The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 1

Today we actually got two bags, since we'll be out of town tomorrow, and they did pick up their bag of goodies and the note saying we'd be gone. So, we did get the little baby Jesus today, along with a beautiful box with little bubble wrappers for each of the little nativity pieces. We also got more candy canes and peanuts. Thank you to our still secret Santas!

Luke 2: 10, 11

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 Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

What Child is This?

What Child is this, who laid to rest,

On Mary's lap is sleeping?

Whom angels greet with anthems sweet

While shepherds watch are keeping?

Wh lies He in such mean estate

Where ox and ass are feeding?

Good Christian fear for sinners here,

The silent word is pleading.

So bring him incense, gold and myrrh;
Come peasant, king, to own him,

The King of kings, salvation brings;

Let loving arms enthrone him.

Chorus: This, this is Christ the king,

Whom shepherds guard and angels sing

Haste, haste to bring him laud,

The Babe, the Son of Mary.

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 2

We got our little Mary today with some popcorn.

Luke 2: 6, 7

6 And so it was that, while they were there, the days were accomplishedthat 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.

Mary did you know?

Mary did you know, that your baby boy,

would one day walk on water?

Mary did you know, that your baby boy,

would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know, that your baby boy has come to make you new?

This child that you delivered, would soon deliver you?

Mary did you know, that your baby boy,

will give sight to a blind man?

Mary did you know, that your baby boy,

will calm the storm with his hand?

Did you konw, that your baby boy, will walk where angels trod?

When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God?

The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again,

The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the Lamb!

Mary did you know, that your baby boy,

is Lord of all creation?

Mary did you know, that your baby boy,

will one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect lamb?

The sleeping child you're holding is the great I AM.

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 3

We got our little Joseph today, with two massive candy canes.

Matthew 1: 16

16 And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ

When Joseph went to Bethlehem

When Joseph went to Bethlehem

I think he took great care

To place his tools and close his shop

And leave no shavings there.

He urged the donkey forward then

with Mary on its back,

And carried bread and goat cheese

In a little linen sack.

I think there at the busy inn

That he was meek and mild

And awed to be the guardian

of Mary's sacred child.

Perhaps all through the chilly hours

he smoothed the swaddling bands

And Jesus felt the quiet strength

Of Joseph's gentle hands.

And close beside the manger bed,

He dimmed the lantern's light.

And held the little Jesus close,

Upon that holy night.

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 4

I discovered something about myself today. I was so anxious about the animals we'd get with the nativity. I have it all set in my mind that there has to be a sheep, a donkey, and a camel, at least. I was thrilled to get our little donkey today. We also got little chocolate santas and some cookies.

Luke 2: 4, 5

4 And Joesph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, 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.

O Come Little Children

O Come, little children, from cot and from hall,

O come to the manger in Bethlehem's stall,

There meekly He lie-th, the heavenly Child,

So poor and so humble, so sweet and so mild.

The hay is his pillow, the manger his bed,

The beasts stand in wonder to gaze on His head,

Yet there where He lie-th, so weak and so poor,

Come shepherds and wise men to kneel at His door.

Now "Glory to God" sing the angels on high,

And "Peace Upon Earth" heavenly voices reply.

Then come, little children, and join in the lay

That gladdened the world on that first Christmas Day.

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 5

Our last little wise man arrived in our package last night. Now we have all three. By my count we're only lacking Joseph, Mary, a shepherd, and the baby Jesus. We're getting there, and I'm sure having fun!

Matthew 2:11

11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Oh Come, all Ye Faithful

Oh, come, all ye faithful,

Joyful and triumphant!

Oh, come ye, oh come ye to Bethlehem.

Come and behold him,

Born the King of angels;

[Chorus]

Oh come, let us adore him;

Oh come, let us adore him;

Oh come, let us adore him;

Christ, the Lord.

Sing, choirs of angels,

Sing in exultation;

Sing, all ye citizens of heav'n above!

Glory to God,

Glory in the highest;

Yea, Lord, we greet thee,

Born this happy morning;

Jesus, to thee be all glory giv'n.

Son of the Father,

Now in flesh appearing;

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 6

Today was the small camel, who matches yesterday's wise man perfectly. C said it was good the camel came after the wise man - otherwise we'd have to put out a search party for him. Also in the bag was this adorable reindeer moose. I can't figure out which he's supposed to be, since those are moose antlers, and he looks like he has a moose nose, but he's all Christmas-y.

Matthew 2:9, 10

9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

With Wondering Awe

With wond'ring awe the wise men saw

The star in heaven springing,

And with delight, in peaceful night,

They heard the angels singing,

[Chorus]

Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to his name!

By light of star they traveled far

to seek the lowly manger,

A humble bed wherein was laid

The wondrous little Stranger.

And still is found, the world around,

The old and hallowed story,

And still is sung in every tounge

The angels' song of glory:

The heav'nly star its rays afar

On ev'ry land is throwing,

And shall not cease till holy peace

In all the earth is growing.

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 7

We got a little wise man today, with some peppermints and cookies. Our little stable is getting quite full. C thinks it's funny because, usually, you get the baby Jesus last - but everybody came to see him, so they're all there waiting on him.

Matthew 2:10

10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

We Three Kings

We three kings of Orient are,

Bearing gifts we travel so far,

Field and fountain,

Moor and mountain,

Following yonder star.

Oh star of wonder, star of night,

Star with royal beauty bright,

Westward leading, still proceeding,

Guide us to they perfect light.

Born a king on Bethlehem plain,

Gold I bring to crown him again,

King forever, ceasing never,

Over us all to reign.

Frankincense to offer have I,

Incense owns a Deity night,

Prayer and praising, All men raising,

Worship him, God on high.

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume,

Breathes a life of gathering gloom;

Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,

Sealed in the stone cold tomb.

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 8

We got a tiny sheep and cow today, but they didn't take the bag we'd left for them. We won't be here through the end of the twelve days, so I made a bag of goodies for them and hung it on the door, like they've been doing, with a note explaining when we'd be gone. I put a big card on it saying it was for our 12 Days of Christmas Friends and hoped they'd pick it up. C says they might think it's not the point to take something back. I think maybe one of their kids did the drop-off and didn't notice the bag was for them. Either way, I'll put it out again tomorrow, with an added "Information you need" on it, and hopefully it will disappear.

Anyway, our note from today:

Luke 2:8

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

Sleep Little Jesus

Sleep, little Jesus, Lord of the earth.

Angels are telling the news of thy birth.

Shepherds will come to thee, bringing thee love.

Bright shines the star in heaven above.

Sleep little Jesus, softly we sing.

Earth long has waited her Savior and King.

Heavenly hosts sing, Alleluia,

Peace to all men, Alleluia.

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 9

We got our Christmas Star and some candy in this bag.

Helaman 5:16

16 And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.

Who Could have Known?

Whow could have known on that Bethlehem night,

The babe in the manger brought heavens pure light,

Only those who were wise, who followed the signs,

Only they knew the child was divine.

Who could have known as he slept in the hay,

'Twas Jesus, our Savior dear born on that day,

Only those who believe, whose hearts would recieve,

Only they could have known it was He.

Who could have known that the baby so small,

Was sent by the Father to rule over all,

Only thoses who had seen, who heard angels sing,

Only they knew the child was King,

Only they knew the love He would bring.

Only those who believed,

Who knelt at His feet,

To worship the wee perfect one,

Only they knew the child was God's son.

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 10

Here's our little wise man with some popcorn.

Matthew 2: 1, 2

1 Now when Jesus was orn in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

Stars were Gleaming

Stars were gleaming, shepherds dreaming;

And the night was dark and chill.

Angels' story rang with glory;

shepherds heard it on the hill.

Ah, that singing! Hear it ringing,

Earth-ward winging, Christmas bringing!

Hearken! We can hear it still!

See the clearness and the nearness

Of the blessed Christmas Star,

Leading, Guiding, wise men riding

through the desert dark and far.

Lovely showing, shining, growing,

Onward going, gleaming, glowing,

Leading still, our Christmas Star.

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 11

You'll notice the bell on the bag matches the bell on the bag we got yesterday. We got a tiny little angel, and I just think he's adorable! The note read:

Luke 2: 13, 14

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

14 Glory ot God in the hightest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Hark the Herald Angesl Sing

Hark! the herald angels sing

Glory to the newborn King!

Peace on earth and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!

Joyful, all ye nations, rise;

Join the triumph of the skies;

With th'angelic host proclaim

Christ in born in Bethlehem!

Hark! the herald angels sing

Glory to the newborn King!

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings,

Ris'n with healing in his wings.

Mild he lays his glory by,

Born that man no more may die;

Born to raise the sons of earth,

Born to give them second birth.

Hark! the herald angels sing

Glory to the newborn King!

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 12

I opened my front door this morning to let in the little boy I watch during the day, and much to my surprise, there was a present sitting on my front door. There was a bunch of candy canes, four rice krispy treats, a bag of peanuts, and the most beautiful little wooden manger I've ever seen. My visiting teachers yesterday had been talking about someone doing the "Twelve days of Christmas" for them, and the manger by itself made me suspicious. I counted days. Twenty-five minus twelve is thirteen, so if you're planning on finishing on the 25th, you start on the fourteenth, and yesterday was the fourteenth.

Now that I was thinking about it, I'd been absolutely sure a few times last night that I'd heard a car door open and close. I'd been waiting for the missionaries to show up, since we were supposed to feed them dinner. I heard the car doors, and since we're all by ourselves at the end of the street, I assumed it must be the Elders. But then they never rang the doorbell or knocked, and I was busy in the kitchen trying to finish getting dinner on the table, so I forgot about it.

Anyway, I'm so touched that someone has picked us for this, and I'm so in love with the little wooden manger, and I wanted to share it. So, I'll try, for the next twelve days, to keep you posted on what comes.

Here's the poem that came with the present:

Luke 2:12

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

That Night in the Stable

That night in the stable,

it must have been chilly,

But I would have held Him

and warmed Baby Jesus,

Warmed Baby Jesus

as he has warmed me.

That night in the stable,

it must have been bright there,

With Bethlehem starlight

around Baby Jesus

Brightening Jesus

as he brightens me.

That night in the stable,

it must have been peaceful,

as Mary so lovingly

held Baby Jesus,

Loving Lord Jesus

as he has loved me.

Adventures in Gingerbread Land

C's work has a "Graze-a-thon" each year, where they're invited to bring goodies in to work to share. That way they don't have to give out gifts to everyone. I thought I'd be adventurous this year, and I tried something new - gingerbread cookies! I think they turned out rather nice.

Of course, Mama isn't allowed to just bake cookies. I have two little baker's apprentices. They were facinated with stamping out the cookies with the cookie cutters, and S discovered very quickly that it was more fun to stuff dough into her mouth than to make cookies out of it.

She also coated herself from her waist to the tips of her hair in flour.
L thought the whole thing was very interesting, and she didn't believe me one bit when I tried to tell her the rolling pin was a bit heavy for her or to let mommy use the spatula to lift the cookies off the table. If I set it down, L picked it up, and she had a ball!

The second reason for making cookies was for our friends who were coming over for dinner before leaving town for the holidays. I thought it would be fun for the kids to decorate cookies.

Mostly, I was right. L and S were even happier with the icing than with the making of the cookies, and S, true to character, soon figured out she could squeeze the icing out onto her fingers and lick them off.

L's friend, a little girl her same age, refused to decorate cookes, but her little brother sure had fun with them.

What surprised me, though, was the big kids in the house. No sooner had the cookies and icing hit the table, than I saw this:

And this:

The big boys decorated (and ate) more cookies each than all the kids combined!

So, the next day, to continue the gingerbread theme, I pulled out my gingerbread house kit. My friend, R, had some ideas for putting it together, and as she has more decorating experience than I do, I invited her over to share her expertise. (It is my goal, one day, to do a house from scratch - make the pattern, bake the gingerbread, etc. But it's not happening yet.)

R also had a brilliant idea. Instead of putting the house together with icing and proping it up (or sitting there holding it up with your hands, like I usually do), why not make up some hard candy? Then dip the edges of the house in the hot candy, press them together, and watch them seal tight in seconds? Let me tell you, it worked like a charm. No gingerbread house in history was as sturdy as ours. Not to say there weren't any problems with that, but I'll get to that later.

The icing that came in the package was just that - icing, not decorator's frosting, and we started out with problems with the icing running. It made a really nice red roof for us, but the wreath we put on the back of the house slid quite a bit.

But that's all hard to notice when you've accidentally put the window on wrong. As we'd finished the hard candy and were trying to quickly get the house assembled before the candy hardened, we accidentally put one of the dormer windows together wrong. We didn't notice the problem until we stuck it to the house. And with the candy hardening so quickly, in the few seconds it took us to realize the window was wrong, the candy hardened. We tried to get it off, so we could fix it, but like I said, that candy didn't budge or wiggle.

But we did learn some things. 1 - leave the candy on the stove to keep it from setting until you're done assembling the house. 2 - make your own buttercream frosting to hold things together. 3 - check, check, and re-check your dormers.

4 - Don't leave your two-year-old on a chair next to the counter where the gingerbread house is - you may return to find all the candies pulled off!

NaNoWriMo and a plea for your prayers

As you all know, I did NaNoWriMo again this year. This was my second year, and I can honestly say it was a lot easier the second time around. I ended up writing another LDS romance, taking two minor characters from my first novel and following up on their story.

Last year I found out about NaNo on Nov.4th, which made it hard to come up with an idea and write 50,000 words of a novel from it in less than a month. Nonetheless, I managed. This year I had my idea outlined, and let me tell you, it made the whole process much easier. I rarely sat down thinking, "What on earth comes next?" Instead it was, "Okay, I've got to get this laid out so I can do that, and ... oh ... hm ... No, let's do it this way instead!" Okay, so it sounds crazy, but my characters don't always listen to me and play out the plotline I've given them. When I tried to explain it to C, he looked at me like I was crazy ... But it's true! Sometimes my own characters refuse to listen to my instructions. The funny part is that the story ends up even better in the end because they didn't listen to me.

Anyway, for those of you who are waiting for your chance to review the story of Becky and Joe, you'll have to wait a few months. I passed the 50,000 mark and "won" NaNo again, but I've still got two or three chapters left to finish it off. Then I've got to go back and weave in a second plot thread that I'd totally forgotten about. So, I'm hoping to have it polished by the end of March. (Writing is not my full-time job - it's squished into nap times and after-bedtime hours.)

And as far as the prayers go ... I've been patiently submitting my novel from last year (Working title: Lacy's Choice) to publishers. So far I've been able to take rejection with a grain of salt. If you're an unknown, unpublished author sending your manuscript in to the largest, most well-known LDS publishing companies, you just kind of accept that they're probably not even reading past your query letter.

But yesterday I mailed off my manuscript to the next publisher on the list - and to be honest, the one most likely to accept my novel. Cedar Fort, Inc. prides themselves on giving first-time authors a chance. Of the "big guys", they are my best chance. So, include me in your prayers. I realize your prayers can't change my manuscript, but maybe they can help put the editors in a cheery mood when they get to it.

Here's hoping ....

Overheard ...

This morning L asked Z, the little boy I watch during the day, "Will you be my husband?"
Z, a little two-yr-old, responded, "No."
L, "Why not?"
Z, "Because."

And the matter was finished. My poor baby girl. She's just about to turn four, and she's already looking for a husband!

New Pictures

Finally, a month after the fact, I took S in to have pics taken for her birthday. I was agonizing over where to take her. I'd always taken them to Sears Portrait Studio in VA, and I'd always been pleased with them. Then we moved here, and both experiences I've had with the Sears Studio here were less than satisfactory. So, after much angst, I decided to try Kiddie Kandids. You can judge for yourselves, but I'm very pleased with the results.

S is always so funny when I take her to get pics. She sits still and quiet and looks around at all the funny contraptions around her. She stares down the photographer, and it takes a good five minutes before she'll crack a smile. But the girl who was taking the pictures was wonderful, and we got some really cute ones, even if she wouldn't bare her teeth.

Then, since L's birthday is in a little more than a month, I decided to have her done, too. When I took S off the platform and put L up there, S objected. She wasn't sure about the picture taking, but she sure wasn't ready to let L have a turn. While I helped and tickled S through the whole thing, L pretty much did it on her own while I held a very put-out S.

An Impromptu Thanksgiving

We'd planned on spending Thanksgiving with our relatives this year, but then we came down with the flu. First it was me and S, then, right before Thanksgiving, L came down with a fever. After we'd decided to stay home and spare our family the flu bugs were were multiplying, I made a decision. I was going to pick up a Stoeffer's Lasagna and some garlic bread, and we were going to have a very simple Thanksgiving.

Then I talked to my dear husband, and he told me Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday. Now, for those of you who don't know C, he never asks for anything, so when he does, I get it for him. So I ended up at the store Wednes day night. I brought home a turkey breast, green beans, stuffing, and pumkin pie fixings. With the sweet potatoes and Idaho spuds we already had at home, we put together a pretty nice spread Thanksgiving day.

Wishing everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy Second Birthday

Thank you G&G P

Thank you G&G O

Thank you G&G N - She was almost as excited about the kitty on the card as she was about the idea of going to the store to pick out a present!

We had some friends over for S's birthday the other night. She wasn't sure what it all meant, but she was happy enough when she got her presents. I let the girls help make the cake, and didn't end up with as much of a mess as I'd anticipated. The first clip of this video is sideways, sorry.

What is it that makes little kids cry when you sing Happy Birthday to them? I've seen similar videos before, but I just can't figure out why it would make them sad!