a Christmas post

hello all.
I haven't even been on facebook much over the last few weeks. No news on the job front. Mom is back & forth right now. Going between an upset stomach, & pain from not taking pain med.'s. Got to do something new last Sat. Dad, Mom, Mick, my niece [Kenzie] & I baked Sandtarts together. That was fun. [a new tradition?]
This Christmas seems like a "Deconstructing Christmas". A lot of old traditions seem gone. Which has an element of sadness to it. On the other hand, there is excitement at new traditions that crop up. One that isn't really new, this year anyway, is that LW does a Christmas Eve offering that is different. They give it all away. Every penny. Locally, Globally, to all kinds of places. Pastor Steve says: "you can't 'out-give' God."
... try anyway. make it an inside joke between you & Him. After all, everything started out as His anyway. Isn't He the best gift we ever got? I set up my little porcelain tree, made by my Dad's mother, in my computer room. I've done this before, however, this time I put a manger under it. Then I surrounded it with pictures of family, & a painting a friend painted. This way it reminds me of the real gifts I have. God THE artist, gifting us with the ability to create art. The blessing of relationships. The tree we had when I was growing up was decorated with mostly red spheres, multicolored lights, & gold garland. To me it meant this:
Evergreen tree = tree of life
Red sphere ornaments = the blood shed so I can eat from the tree, & that blood becoming fruit that saves & nourishes
Gold garland = the streets of gold that I will one day walk on

I thought I'd post a few songs that don't get played on the radio very much...
here's one...
Christmas is Jesus
by Bryan Duncan
...
Christmas is Jesus
a child
for all men
gone
from the manger
and tomb
he lay in
Christmas is Jesus
God's love
coming true
a star
from the heavens
has fallen for you...


Jesu,
that you
for giving yourself
for showing the world
that you love me
us
you gave up
what no one could ask you to
so that you could make a way
to take me there
you came here
so I can go there

that wasn't enough,
though
they told me
I would be an only child
that I would never have
brothers
or sisters...
they lied.
they did not realize
that nothing is impossible for you
you first gave me an army of cousins
this
[typical you] was not enough, either
for tomorrow
I will eat supper with my brothers
"brothers from different mothers"
they would say
...we have the same Dad, though
YOU
thank you dear Jesu,
for being beyond my wildest dreams
[only you know just how wild they are]
love,
beyond the end of the sky,
B