I can't believe it's over!!
I adore Christmas. Hope you all had a good one.

Now the new Year to go so Happy New Year!!

lostin1800: yeah, I can't believe it's over either! wow! it went by SO fast!

I know how you feel, I can't believe that it already past, I really hope that this Christmas was special for each and every one of you. Have a very very happy New Year

Merry Christmas one day late, everyone! I hope your Christmas was as great as mine was.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Sorry it's late, I had a cold the week before Christmas and wasn't allowed on the computer. (germs, you know)

We watched Stalag 17 a couple weeks ago and since it has Christmas in it, it must be a Christmas movie. If so, it's one of my favorite Christmas movies.

Mom and Dad are reading Till Morning Is Nigh in the evenings. It is another of my favorite Christmas books. Leisha Kelly is a very talent author - she makes the story so alive. You can feel the characters' faith even when they aren't praying, talking about God, or in church, KWIM?

26. Do you have an Advent wreath? Definitely.
27. Favorite Christmas memory? This is one of my more recent favorites. Last year, when we were eating lunch. One of the younger kids had a marble and they were playing with it. And someone ask where the marble came from and someone else thought it might be one of Scarlet's. (She has several jars full of marbles for decoration in her room, but at the they were in storage at the time.) And Scarlet said "no, my marbles are in storage". Everyone started laughing...it was so funny, her face was serious.
28. Other story/memory about Christmas? It's uh, not postable.
29. Favorite Christmas tradition? Advent calender that my mom made out of felt. Each day we put figure on it. The first day is the stable, the second is the star, days 3-8 are trees, 9-13 are sheep, and so on. Recently, we extended it into Epiphany and included the temple, Simeon and Anna, and each of the wise men's gifts, as well as the wise men themselves.

We had a white Christmas this year and the snow was a most welcome sight. It was an awesome Christmas, snow, presents, family, and all. I got A Conspiracy of Ravens by Gilbert Morris. It's a great book. I also got some cake decorating supplies and make up, as well as clothes and a variety of stocking stuffers. I used the cake supplies to decorate sugar cookies on Saturday. And my Mom is teaching my younger sister and I how to use the make up.

With my Christmas money, I've ordered Wind Dancer by Jamie Carie and Revelation by Third Day. *consults calendar* It's going to be a long week of waiting.
Got to run.
SnowAngel

Actually the snowman is at least seasonal. The pink flamingos really kill the theme there.

I mentioned your comment to my sister. She reminded me that the flamingos actually do fit in with the theme since they have green ribbon around their necks. It is a little hard to see in the picture but they are there.

I forgot to post some of the positives about my Christmas in my last post. I made three baskets into the paper bag we set up for the wrapping paper. I know to many people that won’t sound that impressive, especially since it was out of at least 15 tries, but for me that was very good. I have trouble getting cat toys through a doorway. One shot was especially good; it hit the door frame and landed in the bag.

I had an interesting experience playing Santa. Occasionally we hear bats. They are usually in our walls, but we have had them flying around the house. My mom, my sister, and I had been finishing watching a movie after the Christmas Eve Service at church. My dad had a bad cold so he had stayed home from church and finished the movie. (Since we started going to the late service at church, we always watch a movie between dinner and church). We heard a bat and spent a while trying to locate the sound. We decided it was in the ceiling and /or between the rafter and the ceiling. My mom and my sister had gone upstairs, and I wanted to go throw something away after depositing presents in the stocking. I was convinced that it was next to me. I let out a little shriek (so much for being quiet ) and retreated upstairs. My mom went to check on the bat and said that it was still in the ceiling. I slept with my tennis racket next to my bed anyway. My sister and my dad didn’t hear me shriek. My dad was asleep.

The movie we watched this year was Silent Night (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338434/). It is an amazing movie. It really reminds one of what Christmas and God can do. It is about what happens when three German soldiers and three American soldiers end up taking shelter in a cabin with a German woman and her son on Christmas Eve in 1944. It is based on a true story. I don’t remember which World War it was, but there is at least one other story of a Christmas Truce where the two sides got together to celebrate Christmas. It is truly amazing.

My family is taking down our decorations today. I tried my best to convince them that it is too early and that Christmas last until Epiphany but it was to no avail. Since it didn’t work to convince them, I’m seeing how much of it I can get out of. So far I’ve been pretty successful, but I’m not sure how long I can escape.

Have a Happy New Year!

I had an interesting experience playing Santa. Occasionally we hear bats.

They are usually in our walls, but we have had them flying around the house.

My mom went to check on the bat and said that it was still in the ceiling. I slept with my tennis racket next to my bed anyway. My sister and my dad didn’t hear me shriek. My dad was asleep.

After which the family gathered and sang a rousing rendition of "Silent Night, Rabid Night". Wow...actually I'm not only horrified by bats living in the walls and ceiling, I'm even more surprised that they're so active during wintertime...figured they'd have flown off for someplace with more...bugs, or whatever to eat. My folks have squirrels living in the walls and it sounds like a habitrail on steroids when morning comes.

I mentioned your comment to my sister. She reminded me that the flamingos actually do fit in with the theme since they have green ribbon around their necks. It is a little hard to see in the picture but they are there.

So by this reasoning one can put a green scarf around any kind of figurine and make it Christmas-themed then, eh? Long live the Yuletide Flamingo! I'm just messing with ya'.

After which the family gathered and sang a rousing rendition of "Silent Night, Rabid Night". Wow...actually I'm not only horrified by bats living in the walls and ceiling, I'm even more surprised that they're so active during wintertime...figured they'd have flown off for someplace with more...bugs, or whatever to eat. My folks have squirrels living in the walls and it sounds like a habitrail on steroids when morning comes.

The next part of the song goes “All is calm till bats bite” right? I’d prefer they stay in the ceilings and walls then come into the house. I was not happy when I woke up during the night one time and found one doing laps around my room (This was summertime). That time I did scream loud enough to wake everyone up. I’m not sure why that one was active in the winter. I’ve seen a couple of gnats in the house, but otherwise I haven’t seen any bugs. It was a little warmer on Christmas Eve since we had rain around then. Right now though, the temps have been much colder. I don’t think we made it over 0 degrees F yesterday. We’ve had squirrels in our basement (they do a lot of damage), as well as a bird, mice, and bats. My dad quite often finds bats stuck to the furnace filter.

So by this reasoning one can put a green scarf around any kind of figurine and make it Christmas-themed then, eh? Long live the Yuletide Flamingo!

Well, if one puts Christmas clothes on, one becomes Christmas themed, right? I think there are some exceptions to the figurine rule however. I tried putting a grass skirt on a snowman one year to make it summery so it could stay on the counter (it was carrying a plate on its head and that was a good spot to put bananas so they didn’t get bruised) but that didn’t go well with my sister (who was the one who pointed out that the flamingos had green ribbons).

I'm just messing with ya'.

I know and I don’t mind. I enjoy reading your posts to see what you will come up with next.

I managed to get out of all of the undecorating. I started sketching out the design for a gingerbread nativity scene while my mom and sister were taking a break and then my mom offered to put away my Christmas tree ornaments so I could work on my creation. I wanted it for the next day to take to our Bible study Christmas party. It actually served a two hour or so car trip. We think it might have frozen in the car and that helped. What was left of it survived the trip back too.

By the way we have the following available to a good home if you’re interested Shadowlander (or anyone else). It was the tacky gift of the year. It is supposed to play “Silent Night” but the music part is broken so all it does is light up.

Well, better late than never ...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. And now that it can be put in the green bin, even moreso.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real, REAL, REAL!!! Get the idea?
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually we cut it down, put it up, and decorate it all the first weekend of December (although getting the decorations on may take a few days longer).
4. When do you take the tree down? It'll probably stay up until this coming weekend. Longer, if I can wangle it. I so love sitting in my reading chair with a good book and only the glow of the tree lights, candles, and some gentle white mini lights around the cozy room.
5. Do you like eggnog? No. Ugh.
6. Favorite gifts received as a child? Nothing stands out in particular. I remember being quite eager and excited about anything I received.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My sister, not because she is overly picky (although she does have certain particular tastes), but because I don't want to get anything less than the best for her. After all, I've known her well for forty years now.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Any of our kids, but especially our daughter
9. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Bath bubbles, soaps, perfumes, toiletries ... no thanks.
10. When do you start shopping for Christmas? As soon as September hits. I can't stand malls and crowds, so I aim to have everything purchased by November sometime, if not sooner.
11. Do you have a nativity? Yes. I bought it when I was in Nigeria, Africa for the summer of 1978. And here it is. A closer look. The figures are made of a fragile organic material locally known as "thornwood".
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
~Alistair Sim's A Christmas Carol
~LWW (BBC version, especially)
~A Charlie Brown Christmas
~Dr. Seuss' original The Grinch
13. Favorite Christmas book? A Christmas Carol
14. Favorite Christmasy dessert?
~mocha chocolate log
~meringue cookies
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
~turkey
~mashed potatoes
16. Lights on the tree? Colored or white? Both gloriously mixed up all over the tree in abundance
17. Favorite Christmas songs?
~O Come All Ye Faithful
~Hark the Herald Angels Sing
~Angels from the Realms of Glory
~Winter Wonderland
~Mary, Did You Know
~In the Bleak Midwinter
~I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
—particularly the latter three,
but not The First Noël or O Holy Night ... not because of the words, but I am quite weary (to put it mildly) of the melodies, plus the former's tune is sooo repetitive.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? On Christmas Day, at home. Other days during the holidays we to travel a bit (day trips) to see relatives out-of-town.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes. But I have to sing them to remember them all.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? A star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning: stockings first, breakfast and reading the Christmas story from the Bible, then presents
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The excessive focus on materialism and when people say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas"
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Theme? I love the colour dark green (as in evergreen green) and ... guess! Burgandy/maroon But no, I don't really have a theme in any way, shape, or form. Just lots of warm lights and coziness.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? As others have said, everything!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
~bookstore gift cards
~books:
*Letters to Children by someone called C.S. Lewis
*a hardcover copy of The Silmarillion with illustrations by Ted Nasmith
*Apollo 13 (formerly entitled Lost Moon by Jim Lovell - thanks for this suggestion, starkat!)
~chocolatey treats
~and most of all, an unspoken personal request about a dear someone in my family.
I gratefully received each one of the books, along with some wonderfully sumptuous chocolate , and an early gift (as in October) of FotF's newly-released Radio Theatre presentation of The Screwtape Letters (very well done: go Andy Serkis!), but the unspoken request has yet to be filled.