EMMANUEL

God with us.

He has come.

On that night in history, the human being who best understood who God is and what he was doing was a teenage girl in a smelly stable .

She ponders. "How long was your journey!"

"From the beginning was the Word"

This baby had overlooked the universe. "And The Word became flesh and dwelt among us"

He was sent that we might have our sins forgiven, joy in our living and be offered the gift of eternal life in heaven. "For God so loved you..."

SAD NEWS

Mowser was hit by a car yesterday afternoon.
He was killed instantly.
It happened right in front of the house, and my neighbor Gina was the first to see it.
She called our neighbor Jerry and he came and picked him up in a towel and then came and told me.
Mowser was a nice cat and I will miss him; but he wanted to be outside.
When I left yesterday morning for some errands he was snuggled in his bed in the garage and looked up at me as I backed out, and then went back to sleep.
When I came home, he wanted to come inside for a little while, but soon was at the back door wanting to go out again.
I am so glad that Jerry was home...I don't know how I would have handled the situation.
Good neighbors are a blessing.

WHAT A DEAL!

I didn't see anyone, but there must have been some takers, because the snow is almost all gone!

TFT: "Cats must be smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow!" Anonymous, ( but probably a lover of cats!)

ALWAYS WELCOME

Came to enjoy the apple hanging on the "critter tree".

TFT: "Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." Norman Vincent Peale

ONE MORNING LAST WEEK

"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring; renewed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king. "
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Ring

JENNIE & ME AT THE GARDEN EXPRESS

This year the theme is WILDERNESS ESCAPE featuring the lodges of the great northwest.











The centerpiece of the display is a replica of the Yellowstone National Park's Old Faithful Inn and the Old Faithful Geyser.


The trains and the settings are simply wonderul.









I don't know which is the most fun to watch, the incredible display or the children.

TFT: Please don't get so busy that you miss the wonders of the season.

COOKIE EXCHANGE

Experienced my first cookie exchange last Saturday evening.

It also included an incredible dining experience worthy of any 5 star restaurant!
Our gracious hostess, Michele
The lovely table awaiting our dining pleasure.
A sample of the cookies we got to take home!

It was a grand time.


TFT: I feel so very blessed and humbled by the wonderful friendship that has been shown to me ever since I moved to my home on The Hill. God is good.

CHRISTMAS TABLE

Ready for more company.

One of the best things about this time of the year, is having folks over.

TFT: "Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart." Washington Irving

BAKING COMPLETED

Over 100 dozen cookies and candy are packed away safely for the "Tea Party" next week and for gift giving during Christmas Holidays.

These were the final batch as they used up all the remaining butter, cream chesse, powdered sugar, chopped nuts, shredded coconut, chocolate chips etc.

Come over and have one.....

TFT: I don't know who it was to start the tradition of Christmas Cookies and Candy, but whoever it was, "thanks to you!".

AN EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Took this thru the screen door.

Quite some time ago, when I was at Curt and Sharon's home I saw a downey woodpecker, and remarked that I haven't had one of them in my backyard since I moved here.

Curt quietly assured me that I would one day.

He was much more confident than I; so a few days ago, when I got a quick glimpse of this one pecking on the old dead stump in my neighbor's yard....I got VERY excited.

Not a very good picture....but it makes me really happy!

TFT: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The Good Book

SUNDAY SCHOOL FRIENDS

We had a soup and salad lunch after church today.

Well, we had a bit of dessert too!

And then a wonderful afternoon of visiting.

TFT: "With God there is always more unfolding, that which we can glimpse of the divine is always exactly enough, and never enough." Kathleen Norris

COOKIE TIME

Having completed all the decorating, I have turned my attention to making cookies.

How I do love this time of the year!



TFT: "A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand!" Anonymous

PEACE ON EARTH

A few years ago, I began collecting cards that portrayed "the lion and the lamb".

It truly is a beautiful symbol of peace on earth, and is a picture of that promised peace in the coming kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate at Christmastime.











TFT: "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him....
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.....

Righteousnes will be his belt, and faithfulness the sash around his waist.



The wolf will live with the lamb,

the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together;

and a liitle child will lead them." Isaiah 11: 1-6

FINISHING TOUCHES

When Michael was rehabbing the house, he put an electrical outlet inside the cupola (skylight) in the kitchen thinking that perhaps I would like to put some twinkling lights up there sometime.

The little lights entertwined in the garland are one of my favorite decorations of the season, and Team Rosenthal does a great job putting it up each year.

TFT: "The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree; the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other." Burton Hills

BREATHTAKING

Yesterday, my neighbor, Jerry called and asked me to come to his house and bring my camera.

The Angel Trumpet which he had brought in out of the cold only a day or two earlier had opened up to several glorious blooms.

TFT: "When you have only two pennies left in the world; buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other." Chinese proverb



"One is strength for the body, the other nourishment for the soul." Me

DECEMBER ROSE

J. M. Barrie has said, "God gave us our memories so that we might have roses in December."



This year God gave me a rose to pick in December.



What a blessing.



TFT: "Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses." Alphonse Kerr