A Blessed Christmas Eve to All

"If you look for Me at Christmas,

This sweet little set, made entirely of straw is from a place dear to my heart because my late husband was born there (although raised in Venezuela), Poland.....

Last year's sale at our nearby Monastery, after Christmas and displayed for the first time, is a soapstone nativity from Kenya, Africa (behind it is a capiz shell nativity from the Phillipines).....

Some miscellaneous decorations around our home.....

For a minute, I thought this was one of our nativities but it is one I found online and so is the cute little puppy, wishing all a Merry and Blessed Christmas...

And here is a cute little Christmas test of who you are by how you decorate that I found on the Internet...

"Homemade ornaments: You have lots of children....




Blinking Lights: You have attention deficit disorder....






Multicolored lights: You’re an extrovert....


Strung Popcorn: You have too much time on your hands....

White lights: You ask houseguests to remove their shoes..."

A couple of more batches of cookies, these are IRISH APPLESAUCE COOKIES...

PINEAPPLE RIGHT SIDE UP COOKIES is the name given to these cookies we tried for the first time this year...

And where have I been?? and what have I been doing???, you might well ask...well, there have been some challenges and some excitement, all time consuming....

***the final and fifth visit by people to see the nativities (lots of prep work involved each time from the hot apple cider to the cookies being uncovered etc. etc.)

***Laura, my sweet daughter coming into the Atlanta airport (and getting lost trying to find baggage claim which was WAY behind in off loading baggage)

***a trip to Columbus, Ga to drop off gifts with LOTS of things going wacko from the start when I ended up going all alone as Laura had one of her severe migraines and then the final  'delight' of the backed up and stopped traffic on the way back (gave me plenty of prayer time)

***the septic tank having to be emptied one more time due to the heavy rains (which caused our pockets to be emptied beyond belief as well)

****last minute wrapping of gifts and squeezing in a couple of Christmas movies

***unexpected visitors coming by as well...gosh, where are all of you???...I'd LOVE to have had any of you surprise me!!!

Time for a Ho Ho Ho or two...

My appointment as pastor coincided with the church's appeal for aid for victims of a hurricane. Unfortunately, on my first Sunday in the parish, the center page of the church bulletin was accidentally omitted. So members of the congregation read from the bottom of the second page to the top of the last page: "Welcome to the Rev. Andrew Jensen and his family ... the worst disaster to hit the area in this century. The full extent of the tragedy is not yet known."

*****

Filling in one weekend for a priest at a neighboring parish, I called the church early Saturday to inquire about my Mass schedule. I confess that I was taken aback when the caretaker picked up the phone. "Holy Angels," he answered, "Gabriel speaking."

*****

The highlight of our zoo trip was a peacock showing off its plumage. My four-year-old son was particularly taken with it. That evening, he couldn't wait to tell his father: "Dad, guess what! I saw a Christmas tree come out of a chicken!"

~~~Heavenly Father I thank You for the blessings of these fine, kind and loving people that You have sent into my life in blogland, please bless them with a beautiful Christmas, one full of YOU!!

you won't need a special star -

I'm no longer just in Bethlehem,

I'm right there where you are.

You may not be aware of Me

amid the celebrations -

You'll have to look beyond the stores

and all the decorations.

But if you take a moment

from your list of things to do

And listen to your heart, you'll find

I'm waiting there for you.

You're the one I want to be with,

you're the reason that I came,

And you'll find Me in the stillness

as I'm whispering your name.

Love, Jesus "

The poem you've just read was sent to me in an e-mail and I wanted to share it with everyone as I feel it is Jesus' message to each of us!

This nativity is a paper mache that has a certain elegance to it, so I was drawn to buy it many years ago....