Christmas Ponderings

There is something quite wonderful about sitting in a darkened living room with the glow of the woodstove burning cheerfully in one corner. Add in the glow of a lit Christmas tree standing in the other corner and the contentment is complete. It is blanketed in a beautiful stillness and calm.

I have the house to myself for a bit as my husband is outdoors enjoying that brief slice of day that is captured between daylight and night. The world is hushed. Traffic has slowed on the blacktop past our place and the chickens have gone to bed.

It is the perfect time to really ponder on this Christmas season. The last few days have been jam packed with preparing for the holiday. Shopping, wrapping presents, messaging kids for last minute details, cleaning, baking and wrapping some more presents; have filled the days.

In the midst of that busyness,  this seemed like the ideal time to slow it down a bit and just feel the joy and the hope that is Christmas. This small space of time also gives me a moment to wonder about that night 2000 plus years ago when a baby came into this world.

I always kind of wonder if Mary could really wrap her head around the fact that she had given birth to the Savior of this world. I wonder if she knew what the next 30 some years were going to bring into her life. Did she know of the joy and the pain that she would feel? Did she know; but choose to focus on the joy that night?

How overwhelming would it have been, to be able to see exactly the path her Son would have to travel? Did she have any inkling that the wooden manger that held her Son would be mirrored by that wooden cross that held Him as an adult?  Did she really realize that her Son would be the light of the world?

I have no answer to these questions and probably never will. I do know that I am deeply grateful for the reason we celebrate this Christmas holiday. I know that we were given an incredible gift that night so long ago.

We were given the gift of hope that gets us through so many difficult places in life. Hope that never quits and never gives up. Hope in the great love He has for us.

We were given joy that night. Joy, that had angels praising and shepherds hurrying to leave their sheep just to see what it was all about. This was joy…..not just happiness that comes and goes….but a deep seated Joy that goes hand in hand with Hope.

Sitting here, in the dark, reflecting as I look at my glowing tree I realize that those little twinkly lights are but a tiny reflection of the real beauty and glory that is the Light of the World. Maybe that is why lit Christmas trees are so special.  They are reflections of something greater and something deeper.

My wish for family and friends this season is that you feel the hope and the wonder….that you discover the real joy of this season. I wish that the Light illuminates all the dark places in your life and blazes brightly.

May you be blessed and may you be a blessing to those around you. May you reflect the Light and know the joy of hope.

The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5
New International Version

 

 

 

 

 

Missing Candy Canes

I have been having a senior moment today. Actually it has been the last few days of senior moment-itis. (Yes, I realize that is really not a word or condition….but it should be.)  Yesterday I purchased another box of candy canes.  I say another, because a few weeks ago I also purchased a box.

Every Christmas I put candy canes on the tree so we can snack on one every so often. This year I purchased the initial box before the tree was put up. I wanted to make sure that we did not eat them before the tree went up so I put them in a very “special” place to “keep them safe”.

Unfortunately I put them in a place that was too safe.  It is safe, even from my mind.  It is really, really maddening to not remember where that place is! I asked my husband if he knew where they were.  All I got was a blank look.

He remembered we had purchased them. (that was not helpful).  He remembered they had been put away……somewhere. (Also not helpful).  I did feel some better that he did not know where they were either……some….but not much.

Years ago my sister-in-law and I agreed that our brains could only hold so much information at a time.  When the brain got full some information just needed to be kicked out. I think with the busyness of the season my brain decided the hiding place of candy canes was not important and just deleted that information.

I don’t know if there is a life lesson to be found in my missing candy canes. Maybe it is the fact that life is too short to stress over candy canes? Maybe the lesson is that candy canes are not the focus of Christmas? Perhaps the lesson is patience….those candy canes will show up when the time is right for them to show up.  Maybe they will be found when the grandkids come and are scrounging around in only places grandkids look.

I suspect they will be found when I get the house ready for the kids to come next week for the Christmas holiday.  At least that is what I am hoping for.  If this does not occur I have a feeling they will show up at some odd, random time and be a very nice surprise.

I do wonder if anyone else has problems with this particular issue of putting things away too “safely”. I have a feeling the canes will probably show up when I put some other item in that “very safe place”. At least candy canes are not too perishable….it would have been much worse if the turkey went missing…..

 

As you get older three things happen.
The first is your memory goes, and I can’t remember the other two.

Norman Wisdom

 

 

Hot Chocolate and Cold Wintry Days

Today is a day for staying inside…..if you can. Fortunately, today I can stay inside; other than doing my chicken chores.  The girls do not require too much work at this time, other than feeding, watering, collecting eggs and keeping a path scooped through any snow that falls (they hate walking in snow), .

It sounds like the next few days, in our area, are just going to get colder and colder. The weather people are even telling us it will get to below zero wind chills the rest of this week. I am not looking forward to that at all! I can totally understand why some people flee this area in the winter and head south.

On days that are so cold the best thing you can do is “hunker down”. It is good to have some indoor projects to do on those days. With Christmas on it’s way; it is no problem finding things to do indoors.

The days are much easier to take when you are on the inside of your house looking out the windows. Being outside in this weather is really no fun at all. That wind actually hurts your face if you are out there too long.  Years ago a weatherman reminded us to forego our pierced earrings on those extremely cold days as they would just freeze our earlobes faster because of the metal.

I googled and found out it is only 97 days till Spring!!  Woo Hoo!! I told my husband this and he laughed……he informed me that technically it is not even winter yet.  Nuts…….that means there is still a lot of time for wind chills, ice, snow, snowdrifts, scooping snow, stoking the woodstove, scooping more snow, cold wind chills, scooping more snow…..you get the idea.  That TV program Survivor has nothing on us.

I have a feeling that surviving the winter is what makes the arrival of spring and summer so welcome. I also know that the older I get, it seems like the colder I get. Our folks used to tell us this and we never really believed them. Somewhere along the line they just keep getting wiser and wiser.

To make this season a little more bearable I  usually try to have some Hot Chocolate Mix on hand for the cold days. It is very easy to make and you end up with a large batch.

Hot Chocolate Mix
8 quart box powdered instant  non-fat milk
2 pound box Nestle’s Quik
2 cups powdered sugar
11 ounce powdered coffee creamer
In a large bowl mix all ingredients together.
Store in a covered container
Use 4 teaspoons to a mug of hot water.
(more or less  teaspoons to taste)

Making a batch of this might also be a great gift idea for a teacher, friend or someone you just want to give a little something too.  You could package it with a mug and some mints or marshmallows. I do know it also tastes wonderful with a little mint chocolate piece melted in your cup or if you put marshmallows in it.

There is really something very comforting about curling up in a blanket, sitting in your favorite rocking chair in front of the wood stove, with a cup of this hot chocolate in hand. If you manage to have a good book to go with this; the cold weather is not so hard to take. If you have a friend or your spouse sitting next to you, it is even better.

May the coming winter season treat you kindly and may you find blessings in the waiting for spring to return.

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,
for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:
it is the time for home.”
― Edith Sitwell

(My blogging day mug was a birthday gift this year….pretty cool right?)

 

Chasing the Holidays

I was starting to wonder if I was going to find a time to sit down and write a post for today. The days since the Thanksgiving holiday have been hectic to say the least. I am not totally sure why. Perhaps it is the fact that I said yes to a couple…..too many things?

My brain seems a little disorganized and unsettled.  Anyone else relate to that feeling? I am still not in the “swing” of the Christmas holiday that is fast approaching.  I was too busy enjoying the Thanksgiving one to move on to the next holiday.  I still have fall décor to take down in my home.  Once that is done perhaps I can focus on preparing for Christmas.

I am in awe of those who tell me that they are almost done or are done with their Christmas shopping……I have yet to start!  Fortunately for me, my husband is a man who can take “the list” and help get most of the shopping done in one big day. He approaches shopping with a single-minded vigor.  I am never quite sure how he does that. It might have something to do with the fact that he does not agonize if everything is the perfect gift. He figures it is on the list, so…..good to go. It might also have something to do with the fact that he does not second-guess his decisions!

Maybe if we had a foot of snow on the ground my mind would kick into gear. To be honest, I really don’t want a foot of snow on the ground!  Not yet.  I would like to wait for that to come once my grandkids get here. It is probably good I am not in charge of weather.

Maybe if I attended a couple Christmas programs?  Maybe, just maybe that would help?  Maybe if I would put the decorations up? In all reality I think that perhaps if I would just slow down, take a breath and just be still, that would be the most helpful.

I took a little journey over to the Rabbit Patch this evening and found peace and a beautiful quiet. It hit me then, once my mind had quieted down, that what I needed to appreciate the coming Christmas season wasn’t snow.  I did not need Christmas music. I do not need all the decorations or programs or trees.  I don’t even need to go shopping and fill all those lists.

What I really need to “get” Christmas is some quiet time with Jesus. I realized I have not been spending time during these busy days talking to the One who created me. I have not been enjoying conversations with the one was born that starlit night in Bethlehem.

How I thought I could get into the Christmas spirit, without taking time to acknowledge the one who came to earth that night, is beyond me.  I should have known better. I should have remembered that my days are more ordered and my mind more settled when I have taken the time to “be still and know” who is God.

My wish for all of you this busy holiday season is quiet. Not a huge looming, unsettling quiet, but the kind of quiet that seeps into your soul like water into dry dusty ground. The quiet of a foggy morning that lays thick in the bottom fields and mutes the sound. The kind of quiet that slows our pace, stills our hearts and soothes our minds. A quiet that is peace.

May your week be blessed and quiet.

 

 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now,
and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.”
Matthew 6:34
The Message