Love Gifts

 

My son's family has created the tradition of letting the children open gifts from their siblings on Christmas Eve.  As I watched them this morning, I was so impressed at the thought that went into each gift.  The baby got a toy that so fits his favorite thing to do that he's been playing far beyond a one-year-old's usual attention span.  The eldest got a huge board from his younger sibs with a saying that fits him so well, we all laughed when he opened it.  It will look great in his college apt.  The only daughter got bling - and she loves it.  The middlest boy is a budding engineer and he got Legos and more Legos and is in heaven.  He also got two little electronic bugs that scoot and scurry all over.  Good thing his dad is an exterminator!  The parents got pencil cups that their daughter made out of recycled cans and crayons.  Believe it or not, they are beautiful.  A lot of love went  into the planning and the giving.

 

It reminded me of a tradition we had when my children were younger.  On Christmas Eve, we had our big turkey dinner and after dinner we would sit by the fire and exchange love gifts.  The gifts had to be thoughtful and created out of love for the recipient.  The year I remember best was the year Beed and Sess learned to sing Beautiful Savior and performed it for my dad, who loves the song.  He sat there with tears dripping off the end of his nose.  I think it was one of the best gifts he ever received.

 

After the gifts, we would read the Christmas story from Luke and Matthew.  One year, when the children were little, they dressed up in bathrobes and towels and acted out the parts.  Then my mom, who was a gifted pianist, played carol after carol as we gathered around the baby grand to sing the songs of the Savior's birth.

 

Love gifts are what Christmas is all about.  After all, it was on Christmas that all humanity received the greatest love gift in eternity and beyond.  For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3: 16)

 

Give love this Christmas.  It's value is above gold.

 

Text © Gebara Education, 2012

 

Picture of Santa and the Chirst Child from Facebook

Advent ~ The 4th Sunday ~ Luke 2

Some of the most beautiful words in the English language:

Luke 2, KJV

 

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

.  .  .

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

 

A beautiful Christmas rendition of For, Unto Us a Child is Born, from Handel's Messiah:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozgz95pot1s

 

Text © Gebara Education, 2012

 

Joseph, Mary, and Jesus from www.philospherjosh.wordpress.com

Shepherds from Facebook, www.mormon.org

Advent candles from www.stteresa-avila.org

The Christmas Card House

 

 

When I was a child growing up in Las Vegas, I used to love to spend Christmas with my grandparents in northern Utah.  It didn't happen every year because my dad was the feature singer at the Thunderbird Hotel and rarely got a Christmas Eve off.  So it was a special treat the year we went to Grandma Corinne's and Grandpa Scotch's house for Christmas.  I was 8 that year and I wanted a Toni doll from Santa. (Are any of you old enough to remember Toni dolls?).  The first thing I did Christmas morning was to wash and "perm" her hair (with sugar water solution) much to my mother's dismay.  The doll never looked the same!

 

We had snow that year and Dad took my brother and I out on a sled.  Dad was the only one who was warm because he was pulling the sled!  He helped us make a snowman - my first.  I appreciated Grandpa's huge coal fire in the fireplace.  It's warmth is one of my fondest memories of that Christmas.  Perhaps the thing I remember most is the love I felt in that home.  Sadly, that house was torn down in 1966 to make room for a big apartment complex.  I grieve its passing as if it were a person.  It was a Christmas Card House.

 

About halfway between Las Vegas and my grandparents' homes is the little town of Beaver, UT.  Just south of Beaver, on the west side of the freeway, is a little white farmhouse with a green roof.  After my grandparents' home was demolished, I began to I call the house in Beaver my Christmas Card House.  It has tall pines around it and in the winter time, it is always surrounded by snow.  I remember it from childhood as being halfway to Grandma's house; halfway to love.  As an adult, I went to graduate school in northern Utah and used to pass my Christmas Card House every time I drove south to visit my folks.  By then, the paint was faded and peeling and I'm not sure my children appreciated my feelings for the house.  They do not share my memories of a simpler time and my grandparents' love. 

 

When I see the above picture, I remember the Christmas Card House and that magical Christmas with my grandparents. The snow, the Christmas lights, the snowman, the pine trees - even the old car - remind me of the love I felt that Christmas.  I want to make those kinds of memories for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  When they grow old, I want them to look back at Christmas at Grandma's house as snow and Christmas lights and good food and a crackling fire.  But mostly, I hope they remember it as time when they traveled all the way to love.

 

Text © Gebara Education, 2012

Trusting God's Promises

 

It's December 21st.  We are here.  When the Lord's prophet tells me to prepare, I prepare.  But I do not worry.  I trust God's promises.  Like this one:

Matthew 24:36

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

 

'Nuff said.

The Spirit of My Childhood Christmas

I like this definition of a good life.  It is true that people are happiest, not when they have what they want but when they want what they have.

 



This picture captures the spirit of Corinne-Bee's House



 

My Grandma Corinne asked little of life, but gave a lot.  Her glass was always half full.  She was an optimist.  She smiled often.  She laughed easily.  She was always up and doing.  She was my very best friend when I was a child.

 

If Grandma woke up to a garage full of manure on Christmas morning, she would have been so excited because she would have known that meant there was a pony somewhere!  I remember her oooohing and aaaahing over a Christmas gift one year and I suspected even then that she didn't have a clue what it was.  But it was given to her by someone she loved and that was enough for her.

 

My Dad inherited a lot of that.  When we were kids, he was the magic in Christmas.  Every year he'd tell us that when we got up, we should go straight into the kitchen for breakfast and then look at what Santa bought.  But there was always that twinkle in his eyes that let us know he was pulling our legs.  I remember the year my brother got an electric train for Christmas.  There was B, barely sitting up and half asleep (I think he was about 1) and Dad was playing with the train.

 

When my kids were little, they loved to go to Grandpa Barney's house for Christmas.  Just as Grandma Corinne was my Christmas icon, Grandpa Barney was theirs.

 

I want to be just like them both when I grow up!

 

Text © Gebara Education, 2012

Poster downloaded from Facebook

A Light in the Darkness

My heart has felt a weight these past few days.  Not for myself, but for another.  I am preparing for Christmas.  I've trimmed the tree, wrapped presents, set up "Santa" under the tree for my great-grandchildren, sent the cards, and I am now baking and making cakes and goodies to take to friends and neighbors.  I am looking forward to spending Christmas with two of my children in the Valley and will see six of my grandchildren.  Then I plan to spend a couple of days with my mom-by-marriage.  A wonderful holiday, wouldn't you say?

 

So why do I feel heavy?  Because God has placed someone on my heart.  I cannot tell you this person's challenges without violating the person's privacy, but I feel those challenges keenly.  I feel the great out-pouring of God's love for this person through me, yet I no longer know how to reach the person.  This person's darkness is beyond being cheered by a gift or a goody or even a kind word.  For all my loquaciousness, I don't know what to say. 

 

So I pray.  And I pray again.  Throughout the day, whenever this person comes to mind (which is often) I pray.  I had one insight yesterday and I have moved on that impression and ordered something.  I hope it gets here in time.

 

In the meantime, do you have people in your life whom God has placed upon your heart?  If so, pray for them.  Then pray again.  And when you feel an impression to act, do so.  And look beyond the darkness to the son or daughter of God and love that person as Jesus would love him or her.  God bless you.

 

Text © Gebara Education, 2012

Poster downloaded from Facebook

Christmas and Easter ~ Inseparable

Without Gethsemane and Calvary, there would have been no reason for Bethlehem.  Keep Christ in Christmas and in every day of your life.