Advent Saturday Wanderings

Here we are on the 16th day of Advent...two Saturdays before Christmas...and if you are like me, you've probably got a list a mile long of things you need to be doing to finish getting ready for Christmas.  Then again, I've discovered that a lot of people aren't like me...they seem to have gotten all their stuff done already and can sit back and enjoy this last week without much stress or rush to the finish line. Good for you, if you are one of them!  But for the rest of us who are still rushing around checking our lists, checking them twice...trying not to be too naughty but mostly nice...let's just take a moment to sit down and rest, pour yourself a cup of tea or coffee or hot chocolate if you prefer, and let's just drink in the peace and beauty of the Advent season surrounding us...the preparation for the birth of our Lord, who brings us joy and hope and love...and revives our spirits when we feel like we are on our last leg...

Like this Christmas cactus! I honestly thought it was dead. If you could have seen it a few weeks ago, you probably would have agreed with me.  It looked pretty sad. More than once throughout the past few months I thought I should just throw it away...it looked hopeless...no real signs of life except for a few weak looking stems that looked dehydrated and very close to death.  But then all of a sudden a few weeks ago I noticed new growth...little tiny buds were forming on the ends of the stems...so I watered it and left it out on the back porch where the nights were cooler than in our warm house...and lo! and Behold! Look at it now!

I know it isn't as big and glorious as many that I've seen, but to me it is amazingly beautiful! It has been revived and resurrected from the dead...given new life!  Maybe that is why it's a Christmas cactus! I know, we think of "new life" more at Easter, but Christmas is actually the beginning of that resurrection story...After all, isn't that why Jesus came to earth in the first place?  To show us the Way to new life...as well as to the resurrection from the dead and eternal life?

In the book of John 11:25-26, Jesus says to Martha at the death of her brother Lazarus:

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. 

He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 

26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Just after this,  Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and restored him whole back to his family...  Yes, the resurrection is a big part of the Christmas story...and so perhaps that is why this cactus is called a Christmas cactus (plus it only blooms at this time of the year!)

Amazing the lessons we can learn by just observing the things God has placed right before our eyes!

But now I want to take a little journey here inside the house and think about some different things that seem to stand out to me during these days leading up to Christmas...

Last year I saw this picture plaque and it really touched my heart with sweet memories, and so I brought it home with me.  I couldn't remember where I had put it after last Christmas and was disappointed it was not in with all the other Christmas decorations. Finally, when I started working on my Christmas cards, I discovered it in the dresser drawer where I keep my Christmas card list and old cards that I save (yes! I do save old cards...they are just too special to throw away, at least for now. Someday maybe, but not yet...)

This picture just brings back that nostalgic memory of Christmases past...

This past week at our ladies' Christmas fellowship,  one of our dear ladies put together this wonderful little verse with a spool of thread in a little package for each of us to take home.  I love it...

She is the same lady who gave each of us this cup and saucer and another poem a couple of years ago at our Christmas gathering:

I loved this idea so much that I actually copied the verse and found little cups and saucers to give to some of my family members that year,  along with a box of Christmas tea.  

The only sad thing about this is, that particular lady is planning to move away as soon as they can sell their house. They are moving, along with her mother in law, to be closer to their family in north Florida. Although I can't blame them for that, she and her mother in law will be sorely missed here in our little church.  She is the kind of person who is always doing so many nice things for others...and the first one to bring a meal for someone when they are sick or just out of the hospital. Those kinds of people are very special and hard to find in today's busy world. Yes, she and her mother in law both will be missed at our little church.

Speaking of little churches, I was taking notice to how many things I have that have pictures of little white churches on them (or little country churches in general).  Not sure which came first for me...the fact that we love our little white country church so much and so I am drawn to things that have little country churches on them, or I loved the idea of a little white country church so much that we ended up going to one and found it to be just as beautiful and special inside as it appeared on the outside...because the Spirit of the Lord is in this place...that's what makes it so very special.

Anyway, let's walk around and see what I am talking about with Christmas decorations and especially Christmas cards...

This little flag greets visitors to our front porch.

We've been receiving several Christmas cards already that have this same beautiful theme...

But while I am looking at beautiful Christmas cards received (and surprisingly there have been quite a few...especially from you dear friends in "blogland". Thank you!  

This one may not be a little white church, but it is a hand painted picture (but reprinted for her cards) by one of our very dear blogging friends, Linda Chapman at Linda's Life Journal. She is a very accomplished artist, and paints these magnificent Santa pictures every year for her Christmas cards, as well as she usually does a give-away drawing for an actual large canvas of her painting for the year!  I feel honored to have been included on her Christmas card list!! Thank you, Linda. I will cherish this!

I love this scene of Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. I do think Linda kind of paints the faces of herself and her beloved Louis Dean into these Santa paintings...

And this is another special creation by a dear friend of mine, not a blogging friend, but a wonderful friend I've known for over 40 years...She makes all kinds of beautiful greeting cards and it is always a blessing to receive one of her special creations in the mail. Do you understand now why I can't just throw away cards??? I consider them all, whether hand created or store bought with a purpose, as a blessing and something worth keeping as a memory of that special friend.

Now back to the little churches...my current Christmas mug that I use for my morning cup of tea and sometimes my evening cup of hot Ovaltine is a Thomas Kincade design of a beautiful church:

These are just a few of the little church ornaments scattered around the house...

This little bird house church hangs on the grapevine tree on the front porch. It looks a little weather worn, but is still beautiful:

And actually, I have just brought that grapevine tree inside for now as we are expecting some very severe weather to hit us later today and tonight, with lots of rain and wind.  We are praying nothing worse comes out of this storm for people in its path.

Looking around further in my little room with a view where I sit and write, I have this Christmas box sitting nearby with this picture on it. I've never noticed before if it had a church in this scene or not, but surely it must as most little snowy villages always have a little church somewhere...look closely...I found it...did you?

Yes, there it is, way back in the back!

Well, maybe it is time to close out this little Advent Saturday Wanderings post and get it posted! But I've saved the best for last...this isn't exactly a little church, but it is perhaps the very first real church ever...the stable where "Jesus the Savior is born"...and the Shepherds saw, the Angels Sang, and the Wisemen came to worship... (although we know from history that the Wisemen actually didn't come to the stable, but showed up about two years later after following the star for two years, at the little house where Jesus and his family were staying in Bethlehem): 

They all came to worship the new born King...

O Come All Ye Faithful,

Joyful and Triumphant,

Come ye, come ye to Bethlehem

Come and behold Him, 

born the King of angels,

O Come Let us adore Him,

O Come Let Us adore Him,

O Come let us adore Him,

Christ the Lord!

 

Thursday Thankfulness and Life in the Christmas Village

There's a full moon rising out there, and it is so beautiful. My little phone camera doesn't have the special features to really zoom in on the moon, but we can enjoy looking at it anyway and give thanks to the Lord for letting His Light shine on us so beautifully.  God placed the moon and the stars in the heavens for us to enjoy, and so I will give Him praise and thanksgiving for these gifts.

And while I was outside looking at the moon, I also enjoyed looking at our little grapevine Christmas tree on the front porch.  My son Benton and I made that little tree out of the wild grapevines found in our woods around our previous home in the Ocala National Forest. It was a job to do, but I'm so glad we did it.  This little tree has blessed our front porches ever since.

This is a close up of the little Nativity scene on the top of the porch tree. Jesus was born in a stable outside, so it is fitting that this is also outside...

And here's the lit up view of the stable...I'm so thankful for Jesus, that little Babe in the manger...aren't you?

Luke 2: 6-7

"6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."

I am thankful for our kids and grand pups coming over to help us set up the train and village last night.

Sugar and Spice were quite curious about everything that was going on.  

Here's Benton putting together the train tracks...

And meanwhile Rose helped me set up all the little buildings for the village.

Our village is the old fashioned Lionel Plasticville type of buildings, and they are not very user friendly like the new cute little village buildings you can buy in the store. These are plastic, and have to be snapped together, and they really don't hold together very well anymore as they are quite old, so we have to tape the corners and carefully set them up on a flat surface and pray they don't fall apart before you can get them set up under the tree.  It's quite challenging, and I am happy Rose is patient and willing to help me with this project each year.

Meanwhile, Benton got the train engine running on the track, and Sugar and Spice went kind of crazy. They had never seen this before and they were very very excited and barking and somewhat afraid of that little black engine going around on that track.  

It took some doing to calm them down, but every time the train started up again, they were right there barking like it was the most exciting thing they'd ever seen. It was really quite funny. Their tails were wagging the whole time.

Finally we got most of the village set up, and then Benton and I tried to get the whole train moving on the track. It took some time and patience as we worked out the wrinkles...mostly the wrinkles in the sheet under the track that kept getting hung up on the train...

You can see the doggies are still quite interested in this project.

Another thing I am very thankful for is that I was able to get down on the floor with a little more ease than this time last year. AND, I was able to get back up without going through tremendous pain. (Still needed to figure out HOW to get back up,  but once I got myself moving in the right direction, it wasn't so terrible). Last year this time I was still recovering from neck surgery and had a very badly frozen shoulder and weak and painful arms. So trying to do this last year was almost impossible for me. But this year, even though I still have some shoulder/upper arm issues on both arms, it is not nearly as bad as before and I am VERY thankful to God for His continued healing.

And, I enjoyed being able to get down and "play" with the trains with our son. Sweet times. We missed having our son Scott here to help us with this,  as he is the more agile of the whole bunch, but we managed to get it done. When he comes home to visit he will be surprised!

This train and village is the same one that our kids played with when they were little boys. My dad, who was a toy train collector, gave them the train, and we accumulated the village buildings little by little over the years.  

Here is a link to the post I wrote about this a couple of years ago. This tells more of the history of the train set and village with our kids. We have a lot of precious memories with all three of our boys back in the day playing with the trains. 

So today I tried to finish setting up more of the village people.

It is a job to get down there on the floor and do this. Maybe one day we will figure out a way to put this up on a table...

But we only do this once a year, and it's definitely NOT done to perfection.  

But it brings back a lot of happy memories and we enjoy being a "child" again at Christmas time...

I try to envision myself living in this little village and putting myself in the place of those little tiny people going about their daily lives...going to church, the kids going to school, people coming and going at the train station...there's a big hospital where people go to get well when they are sick, and there's a skating pond for the kids to enjoy.  

It's just a microcosm of life in the world today...although we don't seem to be as dependent on the trains as we used to be.  That's kind of sad in a lot of ways...but life moves on.

I am thankful for our little village where we live now, and for the people who come and go and live and love and share their lives with us in various ways.

We are blessed to live in a free country...and I pray that never ever changes...may we never take these freedoms for granted...

Well, that's the tour of the Christmas village...Oh...Baby Elva and Lily Grace and their little friends Bailey and Boo Bear are enjoying the train and village too.  

One more thing...

One of our dear and very talented blogging friends paints a new Santa picture each year. Then she takes a picture of it and creates her own special Christmas cards.  I don't know if you know Linda Chapman or not,, from Linda's Life Journal, but I was so thrilled and blessed to receive this beautiful Christmas card from her in the mail and I was just awestruck! Truly she is very talented...and I love that this Santa is holding a snow globe in his hands that has a nativity scene inside of it. What a blessing! Thank you, Linda, for sharing your gifts with us. I feel so honored and blessed to have received this card from you! 

And now I know I need to get busy and send out some cards myself, but I honestly am not sure that I will be able to send a lot of them this year. I mostly send our cards to people that I don't get to communicate with as often throughout the year on social media, etc....some family and old friends who aren't necessarily computer savvy and thus they don't keep up with our daily activities like we all do here, but I want to stay in touch with them and Christmas is usually the only time.  So, please don't be hurt if you don't hear from me at Christmas time via the mail. "My spirit is willing, by my flesh is weak"...LOL.   But to those of you who do send out cards, I commend you and thank you for them. 

Each and every one of you is a blessing to me, and I look forward to hearing from you here in blogland and Facebook, etc., as often as possible! You are very special people indeed.

Okay, that's it folks. I need to call it a night. 

Oh, I forgot the most important thing I am thankful for this week...

my health! I am finally feeling so much better than I was for the past two weeks. I am very very thankful for that!! Praise God!

Okay,  Good night dear ones.

May God bless you each and every one.