Our flowers that bloom at Christmas

Some of our favorite flowers that bloom at Christmas time.

The top photo is an Amaryllis we have enjoyed for several years and the 2nd photo is a Cyclamen that lives on our kitchen window sill.
Below is a red Amaryllis of ours close up.

Surprise at our living nativity enactment

Nativity
Originally uploaded by sbrent
Our church has hundreds of our members volunteer to create an "evening in Bethlehem and living nativity scene", and 1,500 people attended over the two evenings.

There were live animals, a petting zoo, hay ride, photos with Santa and a Bethlehem cafe.

We had a surprise when the young man portraying Joseph went to his knee during the enactment of the Nativity scene in the stable and proposed marriage for real to the young woman portraying Mary.

Wow. She said yes! This was filmed when the evening was being filmed so I got to see the proposal.

Now that is a proposal that will never be topped and will always be remembered.

"And she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger." Luke 2:7

One tiny baby,

One manger stall,

one God

who sent His Son

to show His love for all.

Merry Christmas to One and to All.

Our Christmas Tree

Our new Christmas tree for 2013.

We did something dramatic this year. After decades of buying a real tree each Christmas we bought a beautiful artificial tree. There are pros and cons to each type, I know. This one we bought at Sears, it is seven and a half feet tall, and the needles are a soft green with a modulated color, so it looks very like a real tree.

Yes, the angel on top of the tree is leaning, she wants to lean.
Merry Christmas to each and every one of you, my friends.

The work of Christmas begins

Crèche de Noël, Église de la Visitation, Montréal
Originally uploaded by Marie Berne

Our Prayer:

When the song of the angels is stilled,

when the star in the sky is gone,

when the kings and princes are home,

when the shepherds are back with the flocks,

then the work of Christmas begins:

to find the lost,

to heal those broken in spirit,

to feed the hungry,

to release the oppressed,

to rebuild the nations,

to bring peace among all peoples,

to make a little music with the heart...

Howard Thurman

These words have long been favorites of mine and I read them in Terry Hershey's wonderful email newsletter recently.

Poem of Church Bells of Long Ago

Perissa, Santorini through the church bells of Ag Irini
Originally uploaded by GanMed64
The time draws near the birth of Christ:

The moon is hid; the night is still;

The Christmas bells from hill to hill

Answer each other in the mist.

Four voices of four hamlets round,

From far and near, or mead and moor,

Swell out and fail as if a door

Were shut between me and the sound.

Each voice four changes on the wind,

That now dilate and now decrease,

Peace and goodwill, goodwill and peace,

Peace and goodwill to all mankind.

Voices in the Mist, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809-1892

And thank you to Carol, you sweetie, for writing about my book on your blog today; at Buttercup Counts Her Blessings Be sure and visit Carol and say hi, recently she is blogging about NYC's spectacular holiday decorations.
For ordering info and reviews of my book visit Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts

Window at Parish Church of St Peter, Frampton Cotterell, England

Window at Parish Church of St Peter, Frampton Cotterell, England
Originally uploaded by DanieVDM
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." 
Isaiah 7:14 ASV