Merry Christmas!

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks

And you thought my last few posts were short?  Watch this... all done!

This one is a poster available here.

With Wondering Awe

Here is my homage to the carol about the wise men.  I guess I could do "We Three Kings" since I remember my brothers and boy cousins singing it every year at my mother's family's annual Christmas nativity production while they shuffle in with aluminum-foil crowns and holding my mother's fancy vase she got in Europe.  I was Mary for a long time, since I was one of very few grand-daughters.  I grew up with 23 boys on that side of the family, but I only had 6 cousins of the feminine persuasion. I do admit to being a little bit miffed when the next girl cousin got old enough for her turn as Mary.  I thought I should continue in a role where I did so well.  Besides, I was too big for the angel choir.  Wasn't I?

Kimberly sells this lovely green printable over at etsy.

Hark, Harold!

As a kid, I always clalled this carol, "Hark, Harold!"  ...and unfortunately I've never quite gotten over it.  So hey, Harold, and everyone else, listen up!  Because the angels are singing.  They really did, and I believe they still do.

Thanks to The Moody Side of Life for this lovely red rendition.

If yellow is more your thing, try this one from Club Narwhal:

Yeah, the carol posts are getting shorter.  Deal with it.  I'm busy Christmasing with my family!  :-)

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

The twins love for me to tell the story of the nativity.  For the last few weeks, they beg me to tell (over and over again) the story of the angels and shepherds.  Lately however, they are stuck on the King Herod aspect.  Ha!  I found this little printable for the whole scene, and I think I'll print it out for them to color and play with.  I'm even tempted to glue the figures onto wooden blocks so they are a little more than a "one-day-toy" if you know what I mean, mothers.

Oh Bethlehem.  What a lovely little story.  I hope we can keep our lights shining in the dark streets of our time.

Thanks to Gina for the printable!  Also, click over to Truth in Tinsel for a nice little discussion on this carol.

Happy Anniversary to Me

21 years since Jay and I got married.  I am celebrating the day by I am not celebrating.  I just don't feel like it today.  I've been missing him in a bad way.  Sometimes I just wonder if it will ever get any easier, or if the tears will stop coming.  And sometimes I don't care.

We will have a family birthday party on Saturday, though, with white grape juice and pizza on our fancy dishes.  And maybe, if I'm feeling festive by then, I'll even make Jay's cheesecake.  Maybe.

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

I didn't know that this carol had five verses.  I've only been familiar with three: 1, 2, and 5 here.  Verses 3 and 4 are not as cheerful, but I think we can all relate to feeling "life's crushing load."

It came upon the midnight clear,

That glorious song of old,

From angels bending near the earth,

To touch their harps of gold;

“Peace on the earth, good will to men,

From Heaven’s all gracious King.”

The world in solemn stillness lay,

To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come

With peaceful wings unfurled,

And still their heavenly music floats

O’er all the weary world;

Above its sad and lowly plains,

They bend on hovering wing,

And ever over its Babel sounds

The blessèd angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long;

Beneath the angel strain have rolled

Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not

The love-song which they bring;

O hush the noise, ye men of strife

And hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,

Whose forms are bending low,

Who toil along the climbing way

With painful steps and slow,

Look now! for glad and golden hours

Come swiftly on the wing.

O rest beside the weary road,

And hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on,

By prophet-bards foretold,

When with the ever circling years

Comes round the age of gold;

When peace shall over all the earth

Its ancient splendors fling,

And the whole world send back the song

Which now the angels sing.

The references to "angels bending near the earth" remind me of my mom.  I'm sure she is "bending near" us as much as she can, and that thought is certainly comforting to me.  And she'd be playing a "harp of gold" too - she always wanted to learn the harp!  Harp or no, I hope that we can one day "send back the song" that we hear from Heaven.

You can get this wall art here.