Dear Reader:
It wasn’t Christmas Eve last night but Boo was hard at work on the grandchildren’s stockings. Slowly a tradition has started that the grandchildren get to open their “Boo” stockings Christmas Eve and their presents Christmas morning when the family gathers for brunch at John and Mandy’s house.
The family meets at the church for the 5:00 Christmas Eve service and story and then come to my house for a meal and get-together… and to exchange a few presents with family members who will be at different locations Christmas morning.
The children, of course, are anxious to open presents so I decided a couple of years ago…handing out Boo stockings satisfied the need to have something to open before the “big” day. It quieted the continuous begging to open “just one more.”
I remember, from my own childhood, that the sight of Christmas stockings bulging with unknown items on Christmas morning was always so reassuring that Santa really had come. (I always breathed a sigh of relief.) The presents, under the tree, would come later…but the “full” stockings was the indicator that “all was well” between the jolly old elf and myself.
Don’t we all all, as struggling Christians, wish sometimes that Jesus would give us the “all right” sign with “stockings hung by the chimney with care?” That there would be an indicator hanging from our mantle signifying that our relationship is strong and on-going and that we have been “good” this past year and not “naughty?”
I would settle for a card hanging from the mantle (like the one made for the Colonial Bazaar last year) on Christmas morning. Jesus would let us choose which blessing we want Christmas Day and then be filled in the spirit with it.
I think I would choose “faith” for my extra dose of spiritual re-enforcement this Christmas. The way I look at it…if our faith is strong then love, strength, hope, laughter, and peace fall into place.
So until tomorrow…I wish for you, dear readers, love, strength, hope, laughter, faith, and peace this Christmas….”in your stocking hung by the chimney with care” from the One Who cares about us the most…Who was willing to give His life for ours so we would have eternal life…what better gift can we ever receive?
“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh
*I have brought in the poinsettias the last couple of nights….don’t want to take a chance on losing them out to just two cold nights. And look how much beauty they add to the tree.
Mollie’s mom, Marcia, is down from N.H. spending some of the holidays with her two adorable grandsons. We all met for lunch at Poe’s on Sullivan’s Island and then took some fast photos on the beach Saturday afternoon…it was a little chilly. *Grandmothers like nothing better at Christmas than pictures of their grandchildren around them….for Marcia and I to get to share them in one photo was perfect! Merry Christmas Marcia!
A sneak peek at just a few fun shots from yesterday…
“In the eyes of children we find the joy of Christmas. In their hearts we find its meaning.”
*And speaking of children….remember I asked for prayers for Brooke’s beautiful daughter-in-love, Veronica? She was sick… congested and feeling very badly? Well I hate to say but she ended up in the hospital….And…at midnight (on the nose) Veronica and Riley welcomed their beautiful baby boy ( Caleb McCulloch Sauls) into the world! (He wasn’t due until the middle of January.)
What a wonderful surprise! And a Sunday baby….Mother Goose says:
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.
Riley and Veronica will always remember their beautiful early Christmas present (and tax deduction) on December 20, 2015! Happiness is! (Thanks for all the prayers readers, once again y’all ‘done good’!) Congratulations Veronica and Riley….he’s a most adorable keeper!!!!!
ichaseferalcats
John Turner
Legally Ohm
Becky Dingle