Feast of the Presentation

Time to put away the Christmas decorations!

40 days after His birth, Jesus was presented at the temple (Luke 2:22-36). The church celebrates this event in Jesus's life with the Feast of the Presentation.

It is also the source of beautiful song of Simeon which is a part of our liturgy known as nunc dimittis (Latin for "now dismiss"). Lutherans sing this following the celebration of communion.

Now dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, In peace,

according to Thy word:

For mine own eyes hath seen Thy salvation,

Which Thou hast prepared in the sight of all the peoples,

A light to reveal Thee to the nations

And the glory of Thy people Israel.

Tidings of Comfort & Joy!

A very merry Christmas to all of you out there in cyberspace! 2011 was indeed a very interesting year, I look forward to what 2012 will bring. God bless & keep you.

A New Tradition?

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at my in-laws. Delicious food, great company, good times. But when it came time for desserts my youngest, Sally, asked for pumpkin pie - but sadly there wasn't any.

My in-laws, now in their 70s, were tired of eating the same old thing every Thanksgiving and served pulled-pork sandwiches, baked beans, macaroni salad, scalloped potatoes and for dessert chocolate cake or banana cream pie. As I said, the food was great, I didn't think twice about it until Sally asked for pumpkin pie. And I realized what is routine, and perhaps boring, for us is neither routine nor boring for a six year old. The smell of a roasting turkey is not an ingrained memory for her.

I can't re-do Thanksgiving. Our tradition has always been to spend it at either my parents' or Mr. Bee's parents' homes. My parents are gone too soon, and I enjoy being with my in-laws whatever they decide to serve. We will keep going there.

Christmas is a different story and I have decided to start a new chapter, beginning with Christmas dinner. Turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry relish, pumpkin pie. Digging out the china, white table linen, cloth napkins, crystal candlesticks. What good does all that stuff do tucked away in cupboards? Some of it we received as wedding presents 23+ years ago and have never used!

I've never done the big dinner before. I am excited and a little nervous, but ready to start a new family tradition. I think Sally and the other kids will appreciate it someday. I'm making a memory. A good one, I hope. :-)

The Nativity: Facebook Style

From Me To You

The garment of life, be it tattered and torn,
the cloak of the soldier is withered and worn.
But what child is this that was poverty-born,
the peace of Christmas Day.

The branch that bears the bright holly,
the dove that rests in yonder tree.
The light that shines for all to see,
the peace of Christmas Day.

The hope that has slumbered for 2000 years,
the promise that silenced 1000 fears.
A faith that can hobble an ocean of tears,
the peace of Christmas Day.

The branch that bears the bright holly,
the dove that rests in yonder tree.
The light that shines for all to see,
the peace of Christmas Day.

Add all the grief that people may bear,
total the strife, the troubles and care.
Put them in columns and leave them right there,
the peace of Christmas Day.

The branch that bears the bright holly,
the dove that rests in yonder tree.
The light that shines for all to see,
the peace of Christmas Day.

The branch that bears the bright holly,
the dove that rests in yonder tree.
The light that shines for all to see,
the peace of Christmas Day.

May you know True Peace this Christmas!
Love, Sue

Low Tide

Oops. Forgot to blog in November.

This is the longest I have managed to keep a blog going and I'm really, really tired of starting over (I've done it 3 or 4 times already). So I'll make a little effort. Do I have any readers anymore? Probably not.

Let's see...

At eight-year-old's swim lessons I was reading Parents magazine. Paging through it I was struck by one thought - and it wasn't what a lousy parent I am. No. I was looking more at the ads than the editorial and I kept thinking I don't need any of this stuff. My kids don't need any of this stuff. Nothing. Not one thing in that whole magazine (the December issue) do we actually need.

I struggle with materialism. It is so hard to separate out the waaaaants from the neeeeds. And if I, a reasonably intelligent adult woman, have a hard time keeping my priorities straight, how hard it must be for children.

Financially we are not in very good shape. Just five short years ago we had six months salary in savings. Now we have about half a month. There is plenty of blame to go around. My fault. His fault. The real estate crash. I've got regrets. I've got hard feelings. And there is no relief in sight.

It is to the point that I am in a panic over our finances. Not a good place to be in before Christmas. The "budget" is tight this year. Normally Mr. Bee receives a Christmas bonus but there is none this year.

And it doesn't help that our clothes dryer just died.

The tide is really low...And I'm waiting for my ship to come in.

Initially in mid-October when this situation was growing rapidly worse, I was feeling very pessimistic. I was thinking we weren't going to celebrate Christmas at all. Now I'm looking at Christmas more creatively. I've put up almost ever decoration I own - the house looks festive! I'm brainstorming and surfing the internet for inexpensive gift ideas and I've come up with some winners. Christmas will happen...is happening.

Making lemonade out of those lemons.

Oddly enough what turned my thinking around was remembering Charles Dickens' "Christmas Carol." Scrooge, who was rich and could certainly afford a fancy Christmas, didn't celebrate it. The poor Cratchit family, however, did.

I'd rather be a Cratchit than a Scrooge.

Now to squash the materialism and put together a working budget for '09.

Christmas Woes

I've been up late on-line shopping. Or I should say, on-line searching. I made a list of great gift ideas for my hard-to-please teenagers and my dear husband (who has everything) and thought I'd just go on-line and find everything I need. Click-click goes the mouse and my shopping is conveniently delivered to my doorstep. I even decided on our Christmas cards.

But as the very old Hee-Haw song goes, "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all..."

I have all these great ideas for shirts, hoodies, coffee mugs and Christmas cards stuck in my head and NOBODY is making what I have invisioned! Nobody.

The only thing I bought was stamps from USPS.com.

I'm starting to think the Puritans were right -- let's make Christmas illegal.

Bah-humbug. And good night.

Merry...Happy...Season's Greetings?

I was put on hold earlier today. The "hold music" went like this:

Just hear those sleigh bells jingle-ing
Ring ting tingle-ing too
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you...

It's been rattling around in my head ever since. I even caught myself whistling it while working on the laundry pile. Ugh -- too soon!

But then I got to wondering...what do the "x-mess" folks say when someone wishes them a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays or whatever? Hmmmm?