A New Christmas Meme

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Barbara Harper

Do any of you remember when bloggers used to do this kind of thing all the time – make up memes or questionnaires that others could chime in on or use on their own blogs? Those were fun – I guess maybe people just don’t have time for them as much as they once did.

But some fun questions came to mind this week, so I thought I’d make up a new one. If you’d like to copy these questions and use them on your own blog, you are welcome to. I’d appreciate a link back with acknowledgement as the originator of it, but it’s not like I am going to hunt you down if you don’t. 🙂 If you’d like to answer in the comments, or just leave a comment without answering the questions yourself, or just choose a few of the questions, that’s fine as well.

What is your favorite Christmas song? Hymn: “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly.” Secular: “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.”

Favorite Christmas special/movie? Charlie Brown Christmas, White Christmas.

What kind of special goodies do you make in December? Harvest Loaf Cake is a must.

I also sometimes make gingerbread teddy bears:

We used to do decorated sugar cookies when the kids were little, mainly for fun and the experience of it, but I was never particularly good at those and marveled at how some of my friends could make them look so beautiful.

Favorite Christmas beverage? Apple cider. It’s not exclusive to Christmas, of course, but that’s usually when I have it. The rest of the family likes eggnog, but I think it’s nasty stuff.

How many Christmas parties do you usually attend? Usually just two, the church ladies’ Christmas party and our adult Sunday School Christmas party. This year we’re putting off the SS one until January both to reduce some of the busyness of the season plus to have something to look forward to after it’s all over. In some years we’ve had choir or deacon Christmas parties, depending on what we were involved in during any given year. One friend used to have after-Christmas parties for the same reason mentioned earlier

Do you go Christmas caroling? Does anyone come Christmas caroling to your house? We don’t go caroling although we have occasionally in past years. Last year some folks from church went out caroling to all the “at-home” members who can’t make it out to services, and they included my mother-in-law for that at her assisted living place. She’s at our home now, and they are planning to do that again, so I imagine we’ll benefit from some carolers then.

What’s on your front door at Christmas? For the past 2 or 3 years it has been this wreath I made, inspired by one designed by Charlotte Lyons in Amy Powers’ Inspired Ideas Christmas magazine (p. 26).

When do you put the tree up and take it down? Nowadays we put it up after Thanksgiving because Jeremy is here then and the whole family can decorate together. We didn’t used to get it up until a couple of weekends into December, but I like doing it after Thanksgiving – we can enjoy it longer plus it’s less stressful to get it up earlier rather than mid-December when there are a ton of things going on (or used to be, when the kids were home and had Christmas programs, recitals, and parties both at school and church). We don’t have a particular time to take it down – just whenever we can get to it, usually within a week or so after Christmas.

Do you decorate with traditional red and green or with other colors? We have a variety of colors. I don’t have much red in my home, so I try to de-emphasize red a bit, but we do have both red and green as well as other colors. We have a lot of blue because the family room, where the Christmas tree is, has a lot of blue. There is also some silver and gold and white and a little pink. 🙂 I have a little pink-decorated tree on my desk.

How many Christmas trees do you put up (large and small?) The main big one is in the family room.

I have three little ones: the pink one I mentioned on my desk:

A miniature tree in the dining room on the dry sink:

And a small one on the living room end table in front of the window:

Are your Christmas tree decorations themed or hodgepodge? Hodgepodge. I like it that way. 🙂 When I was growing up, a lot of families had a themed or more formally decorated tree in the living room (remember the white or aluminum ones with the circular multi-colored disk that would revolve and throw different colors onto it? We never had those but many did) and a more hodgepodge “family” tree in the family room. My own family always had just the family one.

Ham, turkey, both, or something else for Christmas dinner? Usually ham with cheesy potatoes, some kind of vegetable, rolls, and apple and pumpkin pie.

Favorite ham leftovers? Swiss Ham Ring Around:

Do you have any Christmas traditions that are unusual, out of the ordinary? Not that I can think of, except that we like to have these snacks during the Christmas season which aren’t in themselves Christmasy: Chicken in a Bisket crackers, spray cheese, and Pirouette cookies. Plus in our old house, there was a hook in the ceiling right above where we put the tree, where I guess the previous owners must have had a house plant or hanging lamp, and the boys would always put a snowflake ornament there above the tree. Our house now doesn’t have that, so they are creative about finding ways to hang that snowflake. And we continue to use some of our misfit ornaments – those are some of their favorites.

Otherwise we’re pretty traditional, I think. 🙂

Do you display Christmas cards in particular way? I used to hang them up on a garland until we moved to a house where there wasn’t a place to hang one, so for a few years I kept them in a basket. This year we’ve found a place to hang a garland up again, so I am looking forward to having them displayed again. I enjoy having them out like that to enjoy more than the momentary opening. A lot of families have to just sending a Christmas letter instead of a card rather than in a card – I’ll probably keep those in a basket.

What do you do with the Christmas cards you received after the holidays are over? I’m actually asking this question to get some ideas. 🙂 I hate to throw them away. I usually keep them in a stack for a while and then go through and throw some out and keep the particularly meaningful ones (if I kept every single one, they’d just end up in a box in the attic and no one would ever go through them). When the kids were little I kept them, thinking the next year we’d use them to cut off the fronts and make a collage – but we never got around to that. 🙂

Christmas newsletters: Love ’em or hate ’em? I love them. I enjoy hearing what’s gone on with friends during the year. Some times they share things I didn’t know about, sometimes I enjoy reviewing in a condensed form what I already knew about.

There you have it! Let me know if you do these on your blog and I’ll come see what you have to say.

Christmas Grief

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Barbara Harper

I first wrote this three years ago, but I’ve reposted it before and am doing so again this year, because it seems like almost every year I run into someone having a hard time over the holidays, and maybe this will help. I’ve edited it a bit so the time frames are current.
___________________________________

December could be a rather gloomy month for my family. My mother passed away Dec. 10 eight years ago, my father Dec. 12 fifteen years ago, and my grandmother Christmas Eve a few years prior to that, leading my brother to exclaim once that he just wanted to cancel the whole month. In more recent years the husband of a good college friend passed away in December 21 on our anniversary, and our family dog died the same day.

The death of a loved any any time of year can shadow the whole Christmas season as we miss our normal interactions with that loved one, and several years later, though maybe the pangs aren’t quite as sharp, they’re still there, and it’s not abnormal to be caught off guard by a memory or a longing leading to a good crying jag.

When someone is grieving over the holidays, they may not want to participate in some of the “normal” happy pastimes. It’s not that they don’t ever laugh or enjoy gatherings. But as Sherry said yesterday, “I am enjoying the traditional holiday celebrations, and at the same time they move me to tears, sad tears for things that have been lost this year. I am singing the music, and yet I’m tired of the froth of jingling bells and pa-rumpumpum.” I remember almost wishing that we still observed periods of mourning with wearing black or some sign of “Grief in progress” — not to rain on anyone else’s good time, but just to let people know there was woundedness under the surface, and just as physical wounds need tenderness while healing, so do emotional ones. Normally I love baby and bridal showers and make it a point to attend, but for several months after my mom’s death I did not want to go to them. I rejoiced with those who rejoiced…but just did not want to rejoice in quite that way. I first heard the news of my mom’s death during our adult Sunday School Christmas party, and the next year I just did not want to attend – the grief was still too close to the surface and would probably erupt in that setting where I first heard the news. Even just three years ago when our ladies’ Christmas party was on the anniversary of my mom’s death, I was concerned that at some point during the evening I would have to find the restroom and lock myself in to release some tears (though thankfully that did not happen).

Other events can cast a pall over Christmas: illness, job loss, a family estrangement, etc. One Christmas we were all sick as dogs, and my father-in-law had just had a major health crisis and wanted us to come up from SC to ID to visit. There was just no way we could drag ourselves onto a plane until antibiotics had kicked in a few days later, but we did go, and if I remember correctly, that was the last time any of us except my husband saw him alive, so in retrospect we were glad we went, though it wasn’t the merriest of Christmases. A good friend grieved over “ruining” her family’s Christmas by being in the hospital with a severe kidney infection. Lizzie wrote about visiting her husband in prison for Christmas. Quilly commented yesterday about being homeless one Christmas. Yet both Lizzie and Quilly mentioned reasons for rejoicing in the midst of those circumstances.

If you’re grieving this Christmas, don’t feel guilty if you’re not quite into the “froth” this year. One quote I shared on a Week In Words post earlier had to do with giving yourself time to heal. On the other hand, there may be times to go through with the holiday festivities for family’s sake — and, truly, those times can help keep you from the doldrums. Sherry shared how making a list of reasons to celebrate Christmas helped. Look for the good things to rejoice in. Don’t let the grief turn you into a Scrooge who hates Christmas: your loved one who is gone probably wouldn’t want that to happen. I think they’d probably prefer that you enjoy the best parts of the season while still remembering them in it. E-mom left a valuable comment yesterday that we can treasure up the memories of good Christmases to tide us over the not so good ones, and then look forward to better things ahead. And as I said yesterday, remember that the first Christmas was not all about the froth, either, but was messy, lonely, and painful, yet out of it was born the Savior of the world and the hope of mankind. Rejoice in that hope and promise. Draw near to Him who has borne our griefs and carries our sorrows until grief and sorrow are done away forever.

Save

Let the Stable Still Astonish

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Barbara Harper

Let the Stable Still Astonish

Let the stable still astonish:
Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes,
Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;
Crumbling, crooked walls;
No bed to carry that pain,

And then, the child,
Rag-wrapped, laid to cry
In a trough.
Who would have chosen this?
Who would have said: “Yes,
Let the God of all the heavens and earth
Be born here, in this place”?
Who but the same God
Who stands in the darker, fouler rooms
of our hearts and says, “Yes,
let the God of Heaven and Earth
be born here–
in this place.”– Leslie Leyland Fields

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Barbara Harper

So much to be thankful for –

God, all of His wonderful attributes, His lovingkindness towards us in making us, providing for us, sending His Son to die for us, loving us still when we fail..

His Word to instruct, guide, encourage us

Family near and far

Friends old and new

The fellowship of believers

Food, shelter, safety, necessities of life

“Extra” blessings of books, music, chocolate, the Internet, senses, useful occupations and enjoyable diversions

More blessings than we can count…

Though we are to give thanks every day in all things, it’s nice to have a special time of emphasis to remind us of it and revive thankfulness in our lives.

I hope you have a wonderful day with loved ones and good food and a time of pondering and thanking God for all He has provided.

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Barbara Harper

For All The Blessings Of The Year

For all the blessings of the year,
For all the friends we hold so dear,
For peace on earth, both far and near,
We thank Thee, Lord.

For life and health, those common things,
Which every day and hour brings,
For home, where our affection clings,
We thank Thee, Lord.

For love of Thine, which never tires,
Which all our better thought inspires,
And warms our lives with heavenly fires,
We thank Thee, Lord.

~ Author unknown

More Thanksgiving reading from Stray Thoughts:

Thanksgiving devotional reading.
Thanksgiving Bible Study
Some Thanksgiving quotes are here.
More Thanksgiving quotes are here.
Thanksgiving “funnies” are here and A “Redneck Thanksgiving” is here.
Thanksgiving poems are here and More Thanksgiving poems are here.
Graphic courtesy of Julia Bettencourt

Thanksgiving Bible Study

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Barbara Harper

This is a Bible study on Thanksgiving I did a few years ago. It is by no means an exhaustive study: it’s just a result of looking up “thanks” and “thanksgiving” in an online concordance. Many of the passages would fit under multiple headings and I am sure there are others that could be added. But this is a good start. It would be profitable to study many of these verses within the context of the passages they came from.

And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the LORD, offer it at your own will. Leviticus 22:29.

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7.

It is a sacrifice:

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Hebrews 13:15.

It is often a testimony to others of God’s person and work:

That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. Psalm 26:7

I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. Psalm 69:30-31.

Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf. II Corinthians 1:11.

For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. II Corinthians 4:15.

For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. II Corinthians 9:12-14.

And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. Revelation 7:11-12.

Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. I Chronicles 16: 8-9.

And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise. I Chronicles 16:35.

So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations. Psalm 79:13.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most high: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night. Psalm 92:1-2.

Often coupled with joy and singing:

And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps. Nehemiah 12:27.

Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. I Chronicles 16: 8-9.

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalm 100:2-4.

Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God. Psalm 147:6.

Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Psalm 18:49

Psalm 93:1-3;

Often coupled with prayer:

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Psalm 50:14-15.

I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD. Psalm 116:17.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7.

Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2.

Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Ephesians 1:16.

A result of meditating on God’s Word:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Colossians 3:16-17.

A result of being filled with the Spirit:

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Ephesians 5:18-21.

Reasons to thank the Lord:

It’s commanded:

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalm 100:4.

Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2.
His greatness, His creation:

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
Psalm 95: 1-5

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing. Psalm 107:21-22.

His comfort:

For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. Isaiah 51: 3.

His bountiful supply:

Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. II Corinthians 9:11.
His unspeakable gift:

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. II Corinthians 9:15.

Meat:

Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. I Timothy 4:3-5; Matthew 15:36

Deliverance from enemies:

And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name. II Samuel 22:49-50

And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise. I Chronicles 16:35.

Psalm 18:48-50

His goodness:

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. I Chronicles 16:34; Ezra 3:11; Psalm 106:1; 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136.

His holiness:

Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. Psalm 30:4.

His deliverance from sorrow:

Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. Psalm 30:11-12

His righteous judgments:

At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments. Psalm 119: 62.

Victory over death:

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 15:56-57.

Causing us to triumph, making Himself known through us:

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. II Corinthians 2:14.

His working through other people:

But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. II Corinthians 8:16.

Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Ephesians 1:16.

We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints. Col. 1:2-4

I Thessalonians 1:1-3; 3:9-10; II Thessalonians 2:13-14.

Saving us:

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:12-14.

All things:

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20.

In everything:

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I Thessalonians 5:18.

Authorities:

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour. I Timothy 2:1-3.

His power and reign:

Saying, We give thee thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned Revelation 11:17.

Results in worship:

And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:9-11.

Other passages:

Psalm 105:1-3

Getting in tune

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Barbara Harper

“Some people seem to think that if they set apart certain definite days for praise, it is enough. For example, they will be grateful for a whole day once in the year—thinking that this is the way God wants them to show their gratitude. But the annual Thanksgiving Day is not intended to gather into itself the thanksgiving for a whole year; rather it is intended to give the keynote for all the year’s life. Life’s true concert pitch, is praise. If we find that we are below the right pitch, we should take advantage of particular thanksgiving seasons to get keyed up. That is the way people do with their pianos—they have them tuned now and then, when the strings get slack and the music begins to grow discordant—and it is quite as important to keep our life in tune as our piano.” – J.R. Miller

Veteran’s Day

Image

Happy Independence Day!

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Barbara Harper

Our fathers’ God, to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King.

~ Samuel Francis Smith

Memorial Day

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Barbara Harper

A brief history of memorial Day is here. Originally it was called Decoration Day, and people honored their loved ones who had died during battle by decorating their graves. According to Wikipedia, “By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service.” while Veteran’s Day is designed to honor all veterans past and present who served.

None of my loved ones died while in battle, but I don’t think it is out of keeping with this day to remember those who fought and died since that time. I wrote about the veterans in my family once here.

This is from my father-in-law’s funeral. I’ve always thought it was particularly poignant to see these two old veterans paying their respects: