God"s Christmas

God's wrapping: She wrapped him in swaddling clothes
God's Christmas lights: The glory of the Lord shown round about them
God's birth announcement: For unto us a child is born
God's gift tag: For unto you...
God's Christmas carol: Glory to God in the highest
God's Christmas guests: Shepherds...came with haste
God's Christmas party: Wisemen brought gifts of gold, frankinscence, and myrrh
God's Christmas ornament: we have seen his star in the East
God's gift: The gift of God is eternal life
God's Christmas tree: the cross
God's wreath: and he made a crown of thorns

Bifocals

I was the friend you’ll always remember.
I was the stranger you still can’t forget.

I made the comment that brought you to laughter.
I was the heartache time was too slow to heal.

I was the stepping stone that took you to a new height.
I was the stumbling block you had to overcome.

I was the teacher that caused you to wonder.
I was the lesson you shouldn’t have learned.

I was the encourager that held you through grief.
I was the trial that God saw you through.

Christmas Time

Favorite Christmas Songs:
So This Is Christmas
All I want for Christmas is You
Baby It's Cold Outside
Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy--Bing Crosby/David Bowie
O Holy Night
Carol of the Bells
Wizards in Winter

Favorite Christmas Tradition:
Serving breakfast in bed. Opening presents one at a time. String caroling.

Favorite Christmas Gift:
A box of stones. Mom and Dad couldn't afford much that year. They gave a each a box of stones. Each stone represented an aspect of the Christian life. It actually started the idea for the memorial stones that I keep now.

Favorite Part of the Christmas Story:
Luke 2:25-35
And behold there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon...and it was revealed to him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ...and he took him up in his arms...and said...mine eyes have seen thy salvation...a light to lighten the Gentiles.

Most Unusual Christmas:
The Christmases spent in Africa where wishing for a white Christmas took on a whole new meaning, where "I'll be home for Christmas" was banned from every repertoire, where we planned to decorate palm trees, but never did, where we opened a canned ham as a special treat to celebrate, where we sat in church for six hours to watch the African's reenactment of the nativity, where we never hung lights because of a cultural association with the local bars, where our favorite gift was a candy bar.

Most Remembered Christmas:
The year we spent in France. We had an itty-bitty tree that Dad cut down. We made ornaments covering shapes cut from cereal boxes with tin foil. It was the only year we had real mistletoe-not the plastic substitute. It smelled horrible. We strung popcorn and when Christmas was over, we hung the popcorn from the balcony. All these birds came. We invited a Chinese friend to celebrate with us and ate Christmas dinner with chopsticks.

What are yours?