I didn't do it MY way....

Today was the fourth Sunday in Advent and we lit the pink candle of Love.

Love.

I don't believe it means a "mushy-gushy-feeling". I think this love is the love that comes from the Father...the Creator, for his creation. He loved that much that he brought us a savior in the midst of our misery, in the midst of our trying to get more and be better than anyone else and attempting to look better than we really are...kind of savior. A Savior who would know us better than we know ourselves. A Savior who would come into humanity and offer himself for us.

I don't know of any other kind of love that true and selfless.

Today we worshiped and adored the Savior of the world. We sang carols about waiting and expecting and longing for his coming and about how his perfect love would save mankind from their sins and their desire to do things their own way instead of HIS way.

It is good to sit and think on that.

The "olden" days of yore...

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there...."

I used to have a very large book of "'T'was the Night Before Christmas", which was read again and again and again....first of all by my father and then I took over the story to my children. I loved that book. It had enormous, beautifully colored pictures and I would sit mesmerized and wide-eyed. I remember the night Dad brought the book home after returning from a road trip. I had already been in bed but heard his laughter as he was welcomed home by Mom.

I was still in a crib in my parents room, so I wasn't more than three. It was a tiny house. I remember dad coming into the bedroom then, picking me up and sitting me on his knee in the big corner chair. Opening the huge book, he began the magical tale of Santa Claus and flying reindeer and gifts and candy. It held a spell over me for years as I continued to read and remember that first reading of my special book....by a wonderful father.

The stocking pictured above was my very own stocking which was hung up for years...well into my adult years and is still, as of this night, hung "in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there....". It has the green yarn my Dad used to darn the holes that had developed over the years, and the packaging string still pulls through a hole in the top to hold the stocking which would contain various Santa-delivered goods.

Sometimes Santa would bring "ribbon candy" which we would devour in huge chunks of spicy sweetness on Christmas morning.

Yes, dear Santa Claus. He still comes by our place every Christmas Eve.

I wonder what he'll bring me this year. I think I've been pretty good.....well, except for that one time when...........oh, and then another time......ya, and then the time when.......oh gee, I'll most likely get coal.............:-(

Power shopping...

This is our first day of shopping.

5 p.m. we hit the stores.

Whooooaaaaaaaa

Then open house at the Vandersluys place with a rousing game of Mad Gab.

....followed by picking up a Brittney girl from the bus.

And the talking begins.....

Ya, it's after midnight and I need my beauty sleep....but it's so exciting.

Tomorrow is another mad and wonderful day....oops, make that today....

Bill and Eleanor...

I look at some of our tree decorations and I remember people. This heart was given to us by a former pastor and his wife, Bill and Eleanor Jackson.

Every time I see this decoration, I am reminded of those two wonderfully, special people. Servants of God. True and faithful servants. When they returned to the States, they went to the people of Haiti and helped them out....for many, many years.

They were like that. They helped even before you knew you needed it.

So, tonight I thank God for these two dear folks. We remember them fondly...

And the countdown has begun for the family arriving. Yipppeeeeeeee

Give them all journey mercies, God. Thank you.

Advantages....

I do believe there are certain advantages that angels have over we mere mortals.

When we bulk up for winter.......it shows....layered hips, lumpy thighs, chicken wing arms, triple chins and such.

Angels on the other hand, don't eat.

Perhaps that could be a vocation of choice.....food-wise and all.

Well, I've never really seen an angel either, so maybe there are some "mature rounded ones".

Not sure.

We'll end that day on that note....."while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads".......

'nite all....

Listening....

It was that kind of day.

I listened to BostonPete.com at work today with all the Christmas songs.

I listened to people come and go from the office....some were happy, others sad or mad or grouchy or enthusiastic.

I listened to friends today who are having difficult times. They aren't quite seeing the end of the tunnel and it seems like nothing is falling into place like they hoped it would....at least as quickly as it could.

I heard a friend tell me about a child. An older child. We take on the troubles of our children as if they were our own. Always. We want "the best for them". Sometimes we forget that in those times our children are being moulded and refined by our Creator...God. He is fashioning us in new ways. He's asking us to discard our old clothes, our old ways, for some totally new ones.....ones that don't quite feel right yet, but in time, they will. They will feel right because God has done the fitting. Ya.

So, the day was good. It reminded me again of the importance of caring for people, of loving them..........and listening.

Keep me listening to you God, as I walk through life. Teach me more about what I need to know, so I can be of more value to those around me. Give me ears to hear.......

A shopping misfit......

Our first go at Christmas shopping.

Crowds are pretty slim so guess we can't call them "crowds".

The five stores we entered didn't have anything we wanted. Nothing. Zilch. Zip. Zero.

Haven't the stores heard the message about how tall and slim most young men are these days??????? Tall. Over six foot four...tall. With matching arms, no less.

I hope Thursday will be a little more fruitful.

It's too cold outside and too hot inside for shopping.

My socks fell down into my boots making a big ball under my foot so I didn't enjoy walking.

My feet ache.

I'm a miserable, giftless, no-good,Christmas shopping failure.:-)

If I had a crystal ball I just may see "gift cards" in my future sprees........