Hark the herald Angels sing..

Glory to the newborn King!

Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

What beautiful words!  

Merry Christmas everyone 

and may we all never forget the real reason

for the season!

CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS

I can't believe we are in November (mid-way no doubt)

and so close to Christmas.

Since I have some time on my hands right now

I have been busy making some gifts

I will give you a little preview here of what I have been doing:

hint:

I love making Christmas ornaments 

I also have about 5 gifts wrapped

Have you started your Christmas preparations yet?  

Only 40 days, 10 hours, and 52 minutes left to go!

With the economy so tough

and just how hard things are anymore, 

it is nice to have something so special

to look forward to

remember that Jesus is the reason for the season!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING

49 Days Away!

The stockings-

A tradition beginning in a European country originally, 

children simply used one of their everyday socks, 

but eventually special Christmas stockings 

were created for this purpose

The Christmas Tree-

decorated real or artificial, and 

a Christmas tradition

The Door Wreath-

Christmas decorations 

symbolizing the coming of Christ, 

aka the Advent season in Christianity

The Snowman-

They are customarily built by children

as part of a family project in celebration of winter

____________________________________________________

Some of my Christmas memories:

We grew up in a Swedish family

and celebrated Christmas Eve with a 

large family gathering and the 

exchanging of family gifts

after we ate dinner

The dinner sometimes consisted of

a Swedish Smorgasbord

My grandmother would say the 

blessing in Swedish.

As kids we never really knew what

she was saying, but boy did she say it well!

There was corn pudding, Swedish meatballs,

lutfisk - fish in a jar (yuck), limpa bread with lingonberry jam,

dates rolled in powered sugar, bread pudding,

scalloped potatoes and chicken,

sauerkraut, and other family favorites

One of my mom's favorite sayings

was: "But we have to feed the people"

With 6 kids in our family

we had a massive amount of

gifts under our tree

The youngest kid usually

was appointed "Santa"

to pass out all the gifts to everyone else

Some of us other kids would usually

get up and help Santa

Christmas morning found our gifts from 

Santa under the Christmas tree.

I remember so clearly the little hand written

signs with black marker with our names

on them. They were large signs and were

placed in front of our "pile" of gifts from Santa

(Of course it was my dad's writing on those signs)

Santa never wrapped up gifts for our house

(our parents were too pooped after 

wrapping all the family gifts that 

were handed out on Christmas Eve).

Christmas day would be a little 

bit slower paced and end with 

a nice ham dinner

________________________________________

Are you ready for Christmas?

What are some of your family traditions?

remember:Jesus is the reason for the season

LEARNING TO PLAY

It is a paradox of creative recovery

that we must get serious about

taking outselves lightly.

We must work at learning 

to play

                                                  -Julia Cameron

This is a picture of my dear nephew about 14 years ago. 

What a treasure he is!

I am linking to:

My Cup Runneth Over

 Meaning: 

I have more than enough for my needs.

:

Hope

Abundance

 You prepare a table before me 

   in the presence of my enemies. 

You anoint my head with oil; 

   my cup overflows.
-Psalm 23:5 (NIV)

My cup runneth over.

I have received so many benefits that I 

cannot contain them all.
                                                                                                                                       
(Said when you feel overcome because many good 
things have happened to you.)   
This week my husband was able to take a week vacation and we spent 

more time together, we had unexpected money in the bank, 

my knee has not been bothering me, etc

but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. 

Indeed, the water I give them will become 

in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:14 (NIV)

LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; 

you make my lot secure.
-Psalm 16:5 (NIV)


When life seems to be closing in on you;
When people hurt you;
When your health starts wearing you down;
When your finances are not as abundant as you'd like;
When you are sad;
When you are just plain lonely;
or for whatever reason you may have
Reach out to God
Only God can provide for your needs
Only God can fill your cup to overflowing
Only God !


To see some really neat-o "pinkies" click on the following link: 



For some very special posts, please click on the following link:

Sweet 16 birthday cards

A little over 16 years ago

my sister in law had triplet girls

Can you imagine 3 babies at the same time?

For their sweet 16th birthday

I made them each cards

These 3 nieces of mine

are just about as sweet as can be

Unfortunately I was late

with their greetings

So the Happy Sweet 16th birthday cards

were also belated birthday cards

These cards were 

easy as pie to make:

A few years ago I found the blank cards

with envelopes at The Dollar Tree

I think I got a package of 6

What a deal!

I printed the wordage from the computer 

on nice paper

cut out and glue sticked to the cards

then I added these cute little frames

and put cupcake stickers in them

Did you have a sweet 16 birthday?

I remember my mom hanging sugar cubes

 from the chandelier

 for my older sister's sweet 16 party.

I am linking to:

 

http://www.thethriftyhome.com/

Look Ma, no hands !

My dad as a child

It looks like he is ready to roll

Oh, to be a child again!

I am linking to:

SHE'S A LADY

I have been thinking about my grandmother lately

You would have loved her

First of all

She was a real lady and

 oh..

so beautiful

I really love this photo of her

Interesting how they used color to touch up photos 

back in the day..

I remember spending many nights at her house

when I was a child

I loved gazing into her linen closet

So many lacy tablecloths and

other beautiful, vintage linens

And her costume jewelry

What dazzling eye candy that was..

How about you-

what do you remember most

about your grandma?

I am linking this post to:

Sepia Saturday

for more interesting photos please click on the following link:

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2011/06/sepia-saturday-78-saturday-11-june-2011.html

Happy Mother's Day Mom

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM

We miss you !

"Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her:"
Proverbs 31:28 (NLT)

Linking to:

For more fun olde timey photos, please click on the link above

Sweet !

My grandmother as a child

Isn't she sweet?

How about that cutie pie dog.. what a proud looking little guy he is!

For more outstanding photos and posts please click on the link below:

GREAT AUNT MABEL

My Great Aunt Mabel

Found in the family photos


I love her hat, purse and outfit
but so glad we don't have to dress
like that anymore. Just does not look
very comfortable,does it?

For more interesting time travel

photos and posts please click on:

Dakota

Just one of my cherished treasures:

Dakota

Sweet as pie

They don't get much better than him!

To see other's cherished

treasures please click on the following link:

FIT FOR A KING

This is my great coworker Jamie

She just graduated from cake decorating class

and this is her graduation cake

Just look at this beauty of a cake

How incredible is the detail on this basketweave?.

VERY INCREDIBLE INDEED!

And the dazzling flowers..

What a sight to behold!

She is so artistic and talented

With great attention to detail

A few weeks ago I learned that I am losing

my position at work due to a major Reduction in Force

Jamie said she was going to really miss me

and wanted me to have this cake

Shocked doesn't even begin to describe

how I felt when she gave me the cake

I was touched beyond measure

This is one cake that is fit for a king!

Thanks Jamie

I am really going to miss you too!

and I thank you again

and again and

again and

again!

P.S. This is beyond doubt,

the most delicious cake I have 

probably ever tasted

))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

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