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!

 

Thankful Thursday and Friday Foto Friends

I seem to be combining these two days more often these days! I haven't been taking many pictures this week as it has been rather busy, but a few things have gotten my attention and so I thought I would share them with you.  BTW, I've been enjoying reading everyone else's posts this week about your Christmas and also your thoughts and plans for the New Year. I can't believe it's already here...when we were kids did you ever imagine that we would be living to see the year 2023? Wow! Time sure flies when you are  having so much "fun"!  

Speaking of time, this year seems to be a year for calendars! Everyone in the family seems to be getting them...and maybe not just one or two!  I believe this year we may have enough calendars for every room of the house!  But I am not complaining! I LOVE calendars, especially pretty and interesting ones. I want to share one sweet little one I received as a gift from a dear friend:

The 2023 "Heart of the Home" Calendar by Susan Branch.  I love her artistry throughout the pages, with lots of cute quotes and ideas interspersed throughout the months. I can't wait to see what each month will bring.

For January there are some thoughts about "How to write a Diary".  Now, most of us probably don't keep a "diary" of sorts anymore like we did as young girls, where we wrote our innermost secrets and thoughts about cute boys and stuff like that...but for us grown up girls we are kind of writing our diaries right here in our blogs!  Definitely no secrets here...these are open to the whole world, so we need to use discretion about what and how we say things, but I enjoy the fact that we are actually sharing our thoughts with other sympathetic and caring and encouraging friends.  We have a bond that seems to grow day by day as we get to know each other on a more personal level through our writing. 

Many of us may still keep a written journal that is private and personal...I used to before I started blogging so much, but my handwriting is so bad these days that it is difficult for me to do a lot of "real writing", so my computer aided blog posts are really the only journaling I am doing anymore.

The little quote at the bottom of the page above says,  

"Reserve your memories, keep them well, what you forget you can never retell." 

Louisa May Alcott

Good advice!  I am thankful for this way of reserving our memories. I just need to print them off now and then so they won't be lost when this computer technology is gone (or I am no longer around to share them).

That same dear friend who sent me the little calendar also sent me a bag of whole pecans, straight from her very own pecan trees!  What a delight and blessing that is!

She even included a nutcracker set to crack them with!

My cup overflows with joy and love and thankfulness!

And speaking of pecans, another dear friend from church gave us this lovely jar of "Cranberry Pecan Muffin Mix"!

What a wonderful idea and sweet gift!  I haven't tried them yet, but may do so this weekend. 

So thankful for thoughtful people who are also so creative!!

What a neat gift idea!!

Now here is something I love:   This little picture ornament was created by one of our vendors at Dixie Cottage. I had my eye on it for the past several weeks, wanting to buy it, but also wanting to give other people a chance to buy it first. I have to be careful or I will be bringing home something from there every day!  Anyway, I was surprised that no one purchased this before Christmas, and knowing that this particular vendor would be coming to take home her Christmas items that had not sold soon, I decided to give myself a little gift. It wasn't expensive, and something about this picture just really spoke to me.

When our boys were young and we lived up north, we often went to tree farms and cut our own Christmas trees. It was often quite a long, cold experience, as I had to check out every tree available before making a decision of which one to cut.  The boys would run around and say, "how about this one, Mommy?"  And I would inspect it and look at all sides and so many had bare spots here and there and I would say, "Let's keep looking!".  Hubby was somewhat patient, but after a while his feet were getting numb and the kids were getting tired, and everyone would say, "Just pick a tree so we can go home!" LOL.  By then we usually had looked at every one, and I had to narrow it down to the final choice, and hubby would cut it and we'd happily drag it up to the man to help tie it on our car and away we'd go! And of course the trees were always perfect when we got them home to decorate! (well, maybe not really perfect, but good enough to be beautiful and make us all happy).

Precious memories.

One last photo...the Christmas Cactus that just keeps on reviving every year and putting on its beautiful dress for us to enjoy!  (Click on this link for a little story about this cactus)

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and comments on my last post.  I had mentioned about having some back spasms, etc., and I wanted to tell you that I had an already scheduled Dr. appointment on Tuesday as a follow up to last week's labs.  I told him about my back and shoulder/arm issues, and he prescribed an x-ray for me, which I had on Wednesday. I won't get the results for a little while, unless he calls me when he gets them. He suspects that I have a pinched nerve. Not sure an x-ray will show much, but insurance requires the least expensive kind of tests first before going for the big ones like an MRI or CT Scan, so we will see what develops,  I have a history of slipped discs and spinal issues and surgeries, so we shall see what happens.   Stress causes these things to flare up, and then it just kind of goes downhill from there. Praying it will be an easy fix and no more surgery. It hurts the most during the night, so I'm not sleeping well, but during the day it isn't quite as bad. I told my hubby if I could just learn to sleep standing up I might be okay. LOL.  It's better to stay active and keep moving and not give in to this thing. (sometimes easier said than done).  But I am thankful it isn't something worse. 

Oh, I am still waiting for the Lord to show me what my "One Word" for 2023 is going to be. Time is running out, but I know He will show me on time. I just have to "listen" for His voice.  (I don't want to use the word listen, because I saw someone else had that word already...but then again, it does keep showing up in my thoughts...we'll see what happens...stay tuned).

"My flesh and my heart fail;

But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." 

Psalm 73:26