Category Archives: Holidays

“The year we have now passed through…”

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The year we have now passed through,
His goodness with mercies has crowned;
Each morning his mercies are new,
Then let our thanksgivings abound.

Encompassed with dangers and snares,
Temptations, and fears, and complaints;
His ear he inclined to our prayers,
His hand opened wide to our wants.

We never besought him in vain,
When burdened with sorrow or sin.
He helped us again and again,
Or where, before now, had we been?

For so many mercies received,
Alas! What returns have we made?
His Spirit we often have grieved,
And evil for good have repaid.

How well it becomes us to cry,
“Oh, who is a God like to thee?
Who passeth iniquities by,
And plungeth them deep in the sea!”

“Assist us, we pray, to lament
The sins of the year that is passed.
And grant that the next may be spent
Far more to thy praise than the last.”

—John Newton, Olney Hymns

New Year’s Wishes for You

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This is not original with me: I received it in an email years ago, I forget from whom, and the author is unknown. But I thought the wishes and the writing were witty, and I do hope these things for you in the coming year:

New Year’s Greetings!

May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, our cardiologist, your gastro-endocrinologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your gynecologist, your plumber and the IRS.

May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise.

May you find a way to travel from anywhere to anywhere in the rush hour in less than an hour, and when you get there may you find a parking space.

May Sunday evening, December 31, find you seated around the dinner table, together with your beloved family and cherished friends, ushering in the new year ahead. You will find the food better, the environment quieter, the cost much cheaper, and the pleasure much
more fulfilling than anything else you might ordinarily do that night.

May you wake up on January 1st, finding that the world has not come to an end, the lights work, the water faucets flow, and the sky has not fallen.

May you ponder how did this ultramodern civilization of ours manage to get itself traumatized by a possible slip of a blip on a chip made out of sand.

May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them.

May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues.

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, and may your check book and your budget balance and may they include generous amounts for charity.

May you remember to say “I love you” at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parents, your friends; but not to your secretary, your nurse, your masseuse, your hairdresser or your tennis instructor.

May we live as God intended, in a world at peace and the awareness of His love in every sunset, every flower’s unfolding petals, every baby’s smile, every lover’s kiss, and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of our heart.

A Very Happy New Year to All!

(See also New Year’s quotes and two poems sitting for the new year, The Year We Have Now Passed Through and Another Year Is Dawning.)

Thursday Thirteen #18: New Year’s Resolutions for Dogs

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This list is not original with me — I received it in an e-mail years ago, author unknown.

New Year’s Resolutions for Dogs:

1. I will no longer be beholden to the sound of the can opener.

2. Understand the garbage collector is NOT stealing our stuff.

3. I do not need to suddenly stand straight up when I’m lying under the coffee table.

4. I will not roll my toys behind the fridge.

5. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur BEFORE entering the house.

6. I will stop trying to find the few remaining pieces of clean carpet in the house when I am about to throw up.

7. I will not throw up in the car.

8. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc.

9. I will not eat any more socks and then redeposit them in the backyard.

10. I will not chew my human’s toothbrush and not tell them.

11. When in the car, I will not insist on having the window rolled down when it’s raining outside.

12. We do not have a doorbell. I will not bark each time I hear one on TV.

13. I will not bite the officer’s hand when he reaches in for Mom’s driver’s license and car registration.

May your dog, if you have one, keep them all. 🙂

See more Thursday Thirteens here.

‘Twas the day after Christmas…

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…and all through the house there is still a bit of clutter and everyone’s puttering around with their new stuff.

Overall we had a nice Christmas. It was wet rather than white — according to the weather man, there is record of only 6 white Christmases here, the last one in 1947. Christmas Eve we had a regular Sun. night church service except it was an hour earlier and it was mostly special music. Beautiful! Then we got together with two of my sisters, my niece, and one sister’s boyfriend at a Mexican food restaurant…’cause nothing says Christmas Eve like Mexican food. 🙂 Actually it was one of the few restaurants open, but we all love Mexican food anyway. Those two sisters live only about 40 minutes away from us, but out schedules are so different we rarely see each other. It was good to catch up.

I had made my pumpkin pie Sun. afternoon but didn’t have time to make the apple one. I thought about doing it after we got home in the evening, but it was 9:00 then and I just wanted to rest. So I stretched out on the couch with a book and dozed off, then woke up later in the evening and my husband wrapped a couple of bigger gifts for under the tree and I filled stockings with candy, cards from grandparents, and a few other little goodies.

I woke up around 5 Christmas morning — that’s my usual wake-up time, but I had been sleeping in til 7 or so, so I was surprised I woke up. I went ahead and got up and got breakfast together. The kids don’t like to bother with breakfast but I have low blood sugar and need to eat something. So I compromise and make something that can sit on the counter and people can much on as desired. Usually it’s “Sister Schubert’s” cinnamon rolls and sausages in yeast rolls (my family in TX calls those kolaches), but I couldn’t find either of those this year. So I got the little smoked sausages and wrapped them in crescent rolls and got some Cinnabon frozen mini cinnamon rolls to microwave. I got everything ready to heat up and then had a few quiet moments for devotions. I was surprised everyone slept — usually they are all up by 6 on Christmas. One by one they straggled in, but we had to go in and wake up our youngest, which was even more unusual!

My husband read the Christmas story from Luke 2, we prayed, and then my youngest passed out a present for each person. We opened them one at a time and oohed, aahed, and told the stories behind them before going on to the next round.

I took a shower and got the ham in the oven, then called my step-dad. We had missed each other on our last 3 attempts to make contact. It turned out I called at just the right time, because they had just had breakfast and opened gifts and my one sister and her friend were leaving shortly, and my step-dad and youngest sister and her family were leaving in a while to go to his mom’s. I was able to talk to my one sister before she left and talk to my step-dad for a little while.

Then it was about time to make the au gratin potatoes (the boxed kind 🙂 ) and vegetable medley — fresh broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots chopped and cooked with minced onion, a little water, and chicken flavored bouillon. We had dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, and I peeled and chopped the apples and made apple pie. Once when I was cutting down on sugar, I substituted apple juice for the sugar called for in the recipe, and my husband liked it a lot better that way, especially made with tart rather than sweet apples. So I have made it that way ever since. While that was in the oven I curled up with a book again and dozed off. Some time in the afternoon different ones had different slices of pie, then in the early evening we each munched on various things — a ham sandwich or our Mexican food leftovers from the night before. We called my husband’s mom and sister in the evening.

All throughout yesterday and today we all puttered and played with various things. Jim got a small remote control helicopter which the guys all had fun with — by the afternoon Jim was getting better at controlling it. Jeremy put a bunch of CDs on his new Ipod. This morning Jason and Jim have been using Jeremy’s new tools (he’ll likely be moving out in the next year or two ( 😦 )and wanted to start his own collection of tools) to install some system for Jason to listen to his Ipod on his car speakers. Jason got speakers for his Ipod (among other Ipod accessories) that he set up in his room yesterday. Jesse finished his Lego Star Wars space ship and played his new video games. He and Jeremy played his Khet laser game. One of my favorite things that Jesse received was a shirt from ThinkGeek with a picture of the galaxy and a “You Are Here” sign. My husband got me a new NASB Bible and Boyd’s Bear figurine of a couple sitting on a log, because we got engaged sitting on a log. 🙂 Jeremy likes to get something not on everyone’s lists, and this year I was really touched by what he thought of. When we watched End of the Spear, I was filling in the story to my family with various things I had read over the years. At some point I mentioned that I would love to see the original Life Magazine that had the story of the 5 missionaries who were killed in 1956. Well, Jeremy searched and finally found one on Ebay bundled with some other magazines from 1956. (He’s going to try to sell the others back on Ebay — anyone have a need for a 1956 Life magazine? 🙂 )

There were other things that each of us got, but those are some of the highlights. I’ve been sewing this morning for the first time in a long time for an upcoming birthday present — I really do need to see about glasses besides my little Wal-Mart reading glasses! I need to get back at it, but was taking a few minutes off while eating lunch and thought I’d share a little about our Christmas. There were a few tears Christmas evening because that was when I would normally call my mother, after all the other events and visiting had calmed down. I’ve missed her a lot this year. I did make contact with all my immediate family except my brother, so I might try to get him some time before the week is out.

Everyone here is off from work and school all this week, so we have an extended time to just putter around. I don’t know when we’ll take the tree down — probably by the end of the week or New Year’s day. I was surprised to read how many of you take it all down today. We didn’t get ours up until I think the second week-end in Dec., so I like to savor it a bit before getting everything back to “normal.”

Hope you have a good day!

Nativity

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Iris asked fellow bloggers to post pictures of their Nativity sets. We don’t have a full-fledged set, but I love this little musical one that my mom gave me several years ago.

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For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

Infant holy, Infant lowly, for His bed a cattle stall;
Oxen lowing, little knowing, Christ the Babe is Lord of all.
Swift are winging angels singing, noels ringing, tidings bringing:
Christ the Babe is Lord of all.
 Christ the Babe is Lord of all.

Flocks were sleeping, shepherds keeping vigil till the morning new
Saw the glory, heard the story, tidings of a Gospel true.
Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow, praises voicing, greet the morrow:
Christ the Babe was born for you.
 Christ the Babe was born for you.

— Traditional Polish Carol

Merry Christmas!

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I was thinking of the announcements of that first Christmas some 2,000 years ago.

After Mary was told that she would bear the Christ child, she told her cousin Elizabeth, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1: 46-47).

An angel of the Lord told Joseph, “Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20b-21).

The angel told the shepherds in the field, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

There is a common thread in those announcements: our great need of a Savior and God’s provision of the only One who could be that Savior.

I take Him at His word indeed;
“Christ died for sinners”—this I read;
For in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior!
— Dorothy Greenwell, 1873

My prayer for everyone I know is that, if you have not yet done so, you would “in your heart find a need of Him to be your Savior” and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as that Savior. And for those of us who do know Him, may we have some time of quiet reflection, thankfulness, and praise for His unspeakable gift! And may we, like the shepherd, return to our “ordinary lives” “glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them” (Luke 2:20).

Merry Christmas to you all! I’ve so enjoyed getting to know new friends though the blogosphere.

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(Christmas graphic in this and previous post from Anne’s Place.)

A Hymn on the Nativity of My Savior

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I sing the birth, was born tonight,
The author of both life, and light;
The angels so did sound it.
And like the ravished shepherds said,
Who saw the light, and were afraid,
Yet searched, and true they found it.

The Son of God, th’ Eternal King,
That did us all salvation bring,
And freed the soul from danger;
He whom the whole world could not take,
The Word, which heaven, and earth did make,
Was now laid in a manger.

The Father’s wisdom willed it so,
The Son’s obedience knew no No,
Both wills were one in stature,
And as that wisdom had decreed,
The Word was now made Flesh indeed,
And took on him our nature.

What comfort by him do we win?
Who made himself the prince of sin,
To make us heirs of glory?
To see this babe, all innocence;
A martyr born in our defence;
Can man forget this story?

Ben Johnson (1572-1637)

The Babe in the Manger

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Do you worship the Babe in the manger,
But reject the Christ of the Cross?
Your redemption comes not by the manger,
But the death of Christ on the Cross.

If you worship the Babe in the manger,
But ignore the blood of God’s Son,
To you Christ is only a stranger,
Til you trust the work He has done.

The Babe in the manger was God’s only Son,
Who came to the world to die.
The Babe in the manger could never have done
The work of His God on high.

The Babe left the manger and went to the Cross
To pay the wages of sin.
Your way of forgiveness is not by the Babe,
But the Christ who died for your sin.

— W. S. and Mildred Dillon

Updated to add: Many people have asked me for the music to this, but I only knew it as a poem rather than a song. However, one reader e-mailed me to say it was in a book called SONGS YOU LOVE, Volume 6, published 1961, an old hymnal that was used in the “Back to the Bible” Broadcasts. Another commenter below told us that there is a link with a midi file and sheet music here.

Thursday Thirteen #17: Things I like about the Christmas season

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I had planned not to do a Thursday Thirteen entry today because I have so much else to do…..but I just couldn’t resist. 🙂

1. The lights.

2. The decorations in the neighborhood and around town.

3. The urge or instinct to make contact with loved ones.

4. The fact that everyone in the family has time off.

5. Buying presents. I really enjoy searching out what I think loved ones will like. Well, at least, I do when I can find something. 🙂

6. Getting presents. Yes, I admit it, I love it.

7. Children’s Christmas programs at church. It’s so sweet to see the little dressed-up kings and angels and shepherds and watch the littlest ones yawn, scratch, wave, and sing. Those programs are never perfect, but that’s what’s fun about them.

8. Seeing people wearing Christmas sweaters or sweatshirts.

9. Christmas music. Not the annoying tin kind from toy Santas and snowmen in stores, but beautiful carols, old and new.

10. Getting out favorite ornaments and decorations and reminiscing over them.

11. Special Christmas foods.

12. Christmas movies like A Christmas Carol (I like the version with George C. Scott) and White Christmas.

13. Last listed but first in importance: the fact that God loved us enough to send his Holy, sinless Son to live among us for 33 years and then die on the cross for our sins so that whoever believes in Him will be saved.

Works-for-me-Wednesday: Christmas gifts for elderly and handling kids’ wish lists

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That makes for rather a bulky title, doesn’t it? 🙂 But I had one thing in mind for WFMW, then thought of another: with this being the last one before Christmas, I thought I’d include both.

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1) Some time ago our ladies’ ministry wanted to make up some gift bags for the elderly folks in our congregation, and I set about trying to find out what kinds of things would be best to put in those packages. I asked around all kinds of people I knew and message boards I was on at the time. A lot depends on the situation of the elderly person, whether they are in a nursing home or assisted living apartment or on their own, whether they cook they own meals or not, etc., so that would need to be taken into account. Their health needs also must be considered (whether they are diabetic, on a low-sodium diet, etc.). But here are just some general ideas:

  • Large print Bible, books, magazines
  • If they can’t see well, Bible on CD (and a CD player if they don’t have one) and audio books
  • Music CDs that they would like
  • Boxes of assorted greeting cards and stamps (this was a big hit for those who couldn’t get out to get this kind of thing on their own.)
  • Stationery, note cards, stamps
  • Lotions
  • Bath items (be careful about oils and things that would make a slippery surface)
  • Pens and pencils
  • Crossword puzzle books, “Hidden word” puzzle books, etc.
  • Small packets of tissues
  • Magnifying glass (my mother-in-law really liked this, and I’ve had to start keeping one handy myself. My husband got me one like this which also has a little light on it.)
  • Individual ready-to-eat packages of pudding, jello, pasta, etc. (again, depending on dietary restrictions. They do have some of these things in sugar-free and low-sodium varieties.)
  • A tool to aid in opening jars. I’ve seen one that is flat and round and looks like what you’d use to stop up the bathtub. 🙂 My favorite one looks almost like a set of pliers, but I haven’t been able to find another one like it. One my husband gave me recently looks something like this. (No, I am not elderly — yet!! But I have decreased sensation and strength in one hand due to transverse myelitis.)
  • A small crock pot. One time when my mother-in-law was visiting, she really liked a crock pot meal I had made. That next Christmas we looked around and found a small one that would be ideal for one or two people.
  • Comfortable clothes, nightgowns. etc.
  • Slipper socks — socks that have non-skid soles
  • A “reacher” (another item that I use myself)

When our ladies’ group made up gifts bags and then divided them up amongst ourselves to take out to the various folks, what we discovered was, though they appreciated the gift bags, what they really appreciated was the visit — the time and the conversation. So, along those lines I posted below something from my files called “10 free gifts for Christmas” — applicable to anyone, but especially to those who are elderly or “shut-in.”

2) My second tip today has to do with family “wish-lists.” We started posting wish lists on the refrigerator before Christmas way back when we first got married. We had seen a family whom I dearly loved and respected doing this and adopted it for our own, then had our kids do it, too. They know not to get ridiculous with it, and everyone knows that we won’t get everything on the list and may get something not on the list — it’s just meant as a general guideline to the gift-buyers have some idea of how to shop.

My tip, though, is this — nowadays we all send our wish lists via e-mail, and after years of keeping them all separately, a few years ago it hit me to copy and paste them onto one sheet. I have three boys, so I make a document in landscape form with three columns, copy and paste their lists there, print it off, and keep it in my purse while shopping. It’s more efficient, less to keep up with, plus, as I check things off I can see if I am keeping things “even.” They are beyond the stage where we have to have the same number of packages under the tree for each child. 🙂 They know the amount of gifts will vary with the value. But as parents we like to spend roughly the same per child, and this helps us keep up with that at a glance.

For more tips or to link to your own, go over to Shannon’s at Rocks In My Dryer.

Updated to add: I am closing comments on this post because I keep getting comments from sites that sell audiobooks. Though they are not written like the usual “spam,” I don’t want to take the time to check them out and I don’t want this to become an avenue for vendors. I believe you can find audiobooks at any bookstore or bookstore’s web site, plus you could Google the term and find other sites that sell them as well.