12 Days of CHRISTmas

Okay.  The I’m late on the countdown.  Here is something I thought you might enjoy to explain the song.  It takes on a whole new light in the Christian world.

The song goes, “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…”  The “true love” represents God and the “me” who receives these presents is the Christian. 

The “partridge in a pear tree” was Jesus Christ who died on a tree as a gift from God.

The “two turtle doves” were the Old and New Testaments – another gift from God.

The “three French hens” were faith hope and love – the three gifts of the Spirit that abide(I Corinthians 13).

The “four calling birds” were the four Gospels which sing the song of salvation through Jesus Christ.

The “five golden rings” were the first five books of the Bible also called the “Books of Moses.”

The “six geese a-laying” were the six days of creation.

The “seven swans a swimming” were “seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.”(I Corinthians 12:8-11, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4:10-11)

The “eight maids a milking” were the eight beatitudes.

The “nine ladies dancing” were nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.  (Galatians 5:22-23)

The “ten lords a-leaping” were the Ten Commandments.

The “eleven pipers piping” were the eleven faithful disciples.

The “twelve drummers drumming” were the twelve points of the Apostles’ Creed.

The next time you hear this song you will hear it for the first time with your eyes upon the Lord and all that He does for us.

Toys of Christmas

Okay.  I grew up not doing the girlie things like nail polish, curling irons, makeup, and all that other transitional stuff.  But, since I have a girlie girl for a daughter who is a teenager I am learning so many things.  I have included the makeup to a degree due to aging and covering but that is a day to day thing, depends on how I feel that day and if I look in the mirror to be concerned about it.  But, OMG, she is going crazy.

For Christmas, I let my best friend, who is very girlie, talk me in to getting my daughter a 42 piece manicure set, all sorts of nail polishes and then my mother added to that mayhem and contributed more nail care products and girlie frilly stuff.  Well, the teenager decided that those were her toys for Christmas and they must be played with on Christmas so she proceeded to open all of it up and organize it on her bedroom floor.  THEN, she decided to try it all out.  She painted different colors on her finger nails to decide which color she like best, then had to use that very loud smelling polish remover to take off all the colors she didn’t like, which was all of them.  Her decision for a French manicure and matching pedicure took over.  Do you know how much nail polish smells?  At 10pm on Christmas night the house is vaporized with nail polish and remover.  I’m thinking there is some kind of brain cell damage involved with that and we were close to the toxic fumes of a nail salon!

This was in addition to the turbo towel twistups she got which required her to wash her hair to see how those would work out with all her long hair wrapped up in them.  And she jumped right into the new pjs she got and accented it with the new bathrobe so it looked like a scene out of that Sandra Bullock movie, Miss Congeniality.

She appeared to be having a grand time with all of this stuff.  So, I’m just saying, I guess the definition of toys is different for all of us.  Me, I spent 2 hours installing a new software game that required updates to all the drivers on my computer that I was too tired to play when I got done with all of that.  I think the fumes were getting to me.

Hope you enjoyed the toys of your Christmas!

CHRISTmas

Well, another CHRISTmas has come and is almost over.  What a great day!  It is wonderful to serve a great Lord that can remind us through His birth that a baby can bring out the best in everyone.

I can remember believing in Santa for a long time and then the kids at school would laugh and joke on me about believing in Santa and that was so babyish.  When I was a teenager all I wanted for Christmas was an Atari system (yes it was 1979).  My mom was a single parent and we had just moved across the country for her to take a new job.  I knew that my mom could get us one if she really wanted to, she always came through before with some help from Santa.  It was a few days from Christmas and she sat me down to say that she didn’t want me to be disappointed but there was no way should could afford the prices they were wanting for the systems that close to Christmas.  I cried, but I understood.  I also prayed really hard.

Christmas morning came and as usual I was awake at 4am making coffee, starting a fire in the fireplace, and flushing the toilet in the hallway to wakeup my mom and my sister.  That was a 30 minute effort.   But they finally decided they wanted to be just as awake as I was, they just weren’t as excited as me and maybe a bit grumpy.  Oh well, they got over it.  Our tree was placed in the bay window of our house and there were lots of gifts from Santa under the tree.  I had pretty much forgotten about the Atari because all the other stuff looked great.  We opened presents and had fun with everything, it was a blast.  My mom said it would be nice to see the outside and watch the folks drive by on the highway on Christmas morning so she proceeded to open the curtains at the bay window.  Those curtains were like the Price is Right revealing the grand prize car.  There, all opened and covered with game cartridges, was an Atari 2600 and the controllers.  Santa was real!  I believed and he delivered.  I screamed and hugged my mom so much.  What a great Christmas!

I played that Atari all day.  The games were fantastic.  My mom came and sat with me that night and asked me how I liked it.  I remember telling her I couldn’t believe that we actually got it.  She asked me if I would like to know how it came about.  Seemed like a harmless thing so I said sure.  Well, come to find out that someone she worked with had purchased it for their daughter who was my age at the time for a Christmas present.  Two days before Christmas she was killed in an auto accident and they wanted to find it a good home and get the presents out of their house.  They knew my mom was looking for one and couldn’t afford the cost at the stores so they sold it to her a lot less.  You can only imagine the tears that flowed down my face when she revealed the truth behind the gift.  It only made me treasure it so much more.

I never quit believing in Santa.  There may not be the person of Santa but there is the belief that all things are possible.  As I have grown to know the Lord as an Adult I still believe in Santa.  But, I believe that it is the Lord that gives us what we need as well as sometimes what we want.  My belief in the Lord has been so much stronger and His blessings to me to provide a Santa to my child only remind of the AWESOMENESS of my God and His love.  With Him, all things are possible.

Merry CHRISTmas!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Celebrate the Season

As we enter this Advent season we prepare to celebrate. What are we celebrating? Are we gearing up for Christmas morning? Are the decorations enough? Do we have plenty of food for the guests?

The newspaper on Thursday will be filled with several sales advertisements. Many will gather together in search of the best price for those Christmas presents. They will make plans on which stores to hit and what time they need to be where. A lot of work will go into Friday’s shopping attack. Many will lose their religion in search for those popular gifts. The traffic will be awful, moods will turn greedy, and the reason will be lost.

This season is a celebration of God’s gift to humanity. We are gearing up for a birthday party like non other. Knowing that God gave us His son Jesus Christ as His gift is a miracle.

With the thought of that miracle gift shouldn’t we adjust our focus to the birth of Jesus Christ? YES! Without Him we have nothing! That day of shopping becomes a huge frustration when you forget to take Jesus with you. The birth is the reason for the season. Remind those around you. Smile to all, it is contagious. Plan for the birthday party, include Jesus in all that you do. Give thanks for the gift that is so precious it cannot be returned.

The snow flurries blow
Welcoming the season.
The toy store is stocked
With the newest whatnots.
Big baby dolls, red fire trucks,
And lots of bouncy balls.
Tinsel and lights strung through the mall,
Leading to Santa in his chair.
Children giving him their wishes,
The sky is the limit.
One little girl, dress torn, whispers,
“Just one gift please,
The gift is for the baby.”
Tears streaking down her tender cheeks,
Love flowing from her eyes.
“Please give my heart to the baby,
To the baby Jesus!”