Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us.Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there.” And he answered, “Go.”Then one of them said, “Be pleased to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I will go.”So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.”Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float.And he said, “Take it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.
One of the best things about Christmas are the traditions that each family makes and continues to keep year after year. One of my family's Christmas traditions is that every day, starting on the first Sunday of December, we read a chapter from our Advent book together. We have three special books, each telling the Christmas story in a different way, and we choose one to read each year. We like to make a big pot of hot chocolate, curl up by the fire(if we happen to have one at that moment) or around the table, and Mom or Dad will read out loud. We have been doing this ever since I can remember. Some of our other traditions are 1) the siblings always draw names on Thanksgiving and we try to keep it a secret who we have and get a gift for that person. We open these gifts on Christmas Eve along with any other random sibling gifts, and we open all our gifts from our parents on Christmas morning. It's a lot of fun trying to keep yours a secret while trying to figure out who everyone else has and who has you. :) 2) Every Christmas morning we have a breakfast of Breakfast Casserole, cinnamon rolls, and orange juice/milk/egg nog. 3) We make a big feast of hors d'oeuvres and eat them on Christmas Eve.
(photo by Chavonne) a word from Chavonne:
Christmas is one of the absolute best holidays! You get LOADS of food to eat, candy, presents and you can hangout with friends and family. PLUS, you get to snowboard, ski, skate, snowmobile, etc. Definitely one of my favourite holidays. =D
Even though i love all the food i get to eat, and candy (and presents are great), i love seeing my family. I love my siblings faces when they open a gift that they've been wanting for a very long time. I love how everyone is always in such a good mood and smiling and laughing. I also love how Christmas morning is one of the ONLY mornings where teenagers will actually get up early. =P
Now, for those of you who are from German families or who know German families you've probably heard (or know) how German families will open all their gifts Christmas Eve. Now we don't open all of the gifts Christmas Eve at my place, but we do open 1 gift, and that's because we do have some German blood in us. We also have some other Christmas traditions like, some kids will sleep beside the Christmas tree, we always have Eggs Benedict (with different kinds of meat) for breakfast, and we always have some one hand out gifts. Now i'm not going to list all of our family traditions for Christmas, because that would just take to long. Just giving you a bit of a glimpse though of what Christmas is like with my family.
I hope you're Christmas is a very happy and wonderful Christmas
Merry Christmas everyone [:
p.s. I also love the Christmas music. Music can make anything and everything so much brighter and happier.
Yes that's an Elf quote and you know what that means! It;s Christmas!! :D I don't have time for a whole long post, but I wanted to let you guys know there's a Christmas themed photo contest running over at Fountain of Mercy! I hope you'll head on over and enter! :) Here's my entry:
My favorite book series is the River of Time by Lisa T. Bergren.
It's about two girls who go back in time to the 14th century and essentially fall in love with the handsome knights and lords there. One of the guys is already taken, and that creates a lot of disagreement. Of course, the team we're rooting for is also up against a team of their mortal enemies and face many dangers from that. I'm not going to give away the ending, so that you'll still want to read it, but the gist of it is that they face a lot of trials and try to somehow find love at the same time.
I love it because it's the perfect mix of everything I love in a book (or in this case books) -- action, romance, a little bit of mystery, and of course, comedy. As well as sci-fi, the whole series involves so many real life circumstances that we can relate to, it draws you in. Even when cast into another time, the heroine -- Gabi -- stays very real-life. I hope you decide to read this series, because you're seriously missing out if you don't! It's just seriously the best thing ever. But you won't know that until you read it. ;)
I have a lot of favorite movies, but I guess I'll share one of my recent favorites that is a perfect movie to watch with your family during the Christmas season. :) It's called the Twelve Dates of Christmas.
It's about a young woman named Kate who is doomed to repeat the same day over and over -- twelve times to be exact -- until she learns to forget about her ex-boyfriend, care about other people more than herself, and get things right with her blind date twelve times over.
My whole family loved this movie. It's nice because it doesn't have all of the bad scenes to fast forward, the violence, and the profanity of a lot of movies now. There is some language, but it is definitely on a smaller scale than most movies. It is really good because it is not only about falling in love, it involves comedy and learning to care about others from a random guy who helps you up at the mall to your neighbor. I really enjoyed this movie, and I hope you will, too. :)
Chavonne's favourite book:
One of my favourite books by far would be, "The Vow"
This is a true story, about true love, loyalty and trust in God.
I have not seen the movie yet, but its on my "movie list". (Its probably not as good as the book however :P)
The book starts off as a young woman and man (both single) and how they start their courtship and soon fall in love. Not 2 months after they marry however they crash and the wife is seriously hurt so bad, that she does not remember her husband and starts going through angry phases.
Now i'm not going to tell you about the ENTIRE book because that would ruin it for anyone who wants to read it later. I will tell you however, that it is a really good read, and encourages other people to trust God no matter what.
Psalm 46"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging."
Psalm 16:11
"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand, there are pleasures forevermore."
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