Dear Reader:

In one of my garden books…it divides the chapters into seasons….describing different plants and flowers that do well in different seasons in a garden. For Christmas, however, the subtitle is “Light Up your Garden With Lanterns.” The author, Emilie Barnes (Garden Moments Getaways) suggests that for the Christmas season -as the garden sleeps peacefully- that:

Lanterns should be on everyone’s short list of gotta-have decorations. Even though they are a small item, they pack a wallop of a punch to help illuminate your garden/yard at night.

For you ” seasoned” readers…you already know that I adore lanterns of every kind and make….inside the home and out. Here are some of my lanterns/candles and all kinds of fixtures (including railroad ones… Evans) that I adore. (Was hoping to provide the garden lanterns but we haven’t had enough sunshine, lately, to provide solar light out back.)

We should be full of  light at Christmas…because it was God who brought first light into the world through the original Creation and then, later, with the Creation of His Son…Jesus Christ.

It was God who provided the Christmas Star that first attracted the attention of The Three Wise Men. Later when they were lost and  asking for directions…it reappeared in the sky and this time it became the star that served as a beacon… guiding them to the new home of the Christ Child.

The star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

In other words…a proud Father deliberately used light to lead them to His Son so they could pay homage to Him.

Scripture also uses the term “light” to define God’s presence… as in the announcement to the shepherds of His Son’s Divine Birth.

Luke 2:9 says when the angels appeared to the shepherds the glory of the Lord shone around them. The “glory of the Lord” appears many times in the Old Testament as a moving, lighted cloud that manifests the Presence of God. We know that the Lord was displaying His Presence this way around the time of the birth of Jesus.

Like moths…man, too, is drawn to light to escape the bleakness of darkness. God provides that light in everything He does.

So until tomorrow….Let us rejoice that “The Light of the World” came into our world to dispel the darkness from our mortal existence and invite us to enter His Kingdom of Light forever.

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

  * Happy Birthday Walsh…my special “Kringle Dingle”…what a wonderful Christmas present you were- bringing you home Christmas Day, 1977….You (the gift) who keeps on giving…I love you!

Mollie just sent these pictures today on Walsh’s birthday….Father/Son “crashing” on the airplane (not the airplane crashing, of course) Walsh and Rutledge are certainly the “light” in each other’s eyes (when they are open). Walsh and Mollie….looking dressed up and ready to go somewhere for the birthday boy!

Catherine (Aunt Pap) also celebrates her birthday on the 23rd…I remember  the night Walsh was born….we had the family over for dinner and I started going into labor….everyone was calling out….”The baby is going to be born on Pap’s birthday” and he was…a double celebration!

* Have we got your “Holiday Monster”???