In  medieval England
The name of the feast
Being celebrated was joined
To the word “Mass”
and this became
The name of the day
For example
The feast of
St Michael is called
“Michaelmass”
The feast of the presentation
Because candles were blessed
On that day is called “candlemass”
Thus it is that in English
The feast of
The birth of Christ Is called
“Christmas “
in some other languages
Latin
“Dies Natalia Domini”
The birth of our Lord
German
”Weinacht”
Holy Night
Spanish
“La Navidad”
The Birthday
Polish
“Bose Narodzenie”
God’s Birth
I wonder how many people
Really know what Christmas is
And what it REALLY represents

An interesting phenomenon
Takes place in houses at Christmas
There is no other time of the year
When it is so natural
To have a Religious presence
In our house
The Christmas tree itself
Is a religious symbol
It’s origins are rooted in
The tree of life
In the Garden of Eden
Often we place a star
Or an angel at the top
At Christmas
we have a manger scene
With the child Jesus
Mary and Joseph
the shepherds, the magi
And angels
Candles
Closely associated with
Religious ritual
are very popular  Christmas decorations
In our homes
We listen to religious music in our homes
Christmas carols with religious themes
A prayer is usually said before the Christmas meal,
Even in homes where this is seldom done
During the year
This might set us thinking about the value
Of year round religious symbols
In the home
Perhaps we need to focus on
The renovation of our house church
We have a tradition of religious symbols
In our house
The cross, a family Bible,Ext...
But it’s faded a bit,
The Christmas season is a good time
To take a second look at having year round
Religious symbols in
Our House Church

The English word “Merry”
Did not originally convey
“Jolly,mirthful”
It was more along the lines of
“Blessed,peaceful”
A deep down inner joy
Rather then revelry
One gets a sense of its original meaning
In the well known carol
“God rest ye merry, gentlemen “
As can be seen from the comma
The word is not used to describe
“Jolly”gentleman
But rather was a
Blessing from God
Invoked upon them
God rest ye peaceful gentlemen
Thus
Merry Christmas
Is a Blessing

I love the 1970s

A great time in my life
I can play a record(vynal)
And remember where I was
What was happening
When the song first hit the scene

The vivid pictures
The strong emotions
I have music
For every mood

Our poetry is
The same
It flows
Washes over us

Takes us back to a moment
Vivid pictures
Strong emotions
I have a story
For every mood

Yearning to reminisce
Freaking out for something
To write on
Write with
To capture
the thought

Fleeting flying flew
Old age

Music makes pictures and often tell stores
All of its magic and all of its true
All the pictures and all of the stories
All of the magic the music is you

These profound words are from
John Denver
rest in peace my friend

Since he fifth century, the feast of St Nicholas was celebrated December 25th
little is known of his life except that in the fourth century he was
Bishop of Myra( in modern day Turkey )
Legend has it that his wishing to aid people in need and do so anonymously, he would throw small bags of gold in their windows
The bags would land in the stocking hung by the fireplace to dry

    Other stories from Germany of a
Man and his wife who had a toy shop
The poor children would look in the window of the storefront
at all the beautiful hand made toys their parents could not afford
so on Christmas Eve the couple would
Put a toy on the porch of every child’s house

    Legends of generosity encouraged others
to give gifts at this time of year

But in the 16th century some reformers felt Nicholas was too closely identified with the Catholic Church and replaced him with other figures in  Germany and England’s Father Christmas

  The name of St Nicholas survived however,
through adapted to various languages Sinterlaus in Dutch,
became Santa Claus in English
It was Clement Moore in the famous poem
“The Night Before Christmas”
who equipped Santa Claus with
a sleigh, reindeers,a pipe,a bag
and an entry through the chimney

The true reason for the season is the Birth of Jesus
It’s a Birthday party
We need to give Jesus gifts
as well as others
My Gifts to name a few
The Gift of love, faith, belief
Well you get the idea
What do you have for Jesus this year!

I love the smell of a new book
leather bound, gold leaf, off the shelf, I took
To see the print in my minds eye
Happy laughter, scary or a good cry

To settle down for a good read
Turning the pages at record speed
A books can teach you anything
Knowledge you gain only a book can bring

If the story is true
The feelings grow within you
as writers we are hard to impress
We notice plots twist we can quickly guess

The scariest day I remember well, in my head
Year 2000 a paperless system, BOOKS are dead
I never believed it, not for a second you see
Because books are a part of story telling for you and me

Although  ebooks are gaining popularity today
Paper books will never truly go away
I have been a book worm as long as I can remember
The excitement of college reading in September

So the next time your children or grandchildren say
“I’m board” ask them if they want an adventurous  day
Take them to the library and let them pick a stack
They will be hooked for life no turning back