It's Christmas time again. Truly the most beautiful time of the year. My family begins to celebrate the Christmas season, as many in America do, with Thanksgiving. The turkey has been carved, the dishes cleaned and put away, and the house is sparking clean from holiday preparations, and then we are ready to begin decorating the house for Christmas. We are a retired military family, so have lived in many places over the years. This year we are blessed to live in our own house for the very first time. After 20 years of apartment living, we will decorate our own home beginning today. (I am writing this the day after Thanksgiving.) This is the first time, I think, in our married lives that Ed is off the day after Thanksgiving and we weren't traveling to be with family. So, this is the first year we will get our decorations up quite this early. Usually, we wait until the First Sunday of Advent (four Sundays before Christmas). We are very excited about Christmas this year in our own home.

It has not always been thus. We have so much to be grateful for this year at Christmas time. For years and years we struggled in deep poverty. The church used to provide Christmas gifts for our children or they would have had none at all. And there were years when anonymous gifts arrived for each of our children making their Christmas a wonderful day. Don't ever tell me there is no Santa. He lives in the hearts of some wonderfully generous people who wanted to see our children have happy hearts. This year our church will be sponsoring children for Christmas and we will help to provide them with a wonderful Christmas in grateful appreciation for the years we were on the receiving end.

Christmas is such a busy time of year. It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the shopping and gift giving that it is also easy to forget the reason for all this excitement. We celebrate the birth of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. St. Francis of Assisi gave us the tradition of the crèche, the nativity scene, and it is a marvelous tool for teaching children about the humble birth of the Savior. But, this year, let us celebrate the life and death of the man who was born on this day. The Good News that Christ became one of us in every way save sin, and offered Himself on a cross that we might live with His Father in heaven forever.

A blessed Christmas to you and yours. May you have many more. Maranatha!!!! Come Lord Jesus.

I am soooo excited. I entered my very first ever graphics contest and I won!!!! Thank you so much all you wonderful ladies who voted for my ornament. Here is the ornament that won and the award certificate.

Oh no!! The reindeer barn at the North Pole burned down and Santa's reindeer have nowhere to stay. So, I adopted one until his midnight flight. He's getting plenty of exercise and hay. And, of course, I have added fresh water daily and lots of love!!

And this lil critter lives at the North Pole, too. His name is Chucky and he is a mischievous lil squirrel. He takes some extra watching to keep him from getting into trouble. But, he is so cute that you just have to love him.

That lil Chucky is such a rascal that I decided I needed a bit of help to keep him out of trouble. So, I adopted two fairies from Cranky Angel to help me out. Aren't they pretty?