It's That Time of the Year....Christmas

Yes! It is that time of the year again for that wonderful holi-day Christmas. I know I hyphenated holiday, for you see, it really is a Holy day. The day we celebrate the birth of the One who has saved us from being eternally separated from Him. I know commercialism often takes over but we really need to remember the Reason for the Season. I know it is my favorite holiday, not only for the BIG reason but also for the little ones. I am always distracted and off focus during this time of the year and in a bad way. Several years ago I was on Recruiting Duty in Illinois and every December I never was able to enlist anyone into the Marine Corps. I did just fine in January and prior to, I just could do nothing in December. I am still the same today…I mean I am in a great mood and full of energy I just lack focus. Well, let us move on…. This weekend was the grand decorating weekend preparing for the season. I helped my oldest son put up the Christmas tree in his bedroom, put up the village, strung a new set of lights on a bough for my wife and put up the outside decorations, which was a challenge. As you may recall, we moved back in July and all the decorations were set up for the other house. All the boughs and lights were measured out exactly for the roofline of our old house. So that had to be thought out all over again and a lot of deliberating of exactly what I wanted to do (icicle lights or LED lights with boughs and bows, I went with the latter). After they fell off the roof three times, I believe I got a solid solution to ensure they stay in place. I guess I will find out in due time. After that was done I climbed the tree next to the house and strung it with color lights (probably not enough) and put a bough and lights on the bench swing. To wrap everything up, I set up the inflatable snow globe (Charlie Brown and Snoopy with a tree in case you were wondering) and tucked all the cords out of sight. Call me retentive but I hate to see exposed extension cords so I do my best to hide them. Well that is enough for tonight…until next time, may the Lord of Peace be with you and your loved ones. Below are a couple of snap-shots of my wife's creativity. Pretty good isn't she?

A picture of the book case all decorated, those lanterns work for all seasons

A advent calender my wife made for our youngest son...Pretty cool isn't it? No, she didn't make extras.