Today was the 2nd Sunday of Advent...and it was a very special day for our family! I was so pleased that our pastor asked our son Benton and wife Rose to do the reading and candle lighting for the Advent Wreath today. I had a good vantage point from the choir loft, so of course I snuck a few pictures...
Benton did the readings while Rose lit the two purple candles.
Today's readings came from Luke 2:8-10...the story of the Shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night....and then "an Angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people'"...
Verse 11 and 12 says: "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
"Today we remember the shepherds, workers for the common good, steadfast watchmen isolated and alone, far from the warmth of home, doing the job no one wants. And yet God saw them, God valued them, and God declared the greatest news of all to them alone."
There is just something very special to a parent to see their adult children participating in the worship service. This was a blessing to my heart, and a beautiful way to start this Advent Sunday.
Then after church the "kids" offered to bring over cold cuts, etc. for lunch so they could come over and help with the train set up and also watch some football with hubby. Benton is a big Cleveland Browns fan, going back to when he was a child and we lived in Ohio near Cleveland. And they won today! That was really special!
Anyway, when we got home Scott had arrived and so after lunch we all got to work on setting up the train and village. What a fun time we had, even if it was physically demanding for this old gal to get up and down on the floor to set things in place. We still had fun!
Here's Scott, putting the tracks together...
and here's Rose, finding all the boxes of the Village buildings so we can start putting them together. Sugar and Spice are very curious about these activities:
Rose and I were busily putting the "Plasticville" village buildings together. If you've ever had these vintage plastic buildings before, you may understand how frustrating this task can be. The buildings are meant to just be "snapped together", but because these are all at least fifty years old they have lost their snap-ability, and they end up needing extra help to stay together. Many little pieces have broken over the years and we've had to glue them back together...and then after being stored again in a hot storage shed they seem to develop other issues and need to be reglued. It was a rather tedious job, and I think I said more than once that I'd be happy to get rid of all of these old buildings for some nice new ceramic buildings that don't need to be assembled...but of course that just wouldn't be the same and wouldn't have the memories attached, etc., etc. , not to mention new buildings are expensive.
So we persevered and finally got them all put back together, and then came the fun of transporting them to be placed under the tree:
I'm glad there are no pictures of me trying to get back up off the floor. It was NOT a pretty sight! LOL.
Again, Sugar and Spice were very curious about that train going around the track, and they wanted to chase it and bark at it and came very near to wrecking the whole village...
Sugar is standing watch over that train engine, just daring it to take off again. It was really comical.
But finally all is calm and all is bright...
The people are going about their business in the little town...getting things ready for Christmas...
And once again we put aside the hustle bustle of getting ready for Christmas and drift away into a Silent Night...
Time to "sleep in heavenly peace"....Good Night dear ones.
I know exactly what you mean about those kiddos and church. Last week, both of mine and their spouses arrived in time to sit on the same row with us. My heart was like the Grinch's growing 3 sizes in one hour:) Today, they didn't get to sit together but having them there is a warm fuzzy for sure. My son didn't come for so long. I knew his heart but he didn't come. A little boy of his own has spurred him to be there each Sunday. I will take it and nothing beats putting up all the decorations with memories either. I know you are like me on that....we will take that family time any day!
ReplyDeleteThat is such a fun tradition, Pam, and I am so happy Scott came to get it all started!! I know it is special and means a lot to all of you. Hooray!!
ReplyDeleteDennis did the Advent reading and lit the candle last week. It was wonderful to see him up there again. We were so active in our church in Spokane and we're slowly doing the same here.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved the photos of the train and village set up. You are SO blessed to have your kids so close by. We only get to see our Jamie once a year or so and of course we have Alex and family in London. But we've seen them three times this year! Isn't that crazy? This afternoon Mandy, Piper and I along with some of their friends went to a craft fair at the mall. That was lots of fun and would you believe I didn't buy a thing?
Praying for a wonderful day for you tomorrow.
Blessings and hugs,
Betsy
I knew it! I had so hoped yall would get help and get the train up and running! Today when I finally got our little Christmas village set up I had a feeling you were getting the train up! I'm so happy because I know you enjoy all the special memories from the train. It was so nice and warm here all weekend --70s, I believe. It did rain and sprinkle all day so After church today we spent the day organizing and putting clutter away, so we have a space to wrap presents. I love all these pictures, looks like a fun family day and those are the best! Hugs! Debbi at debbisfrontporch
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!! Can't wait to see you all soon. smiles
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a wonderful day! I love your train set.
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine the emotions in your and John's hearts, witnessing Benton and Rose's participation!
ReplyDeleteSoooo happy you elected to go forward with the Christmas village and trains. I'm not familiar with those "Plasticville" buildings. What a chore, but made worth it, I'm sure by the sweet company you keep. Oh, I'd have been howling with laughter at Sugar and Spice's reactions. Well, at day's end I hope you enjoyed a great night's sleep.
What a sweet little village! And it's so special that Benton and Rose read the scripture and participated in the Advent lighting candle. I wondered how the two doggies were going to react to the train as I read your post. I have the Hallmark village from Mitford and I display part of it (the winter collection) at Christmas. The rest of the collection is of the spring one and that is out the rest of the year. I had to stalk E Bay for them so they are not all the same.
ReplyDeleteOh I have always enjoyed trains and Christmas villages under a tree. Even as an adult, they capture my imagination as if I was still a child. I’m glad you were able to get it all set up and that your whole family was there to pitch in.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Loved this post. You all look so happy!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to see that you all were able to get the village put together and the train running, Pamela, even with the pups underfoot. It's such a quaint set, and I'm sure there are countless memories drifting in your head as you watch it chug along. Danny does have a Christmas village that he used to put up for his boys, but we haven't gotten it out since Virginia was a baby, worried that she would break something. After that, we just stopped decorating with it. That's also a lot of work to set up and take down after Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that Benton and Rose got to be front and center this Sunday, too. I know that makes your heart sing.
Blessings!
Each time Roger comes home, he tries to go to church with me. I don't think he will ever know how happy that makes me feel. I love hearing about your family helping put your train and village together. I know you enjoy your family! The reactions of the dogs is precious. Peace and blessings to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteWe too had a similar reading at Mass on Sunday and lighting the candle.
ReplyDeleteI really love your decorated tree and the village and train set. How wonderful.
Best wishes from over here to you all. God bless always.
Oh I love your train track and village! We will be putting our train up this year on a table (hopefully tomorrow night) and the ceramic village around it (a gift from someone).
ReplyDeleteWhat a blessing to watch your son and daughter in law participate in the Advent candle lighting.
Loved this. Told my two little grandsons that they didn’t get to see Nana’s
ReplyDeleteBig decorated house with a million decoration and huge trees. My
Couple thousand Hallmark ornaments are
Now dispersed to family. The boys said
That it was better that Nana moved to Florida to be with them in this tiny condo and they are happy. They have a huge tree in their home anyway. I have minimal decorations and it is easy. Also,
I saved one old address book my son got me when he was little. Mother’s
Address was Interlachen. She had a place in different cities and her fav was St Pete. However she loved Interlachen.
Irony as I think you live there. I told my
son if I was moving to Florida had to be ocean…it is gorgeous here…thank you for your blog. Brenda
P.S. please explain to me why when I respond to the few blogs I read, my responses are asap. On your blog, they are not. Not sure what approval means
ReplyDeleteWhen reading and writing on a blog. Brenda
I have my comments set to moderation so that I can see the comment before I let it be published on the blog. I have had some strange spammers in the past and they left inappropriate comments, so I decided to set this so I can see the comment first. Also it helps me to know when I've got comments so I don't miss them.
DeleteGot it. Just have not seen this on blogs I read . Sad really.
DeleteYes, it is sad that there are people out there who just want to promote their "products", or their website. They are usually a foreign entity that does not have any real interest in your blog. Just now I had to delete such a comment that would have gone onto my post if I had not seen it first. And it was actually put there twice. They have links in their comments that lead to suspicious sites that can hack into your computer. I was thinking about removing the comment moderation set up as a test when I received these two messages. Yes, it is sad. I know I am not the only one who uses comment moderation on their blog. I respect and understand their reasons for doing that. Hackers/spammers are a real nuisance to those of us who are legitimate bloggers just wanting to write a friendly and thoughtful blog.
DeleteI love your train and village set! Definitely worth the work! And Sugar and Spice are just the cutest!
ReplyDeleteHi Pamela! I love your Christmas tree with the train and village surrounding it. We used to do something similar when our children were small. So glad that your son and his wife participated in the Advent service. I think that all Christian parents want their children to follow the Lord, and it gives us such joy when they do! Your home looks so fun and festive filled with family! I hope you are having a good week. See you again soon!
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to "see" you holiday village be set up and with a train as well! Patrick set up our New England village just before Thanksgiving which has all ceramic houses. It took him the better part of a week and then some to set up all the lighting in the houses and place the figures. Now, we have fun moving them around so you never knew where so-and-so will be in the village. I also find that getting up from a sitting position ios harder than sitting down!
ReplyDeleteThose vintage houses of yours may have seen better days, but as you said the memories they hold are well worth the assemble efforts each holiday time.