Christmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand.” — Dr. Seuss

 

💕

 

Today is my sweetest of heart’s birthday.  I have a lot of fun and get silly, even sappy on my blog for the 5th.  Happy birthday, Dean.  You are my special gift from God, and I cherish you. (He would turn bright red if he heard this song.  It’s amazing what you can find on youtube.)  I guess that's why the background reappeared, to give me a bad time. It's quite mischievous at times. It likes Dean the best.

*~*~*~*

Steven Curtis Chapman - Christmas Kiss - Official Lyric Video - YouTube

Your kiss is all I'm wishing for this Christmas

A kiss from you is all I really need

We'll turn the lights down low

And hang some mistletoe

And slow dance while the music softly plays

Your kiss is all I'm asking for this Christmas

One little kiss, well maybe, let's make it two

If that's alright with you

Piles of gifts wrapped up with pretty bows

Won't thrill me like holding you close

Will you make my Christmas wish come true

And kiss me

Tell Santa not to worry

I'll have everything I need

Just as long as I have you here in my arms

This Christmas Eve

Your kiss is all I'm hoping for this Christmas

One kiss from you or maybe three or four or maybe even more

Well, I've written out my list

And it all comes down to this

Your kiss is all I'm hoping for

Tell Santa I don't need anything more

Your kiss is all I'm asking for this Christmas

*~*~*~*

Love is great gift from God.  I hope that for those who are missing their spouses, their loves this Christmas will find joy in your memories. Here is something we can all do to increase the love aroud us this year. 

 

I love a good romance, so I’m going to review a book instead of a movie today.  This is one of those "feel-good” stories that make you feel good (Aren’t I eloquent ? LOL ). 

Cracked Wheat For Christmas, copyright 1985, 80 pages

Dr. Alexander Pennington III needed a lesson in humility. He learned it in “Cracked Wheat For Christmas”. He was rich and powerful and came from a family which cared for little except success. Christmas had no real significance for him—except that it gave him an excuse to show off his wealth and status.

He left the west coast for the east in his brand new expensive car which broke down on a ranch exit in Utah. He found himself stranded in a raging blizzard on a cold winter night. All the money and influence in the world could not help him. The Stewarts, a family with three small children, took him in and helped him discover what is truly important both at Christmas and all the rest of the year.

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I asked Dean what his favorite soup is.  He said Clam Chowder.  I use the same basic recipe for clam chowder as my potato soup with just a couple of alterations

 

Clam chowder

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup finely chopped celery

2 cups finely diced potatoes

Water just to cover the vegetables plus clam juice

2 cans clams, drained (juice added to cooking veggies)

¾ cup butter (not margarine)

¾ cup flour

2 T vinegar

1 quart half and half

1 ½ t. Salt

1 t. Pepper

Put the prepared vegetables in a saucepan. Add enough water to barely cover the vegetables plus the clam juice. Simmer, covered over medium heat till barely tender. In the meantime, melt butter in another medium saucepan. Add flour. Blend and cook, stirring constantly until the flour is thoroughly incorporated; add the cream. Cook and stir with wire whip, until smooth and thick. Stir constantly! Add undrained vegetables, clams and vinegar. Heat through, but do not boil again.

*~*~*

This is a wonderful love story and a Christmas miracle

Two Lives

Extracted from

4 True Christmas Stories That'll Inspire You This Holiday (culturacolectiva.com)

The evening of December 24, 2009, promised to be extra special for Mike and Tracy Hermanstorfer. Not only was it Christmas Eve, but, more importantly, they were about to have a baby. During labor, however, Tracy’s heart suddenly stopped beating, followed by her breathing. The doctors were forced to react quickly: they had little time to save the baby.

They immediately performed an emergency C-section, but the Hermanstorfer baby, Coltyn, exhibited all the wrong signs: he was limp, and his pulse and heartbeat were extremely weak, to the point that the whole room, including Mike, had little hope. 

As the child remained unresponsive in his father’s arms, another team attempted to resuscitate Tracy, who lay motionless on the hospital bed. But suddenly, as unexplainably as it had stopped minutes earlier, her heart started beating again. And as her life rekindled, so too did Coltyn’s strength. His skin, once pale, flushed with color, and he started crying—showing everyone he was fine. Two lives, having almost gone through to the other side, amazingly came back.