Pre-Thanksgiving Christmas Outing

Better than Roses

We don't usually do a lot of decorating,

card-giving or gifting for Valentine's Day.

Still, there are a few friends in my life

who are alone or going through challenging circumstances

that I wanted to acknowledge.

So I hit the holiday aisles at the supermarket this morning.

They were very disorganized AND relatively depleted.

Still, I felt happy with these purchases.

Cards have been sent to our grandkids (all out-of-state),

and hubby and I have plans to celebrate each other later in the week.

Meanwhile, I'm comfortable and blessed by the relaxed atmosphere

in our home

which is FAR better than a dozen roses to me ♥

Old Pillows

 These two pillows have at least twenty years of age on them.

A friend and I stuffed and sewed our pairs together.

I still remember the pleasure of that day.

As I took them out of storage to enjoy this Christmas season,

my heart was warmed by the memory.

***

I've heard God's promises referred to as "pillows" for the soul.

 Here, for example:

What an immense and unspeakable privilege we have each day as Christians to lay our weary heads down upon the pillow of God’s promises. We are given the privilege of sleep, rest, and a daily spring of new mercies  (Lamentations 3:22-23)...consider afresh the promises of God. Recount them to yourself. And let them be to you a comfort, “Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant.” (Psalm 119:76).

When you first became a Christian these promises were fresh and new to you. Now, perhaps after some time they have become routine, even like furniture in your room. As believers laboring for faithful joy in God we mustn’t forget the glory of the promises. Unlike a pillow they never wear out and always meet us with appropriate comfort and refreshment. Like the Psalmist, then, recount these promises until you are comforted and properly provoked to rejoice.

 Daily, as I remember and rest on God's promises--old as the Book itself--

my heart is warmed.  I am comforted and "properly provoked to rejoice"!

Thanksgiving is More...

I'm not "blue"...I'm blessed!

As my family is scattered today, I'm realizing that THANKSGIVING is MORE.

More about heart than hearth; 

more about perspective than place; 

more about the eternal than the ephemeral; 

more about togetherness than turkey; 

more about satisfaction than stuffing.

Cracker Barrel serves a great thanksgiving meal!

In a few hours, my father and I will partake.

Today my husband travels many miles to be with parts of our family

and home again.

Tomorrow we travel together - a different direction -

 to be with other parts of our family

and home again. 

It matters not.

Thanksgiving IS more!

Tradition-less

Going with the flow this year.....

Traditions don't seem to come as easy for us as they do for other people.

The Thanksgiving holidays officially kicked in last night

as we attended a Thanksgiving service at our church.

Today, one of my siblings will pass through on their way to Friday..

We'll have a relish tray, crackers and cheeses, etc.

as we visit around our kitchen table.

Tomorrow - Thanksgiving Day - one of our children, her husband and 6 children

will pass through (also on their way to Friday).

Together with us, they'll attend a lovely community meal for folks who don't have family plans.

(Our family "plans" came together rather spur-of-the-moment

without time to prepare turkey and trimmings,

so we're especially thankful for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church's hospitality.)

I'll take a sweet potato casserole made with apples and dried cranberries.

Then on Friday, we will get up early and together with my father,

drive over to Sauder Inn in Archbold OH to celebrate with extended family

(over 50 people).

Meanwhile, this rusty turkey joined autumn-colored everyday place mats

to remind us of this season while we're on the way to Friday.

Tradition-less, but SOOOOOO thankful. 

All Pieces Here

 Thanksgiving Day behind us

and having arrived home at 12:01 this morning 

after a bit of a holiday blitz,

we are taking it easy today.

 Our "Black Friday" will consist of baking a turkey my husband was graciously gifted with

by his part-time employer (Grabill Do It Best Hardware),

balancing the checkbook, football games,
running the car to dealer for a 1/2 hour recall adjustment,
and then taking a nap or two.

I also brought out this jigsaw puzzle purchased somewhat warily at a thrift store.

We'll try to get the border done today.

I found this note on back of the box to be somewhat reassuring...

I find THIS to be so much MORE reassuring --

For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,  

and in Him you have been made complete, 

and He is the head over all rule and authority.

Colossians 2:9-10

All pieces are here!

In Him, I am complete.

Hallelujah.

When Trains Collided

Trains of thought collided on my mental track this morning, and I paused long enough to take note.  I had written a response to Susan's Home Decorating Fun in Fall  saying:  I enjoy seeing how other people decorate for holidays, too! (Personally, I find myself doing less and less and enjoying what others do more and more!) It was a seemingly innocuous and true statement.

I proceeded to browse a few other favorite blogs, using my sidebar to alert me to postings within the past twenty-four hours.   I basked briefly in the delight of Jan's French Tangerine's october pinspiration.  I chuckled as I identified her prior post chuck full of ideas and ending with a photo of her single pumpkin and the explanation, "Here is the fall decorating I was able to muster up this year".

I think that's when the trains collided.  I realized with specific and personal clarity that while it may be harmless to live in the realm of pinspiration in the decorating category, it is NOT alright in the spiritual category!

Life doesn't fit neatly into categories like "decorating" and "spiritual".  In fact, all of life is basically driven by the "spiritual"--the very real but but essentially invisible life originating in Him who to know is Life Eternal--life that is not fueled by Pinterest boards and blog posts or nurtured and sustained by bread alone.

I continue to find much enjoyment in the photos of other peoples' decorating while doing less and less around our place, but I refuse to let this practice spill over into my daily experience of  my life in Christ Jesus.  Awareness is the first step in resisting the tendency to live as a spectator or curator of inspiring thoughts.  Then comes deliberate attention to communication (prayer) with the Father and frequent intake of His Word.  This awareness and attention will significantly impact my daily activity.  And though I may never garner notice or fame in THIS life, there remains that promise of "much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world"  (I Peter 1:7).

Awareness

Attention

Activity

People cannot live by pinspiration alone....

But we've never done it this way before...

Sixty-six years I've lived without knowing the tradition of the Pascha Egg!

Now, I know - and my husband will be incorporating its story

in the Kids' Talk at church on Easter Sunday morning.

 

The story goes that Mary Magdalene traveled to Rome to protest to Tiberius Caesar that Pontius Pilate had conspired with the two high priests and executed an innocent man -- our Lord Jesus.   Since people were expected to bring the Emperor a gift when they visited him, she took an egg and was handing it to him with the greeting:  "Christ is risen!"

Tiberius Caesar in disbelief responded, "How could anyone ever rise from the dead? It is as impossible as for that white egg to turn red." While Tiberius was speaking these words, the egg in the hand of Mary Magdalene began changing color until it finally became bright red.

Thus the Pascha greeting -- in universal Christendom, both East and West -- has ever since remained "Christ is risen!" and it became traditional for Christians throughout the world to color eggs in red.

All is Calm

 I've never thought of myself as a "conformist",

 but this year - possibly more than any other - I  am not conforming!  

As I commented on another person's post about keeping Christmas simple:  "Learning not to take my "Christmas cues" from blogland or what others are doing - not comparing/competing.....Refusing to try to do it all. Resting in the Lord; letting Him set the pace..."

Decorations in our home this year are minimal; activities basically confined to

"Christmas versions" of regular events such as our no-longer-Red-Hats monthly meeting,

a carry-in brunch at church during Sunday School hour,

decorating the church this morning with our Ladies' Bible Study group that always meets on Fridays,

a dinner last night at the facility where my mother is a resident,

a holiday housewalk tomorrow (if it's not too cold),

and lunches with friends in front of the fireplace at Cracker Barrel peppered throughout the month.

There are just TOO many ideas out there;

too many events; too much noise for THIS woman to handle 

in addition to what's already on my plate.

I will cherish quiet, candlelit evenings 

with Christmas music playing in the background, 

thank you!

Moments to Remember

 ♪ Though summer turns to winter
And the present disappears
The laughter we were glad to share
Will echo through the years

When other nights and other days
May find us gone our separate ways
We will have these moments to remember....♪

Thanksgiving found my husband and I going two different directions.

It was a most unusual holiday.  

The photos above come from two different locations,

but all reflect the reality that Thanksgiving is a state of the heart.

It doesn't depend on place, menu, or ANY circumstances, for that matter...

Seeing my husband walk in the door five hours earlier than I expected this morning

is my most recent reason to be thankful.

My heart is full.

Do You Wonder?

The Christmas season began early for us...

all the way back at Thanksgiving when we gathered with our children and grands.

It's been an unusual season for me.

I haven't spent my time digging out ornaments & trees from attic storage.

If you walked into our house, you wouldn't be overpowered

by "Christmas"...

In fact, you might wonder about me!

 The "Christmas" I've invested in this year
has been decorated primarily with people.

Time spent decorating the church with Bible study friends,
 in simple plans and practice for Christmas programs,

enjoying Christmas gatherings and parties,

 and community Advent luncheons.

A few remain...

A small group gathering Saturday night,

a youth/children oriented Christmas service at church Sunday,

and a Christmas Eve candlelight service.

Christmas Day will be spent quietly at home.

Yes, it's been an unusual and very simple Christmas season for me this year.

I rather like it!
It's left me with time and space to wonder--REALLY WONDER.

Do you wonder about me?

Oh, by the way, the definition of wonder:   
To have a feeling of awe or admiration; marvel.

♪ I Wonder as I Wander ♪

I wonder as I wander out under the sky
How Jesus the Saviour did come for to die
For poor on'ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky

When Mary birthed Jesus 'twas in a cow's stall
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all
But high from God's heaven, a star's light did fall
And the promise of ages it then did recall

If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing
A star in the sky or a bird on the wing
Or all of God's Angels in heaven to sing
He surely could have it, 'cause he was the King

I wonder as I wander out under the sky
How Jesus the Saviour did come for to die
For poor on'ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky

Tripping the Lights Fantastic

 I never was sure what "trip the lights fantastic" meant....

 

  but I was pretty sure we'd DONE it after last night was over!

 We attended a party at a restaurant whose prices would prohibit

our day-to-day patronage.

 It really WAS a winter wonderland--

 both inside and out!

 

 Only this morning did I learn that John Milton is credited with originating the phrase.

 In the masque Comus, 1637, he wrote the lines:

Come, knit hands, and beat the ground,
In a light fantastic round.

 Who knew?

and in L'Allegro... 

Sport that wrinkled Care derives,
And Laughter holding both his sides.
Come, and trip it as you go 

On the light fantastic toe.

To trip the lights fantastic means 

~to dance nimbly or lightly~

And we did!

From beginning to end.

♪ East side, west side,
All around the town,
The tots sang "Ring-a-Rosie,"
"London Bridge is Falling Down."
Boys and girls together,
Me and Mamie O'Rourke,
Tripped the light fantastic,
On the sidewalks of New York. ♪