Christmas Tree, Decorated

Here is our decorated Christmas tree. We don’t have a topper yet.

Our First Christmas Tree

We picked out our Christmas tree at Peltzer Pine’s tree farm the first day it opened. It was delivered last night. It is a Leylandia Cypress.

A Thrill

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

I get such a thrill when I read this scripture. Just think of it; God becoming a person like us, being born a human, becoming flesh. As Christians, the focus is often on the death and resurrection of Christ, and that was the whole plan, but it is impossible to separate those miracles from the miracle of the Incarnation. It’s one big story, and this is a very exciting part of it!

Merry Christmas!

Pre-Thanksgiving Musings

It’s the week of Thanksgiving which means that I’ve already started thinking about Christmas shopping and holiday plans. Jerrod will be coming to my house for Thanksgiving dinner in the afternoon, and then we will be going to spend some time with his mom in the evening.

We’ve decided that the first time his mom will meet my family will be at our annual Ornament Exchange Party. It’s a less intimidating setting, and there are more guests so it’s not just family. It’s more structured with the exchange and the craft and all that. We start out with introductions too, so it will work out for everyone. Also, it’s ladies only so there are theoretically fewer people.

I’ve just realized that this will be my last Christmas morning at my parents’ house, and my baby stocking will be staying with my mom. Of course this started the whole new train of thought about getting Jerrod and I matching/coordinating stockings, and after seeing the selection briefly at target which alternated between boring and licensed, I started trolling Etsy. I’ve seen so many great stockings and ideas for them I don’t know what I’d choose, but they’re the kind of thing we’d be able to use our whole lives.

Here are a few of the great stockings I’ve seen at Etsy:

Red Minky Stocking
Felt RicRak Stocking
Polka-Dot Stocking
Pink Paisley Stocking

Tiny Tim

“And how did little Tim behave?” asked Mrs Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart’s content.

“As good as gold,” said Bob, “and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

Download an audio version of A Christmas Carol free at LibriVox. You can also read A Christmas Carol online at Project Gutenberg.

Christmas Cuties icons

13 cute non-photo Christmas icons

Christmas 2004 Scrapbook

Christmas ‘04

I hope everyone has had a great Holiday. I’ve been slacking on my blog lately, but Jerrod’s off and there was Christmas and tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve! wow. Well, here’s the group picture we took at church on Christmas Eve.

family friends, my roommate and her boyfriend, me and my boyfriend,
my mom, my aunt, gramma, papa, and my two sisters

Give Him My Heart

I’ve been scrapping away this week, and this is my favorite one so far. All of the elements I used are originals and I really love the photo. I was going through scanning a bunch of old pictures, and I found this one of me from Christmas 1984. I’m playing in a nativity set, but you could probably tell that. The text is from a children’s solo I had in the church Christmas musical when I was like 8.

New Look

I haven’t blogged in so long. But I have decorated my blog for Christmas. I’ve had the Christmas layout ready since before Thanksgiving. I stayed with the corkboard style, because I still really like it, but I went for as if I was decorating the layout I already had. Changed the pushpins to red, different coloring and background, and a bit of scripture. That’s a bit of John 1:14, in case you were wondering. I love the first chapter of John, and I especially love to read those first 18 verses at Christmas. You’ve probably noticed that I also changed the music on my radio.blog to a careful selection of Christmas music. Those are some favorites, and I hope everyone enjoys them.