Friday Foto Friends~ It's December!!

Happy December 1st, 2023!  Can we believe that December is finally here? I know, for some it has seemed like a very long year...but for many of us, we can't figure out where all the time has gone. The year has just flown by, even with all of its ups and downs, goods and bads...(is that a word?)...There may be a few happy to see the year coming to an end.  But let us enjoy this month first...

I'm sure many of you have already put up your Christmas tree...I wonder how many still go out and cut a real tree...or do you purchase a live tree from a lot somewhere...or I expect the majority of us have artificial trees that we have to pull out of storage and put back together...with or without lights attached already?    

John Sloane "Country Seasons" 2023 Calendar for December

Some of my fondest memories are of when our little family went out to find "the perfect tree".  When we lived up north we often went out in the freezing weather and snow...like those sweet children above (but without the draft horses and big wagon, sadly...I would have loved that!)...and my hubby and children patiently waited on me to find that perfect tree. Every side, up and down, had to be inspected for bare spaces and proper fullness, the right height and perfect shape.  It was a toe and nose numbing experience...but once the right tree was finally found we cut it down and dragged it back to our car and tied it on top and away we went...hoping it would actually fit inside the house!

This fuzzy picture below is an example of one of those special Christmas trees...That tree you see standing in the background behind my hubby and our three sons on Christmas morning in Ohio many years ago...that tree was originally about 20 feet tall, and we cut off the top 10 feet of it for our tree! We had 10' tall ceilings in that old house, and I was determined to find a tree to reach the top even if we had to cut down a whole big tree, which we did...probably much to the chagrin of the tree owner...but he actually didn't mind and was happy for us to have it.  You can see it helped make our Christmas merry and bright!

If you want to hear the whole story of that Christmas, you can read about it HERE, "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas".

Here's a link to a more recent search for the "perfect Christmas Tree"

And another link to see that tree actually in the house...it's a happy ending...LOL.

So December also is the beginning of Advent, the four weeks leading up to Christmas, the Advent of our Lord.  It's not just about Christmas trees and gifts and shopping and baking and all of the "fun stuff", but it's about the most special gift ever...the "Gift" of God's "only begotten Son", sent to us with love from God the Father.

And that perfect gift was sent to us so that we might have peace...

Yes, in the world we do have much tribulation, but we can be of good cheer, because Christ has overcome the world, and through Him we too are overcomers! Praise God for this amazing gift...free to all who will accept it.

I continue on with the pictures from my December calendars...this one is on the Teapot Calendar:

I wonder how often we have felt "relieved by a summons to tea"...or dinner or a call to come away from whatever we are doing that may or may not be so pleasant to come to that which gives us a time of rest and refreshment.  I know that during the busy times of this month it might be a nice idea to take some breaks and enjoy a little tea time either by yourself or with a friend...it can certainly refresh our spirits and help us keep things in perspective...

I haven't done much decorating yet, but here's what I've managed so far...

I love this little "Recipe for a Happy Christmas"~

I love those happy thoughts, don't you?

And what a thought provoking "thought for the day" this is:

I like this idea...yes, we need to laugh often and sweetly...and "radiate widely your pleasure and health."

I think that goes along nicely with the idea of the verse I shared recently 

"The Joy of the Lord is your strength."  Nehemiah 8:10.

When we know the Lord His joy bubbles up from within us and radiates out to everyone we meet.

That should be our goal for this season of "comfort and joy".  

God rest ye merry gentlemen Let nothing you dismay Remember Christ our Savior Was born on Christmas Day To save us all from Satan's pow'r When we were gone astray Oh tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy Oh tidings of comfort and joy In Bethlehem, in Jewry This blessed Babe was born And laid within a manger Upon this blessed morn The which His Mother Mary Did nothing take in scorn Oh tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy Oh tidings of comfort and joy From God our Heavenly Father A blessed Angel came, And unto certain Shepherds Brought tidings of the same, How that in Bethlehem was born The Son of God by name. Oh tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy Oh tidings of comfort and joy

 Have a blessed December/Advent/Preparation for the Advent of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord!

Tuesday 4 O Christmas Tree

 Tuesday 4

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ O Christmas Tree. ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬


Tuesday 4 wishes you a very Merry Christmas and a Chanukah Sameach. (Happy Hanukkah)

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4..

Let's talk about Christmas this week.

1. Martin Luther is credited with the beginning of the Christmas tree but even older tradition says it is the representation of the Tree of Life.. a fruit bearing evergreen. What does your tree look like this year. Would you post a photo or describe it for us?

Our tree is a collection of many precious memories of Christmases in the past. There are so many different ornaments on there that have been collected throughout the 53 years of our marriage that I can't even begin to describe them all. They each have a story to tell, and I've shared pictures in the past of various ones.  And then, as you already know, the past few years we reinstated the tradition of putting the train and village under the tree that our boys had when they were little. It holds many memories as well.

 
2. What other Christmas decorations are up around your house? Which rooms get them?

I just wrote about this a few days ago HERE, in this post of Christmas Vignettes.  Mostly our living room/dining room combo and the kitchen get the decorations. I might scatter a few other little things here and there, like special Christmas towels in the guest bathroom, or something different in the guest bedroom, but this year I haven't really done that yet. The guest bedroom usually becomes gift wrapping central, and so packages get put in there to await their turn to be wrapped...but right now I'm so far behind there aren't even any packages waiting to be wrapped.  It will happen, but I'm moving slower than usual this year. That flu bug set me back a couple of weeks. (at least I have an excuse this year! LOL). 

  Now, yesterday I told you about a lovely gift I received from my sister in law, to be used as a decoration right now.  And then today we were surprised to receive not one but two packages via UPS from LLBean! I was not expecting anything as I know I had not ordered anything from them, but when I smelled the boxes I knew right away what they were, and the boxes actually said they were perishable and to open right away, and so I did, and this is what they were:

Beautiful fresh spruce fir centerpieces sent to us from our dear daughter in law and grandson and his fiance' in Maine!!  One centerpiece is intended for our son Benton and wife Rose, and the other is for us. We get to pick which one we want. I will let Benton and Rose choose first when they come over to see them. I am just tickled pink over this as we don't get to smell that fresh piney scent here with an artificial tree, and to know these came all the way fresh from Maine, where our family lives, (and where we once lived too) makes them extra special indeed.

They even came equipped with the candles...the red one is a battery operated candle, and the white tapers are real candles, which I love to use.  Anyway, I will be delighted with either one...they are both so beautiful! Such a thoughtful gift.  (P.S. Benton came over and picked out the one with the white candles. Rose was at work, so she didn't have a say in the matter, but I am certain she will be pleased either way.)

3. Do the people in your neighborhood decorate their homes for Christmas? Does your town?

Yes, I am noticing more and lights going up around our community. We haven't gone out yet for a ride to see them all, but will do so sometime before Christmas.  Our town has decorated the town hall and the Red Caboose at the park. I just talked hubby into taking a quick ride into town to see those lights. Here they are:

I thought the lights would be a little better at the caboose, but it is what it is. Small town U.S.A.

A Christmas tree in the caboose park, and Santa and his reindeer across the street at the town hall.

Around the block we saw this house decorated and decided to drive by. I guess I was in motion when I snapped this picture, but it's kind of cool:

Same with this one:

But here is what it really looked like:

Pretty nice!  We didn't go out and about looking any further tonight. Maybe later this week we will drive through some residential areas and see more lights.

4. How hospitable are you during the holidays? Could you improve or are your hands full enough this time of year?

In years past we did a lot more entertaining than we do now. When my husband was an active minister we would have Christmas parties at our house at least two different nights in December or two different weekends so that the people of the church could come. They would sign up for which night they wanted to come since space was limited. It was usually a pot luck finger food kind of party, and we would have a White Elephant Gift exchange, which was always fun. At our last house before this one we had a lot more space for entertaining, and I was in better shape for doing more, so we would host big family/friend dinners during the holidays.  Now we are more limited in space and energy, so we don't do so much as before. I miss having a lot of people over, however, and now that we finished the floors I would love to invite some people over while the house is still decorated. I just need to take the plunge and schedule it.  Although my spirit is willing, my flesh is weak. It seems a shame to do all this decorating and have no one come to enjoy it!  But we do enjoy it ourselves...I love the lights and love to light up every corner of the house.  It reminds us that "Jesus is the Light of the World"...and that is a big reason why we celebrate Christmas with so many lights! 

 

"Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, 

“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, 

but have the light of life.”

John 8:12

As a side note, I wanted to include this link HERE, to a previous post written in 2019, in honor and memory of our friend Toni Taddeo, who left this world for heaven's glory on December 14, 2019.  There is one of her precious poems included there, written just one day before she died.  I think you will have a better understanding of why we do this Tuesday 4 Meme in memory of Toni when you read that.  Our thanks to Annie at Cottage by the Sea, who puts these questions together each week, carrying on Toni's legacy for us here in blogland.  This is definitely more than just an online group of people answering random questions...we are a kind of family with a special bond of blessing.  So glad to be a part of this family.  

So now let's go over to the Tuesday 4 linkup and see who else has something to share today!  Thank you for joining in!

Tuesday 4: Christmas!

 Good Morning Everyone, and Merry Christmas! 4 more days! Are you ready?  Today I will be wrapping, wrapping, wrapping! I hope my arm and back and body holds out!! Hubby said he'd help...

Anyway, today's Tuesday 4 topic is about Christmas, and I feel like I've talked a LOT about Christmas already in so many posts, but still there are questions here that "enquiring minds want to know" about.    However, first things first...Last night over at The Adventures of Lily Grace we wrote about the Angels that are everywhere and the important part they played in announcing the birth of Jesus, the Messiah!  I hope you will go check it out, because Lily Grace sure enjoyed learning all about the angels.

Here's just one of the pictures of Lily discovering the many angels on our Christmas tree and around the house:

So without further adieu, Let's discuss Christmas!

Christmas at Tuesday 4

Welcome Friends.. to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.

1. Is your tree up? How tall... what color lights? Is there a color scheme you use?

I already talked quite a bit about our current Christmas tree HERE, in The Christmas Tree Saga, a couple of weeks ago.  Here's the most recent picture of our tree, taken just a minute ago:

This tree is 7' tall, is about 20 years old, the lights are all clear, and no, there is no particular color scheme. Sometimes I put gold ribbons all over it, but didn't do it this year. There are many angel ornaments and mostly an assortment of ornaments that we have collected over 52 years of marriage. No particular theme...just a lot of love and happy memories. One of the most notable and valuable ornaments we have is this one:

Yes, that is a walnut shell, with glitter on it.  I made several of these beautiful ornaments (!) for our very first Christmas together, 52 years ago.  This is the only one that has survived all these years, and it has a prominent place on our tree every year. Hey! We were poor college student newlyweds! What do you expect?  I love it. It is a symbol of our humble beginnings, and probably tells a bit about our personalities too...just a bit "nutty". LOL.

2. Got a menu for Christmas Eve and Day?

 

We don't do anything special for dinner on Christmas Eve. We go to church for a candlelight service and sing some beautiful Christmas carols, always ending with "Silent Night". Then we come home and most likely either I finish up baking or prep for Christmas day dinner, or just relax and get ready for "Santa" to arrive.  Our menu this year for Christmas day is a family favorite recipe handed down from my paternal Grandma. I've talked about it before. Here's the recipe and how to make it. Our sweet Daughter in Love will be creating and baking this for us again this year. She has added sausage to the recipe and that spices it up a little and gives it more flavor. I will be making scalloped potatoes, perhaps also a sweet potato casserole, and some other vegetables, haven't decided which yet. We will have pies and cookies for dessert I'm sure.  It's just going to be our immediate family on Christmas day. On Sunday, the day after Christmas, my sister and her family are traveling up to be with us after church. We are going to meet at our favorite BBQ restaurant and then come back to our house for our annual "White Elephant Gift" exchange.  It's always a lot of fun.

  
3. When does it go up and how long does it stay up?

I assume we are still talking about the Christmas tree here?  Well, ours went up the first week of December. It took a few days to get it finished.  (see that story I linked in #1 question) It will probably stay up until after New Year's Day.  My family tradition growing up was to leave it up until January 6th, which was my Mother's birthday. She always said that was her family's tradition too, and we always just assumed it was because of her birthday.  However, later in life I realized that day was also "Epiphany" Click HERE for a link to more about that., the day set aside to acknowledge the gifts of the Magi,  or Wise Men, after their long journey following the Star of Bethlehem to worship the newborn King.  It's a very important story in the early life of Christ...read Matthew chapter 2 for more on this!  Anyway, back to the original  question...usually I take down the tree when I am ready to clean up and make more space in the living room again...whenever the mood hits me...but most likely not until sometime that first week of January.

4. What is your favorite Christmas memory. When do you open your gifts?

I wrote about some happy Christmas memories in this post not long ago, complete with pictures.

I have so many happy memories of Christmas...it's always been very special to us. It would be difficult to really come up with a favorite.  Here's one from our early years as a family with our own little boys.  It tells about a Christmas that started out a bit disappointing, but ended up teaching me a valuable lesson, and it has a happy ending.

When do we open our gifts?  Usually on Christmas morning, when everyone is together. We take turns each opening one gift at a time so everyone can see and each gift is fully appreciated. 

But the greatest gift of all was opened for us over 2000 years ago, when Jesus was born in a lowly stable, the Son of God, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Luke chapter 2 tells the wonderful story about this marvelous gift!!

The greatest Gift, Jesus the Savior is born!

I hope your Christmas holiday is merry and bright!
Thank you for helping to make Toni's Tuesday 4 a success.

Little Christmas Joys

Little by little, it is beginning to look and feel more like Christmas around our home.

I found those cute snowman plates at the Dollar General, and even though they are plastic, they are cute and make a fun little lunch or salad plate to use through the holidays, as well as adding a whimsical happy face to my kitchen display.

I decided to make this area a hot chocolate section, although my beverage of choice is  Hot Ovaltine, the original malt chocolate flavor.  

I know I already shared these two photos on Facebook, and visions of

"A Christmas Story" and the Ovaltine Secret Decoder ring came to mind for some of our friends...(excuse the naughty word if you watch this video)

"Be sure to drink your Ovaltine!"

Ha Ha, a little levity to brighten our morning...

Now, please excuse the messy look around this tree, but have to tell you this was the most beautiful sight I've seen in a long while...I've been struggling to get our Christmas tree put up, and somehow I pulled some muscles in my neck and shoulder in the process, and every reach and stretch became a painful chore. I managed to get the tree put together (ours is an older variety...you have to physically insert each branch into the trunk and fluff them out. No one else will do it but me. I'm thinking about watching for an end of the season sale this year and getting one of those new ones that just open up and have the lights on already and everything...but for now we still do it this way) 

So anyway, I managed to get it put together, but had no time or energy left to put the lights on the tree. (Saturday afternoon.)  So the tree sat there dark and dreary.

When we came home from church on Sunday, we opened the front door and stepped into the house and our son Scott jumped out from the kitchen and said, "Merry Christmas!" And that is when I realized the lights were on the tree! I literally stood there and cried, I was so happy.  Scott works at a golf course doing lawn maintenance and he has to work most weekends as well as the week, but on the weekend he mostly just does touch up work on the greens and then comes home, so he had gotten home a little earlier than usual and took it upon himself to to put the lights on the tree to surprise me. I was so blessed by this "gift", that I truly was overcome with joyous tears.

So now I could finish the job of decorating the tree, little by little, as the pain in my right side of the neck moved over to the left side and I am having to be careful what I do.  That is why I am also behind in reading your posts, dear friends...I have to limit my time on the computer as that is contributing to the pain...and I apologize for being out of touch...I see there are many good and interesting posts piling up and waiting for me to read...I will try to get caught up today now that I finally got the rest of the tree decorated yesterday:

Now I can begin to concentrate on gifts and baking and other things that make Christmas the most wonderful time of the year!

A little side note here, as I was hanging the ornaments on the our tree, I opened the box that had this particular little ornament inside, and I discovered that somehow his arm had gotten broken off:

And so I glued it back on with some Elmer's Glue (it is a wooden ornament) and then I had to stand there and hold it for a few minutes until it dried. But I didn't mind. You see, this little artist figure belonged to my son Matthew, our beloved son who passed away over six years ago from cancer. And as I stood there holding this precious little figure in my hand, the strains of "Silent Night" began to play on the CD of Christmas music I was listening to while decorating the tree.  So as I stood there, holding this sweet little guy in my hand tightly so his arm could mend, I swayed back and forth to the music, singing softly as the tears rolled down my cheeks, rocking this little guy in my arms and wishing it were my sweet son and that I could have so easily have mended him as I mended this little broken ornament.  But God had other plans for Matthew...plans that I still don't comprehend, but I trust in the One Who created him that His plans are right and good and someday I will understand. And I know that he is totally "mended" now in heaven, and that gives me great peace.

See, he's smiling again! And so was I.

And here he is on the tree, good as new.

My mother had given our boys these ornaments when they were young, and each one represented what they liked to do at that time in their lives. Yes, Matthew was an artist. He loved to draw and paint and was very creative. So that ornament was perfect for him.

Our son Scott at that time was playing soccer, and so his ornament was a soccer player:

And our oldest son Benton at that time was a football player, and so here you see his special ornament:

Do you have special ornaments that have particular meaning for you? I love to think about each and every ornament when I put it on the tree, and try to remember where it came from and who gave it to me. Many ornaments were gifts through the years from all the different places we lived.

Some speak for themselves

When we moved back to Florida, I have a dear friend who loves to "gift" me with pink flamingoes at the most interesting times and places, and so it stands to reason that she would also give me pink flamingo Christmas ornaments:

After my mother passed away, I started looking for special little angel ornaments playing a violin, because my mother loved to play the violin. She wasn't what you would consider an "accomplished" violinist, but it was something she always wanted to do.  I like to envision her playing the violin in heaven in God's magnificent orchestra:

These two birthstone angel ornaments represent my parents with their respective birthstones:

My sister likes to think of me as a little angel I guess, as she gave me this ornament:

Funny, she never thought that about me when we were growing up! LOL.

This cute pig ornament actually came from my husband's cousin Janice's home after she passed away a couple of years ago very unexpectedly.  We were helping my brother in law clean out her house and this was something I saw that I wanted to remember Janice by, as she collected pig decor items, so this ornament now hangs on our tree in loving memory of Janice:

This cute little vintage choir boy bell ornament was a gift to me from my Grandma Mursch when I was a little girl. So it is probably the oldest ornament I have:

And last, but not least, I discovered a note tucked in the bottom of this angel ornament when I was getting ready to hang it on the tree.  I didn't realize it was there before. My husband had written a note that says this ornament was a Christmas gift from his mother, "Nanny", when she was 90 years old. Somehow I had forgotten that. Nanny lived to be 95, but I am sure this was probably one of the last things she gave us for Christmas as she wasn't able to shop or give gifts much after that, even though she did live with us a good bit of the time and was a gift to us in many other ways.

So this was a special little angel to hang on the tree and made us smile as we thought of Nanny:

I guess this is why I have to put up a tree every year and pull out all the boxes filled with so many different old ornaments. There are many many more, but I won't bore you with all the stories.

To me they aren't boring at all, but are loving reminders of the people they represent and the places we've been, and the love that we've been shown throughout the 51 years of our marriage.

Oops! That thought triggered one last photo:

This humble walnut ornament hanging on our tree is a reminder of our very first Christmas together as man and wife.  We didn't have much money for ornaments and things as hubby was still in college and I was working at a low paying job just so we could survive, but we were very very happy.  I decided to be a little creative and so I made some ornaments out of walnut shells. (We ate the nuts first). I glued the shell back together with a little wire coming up out of it for a hanger, and glued glitter on them, and hung them on our first little Christmas tree.  Only this one has survived all these 51 years, and so it is a real treasure! 

I will close with a scripture reading from our devotions this morning:

Luke 1:37

"For with God nothing will be impossible."

Remember that when you feel you are up against the struggle of life in this season.

Enjoy your little Christmas joys!

For previous posts about Christmas JOYs and special ornaments, Click HERE

I have also linked with Sandi over at Rose Chintz Cottage for your Christmas "No Place Like Home" Party this week!  Please go visit and check out the other members of the party!