On the Second Day of Christmas

So today is the second day of Christmas and I'm grateful that I don't have a partridge or a pear tree in my home.  Our house is TOO full as it is.  Once again, another year goes by and we gave AND received TOO much.  It's embarassing really.  A toy tornado swept through our house and we are in total disarray.  We are bagging up broken toys, games with missing pieces, puzzles with missing pieces, etc. to throw away.  We are giving away toys, stuffed animals and unread books.  It's a good feeling, but somehow it's not enough.  My house is a wreck and I pray it returns to it's semi organized state SOON!!!

So enough of that rabbit trail.  Two turtle doves...here is some interesting facts about the turtle dove.  I wanted to share it with you today.

Doves are a common symbol for love and peace, two Christmas themes. Turtle doves are a common species of dove found in France and England and they were often kept in cages as pets during the Middle Ages and earlier. There are a number of references to doves in the Bible. Turtle doves also migrate to warmer climates in winter and their re-appearance heralds the approach of spring. The turtle dove is species that mates for life, so the giving of two turtle doves could be a way the lover is expressing his intention of love and marriage.

In the Middle Ages and Renaissance England it was common to celebrate the full Christmas season with parties, feasts and the giving of gifts during the twelve days of Christmas. In this carol we see the giving of gifts, references to food that would be included in the feasts and the courting that surely went on as the coming together of large groups of people, especially young and single men and women, provided the perfect opportunity to seek one's future mate.
While the other six birds sung about in the first seven stanzas of this song probably ended up on the table as one of the meat courses, the turtle doves would have been delivered to one's lover live and in a cage to be kept as pets for enjoyment. In selecting these particular birds, and a pair at that, the lover probably also intended them as a daily reminder of his desire to become a couple with his true love.

What a beautiful thought a gift for your love representing your commitment for life.  I am blessed to have a lover that is faithful to the covenant promise that he made to God and to me.  We are turtle doves.  I pray that as the season of Christmas continues that I can show Nathan my undying love and that I can reassure his heart that I am his, completely and forever. 

I'm still celebrating and I hope you are too.  Here's to a love that's made possible only because of Jesus.

Merry Christmas,

Janelle

Christmas Time is Here (Day 20)

No I haven't skipped Thanksgiving.  It's a legitimate, wonderful holiday.  I will be celebrating it with my family and we have wonderful traditions involved in this day.  However, I simply LOVE the Advent season and what Christmas means and brings. 

Last year was such a special time of peace due to the snow we received.  It was a gift.  I would love another white Christmas.  Yes, snow can be inconvenient.  It can be messy and frustrating.  Yet, it ALSO can be peaceful, calming, refreshing and makes us all SLOW DOWN.

Enjoy Sarah McLachlan's beautiful voice on this song accompanied by these stunning pics of winter.  

Thanks as always for reading,

It's November 1st (Under the Star)

So for those of you who know me well you know what this means!!! CHRISTMAS MUSIC! Starting Nov. 1 annually we begin our Christmas music marathon. I must admit that due to my love for Pandora radio I have been listening off and on throughout the year. But, it's GAME ON starting today. We love music that lifts our spirits and really can't we prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ every day of the year?

I haven't written in this blog for MANY months and had planned on deleting it, but I thought I would bring it back around. Who knows for how long, but there are special thoughts that pertain to this holiday that I want to record.

So from now until Christmas I will feature a different musical selection that our family enjoys. I hope it brings a smile to your face and lifts your spirits. Blessings to you as we prepare to enter into the "Most Wonderful Time of the Year".

This is a new song I found a few weeks ago while surfing YouTube. I really like her voice and found this song sweet. As I drink my coffee and listen to the sounds of my kids I imagine what that star must have looked like.

Day 363

So today I woke up as usual at 5:30am with my precious hubby Nathan.  By the fire and in the quiet of the pre-kid madness I finished up the book I have read annually at Christmas for the last 5 years.  It is "Shepherds Abiding" by Jan Karon.  A part of the Mitford series, it is a delightful read.  It always helps to put me in the mood, or keep me there :-).

Although Father Tim (from the book) would think this almost blasphemous to think about, plan, and talk of Christmas year round he would appreciate my love of the blessed, holy days.  I think he would also approve of my desire to honor Christmas and it's true meaning.   "Indeed, it seemed to be the wont of most people in a distracted and frantic world to blast through an experience without savoring it, or, later, reflecting upon it" (pg. 175-Shepeherds Abiding).

Something I already knew from my days of worshipping in a UMC church is the beauty of the liturgical calendar.  Honestly, it's something I miss at Mtn. View.  According to the liturgical calendar there is a season that is a pre-cursor to Christmas.  It's Advent and means "coming".  It starts on the Sunday after Thanksgiving and continues for four Sundays.  Each Sunday a candle is lit in an advent wreath that symbolizes something unique.  Usually the candles are three burgundy and one pink (the third week) with the Christ candle in the middle being white.  So by week 4 you have all but the center candle burning.  The Christ candle is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (depending upon your specific tradition).  There are devotions or homilies that correspond with each Sunday in Advent.  Also many Advent devotionals have been written.  This is a time to prepare your heart, mind, soul and home for the coming of the Christ child.  It is a beautiful tradition one that we have honored in our home some years, but I vow to make it an ANNUAL tradition at the Flint home regardless of our curch denomination or preferrence.

Then on December 25th the SEASON of Christmas begins.  No Christmas isn't just ONE day.  The season extends from the 25th of December through the 6th of January when Epiphany is celebrated.  Epiphany symbolizes the Wise Men or Magi coming to honor the Christ Child.  It is a time of enlightenment and allowing our hearts and lives to be enriched by an encounter with the KING. This time period also allows for the "12 Days of Christmas".  Most people think those are the days leading up to Christmas but they aren't.  Isn't it wonderful to know that you don't and shouldn't take the tree down on December 26th.  Christmas trees and decorating...that's another post :-)

So I was challenged afresh and anew through the reading of this book to HONOR Advent, Christmas AND Epiphany.  I was encouraged to make Christmas special and Holy.  I found it wonderfully romantic that in the book Christmas was full of surprises, family and faith.  This is the way Christmas should be and often is in our house.  Let me explain...Unfortunately I think that Nathan and I have allowed the surprises just to be for our children.  Next year I pray that as we exchange gifts that the wonder and surprise of the incarnation can fill our home and even the "grown-ups" can participate in that.  Not vicariously by watching our kids open presents, but by creating, planning, purchasing, making, recognizing the beauty of gift giving one to another.

If you haven't read the Mitford series you really should.  Savor each book.  Enjoy the characters and allow their lives to enrich your own.  When you get to Shepherds Abiding I KNOW you'll love it.  Be blessed.  Be encouraged.  Keep celebrating loved ones.  Christmas isn't over.  IT'S ALIVE!!!

In Him,

Janelle