Moose Lake & Christmas Lights

On December 12, Doug and I joined our church's senior group for a short drive to Moose Lake Christian Craft Village. There were 31 of us, including three who met us at our destination. There wasn't enough room on the church bus for everyone, so Doug and I drove separately and provided transportation to two other ladies who are good friends.

We ate supper at Moose Lake Village, which offers a variety of menu choices. The servers kept the snacks coming as we waited for our meals, so much so that we didn't have much appetite for the actual meals when they arrived. But they offered to-go boxes, so that solved that problem. And there were no complaints about the wait for the meals since we were eating the whole time.

The general store offers a large selection of craft items, many of which are Amish-made. Click here for a link to a write-up about Moose Lake and the variety of products and activities offered there.

Lotions and Soaps

Himalayan Salts and Scents

Amish Jar Goods

A small rustic chapel at Moose Lake

After spending a couple of hours at Moose Lake, we took a drive through the Fantasy of Lights in Fort Wayne.

Fantasy of Lights

Next, we drove through downtown Fort Wayne to see some of the lights there. At this point, we lost track of the church bus we were following and missed some of the most popular displays. But I did manage to get pictures of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge and the Lincoln Tower. 

For as long as I can remember, the Lincoln Tower has placed electric candles in every window during the Christmas season. It's a beautiful sight, which is perhaps not evident in my photo.

The white building to the right is the county courthouse. It's a gorgeous structure, full of architectural artistry, and one that I should feature on the blog sometime.

I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas as we all pause to remember and to celebrate the greatest Gift ever given.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Merry Christmas

To all of you who so faithfully support and encourage me here on this humble blog, thank you and Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Invitation

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:18-21)

Christmas. It means different things to different people. For me, its significance is that it's a day set aside to remember the time that God entered our world in human form, to live among us, to teach us about Himself, and, ultimately, to die for us. 

You see, we...every single one of us...are sinners. We are unable to live up to God's standard of righteousness. Unable to earn admittance to Heaven. That leads us to two of my favorite words in the Bible: "But God..." 

But God loves us. He put into action a plan to redeem us, to exchange our sinfulness for His righteousness. In the Babe called Jesus, dwelt all the fullness of God. When that Babe grew to manhood, having lived a perfect sinless life, He offered that life in payment for our sins, taking our sin on Himself and offering us His righteousness in exchange.

And then, as evidence of the sufficiency of the sacrifice, God raised Him from the dead.

Through His death and resurrection, we can have eternal life. The only requirement is that we place our entire hope of eternal life in what He has done. We must choose whether we will stand before God on Judgment Day, clothed in our own righteousness (which the Bible describes as "filthy rags") or clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God.

God invites us to come to Him on the basis of our faith in His Son. If you have never placed your faith in Jesus, I can't think of a better time to do so than on Christmas Day. He gave His life for you. What better gift could you give Him than the gift of yourself?

Perhaps these words could help you express your heart to the Lord:

Dear God, I know I am a sinner, lost and condemned for hell. But Christ Jesus the Lord died for my sins and rose again. And right now by faith, I receive Jesus Christ into my heart as my Savior, trusting in Him alone for the forgiveness of my sins and eternal life. Thank you for saving me; thank you for making me your child; thank you for giving me a home in heaven. Now help me to live for you from this day forward. Amen.

I wish each of you a most blessed Christmas!

Joseph's Song

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise:

 

When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

 

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

 

Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS. ( Matthew 1:18-25)
 

Following is a video, with Michael Card singing Joseph's Song, a song written by him, which expresses some of the thoughts that Joseph might have had as he pondered the huge responsibility he had been given of being the foster father to God's own Son:

 

 

 

Wishing each of you a joyful and Christ-filled Christmas and abundant blessings in 2014!

 



The Christmas Story

Luke 1:26-35
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

Luke 2:1-20

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

John 1:1, 14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 3:16-18
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Merry Christmas, my friends.

Christmas Card Follies

When I began blogging back in September of 2010, it was at the heavy-handed urging of  my friend, Sandra, and her daughter, Jenny, who both had been producing some great blog posts for a few years already.

Life has gotten in the way for Jenny, and she hasn't been blogging for awhile now. Because of that, I asked her for permission to "borrow" one of her most memorable posts, and she willingly gave it.

*****************************************

The year was 2007.

Jenny had just gotten a new DSLR camera and decided to use it to take pictures of her three daughters for the family Christmas card.

The cast of characters was CoCo (age 10), LuLu (age 8), and MiMi (almost 4).

Doesn't this one just scream "Peace on Earth"?

How about this one:

Or this one:

It's interesting to note that CoCo is smiling and looking at the camera in every shot, apparently oblivious to the chaos around her.

Jenny then decided that maybe the other two should be separated. Maybe she could do something artsy with three individual shots.

CoCo is a keeper.

LuLu was reluctant to show her teeth in those days, self-conscious that her two front teeth were still growing in.

MiMi, on the other hand, was not self-conscious about anything. She was just fed up with the picture taking.

During the five years since these pictures were taken, these three girls have blossomed into smart, beautiful, confident, and competent young women. But, like their mother, they're still full of zest for life. In other words, they're not all that far removed from the personalities shown in these pictures.

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

At Christmastime, with all the shopping and baking and gatherings of family and friends, it's easy to forget the true significance of the holiday. A friend of ours likes to say that we need to keep the main thing the main thing. So let's not forget what the main thing is at this season.

Christmas is the time we set aside specifically to remember and celebrate the coming of God into our world as a human baby, born of a human mother but having no human father. God Himself was His Father. That is astounding enough, but the purpose of His coming boggles the mind. God came into our world as a human so that He could offer Himself as the only sacrifice perfect enough to pay the penalty for our sins. He came to pay a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.

Every other religion in the world involves man trying to reach up to God through his own efforts. Christianity alone understands that man can never be good enough to reach up to God. Our only hope lies in His reaching down to us. And that's exactly what He has done. That's the main thing to keep in mind as we celebrate Christmas.

If you have never placed your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, what better time could there be than right now? All He asks is that we agree with Him that we have fallen short of sinless perfection and are, therefore, unable to earn our way to heaven; that we acknowledge Jesus as the only sacrifice that can pay sin's penalty for us; and that we invite Him to assume His rightful place as the Lord of our lives.

As I close this post, I'd like to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and invite you to listen to my very favorite Christmas song, "How Should A King Come."

How should a King come.

Even a child knows the answer of course,

In a coach of gold with a pure white horse.

In the beautiful city in the prime of the day,

And the trumpets should cry and the crowds make way.

And the flags fly high in the morning sun,

And the people all cheer for the sovereign one.

And everyone knows that's the way that it's done.

That's the way that a King should come.

How should a King come.

Even a commoner understands,

He should come for His treasures,

And His houses and lands.

He should dine upon summer strawberries and milk,

And sleep upon bedclothes of satin and silk.

And high on a hill His castle should glow,

With the lights of the city like jewels below.

And everyone knows that's the way that it's done,

That's the way that a King should come.

How should a King come.

On a star filled night into Bethlehem,

Rode a weary woman and a worried man.

And the only sound in the cobblestone street,

Was the shuffle and the ring of their donkey's feet.

And a King lay hid in a virgin's womb,

And there were no crowds to see Him come.

At last in a barn in a manger of hay,

He came and God incarnate lay.

And the angels cried "Glory glory to God."

Earth was silent so heaven rang!

"Glory glory to God."

Men were dumb so the angels sang,

"Glory glory to God,

Peace on earth good will to men,

Glory glory to God.

Christ is born in Bethlehem."

Glory to God. 

Glory in the Highest. 

Glory to God. 

Glory in the Highest. 

Glory to God!

Words by Carol Owens, music by Jimmy Owens / arr. Tom Fettke

The Christmas Suit

I know that there are those who love large cities and huge department stores. I'm not one of them. Shopping is not my favorite thing to do anyway, and large stores just make the experience even more traumatic.

Years ago, there was a small family-owned department store that we used to frequent in a neighboring small town. They had very nice clothes for reasonable prices, and it was a relaxing place to shop. One weekend each summer they would erect a large tent in their parking lot and have a tent sale.

During one such sale, Doug was in the market for a new suit; and we were browsing through the choices under the tent. It's hard to get Doug to buy clothes for himself. He says things like, "I have enough shirts." So I was pleased to see him admiring one of the suits. He took it off the rack and turned it every which way, admiring the color, the fabric, the cut, etc. But he just couldn't bring himself to take the plunge and go to the cash register with it. (Have I mentioned that Doug's self-proclaimed nickname is TW...for Tightwad?)

We continued browsing through the racks until Doug eventually found another suit that he decided to try on. When he took that suit into the store to try it on in one of the dressing rooms, I ran back to the rack where the first suit was that he had been admiring. I grabbed the suit off the rack and ran inside the store to the cash register. I handed it to the cashier, hastily explaining that I wanted to buy it as a surprise for my husband, who was in the dressing room. Fearing that Doug would come out of the dressing room at any moment, I told her I would stop in later in the week to pay for it. I'm not even sure I had time to give her my name, but she tucked the suit out of sight and trusted me to return with payment the following week.

When Doug emerged from the dressing room, he said he liked the suit he had tried on but that he thought he liked the first one better and would like to try on that one. We went back to the rack where the first suit had been and, lo and behold, it was gone. Believing that someone had beaten him to it, he wound up buying the second suit.

This little store also provided alterations, so measurements were taken and an appointment was made to pick up the suit after the alterations had been completed.

That next week, I went back to the store, paid for the surprise suit, and asked them to alter that suit using the same measurements they had taken with the other one.

I decided to make the suit a Christmas surprise for Doug that year. Over the five or six months between the tent sale and Christmas, Doug mentioned several times how much he regretted not buying that suit when he had the chance. Every time he would say something about "the one that got away" I would tingle with the anticipation of surprising him with it on Christmas.

When Christmas came, the surprise was complete. He recognized the suit immediately upon unwrapping it and couldn't believe I had pulled it off, complete with alterations. And, lest you think he was pretending, there's not a deceitful bone in that boy's body.

But the point of this post is that something like this just couldn't have happened in anything other than a small-town, family-owned store. They didn't know me from Adam, but they happily conspired with me to surprise my husband.

It's hard for little stores like that to survive in this day of large chain stores, and this store was no exception. It fell victim to the competition and closed several years ago. But, thanks to the episode with the Christmas suit, they'll always occupy a place of fondness in my heart.

Our Christmas

We drove about an hour and a half to spend the afternoon with Doug's step-family, not far over the border into Michigan. Shortly after crossing the state line, we saw a large bird in a snow-covered cornfield. Originally thinking that it was a large turkey, we drove on by. As we did, though, Doug realized that it wasn't a turkey, but a golden eagle. That's a pretty rare sight in these parts, so we circled back to get another look.

The bird was still on the ground when we drove by, and we were able to confirm Doug's identification of it. We turned around again, heading back in our original direction, and I was ready with the camera. But two other vehicles had spotted our friend in the field and had pulled over to watch. All that attention made the bird nervous, and he flew to a distant tree before I could get close enough to get a photo. Of course, I still tried, but the image wasn't good enough to share here.

The tradition at the gathering with Doug's step-family is to have a pot luck meal, followed by a ten-dollar gift exchange...the kind where numbers are drawn to establish the order in which each person selects a gift; then each subsequent person may choose to take a gift from the pile or to "steal" a gift that another person has previously opened. It's entertaining, not expensive, and makes the fun of the gift exchange last longer.

Doug's brother lives about a half-hour away from where the step-family gathers, but he doesn't attend that function. So we went to pick him up and take him out for supper at a Chinese buffet, which was just about the only place in his town that was open on Christmas Day.

After our meal and enjoyable conversation, we went with him for a drive around the area to look at Christmas lights. Doug's brother told us of a place he had heard about, way out in the country, that had a fantastic light display, so that's where we went first. Here are a few images of that:

Then, we drove through a neighborhood that goes all out with Christmas decorations. This is one house from that neighborhood:

The last stop was at a house that has "dancing" lights, complete with music that can be listened to on a special FM station on a car radio. There was even video showing on the garage door that went along with whatever song was playing at the time. Here are a couple of images from that house:

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas Day and hope all of you did, too.

Merry Christmas!

On Christmas Eve afternoon, we went with some friends to their church for a Christmas Eve program. This nativity scene was set up in the church's baptistery.

Then, on the way home, we stopped in a small town for gasoline, and this pretty church was right across the street.

To all of you who have become blogging friends and who have supported me in this venture into the blogging world...my sincere wishes to you and yours for a very 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Our Christmas Gift to Each Other...Not Romantic, but Practical

Doug and I have been unsuccessfully fighting the battle of the bulge, pretty much since retirement. We've talked about joining a gym, but it would be about a 25-minute drive from where we live; and we're not sure we would be committed enough to stick with it.

We did go so far as to visit several fitness centers and get information about membership rates and available exercise equipment. We pretty much even settled on the one that we would join. But we never took that final step of signing the papers and paying the fee.

Doug was intrigued by the television commercials for the Total Gym, promoted by Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley, so I started doing some research on it.

Before making any major purchase, I like to read the user reviews on Amazon. When I typed "Total Gym" into the search box on Amazon, the first item that popped up was the Weider Total Body Works 5000 Gym. It was hundreds of dollars cheaper than the Total Gym, and the reviews were very positive.

So we figured, for that price, we couldn't go wrong to try it.

We've been using it for about a week and a half now, and it seems perfect for us. We're so out of shape that 10 minutes on it is about all we can handle, but that's 10 minutes worth of exercise that we weren't getting before.

The Weider Total Body Works 5000 Gym came with a poster, illustrating 29 of the possible exercises one could do on the equipment and providing information as to which muscles the particular exercise would benefit. But we find ourselves experimenting and inventing some of our own exercises. It's actually kind of fun, in spite of being hard work. And it's so handy to just walk into the den and work out for a few minutes.

We decided that the Gym would be our Christmas gift to each other. Hopefully, it will help us to become healthier in the new year.

At least, so far, there are no clothes hanging on it.

Christmas

As we approach the Christmas holidays, it just seems appropriate to take some time to reflect on what we celebrate and why.

The event that we celebrate each December actually has its beginnings in the first book of the Bible. That's where we learn of the creation of the earth and everything in it. It's also where we learn of the intimate relationship that existed between the first couple and the God Who created them. That is, the relationship was close until that first couple did the one thing that God had commanded them not to do.

With their disobedience, death entered the world...and not just physical death, but, even more significantly, spiritual death. Fellowship with their Creator was broken. But, fortunately for them, and for all of us who would come after them, God had already anticipated their (and our) failure and had put in place a plan to redeem men and women from the penalty of their sins and to restore them to fellowship with Him. That plan would involve God Himself coming to earth in the form of a man and offering His life as the only sacrifice that could pay every person's sin debt.

As an early step in that plan, God chose Abraham and called him to leave his home and family and to travel to a land that God would give to him and to his descendants. God entered into a covenant with Abraham, promising that, from him, would come a great nation and that, through him, all the nations of the world would be blessed.

During the centuries that followed, prophets of the Lord gave many prophecies concerning the One who would come to redeem mankind.

• He would be a descendant of Abraham. 
• He would be from the tribe of Judah. 
• He would be a descendant of David. 
• He would be a prophet like Moses. 
• He would be the Son of God. 
• He would be born of a virgin. 
• He would come at a specific time. 
• He would be born in Bethlehem. 
• He would restore sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, etc. 
• People would hear and not believe. 
• He would be rejected.
• He would enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey.
• He would be betrayed by a friend.
• He would be sold for 30 pieces of silver. 
• He would be accused by false witnesses. 
• He would be silent in front of His accusers.
• He would be forsaken by His disciples.
• He would be crucified with criminals and buried in a rich man's tomb.
• His bones would not be broken.
• Men would gamble for His clothing.
• He would be raised from the dead. 

All these prophecies and many more were given hundreds of years before Jesus was born to a virgin named Mary in the town of Bethlehem; and all were fulfilled in His life and death. Other prophecies, those concerning His imminent return, are yet to be fulfilled.

God's requirement for entrance into Heaven is sinless perfection. He established the law by which we were to live, and He established the penalty of an eternity of torment and separation from God for any who did not keep that law perfectly. Then, because He knew we would fail, He personally came to pay that penalty and to offer forgiveness and eternal life with Him to any who would put their faith in Jesus, who was God in human flesh, come to earth to redeem sinners.

There has never been a human who lived who has achieved God's standard of perfection, and there never will be. Since we all fall short of God's standard, there is not one person who can earn his way into Heaven.

But God has provided a way for us. One way. The only way. And He provided it at great cost to Himself.

God is just and must punish sin. But He is merciful and doesn't want to punish us. So He came to earth in the form of a man, whom we know as Jesus. Jesus alone lived a life of sinless perfection. And then Jesus laid down that life, offering Himself as a sacrifice to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. 

Jesus' life was not TAKEN that day that He died on the cross. It was GIVEN. Only a sinless sacrifice could pay for the sins of the world, and only Jesus was totally without sin, either in nature or in deed.

He paid for our sins that day...one time for all. It was a demonstration of both His justice and His love. His justice demanded that sin be punished; and, in His love, He took our punishment for us.

Now we have a choice. We can choose to continue trusting in our own good works to get us into Heaven. Or we can choose to trust in Jesus and in what He has done to purchase our salvation for us. There will be no boasting in Heaven. Not one person will be able to pat himself on the back and say, "Look what I've done." The only people in Heaven will be falling at the Savior's feet, thanking Him for what HE has done. Heaven can only be received as a free gift. It cannot be earned.

If there was any other way for sinners to be saved, why would Jesus have come?

We don't really know the date that Jesus entered our world. We traditionally set aside the 25th of December to celebrate the event. But the date is not important. What is important is that He came and that He offers us the gift of eternal life, freely, which is really the only way a gift can be received.

If you have never placed your trust in Jesus for your eternal salvation, I pray that you will do so today. Just tell God, in prayer, that you realize that you are a sinner and that you cannot save yourself, that you believe that Jesus died to pay your sin penalty, and that it's your desire that He come into your life and help you to be the person He created you to be.

A Christmas Story

It was 10 days before Christmas last year, and I woke up sick. You know. The ugly sick. All the nasty stuff that no one really wants to hear about.

By the next day, the nastiness had abated, but I still had no appetite or physical strength.

The third day was much better. I actually showered and washed my hair, but that was it. No styling of the hair and no application of makeup.

That night, Doug and I were sitting in the house in all our scruffiness when the doorbell rang. I made Doug answer it while I hid around the corner because I looked so bad. I mean, I looked BAD! When Doug opened the door, I heard a chorus of voices singing a Christmas carol; and I couldn't imagine who would be caroling us. Then, to my horror, I heard Doug inviting them in!

I should also mention that Doug and I don't really get into decorating for Christmas. We have a lovely nativity set that we put on the fireplace mantel, and we might put up a wreath or two and set out a ceramic Christmas tree that lights from the inside. But, that night, nothing was out but the nativity set.

Before I go further with this, I need to give you some background. We had previously attended a church that was about 30 miles away. We had left that church eight months earlier and begun attending one about five miles away. There were so many nice folks at the distant church, but two very special ones were twins, Gina and Tina. They were in their thirties, both with wonderful husbands and large families. Gina was mother to three girls and two boys; and Tina was mother to one girl and six boys. Doug always referred to Gina and Tina as the "sunshine committee" at church because of their cheerfulness and friendliness.

Well, at our door that night were Tina, her husband, Mark, and six of their seven children. (The seventh had been sleeping in the car and had just woken up and didn't want to come in.) They live almost an hour away but had come to our area that night to attend a Christmas function connected with Mark's employment, and Tina had convinced Mark that they would be so close to our home that they just HAD to stop and see us.  Mark is no fool. I'm sure he knew they would be going way out of their way to pay us a visit, but he loves his wife.

At Doug's invitation, they came inside the house but remained in front of the door so that the child in the car could still see them. I came out of my hiding place, still very embarrassed by how bad I looked. The children were looking at Doug and me as if they couldn't believe we were the same people they had known from church. I could see them looking around the house, too, and knew that they were wondering where our Christmas decorations were. They'd probably never seen any place looking so dreary this close to Christmas.

We visited with them for a few minutes and got our hugs from Tina before they were on their way again, leaving our lives a little brighter.

Later, I sent them a card with this message:

Dear Mark, Tina, Thane, Maeghon, Lucas, Andrew, Jeremy, Zachary, and Stephen,

We just wanted to drop you a line and let you know how sorry we were that we missed your visit on Thursday night. We had been out purchasing all new Christmas decorations; and, when we arrived home, the couple who had been watching the house for us told us of your visit. They said you seemed to think they were us, so they just went along with it. They said you had a charming family and sang beautifully; so, of course, we knew immediately who they were talking about.

It was so sweet of you to stop by. We hope you'll come again, when we can be here to greet you. (We look SO much better than that other couple!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!