Monday, December 25, 2017

The Latest and the Earliest

We don't pick up Christmas ornaments every year anymore but this year we did, we got some from Erdbeere.  I really like them, they are what I'd call "old fashion".  Plus they have that "home-made" look.  Knowing Erdbeere, she most likely did make them herself.  At any rate, they came as a set and I really liked them so I got them.
And they fit well into the menagerie of ornaments that we have accumulated over the last forty plus years of Christmas trees.




Stars and orbs, "dusty" colors.  They fit well into my idea of good Christmas decorations.
This is our Christmas tree this year.  I think I have gotten a picture of our tree every year since we got married.  We have so many decorations that we've accumulated over the years that we don't even put them all on each year.  There are just too many.  But these new ones from Erdbeere and really nice.

Anyway, getting some new ones got me to thinking about our first Christmas. We had been married only several months when Christmas came.  It was easy enough to find a tree but we had no ornaments that year.  We had to actually go find some.
What we ended up getting was some little flat wooden ornaments, Brombeere found them.  They came as a kit, we got to paint them ourselves.  So we did that for Family Home Evening one Monday early in December that year.  When they were dry we hung them up and they've decorated our tree every year since.  We still have most of them.
I did some and Brombeere did some.  What a pair of artists!

Then we got some lights, made some chain garland with tin foil and put it up in front of the window of our first apartment.  It worked quite well for our first Christmas.  It was a real tree so it only did one year with us, but the other decorations were a great start to our fabulous collection that has grown almost every year since!
So, Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 24, 2017

On This Christmas Eve ...

Christmas - the celebration of the birth of Christ.  The occasion that began the culmination of the mission of Christ.  To celebrate is most appropriate.

I wonder, what does Christmas mean,
With its stars an shiny balls?
Is Christmas more than Christmas trees
And toys and games and dolls?
Of this I'm sure: There's something more,
For I've heard many say
That in a strange and far-off land,
A child was born this day.
And Christmas is to celebrate
His coming from above.
He showed us how we all should live
And told us we should love.
(Thomas S Monson, December Ensign, 1987)

















The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever; the Lord shall rejoice in His works.  He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: He toucheth the hills and they smoke.  I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.  My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord. (Psalms 104:31-34)

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Not a Sweet Apple

So this evening after I got home from work I started some dinner.  First thing was to chop some carrots and onions.  I got them out and set them on the table where I was going to work on them.  Then I went to get some other stuff I was going to need.  While I was away a little helper came along and set to checking out what I was doing. 
Of course, he had to check out the onion.  He began peeling it.
Then he had to sample it.  Like an apple.  He tried a couple of times to bite it before I took it away. That made him a little unhappy. 
We finally had to distract him with a plate of apples.  That worked, under protest.  He really wanted to get back to the onion.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Sunday Thoughts



















Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since he bids me seek his face,
Believe his word, and trust his grace,
I'll cast on him my ev'ry care
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

Attr. to William W. Walford, 1772-1850, alt.