life. My father died in 1987. Every year, for Christmas, he would buy me tangerines. When Christmas came around, I went grocery shopping and saw bags of tangerines. I was really sad to think there would be no more tangerines for me. At the check stand, the checker was putting the groceries on the conveyor belt. I was shocked when I saw a bag of tangerines.. I didn’t put it there. I didn’t go anywhere near the tangerines. I asked the clerk where they came from. They didn’t know, it was just in my cart. I looked around to see if there was some strange per5son there putting oranges in people’s carts. No. I bought them enjoyed them and have bought them every year since. Thank you for your tender mercies.~~Marilee
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Mysterious Ways: Christmas in the Parking Lot
Christmas just isn’t Christmas without sharing a giant chocolate Hershey bar with Mom, I thought wistfully, looking at the display of bars on sale at the grocery store one cold December day.
It’s not your usual holiday tradition, but it was for me. I’m not sure how it started, but every year for as long as I could remember, as a way to welcome in the holiday, Mom and I would run to the store to buy a giant milk chocolate Hershey bar. We’d keep it in the refrigerator at home and would break off little pieces in the days before Christmas, sometimes even dipping them in peanut butter. It was a guilty pleasure we loved sharing together.
Mom had passed away just a couple of months earlier. No, no chocolate bar this year, I thought. Not without Mom to share it. I turned away from the display of chocolate and headed to the checkout line to pay for my groceries.
As I pushed my cart toward my car, I kept thinking about that Hershey bar. Should I go back in and get one? No, I shouldn’t eat all that chocolate myself.
I put the groceries in the car, then climbed in and closed the door. I turned the car on and let it idle for a minute, waiting for it to warm up. Lord, I sure wish I could feel Mom close by this Christmas season, I prayed. Let her know I love her and that I hope to see her again someday.
I put my car into gear and looked out the rearview mirror, ready to back out of the parking spot. Something shined brightly from the baby seat of a grocery cart in the spot across from me. Did someone leave their purse? I put the car in park and scanned the lot to see if anyone was around. No one. I walked over to see what was in the cart.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing and laughed out loud. There sat a giant Hershey bar, just like the ones Mom and I always shared!
Extracted from : Mysterious Ways: Christmas in the Parking Lot (guideposts.org)
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THE MOST PRECIOUS GIFT
by Alice Smith
"Hurry up! We’ve got to get to Nanny’s house." The children were happy and excited as we started off toward my mother-in-law’’s, a 45 minute drive down the coast.
This particular Christmas Eve was cold and misty, the traffic bumper to bumper. My husband edged our car into the passing lane of the four-lane highway, which was bisected by a median strip. The visibility became increasingly limited; feeling anxious, I looked back at the children sitting calmly in the back seat. They were more precious to me than anything in the world. Suddenly, it was as if a voice spoke to me saying, "Move over! You’’re in the wrong lane," even though I absolutely knew we were not on a two-lane road. I turned to my husband. "Honey, we’’re on a two-lane road and you’’re on the wrong side," I said with deadly intensity. "Pull over quick." He knew, and knew that I knew that we were on a four lane highway. But when I repeated my warning again, he immediately began edging back into the right lane. No sooner had we made it back than cars that had been behind us began careening into the median, anywhere to get out of the passing lane. Horns were blaring, cars pulling off the side of the road. Then we saw why: A car; with its bright lights shining, was racing down the wrong side of the road, the lane we’d been traveling in. My husband and I looked at each other in stunned silence. We could have been involved in a terrible head-on crash.
Extrasensory perception? Maybe. But I choose to think that God sent me a life-saving message. Our family had a special reason to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus, that memorable Christmas Eve. We had been given the most precious of Christmas gifts––––the gift of life itself.
