Away in a Manger

"Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head..."

The manger. Such an integral symbol of Christmas. As long as people have been displaying Christmas creches, the scenes have included this small hay-filled box in which the baby gently rests his head. Often, they seem perfectly proportioned to the infant's dimensions; the straw rests in a grassy halo around his shining crown as he outstretches his arms to bless the world. The manger is almost like a baby sized throne. How angelic, what serenity, the picture of the child reposing so gently as he takes his first breaths.Yet also, how romanticized.

The word manger means feeding trough. A place where animals eat. The Bible doesn't tell us what the Christmas manger looked like. The Gospel writer and the angels only say it was a "manger".

All the mangers I have seen were messy. The hay was unevenly lumped. It had a distinct earthy scent. They were rectangular, not square, to allow multiple animals to eat out of them at once. They were not necessarily in the middle of the barn. Some were built against walls. In context of the story of Jesus, this idea causes the manger to take on a new meaning. Was Jesus a large baby or was he small? If small, the hay probably enveloped him. It probably scratched his face. Clearly, this is not the ideal place for a newborn baby.

The symbol of the manger is an illustration of the Holy Family's humble circumstances. Their poverty. God's love. He did not intervene. He did not stall his son's birth so that he could be born in a more respectable locale.

Why would he do this? For Us. He wanted to show us the depths of his love.

Christmas prayers and carols mention this. They remind us what this act meant. But when we hear it, do we think about what it means?

The manger. Is there any place more lowly and uncomfortable for a newborn King? A place more inconvenient for a mother post-labor, than in a barn with no soft place to lay? A more worrisome spot for a concerned father to look on at the birth of his son?

I cannot think of one.

As I celebrate Christmas this year, I'm going to remember that rough feeding trough. The first bed for our savior was not a tailored throne. It was a vessel from which animals ate.

"And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

The Wise Mens' Visit

                  

Three friends were we, a trio of men who studied the constellations.
Little did we know that someday our studies would lead us to find the hope of every nation.

We came from afar, to follow the star, high above the earth.
And at that time we could have never known what our journey would be worth

So bright did it shine, we knew it must be a sign,
 a sign to all mankind.

So we watered our camels and packed our sacks and began our tedious quest.
We trekked over the land and the desert sand,  saying, "We'll find where the child rests!"

All of sudden, after weeks of traveling, the star stood over Bethlehem, a humble little town,
Our hearts seemed to soar within us, was this where He would be found?

We searched every inn, every house, every stable and every tiny space,
until one day we peeked through a doorway and were staring right into His face!

The King of Heaven, the Messiah! We each fell to our knees,
There He was before us, crawling around as he pleased!

His mother rushed into the room and scooped Him up in her lap,
She and her husband smiled at us, welcomed us in and said He had just woken up from His nap

We introduced ourselves one by one as we knelt before the babe,
His father caressed His soft pink face and tenderly told us His name.

We were filled with wonder, and filled with awe at this precious baby boy ,
His bouncy curls, His clear blue eyes, He looked so full of joy!

We opened our sacks and took out gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh,
And as we placed them before Him, tears of happiness turned our vision to a blur

We sat down and adored the savior for a time that felt like hours
and marveled as we held Him close the Almighty's wondrous powers

Finally, we had leave and return to our homes once more
But as we bid His family good-bye we all wished we could stay for just a second more



I will always remember that ever-so glorious night,
The night I held in my arms the son of God, Love's pure light

They call us wise men, but this I say,
The only wise man is Jesus, through Him, our debt is paid today.

This year, we celebrated the 3 Kings visit on Sunday, January 2nd, but today was the day the Epiphany was originally honored on.

Candy Cane Christmas Cookies

Christmas cookies, mmmmm...... warm and yummy and sweet. Cookies at anytime of the year are absolutely scrumptious, but there's something about cookies at Christmastime that's extra special.
Well, we hadn't made any kind of Christmas cookies lately, and I'd been waiting to make them, so while my mom and sister were at the store I made a batch of candy cane cookies all by myself for the first time.
Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I know us kids aren't supposed do this kind of stuff without adult supervision, but don't worry, Dad was home and I didn't use the oven till mom (the real cookie expert) got back.
It was a lot of fun to make the red and white dough and then twist them together to make the candy canes. I even got to add little bits of real candy canes and peppermint flavoring. Everything went smoothly, except for a little incident with the mixer which envolved pieces of dough flying everywhere when I thought it was turned off, (shudder) that was close! 
They turned out to be very tasty. Mom and Gina said I was a great baker (thanks guys!)
and that may be a bit of an overstatement, but I'm really proud of my candy canes that doubled both as treats and as a mark of  my first solo baking project.

Ever tried these cookies? They're easy to make! This isn't the exact recipie I used, mine was from Mom's old cookbook, but its pretty close.
 http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/candy-cane-cookies/93832e29-3b4f-4977-ae5a-9820053b254c

Merry Christmas Cookies!

'Twas The Week Before Christmas.... In The Words of Christmas Carols

"From now on we all will be together,
if the Fates allow"   

"Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more."

"In the air there's a feeling of Christmas"

"Can you hear what I hear?"
"Silver bells, silver bells"

"Please have snow, and mistletoe, and presents by the tree"

"Let every heart, prepare Him room"

"From now on our troubles will be miles away"
  so
"Joy to the world!"

Christmas is coming.


-"Have yourself a merry little Christmas"
-"Silver Bells"
-"I'll be home for Christmas"
-"Joy to the world"




And have yourself A merry little Christmas now.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Yesterday, on a rainy winter afternoon, just as we were on the brink of another Steelers win, my mom and I went to the church parking lot to pick out and purchase this year's Christmas tree.
We had three varieties to choose from:

Douglas Fir
Frasier Fir
Chaanan Fir

At first, my mom wanted to get one of the douglas firs which were nice trees, but as soon as I saw that the volunteer who was showing us the tree was almost as tall as it, I immeadiately told my mom that this was not the tree for us. For, the image of a tree from Christmas past had popped into my head. It had been a nice little tree, round and full, but the problem was, it was short. Even standing on a box it's top still was two feet short from the ceiling. We did get a kick out of it, but that wasn't the tree we said, "This is the best tree we've ever had!" about.That statement may be true for last year's tree, though.  Look how beautiful it was! (see top picture)

I wanted to lean towards picking a tree like last year's rather than a short tree like the one from two years ago, so, we moved on.

The Frasiers looked dried out, so our last choice were the Chaanans. And, we ended up taking home a wonderful looking tree with a very nice Christmas shape standing nearly 7 1/2 feet tall . Considering our ceilings are only 8 feet, I'd say its the perfect height. We won't put it up for a few days. Right now, its sitting on the porch outside in the world covered with freshly fallen snow.

What's your opinion on Christmas trees? What does yours look like?

Christmas is still 12 twelve days away! Can we really wait?

In the words of Father Mike in his sermon yesterday, "Be patient, be patient, be patient"