Glorious Gift

These angels were a free gift just for me -- on Thursday, the Winkler MCC store was giving away all their remaining Christmas decorations. There were few shoppers and fewer remaining Christmas things, but these angels caught my eye. I immediately felt so blessed to be "gifted" them.

Infinitely more precious is the free gift of God's Son, Jesus, Whose coming was announced by angels:

"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 ...
a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord ..."
And suddenly a multitude of heavenly host praising God, and saying,

"Glory to God in the Highest,
and on earth peace,
Good will towards men."

This greatest glorious gift is for you too!



Merry Christmas!

Nativity Collection

Brayden made a lovely new nativity for me ...


Timothy had a new unique nativity idea ...


Corbyn etched a detailed little nativity with pyrography ...


Ken gave me a set of 12 stainless steel nativity cookie cutters -- I think I'll use them dual purpose by using a red ribbon to hang them as ornaments.

Thanks to my guys for indulging my collection.

The Twelve Voices of Christmas

The Twelve Voices of Christmas is available as a free audio download from Back to the Bible.


This Mp3 and text drama written by Dr. Woodrow Kroll will enrich your understanding of Christmas.

Gabriel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Disclosure
Zacharias ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Disbelief
Elizabeth ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Blessing
John the Baptist ~~~~~~~ Voice of Preparation
Mary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Wonder
Joseph ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Reason
Angels ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Praise
Shepherds ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Declaration
Anna ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Thanksgiving
Simeon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Peace
Herod ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Deception
Wise Men ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Adoration


Thanks Maxwells!

CHRISTmas Blessings

Our littles were singing Happy Birthday to Jesus...


Happy Birthday to You!


Happy Birthday to You!


Happy Birthday, dear Jesus!


Happy Birthday to You!


Then they came up with another "verse". This one is just for you:


"Merry CHRISTmas to you,


Merry CHRISTmas to you,


Merry CHRISTmas, God Loves you!


Merry CHRISTmas to you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ice-luminaries

Look at this easy, elegant ice-luminary.


We just put a five-gallon pail of water outside to freeze, then when the walls were about 2 inches thick we cut a hole in the top and drained the rest of the water. As it turned out the bottom was very thin still so we just broke out the bottom, put a lit candle on an inverted empty fish tin then placed the ice-shell over-top the candle.

Very elegant.

Someone mentioned seeing this lining the walks outside the church at a wedding -- nice idea, don't you think?

To dress it up, one could freeze decorations into ice as well for extra appeal.

Another tutorial for ice-luminaries can be found here.

Sprucing Up

Pinecones abound at Spruce Woods.

I enjoy using pinecones to "spruce up" my home ... and I use the greens also.

I've seen bags of pinecones and bunches of greens offered for sale at almost every supermarket so I figure I'm not the only one who likes to use pinecones to
"spruce up" my home for the CHRISTmas season.

Filling a special basket with cones and adding a bow is simple enough.


A nice way to add a festive look to my home with a basket that was gifted to our family filled with fresh flowers when my younger sister went to Glory just over a year ago. It reminds me of her simple, beautiful life.

This year we shared our pinecones with our CSA garden members. They each got a mesh bag filled with pinecones with their last garden basket of the 2009 season. It was for the express purpose of decoration and creative uses ... of course they also make nice starters for cozy fires in winter or backyard firesides in summer. One member sent me a picture of her little boy enjoying his craft - see it on my Facebook profile.

Really the ideas for using pinecones are endless ...

Years ago I made pinecone wreaths and kept this one for myself.


I never tire of it. Someday I just may make more of these again, now that we have a fresh yearly supply of pinecones on our own yard.

Nativity Collection

My collection keeps growing.

A "mommy gift" came with a baby gift already way back in January -- from the thoughtful friend who got me started on this collection. Thanks, Margaret!















A couple little ones bought throughout the year:











A couple new ones crafted in woods that are currently works-in-progress (watch for those in a later post).

And a little nativity creativity with Legos -- designed and created by boys, as a surprise for Mommy. Isn't that sweet?:

One Solitary Life

Born in an obscure village, He was the child of a peasant woman.

He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty years old

and then for three years He travelled around the country stopping long enough to talk and listen to people and help where He could.

He never wrote a book.

He never had a hit record.

He never went to college.

He never ran for public office.

He never had a family or owned a house.

He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness.

He had no credentials on Himself,

... But when He was only 33 years old the tide of public opinion turned against Him and His friends all rejected Him.

When He was arrested, very few wanted anything to do with Him. After the trial, He was executed by the State along with admitted thieves.

Only because a generous friend offered his own cemetary plot was there any place to bury Him.


This all happened nineteen centuries ago ... and yet today,

HE is the leading figure of the human race

and

THE ULTIMATE example of LOVE.

All the Armies that have ever marched,
All the Navies that have ever set sail,
All the Rulers that have ever ruled,
All the kings that have ever lived on this earth ...

ALL PUT TOGETHER,

have not affected the life of man on this earth like this

ONE SOLITARY LIFE!