Welcome to the new week and the last one of November 2018. I decided to just hang out and have a weekend without worrying about posting. Most everyone should have been celebrating family time and this didn’t need to be a distraction.
Our Thanksgiving was wonderful – we had a lot of delicious food, were surrounded by family and friends, sharing a meal, laughter, stories and creating memories. Little Man R celebrated his 2nd Thanksgiving on this earth surrounded by his parents, two grandparents and three great-grandparents. He was in heaven running back and forth between us, giggling and chattering up a storm. He loved looking at the various Christmas decorations we had up, and I am heart-broken that my phone wasn’t responding for some reason and I didn’t get any pictures. I am hoping my Dad did – I need to remember to ask him. Friday we just hung out and relaxed after all of the hard work of Wednesday and Thursday with meal preparation, Saturday we tromped around two different Christmas tree farms, followed by a delicious plate of leftovers, tree decorating and Christmas movies. Sunday brought us more decorating time, more Christmas movies and a slow winding down to our time off and gearing back up for work . . . which of course, brings us to this morning!
Verse of the Day
November 26, 2018
Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
Thoughts on the Verse of the Day
We are receiving the triumphant and glorious victory of God in his Kingdom. We will join with the angels and the saints of old and live with the Father forever in victorious and never ending joy. But this Kingdom doesn’t just begin when Jesus returns. This Kingdom has started now in his Church, his people, those in whom God’s will is cherished and obeyed. So our worship should be filled with awe that the holy God of Israel is also the lowly God in Jesus who has redeemed us and made us to be a holy people unto himself. What else can we do but worship with heartfelt thanksgiving and wonder struck awe.
www.verseoftheday.com
History of Christmas Traditions
I am always uncertain of where exactly to start with Christmas traditions each year. Should I begin with how WE celebrate in our household? No, I think the best place to start is with the reason for the season – Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Throughout the Bible, we learn that from creation forward, God was preparing people to receive His Son. We learned about the family lineage, prophets telling about His coming, and were brought up to the time of His birth, what His mother went through, and how He came to fulfill His destiny to save us and all future generations. We need Him now just as much as we did then, sometimes I think even more, so as we head into this season during which we celebrate His coming, let us open our hearts and minds to the blessings we have received through Him.
Over the next month I will cover a different Christmas tradition each day, looking at the history and how it applies to today’s modern Christmas celebrations. It should be interesting, at least, I think it will be.
Cider Monday – This is a pretty fun way for independent businesses to combat Cyber Monday. It started with the staff at New Hampshire bookstores, Toadstool Bookshops, and caught on. The staff proposed starting a new tradition to encourage people to stop by one of their three stores for a free cup of cider made from “squished Microsoft apple products” and to see some real people and have fun seeing what was in the stores. The idea caught on with various bookstores, and is growing, some even adding apple cider doughnuts to their goodies to draw people in. Honestly, whether you celebrate this one in place of Cyber Monday or not, enjoying a cup of hot cider sounds like a really good idea!
Cyber Monday – This day is basically on-line retailers answer to Black Friday sales. Since I do a great deal of my shopping online anyway, this day really is a great thing since I can get extra special deals doing what I already do – without ever battling a crowd or wasting any fuel. Today I will be taking advantage of an awesome deal that the market I love so much is offering. I can get a $100 food gift card for $75, and since I shop there all the time anyway, this is an awesome deal. It’s free food! The deals are out there for the taking, and I’m all about saving money, aren’t you?
Shopping Reminder Day – It is exactly one month until Christmas! Have you started your shopping? I’m sorry – you can’t hide your head in the sand about how close it is any longer. It’s time to make a plan, if you don’t have one already in place, and get started on that shopping!
This Day in History –
1716 – The first lion was exhibited in America.
Food Celebration of the Day –
National Cake Day – Just about everyone I know loves cake, and that’s a good thing since cake is part of celebrations from birthdays to weddings, retirements or any other social event you can imagine. Cakes come in all shapes, sizes and flavors, from a delicious and fancy shaped bundt cake, to a sheet cake, or a torted and filled fancy cake. They can be covered in fondant (ick) or slathered in delicious frosting, made from scratch, from a box, or by a baker at a store or bakery. Cake can be of the cheese variety or come as a fruitcake (not anyone’s favorite). Sometimes they even come as amazing works of art worthy of winning competitions. There is such a wide variety of cake options available that finding one to celebrate today shouldn’t be any trouble at all!
It’s been very nice having five days off work (even though two of them were EXHAUSTING and on my feet), getting our tree and enjoying the process of decorating it, there is something to be said about the structure of the work week. Right? OK, fine, I’m talking myself into going to work . . . but it sounded good! Procrastination time over. God bless you and I’ll see you tomorrow!
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Celebration list sources:
www.verseoftheday.com www.brownielocks.com www.holidayinsights.com www.thenibble.com www.foodimentary.com