"God
grant you the light in Christmas, which is faith;
the
warmth of Christmas, which is love;
the
radiance of Christmas, which is purity;
the
righteousness of Christmas, which is justice;
the
belief in Christmas, which is truth;
the
all of Christmas, which is Christ."
Wilda English
~*~*~*~
This song is a favorite of my husband Dean's. While I don't think he has ever heard a version of it he didn't like, this is an especially beautiful one.
What Child Is This
performed by Sissel
What child is this who laid to rest
On Mary's lap is sleeping
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing
Haste, haste to bring him laud
The babe, the son of Mary.
Why lies he in such mean estate,
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian fear
For sinners here
The silent world is pleading
Nails, spears shall pierce Him through
The Cross be borne for me, for you
Hail, hail the word made flesh
The babe, the son of Mary
So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh
Come peasant King to own Him
The King of kings salvation brings
Let loving hears enthrone Him.
Raise, raise the song on high,
The virgin sings a lullaby
Joy, joy for Christ is born
The babe, the son of Mary.
~*~*~*~
Today is my sweetest of heart's birthday. Every year, I recognize his special day in my blog with a favorite song of his, a favorite recipe and a love story. We've been walking together, as husband and wife, for 46 years. It seems like a long time, but it's really just a good start. I do not want to cause pain to those of you who might recently have gone through the death of a spouse or a divorce. Please be aware that in the personal parts of the narrative, I will speak of our love.
Dean is joining me on my walk today. The assignment I gave myself was to find 5 scriptures about light and use them in our Christmas cards. Dean and I recently accepted a challenge to read the 4 Gospels and the book of Acts this month, so we combined the 2 reading "assignments" together . We read in the book of Luke today and marked scriptures with the word "light". We were not able to find enough verses, so after we finished our chapters, we looked for more light references-- kind of a like a scripture hunt. One verse which we particularly liked is found in
1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
~~Marilee
~*~*~*~
Dean's Delicious Candy
1/4 c. butter or margarine
2 ½ c. sugar
2/3 c. evaporated milk
10-12 oz. vanilla chips
2-3 oz Neufchatel or cream cheese
5 oz. marshmallow creme
1 c. pecans or almonds, chopped
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. imitation butter flavoring
Directions:
Line a 9 x 9" pan with aluminum foil and set aside. Let the cream cheese come to room temperature.
Heat milk at medium setting until warm then add sugar. Bring to a rolling boil (med-high) while stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Add the marshmallow creme and butter. Bring back to a rolling boil for 5 minutes by the clock (start timing once the rolling boil resumes). Add the cream cheese to the boiling mixture about one minute before the end of the boil. Cut into sections to allow easy melting.
If you get brown flakes in the mixture then turn the heat down a little.
Remove from heat and add vanilla chips and nuts. Stir until creamy and all chips are melted. Now stir in vanilla extract and butter flavor. Mix thoroughly and pour into prepared pan. Cool. Remove from pan, remove foil, cut into squares. Stand back.
~*~*~*~
In John 15:12, we are told, "this is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you." Dean and I have had 46 years of good times and not so good times. We have had incredibly joyous times and heartbreaking times. We have laughed together and we have cried together. We've gone our separate ways at times (I hide in the middle of our house, away from all windows; while he relishes being outside during lightening storms) I watch Sci-Fi on Saturday nights, he goes and problem solves in another room on the computer. He loves 4-wheeling on "treacherous" mountain trails and I close my eyes so I don't have to see the edges. I use pens, he prefers pencils. So what do we have in common? A deep and abiding faith in our Lord and Savior. We have tried to love and accept each other as Jesus commanded - "to love each other as he loves us" - completely. Marriage is ordained of God, and we want ours to last forever. For our walk into the light today, we are going to start a blessing vase. I've placed an empty candle holder in the center of our table with some slips of paper around it. At the end of each day, we will write down on one of those pieces of paper a blessing which we received that day or something which we are grateful for. It will go in the vase, then together we will read them together on Christmas Day. I encourage you to join us and make a blessing vase/jar/basket of your own.
~*~*~*~
Isa’s
Story
as
told to me (Marilee)
Dad
returned from spending 2 years overseas in service to his God just in
time for the Christmas holidays. Their church had an annual
Christmas Eve dance and my grandparents encouraged Dad to go.
He really didn’t want to – girls scared him!
When
he got to the church, he drove around the parking lot, then around
the block and then the parking lot again trying to postpone the
inevitable. On one of his “circles” he saw a girl get out
of a car. He watched her “dance” across the parking
lot and knew that he had to meet that graceful, graceful girl!
Dad
parked the car, went into the church and started his search. I
can see him in my mind. He didn’t see her face, so all he had
to go on was the way she moved. He couldn’t even remember the
color of her dress – just that it was a “floatie” kind of dress.
Dad circled around the dance floor checking out all of the girls from
behind. He searched for a good 15 minutes before he found her.
Rejoicing, he asked her to dance.
He
took her in his arms and asked, “What would you say if I asked you
to marry me?”
“No.”
“Why
not?”
“You
shouldn’t ask someone to marry you when you don’t even know her
name”
“Ah,
but I do. You’re my Cara, mia Cara, and whatever your last name is
now doesn’t matter. The only one that matters, is the one
you’ll share with me.”
They
saw each other every day until Mom went back to the Y. Dad went
to Stanford, and so their relationship faded.
The
next year, Dad went to the Christmas Eve dance and saw Mom dancing
with someone else. He cut in. He took Mom in his arms and
asked, “what would you say if I asked you to marry me,
Cara?”
“No.”
“Why
not?”
“Because
you don’t know my phone number. You can’t marry someone
whose phone number you don’t even know.”
“Your
phone number right now isn’t the one that matters, what matters is
the one you’ll share with me. “
They
wrote regularly after Mom returned to school, and the next Christmas
found them back at the same church. This time they walked in
together. When Dad took her in his arms, he said, “what would
you say if I asked you to marry me?”
“No.”
“Why
not?”
“Because
if I say yes, you’ll stop dancing with me on Christmas Eve."
“Oh,
but this dance isn’t the one that matters. What matters is
all of the Christmas Eve dances we’ll share in our own home.”
They
married 3 months later.
Every
year we had a Christmas Eve dance. Mom dressed up and Dad put
on his best suit, and they danced. How they danced! My sisters
and I sat on the stairs and waited for our turn to dance with Dad.
Every Christmas Eve was filled with music and dancing. Those
memories are precious to me.
When
my husband asked Dad for permission to marry me, he said, “Only if
you’ll dance with her every Christmas." What a romantic
he was!
I
first heard this song in December 2004, shortly after my father’s
death.
This
song is Christmas to me.
****
Isa
referred to Luther Vandross’s recording of Dance With My Father. When I wrote her story, she asked me to include the song with it. I found this version
on youtube, and loved the video. Happy Dean's birthday,
everyone ~~ Marilee
Dance
with My Father
performed
by Kellie Coffey
Written
by Luther Vandross and Richard Marx
