4th Sunday of Advent

 Today was the 4th Sunday of Advent, and after the lighting of the 4th Advent Candle our choir presented  our cantata, "Christmas Forever Amen", and per my promise, here is the recording from our dress rehearsal.  I hope you will enjoy this Christmas message in song.  

After church our kids came over for lunch and Rose and I had a plan to make some Chex party mix and other Christmas snacks using different Chex cereals, etc.  Here we are:

Rose is making the traditional Chex Party Mix recipe that you can find on the back of most Chex cereals.  It uses all three, rice, corn, and wheat chex, plus we added cheerios, pretzels and mixed nuts. 

And I am making the kind that has white chocolate (almond bark) covering it, and it has cheerios, corn and rice chex, pretzels and peanuts.

Here are our trays of finished products:

Oh, Rose made one more, "Muddy Buddies" or "Puppy Chow" mix, and it uses chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar, among other ingredients. I'm not going to post recipes because you can pull up these recipes online pretty easily.  Some are a little different than others and you can adapt them to suit your tastes!

I'm not sure where all of this is going yet...we divided it up between us and we may be sharing it with some people if it doesn't get eaten up before we can share it! LOL.  The main thing is we enjoyed doing this together, like a real "mother and daughter" kind of day, even though we are mother in law and daughter in law...I'm thankful we both enjoy each other's company and have fun spending time together. That is a true blessing.  I didn't take a picture of it, but this morning in church Benton and Rose helped to serve communion, and watching them standing there together serving the Lord's Supper to our church family nearly brought me to tears. It was a special moment that I treasure in my heart.

After Rose and I got finished mixing up all those snacks, we sat down to rest while they cooled and/or set before we could pack them up in containers.  While we were doing that, we were enjoying time with the guys, who were watching football, and then I remembered that we had received a special package in the mail for someone "extra special" in our house, and her name is Lily Grace. The package came from her "Auntie Debbi" in South Carolina, who is the dear blogging friend who sent Lily Grace to me in the first place. In true "Auntie" fashion, she sends Lily Christmas packages full of fun stuff every year. She had given permission for Lily to open the package before Christmas, and so we decided today would be a good time to do that while we were all together.  (If you aren't familiar with Lily Grace's story, you can click HERE for her arrival to our home about three years ago. And then Lily became so popular, she started writing her own blog, The Adventures of Lily Grace. However, because she needed my help to keep up with her blog posts, I'm afraid we kind of got lost by the wayside as I just couldn't keep up with writing two blogs, so now she mostly makes cameo appearances here on my blog posts, like today:

Here's how the package looked when it arrived in the mail:

And here's how excited Lily Grace was when she discovered a present wrapped up inside with her name on it:

It's so much fun to receive packages in the mail, isn't it?  Sure beats a gift card any day!

Lily Grace was thrilled to find a picture of her identical cousin Tracie in the box...

And Tracie had sent her a note on the picture that says:

"Dear Lily Grace, When I picked out my Christmas dress, I asked Mommy if I could send you one just like it and she said YES! So we can be twins!"

It's really too bad that Tracie lives in South Carolina, which is kind of far away, but maybe someday they will get to be together again and then they can wear their identical dresses and be twins!

Isn't it beautiful?

Also there were some other special gifts in the box...a little laptop computer, and goldfish bowl, (with a little goldfish in it!)

And  some pretty beads and best of all a CAMERA!

Lily said: "And can you imagine my excitement when I discovered that the camera really works? Well, it flashes when you press the button! See?"

"I can't wait to take lots of pictures!"

Meanwhile, as this was all going on, some "one" was watching it all with much interest:

Yes, that's Spice, one of our grandpuppies, and she was SO curious about who that was in "Grandma's lap" getting so many new toys!  She was just about to leap out of Rose's lap and come and check this thing out:

And then she did, and she got her sister Sugar to come and see what was going on too:

They were both SO curious about Lily Grace and her new toys:

Thankfully they just sniffed and watched, but didn't try to take her new toys away! LOL.

They were more interested in the train going round and round the village:

And yes, that was ME on the floor, running the train controls. Getting down there was difficult enough, but thankfully there are no pictures of me getting back  up! That was NOT a pretty sight, and I would not permit it to be shown publicly! LOL.

(This video was actually taken the night before, when the kids were over for supper, which Rose and I made together, Pasta, Ground beef and fresh mushrooms in a homemade alfredo sauce, a tossed salad and garlic toast. It was YUMMY!, but I digress)

Anyway, the doggies  finally got more interested in watching the train again and Lily Grace was able to go show her friends her new outfit and gifts that she received from Aunt Debbi.

 It was a lovely day and "one little girl" was sure surprised and happy!  

Meanwhile, you may have noticed the arrangement on the dining room table from the picture of the dinner from last night:

I cut some fresh holly from the trees and also some sprigs from a small cedar tree that is growing wild, and added them to these cedar candle holders that Benton had made for me a few years ago. It made a lovely little fresh winter arrangement.  

After supper I decided I needed to put the greenery in some water so they wouldn't die:

So I made a little arrangement in a glass pitcher of water to hopefully prolong their life so we can enjoy them for a few more days.  (If you look real carefully, you will see hubby in the background sitting in his recliner and watching football while I am doing this.  He's probably oblivious to all this activity going on over on the table and also the following added interesting item:

Somehow, unbeknownst to me, I was making a video of myself carrying the pitcher of water with the greenery back to the table and setting it on the table. I had no idea the camera was recording this, and if you listen carefully at the very beginning of the video you can hear me whispering something to myself...something unintelligible! LOL. I have no clue what I was saying, but it looks like I am walking through a jungle until I get to the table. I just thought I might as well add this video to this post to go along with all the other fun and crazy stuff of the past couple of days! Maybe it will give you a good laugh or two.

Well, if you've made it this far in this post today, I thank you for hanging in there with me. I realize it's been a bit long and filled with a mish mash of things, but I hope you enjoyed coming along with me for the past couple of days of fun activities.  If you listened to the video at the beginning of this post of our Cantata, you will have already heard our choir sing this song. It would be difficult to go back and find this one song out of the whole program, so I am posting this one for you, not our choir singing of course.  This was one of the songs that had a beautiful message that I wanted to leave with you for tonight:  Rose of Bethlehem...

"There's a Rose in Bethlehem

With a beauty quite divine

Perfect in this world of sin

On this silent, holy night

There's a fragrance much like hope

That it sends upon the wind

Reaching out to every soul

From a lowly manger's crib

Oh, Rose of Bethlehem

How lovely, pure and sweet

Born to glorify the Father

Born to wear the thorns for me

There's a Rose in Bethlehem

Colored red like mercy's blood

It's the flower of our faith

It's the blossom of God's love

Though its bloom is fresh with youth

Surely what will be He knows

For a tear of morning dew

Is rolling down the Rose

Oh, Rose of Bethlehem

How lovely, pure and sweet

Born to glorify the Father

Born to wear the thorns for me

There's a Rose in Bethlehem

With a beauty quite divine

Perfect in this world of sin

On this silent, holy night

Oh, Rose of Bethlehem

How lovely, pure and sweet

Born to glorify the Father

Born to wear the thorns for me"

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Lowell Alexander

Jesus was that "Rose of Bethlehem", lovely, pure and sweet.  He was born to glorify the Father, and born to wear those thorns for me...and you, and everyone who will believe in Him and accept Him as Savior and Lord. That's the real message of Christmas. Jesus came as a baby, but He grew to be a perfect, sinless Man, God in the flesh. He wore that crown of thorns on His brow when He went to the cross to die for you and me.  He was sinless, we were sinful, but He wore those thorns for us, so that we might be made pure and sinless and be able to enter heaven to live with Him forever. Such a powerful, beautiful message.  Makes you really think about a rose and those thorns on it a little differently as well. Something to consider when we come to the manger to see the Baby Jesus on Christmas, isn't it?  He wore those thorns for you and me.  

Good night my friends. It's going to be a busy week for all of us, so we may be kind of hit and miss in our reading and posting, but we'll all get back to "normal" once all the excitement of the holidays simmers back down.  God bless you each and everyone.

Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

 

My recliner, where I sit when I'm taking a break from everything else! LOL

Oh my oh my, here we are already up to December 19th, tomorrow is the 20th...5 more days 'til Christmas! Please don't ask me if I am ready, okay?  I will just say that I think my shopping is done, I'm sending out cards a few at a time, and the bed in the guest room is full, not of guests, but of gifts waiting to be wrapped.  Little by little it will be done, but we've had other things going on at the same time, so it's not like normal life just stands still so we can get things ready for Christmas! This week has been busy enough...

The full moon was beautiful! This was at night...

Monday morning we both had follow up doctor appointments to get our lab results, which were pretty good for two old people. No major issues there, so we are both very thankful.  However, I did talk to the doctor about my back/neck issues, and he agreed to send me for some X-Rays to make sure there's nothing new going on back there.  That happened this morning, and I already have the CD of the films taken along with the written report.  Nothing majorly different going on, thankfully. No bulging discs, etc., but something called  "mild multilevel degenerative disc disease and facet arthropathy."  I had to look this up, and here's what it is: "Multilevel degenerative disc disease means disc degeneration is occurring in more than one of the spine's intervertebral discs and in more than one spinal section."  "Facet arthropathy is a type of arthritis that affects the facet joints in the spine, causing pain and stiffness due to the degeneration of cartilage within these joints, which are responsible for allowing the spine to bend and twist; essentially, it's a condition where the joints in the back of the spine wear down and become inflamed, often resulting from aging and wear and tear."

This was in the morning! We've had to get up early every day this week because of  appointments!

In other words, I'm getting old and so is my spine! I will have to wait for the doctor to discuss this with me and determine what is the next step. He said something about pain management the other day, but I don't want to take more pain medication. If there are other methods of strengthening and helping me by doing therapy or non-invasive methods, I am all for that. So we shall see what he suggests and what comes next. Meanwhile, I just have to pace myself as I try to do things as nearly everything just causes me to hurt one way or the other. Thankfully it isn't severe, but it is no fun either and it definitely limits my ability to keep going at a steady pace.

"Blackie" the neighborhood cat has been visiting the back  porch again. Maybe it's because of the full moon. He has nice posture, maybe he has some good ideas about back exercises! Ever watch a cat stretching their backs? LOL.

Also my hubby had an eye appointment this week at the Cornea Specialist.  He has an eye condition that is being carefully monitored regarding the cornea, but he also has cataracts, and the doctor wants to take care of that first in the eye that is most affected by both conditions. Therefore, he is scheduled for cataract surgery the end of January.

We had a nice ride going to his eye appointment in Fleming Island, which is about an hour's drive north of us.  We decided to take a back road on the way over, which took us past the Georgia Pacific plant in Palatka. That is where they manufacture toilet paper and paper towels .

It is also a rather smelly place, think "Paper Mill". When the wind is "just right", or maybe "just wrong", we can smell it all the way to where we live, but thankfully not very often. We are far enough away to not have to smell it all the time. I feel sorry for those who live closer to it. However, if you ask the locals who either own it or work there, they say "it smells like money" to them.

Those are huge stacks of pine tree logs, which are brought in daily by many logging trucks from all over the region. 

Yes, that's what toilet paper is made from, in case you didn't know it!

It was also a foggy morning, which made the smoke hang lower to the ground than usual...

Yes, it is a smoky place.  Don't ask me about the pollution issues from this. I can only imagine...

There were long lines of train cars on the tracks, waiting to ship products or whatever they ship away from (or to) the factory...

These were all stationary, just waiting for the next load to begin I guess.

Now, trains are something I can relate to! Thankfully our little train doesn't have to go to any stinky factories! LOL.

But back to our trip...we had to cross over the Black Creek inlet at the St. John's River, and it was a rather foggy morning, but I thought that made for some pretty pictures of the river and the sailboat masts in the fog...

On  the thankful list is that the appointment with the eye doctor went very well and he reassured hubby of some things that made him feel better about the whole situation, and then we went out to lunch at Ruby Tuesday:

Hubby had his eyes dilated, so he looks like a movie star. 

This was my lunch: Salmon on a salad, so I guess technically it's salmon salad, but not the old fashioned kind made from canned salmon! LOL. This was very good.

And hubby had a Philly cheese sub. He said it was a little spicy, but still good. I'm thinking some of those peppers weren't just plain old green peppers! LOL.

One afternoon this week I took a little walkabout over to the house next door (it's still for sale, btw), just to look at the pond and island from that perspective.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and the clouds in the blue skies were so big and fluffy!

I was trying to see if I could tell where the Sand Hill Cranes and the Canada Geese have been hiding out, because I'm not seeing them so much from our part of the pond right now.  But there was no sign of them over there either, so I guess they were gone for the afternoon. They tend to fly in and out at night and morning and spend their days in other places. There are lots of lakes in this area, (hence the name of our town is "Interlachen", which actually means between the lakes), so they could be anywhere exploring and feeding for the day. Just so they come back home to roost, I am happy.

Well, it's getting close to bedtime. I'm quite ready to get there a little early tonight.  I like this little scene of the cabin on the pond and the deer and the skaters and sledders and a couple of little churches . It's just a peaceful little setting and I enjoy looking at it. Would love to go crawl into that cabin and light a fire in the fireplace and curl up and go to sleep.  It just looks so nice and cozy, doesn't it?

Speaking of nice and cozy:

After my appointment at the imaging place this morning we stopped by the Dollar Tree to pick up a few things. I needed to get a few more gift bags, and saw these...

I fell in love with these bags. You can't see the glitter on them, but they have glitter on the front of the bags in all the prettiest places to make them shine and shimmer.  I'm afraid I'm going to have a hard time giving these bags away! LOL  I may have to tell hubby to wrap my gifts in them! LOL.

Isn't this church beautiful?

Which one is your favorite?  I don't know about you, but I enjoy shopping at the Dollar Tree. I guess it should be called the dollar twenty five tree now, but still, you can get some neat stuff for $1.25! Somehow I always manage to spend more than a few dollars there, but it's still fun.

Okay, now I really do need to head to bed. I hope you've had a good day and a good week. I hope you are ready for Christmas!  

Makes me think about Jesus' Birth...when it was time for Him to be born, there was no waiting around. He came in the fullness of time...

Galatians 4:4-7 NKJV
"4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 

5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 

7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

This is a little "sneak  preview" of one of the songs that we are singing in our Christmas Cantata on Sunday.  It's really beautiful...I hope you will enjoy it and think about what Mary had to go through to bring forth the Savior of the World..."It was a Labor of Love..."

A Labor of Love

It was not a silent night

There was blood on the ground

You could hear a woman cry

In the alleyways that night

On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean

And the cobblestones were cold

And little Mary full of grace

With the tears upon her face

Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain

It was a cold sky above

But for the girl on the ground in the dark

Every beat of her beautiful heart

Was a labor of love

Noble Joseph by her side

His callused hands and weary eyes

There were no midwives to be found

On the streets of David's town

In the middle of the night

And so, he held her, and he prayed

Shafts of moonlight on his face

But the baby in her womb

He was the maker of the moon

He was the author of the faith

That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain

It was a cold sky above

But for the girl on the ground in the dark

Every beat of her beautiful heart

Was a labor of love

For little Mary full of grace

With the tears upon her face

It was a labor of love

It was not a silent night

On the streets of David's town

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Andrew Peterson

Labor of Love lyrics © New Spring Publishing Inc., New Spring Publishing Inc.

And with that I will say good night, and may we never forget what Christmas is really all about...