Dear Reader:

Monday night I turned the station to Hallmark to listen to Amy Grant’s Tennessee Christmas program with her husband Vince Gill. I was not disappointed….a wonderful program of old Christmas songs and new ones….with a sprinkling of familiar nineties Christmas tunes…my most favorite being “My Grown-Up Christmas List.” 

Quinn Caldwell (All I Really Want...) talks about the important role of Santa Claus to children and what he can teach them about faith in God. Caldwell feels sure God loves old Santa…after all He represents everything good and loving about the Christmas season too. If some people carry Santa too far…it is a problem with the people…not Santa and certainly not God.

Caldwell lists what Santa does:

“Teaches kids about dwelling in mystery, shows them something about wonder, encourages them to believe in things that are impossible and yet too beautiful not to be true, hones their capacity for trusting in miracles, and finally…shows them that you don’t get every single thing you want in this life, but with our God, you will eventually get the one thing you really want…what you so desperately need at the very time you need it the most.”

How good or bad have we ‘adult children’ been this year? How would we rate ourselves on a scale of 1-10? Don’t we still get tempted and easily distracted by shiny things and tend to wander off the given path we are on?

“Yet God loves us so much that even when we wander from Him He refuses to let anything-not distance or our distractions, not danger or disinterest, not our fractiousness or foolishness, keep Him away from us. 

How about this? It’s not about how good or bad we are. Christmas is about how good God is!”

In the beautiful lyrics from the song “My Grown-Up Christmas List” …in which Amy Grant added an additional verse  in 1992 (original lyrics by David Foster) the message is one of adult understanding that there is no gift under the tree that is as important as God’s love for us.

Do you remember me
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you with childhood fantasies
Well I’m all grown up now
And still need help somehow
I’m not a child but my heart still can dream

So here’s my lifelong wish
My grown up Christmas list
Not for myself but for a world in need

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end, no
This is my grown up Christmas list

As children we believe
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely wrapped beneath the tree
But Heaven only knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal a heartached human soul

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend…

*(Kelly Clarkson brought this song back to the forefront of popularity when she sang it on the American Idol Christmas special in 2003.)

If you have never listened to this song or the words…do yourself a favor …take a minute and listen now…and if, for any reason, you can’t pull it…find another way to play it and then just listen…it will set the tone for chilly Christmas season day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wti5UAKcS_c

So until tomorrow…I think we can all agree with the stanza (sung by Vince Gill) that this is our “Grown-up Christmas List.”

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end, no
This is my grown up Christmas list

* “Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*An early morning Christmas observation while eating breakfast

I realized yesterday, that no matter where I sit I get to see another part of my Bradford Pear and throughout the course of the arc of the daily sun…it appears different colors under the sun’s lights…from my den to my dining room. What a beautiful piece of art, a wondrous Christmas gift God bestows upon me every day…

And speaking of art…Mandy and Eva Cate  put up two of Anne’s Christmas paintings from the past on the Christmas tree…a wonderful addition!

*Gin-g stopped by with three C’s….a candle, cookies, and a Christmas linen…so great to see you Gin-g and fun to get caught up! Thank you for all you do!