Warmest Christmas greetings to you all

Need Christmas Gift Suggestions?

Christmas gift suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, your heart.

To a customer, service.

To all, charity.

To every child, a good example.

To yourself, respect.

To Jesus, all.

Thanks to Pastor Tim from Cybersalt.org

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;

Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.

In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,

Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;

Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,

The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,

Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;

But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,

Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Poem by Christina Rossetti

The Program

I flew up to Virginia last week to spend with my kids.  Sarah has moved up Virginia to be closer to Ella.   She wants to see her grow up and not see her a couple of times a year.  I've been fortunate to be able to go often, and I do.  We had our Christmas while I was there.  One of the main reasons for going was to go to Ella's pre-K Christmas program at the local Lutheran church.

During the days before the program, any time that we asked Ella to sing the songs for us, she did along with all the motions.  We wondered, "Will she perform when she's in front of a large group?"  We didn't need to worry.

I asked Ginny if I could reproduce her post here.  Ginny has a great blog, "Let Your Light Shine."  She and her husband Phil have cared for Ella since she was an infant.  Now that she's in pre-K, they keep her a couple of afternoons a week.  Ella loves them dearly.  The photos below are Ginny's and the post is hers, as well.  Thanks, Ginny.  Ella is in the photos at the bottom.

We went to another children's Christmas program last night! This is the one that Ella is in. These programs are so adorable, touching, and funny. One of the little wise men had a crown problem, it kept sliding all the way down his face. As the audience howled with laughter, it only got worse because he could not keep it up and it covered his whole face. It is the fifth picture. Finally his teacher had to come on the stage and fix it. Yes, I admit that I got carried away with the pictures, especially the ones of Ella. But looking at her wonderful expressions, how was I to choose? This little girl gave it all she had, she knew every word of every song and belted them out loudly in a very heartfelt and touching manner. She lived every story in the songs and just threw herself into it, it was an inspiration to watch. It is too bad that a lot of adults in church services seem bored with singing or don't sing at all, maybe they need to watch the children.

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Like 18:16

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3

My Christmas Gift

I flew to Virginia this past Thursday to have an early Christmas with my family.  David asked me before I came what I would like for Christmas.  I told him I did not want anything that I had to bring home.  He then asked if I would like to go to a Christmas concert in Charlottesville.  And that is where I have just come from.  A lovely concert was presented by the Virginia Consort, with the Virginia Consort Youth Chorale, Brass Ensemble and Organ.

This concert consisted of many old pieces, some from Latin and German, but the text was translated in the program, which was a great help.  The video above is John Rutter's "What Sweeter Music."  Between the chorale's singing, the youth chorale presented six numbers.  It was wonderful to see all these young people singing with joy on their faces.

The concert ended with "The Hallelujah Chorus" and the audience singing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."  We were surrounded by the chorale lining the aisles.  Pure bliss.

After the concert was over, I was standing in line to go to the bathroom (of course.)  A young girl was in front of me, and I asked her if she had been part of the youth group singing.  She looked at me, her eyes glowing, and said, "Next year."  She really has something wonderful to look forward to.

It had begun snowing in the afternoon, and when we came out of the church the ground was covered.  I'll be out in the morning taking lots of pictures.  I'll have a white pre-Christmas here in Virginia.