The Nativity

This movie is awesome: simple and powerful. (Although I did also love "The Nativity Story" which came out a couple of years ago.)



For what it's worth, Hebrew has several forms of asking for something (or several forms of "please"). When Joseph is asking at the door of the inn, he uses the word "bavakisha" which is the strongest form... somehow knowing that adds something for me.

And it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night...

There are many Christmas stories, and many that I like. My family always read several on Christmas Eve, and now I read some of those same ones to my children...but today I want to share just one favorite--my very favorite Christmas story.

It's a true story: the story of Christ's birth from the perspective of those who were living in the Americas.
Around 5 BC, a prophet named Samuel had come to warn and teach the people. They had become forgetful of the teachings of the prophets, and were not following the Lord. Samuel told them that within 5 years the Savior would be born in Judea, and that they would know of His coming because a sign would be given: a day and a night and a day with no darkness. Many people believed Samuel and began to follow the commandments, and to look forward to the coming of Christ, but others did not believe, and they harassed the Christians for their belief. I now quote from 3 Nephi 1, with the key parts highlighted if you are only going to skim it [full text here]:

And it came to pass that in the commencement of the ninety and second year, behold, the prophecies of the prophets began to be fulfilled more fully; for there began to be greater signs and greater miracles wrought among the people.
But there were some who began to say that the time was past for the words to be fulfilled, which were spoken by Samuel, the Lamanite.
And they began to rejoice over their brethren, saying: Behold the time is past, and the words of Samuel are not fulfilled; therefore, your joy and your faith concerning this thing hath been vain.
And it came to pass that they did make a great uproar throughout the land; and the people who believed began to be very sorrowful, lest by any means those things which had been spoken might not come to pass.
But behold, they did watch steadfastly for that day and that night and that day which should be as one day as if there were no night, that they might know that their faith had not been vain.
Now it came to pass that there was a day set apart by the unbelievers, that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death except the sign should come to pass, which had been given by Samuel the prophet.
Now it came to pass that when Nephi, the son of Nephi, [the current prophet] saw this wickedness of his people, his heart was exceedingly sorrowful.
And it came to pass that he went out and bowed himself down upon the earth, and cried mightily to his God in behalf of his people, yea, those who were about to be destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers.
And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:
Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.
Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both fof the Father and of the Son—of the Father because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh. And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given.
And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came.
And there were many, who had not believed the words of the prophets, who fell to the earth and became as if they were dead, for they knew that the great plan of destruction which they had laid for those who believed in the words of the prophets had been frustrated; for the sign which had been given was already at hand.
And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.
For they knew that the prophets had testified of these things for many years, and that the sign which had been given was already at hand; and they began to fear because of their iniquity and their unbelief.
And it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sign which had been given.
And it had come to pass, yea, all things, every whit, according to the words of the prophets.
And it came to pass also that a new star did appear, according to the word.

Again I am reminded of light as a symbol of our Savior. A bright star, a night as bright as day... I've written here of my struggles with depression, and they are ongoing, but my posts through the holidays have turned my focus away from the darkness and toward the light. I have decided to give myself the whole season (of winter) to ponder and focus on light, so hopefully I will continue to post some of my thoughts over the coming weeks.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, filled with Light and Love!

Still Her Little Child

One of my favorite Christmas songs...

OK, so, I actually like this musician better but the graphics on it were not as good...so maybe listen to the other one while watching this one. ☺

Christmas Songs

Not all Christmas songs are created equal. Some are glorious carols, some are silly, and some are just plain bad. I've always known that I like some better than others, but this year I've been thinking about which ones I like, and why... and you know, it's almost exclusively the sacred carols that I love.
I don't care for the love songs that masquerade as Christmas songs (like Blue Christmas or Winter Wonderland). I don't like the depressing ones (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas has got to be the worst song ever, did you know that the original lyrics were? They are BAD! But I won't post them here to taint you in case you like the song.) I don't mind Frosty and Rudolph, but given the choice I'll play something a little more grown up like Silver Bells or Bring a Torch Janette Isabella. I don't like the naughty ones (like I'm Getting Nuttin or Santa Baby). I don't like the ones that don't make sense to me (I Saw Three Ships being the classic example). I actually am very tired of We Wish You a Merry Christmas and I have never liked The Christmas Song. How sad am I?!
I guess I am like Mae, who can't turn on the radio at this time of year...

What do I love?
O Holy Night (The chord on "Fall" at the beginning of the chorus gives me chills every time!)
Silent Night (partly because I can sign it...I need to learn it in German though)
What Child is This (which used to bug me because it's not an AABB rhyme scheme, and I was too young to pick up on the ABCBDD pattern, so I thought it was a lame song for not rhyming...but now I get it and I love it)
The Wexford Carol
Carol of the Bells
One King
O Come O Come Emmanuel (I don't know why, since the minor key always feels a little depressing...but I just think it's beautiful)
Still Her Little Child (Ray Boltz)
Mary Did You Know
Mary's Lullabye (Tonight You Are Mine) (a lullabye from Mary, singing that He is a king, and will do and be amazing things...but for tonight he is her little baby)

What are some of your favorites?

Not Me Monday

I ran into this blog carnival weeks ago, but this week I have an entry, so here goes...
Not Me Monday is where we all share things that we certainly didn't do this week (because it would be terrible to admit if we actually did do them, right?!)
So, I'll be brief:
I didn't let my kids eat cookies for breakfast today (because we didn't have a whole bunch of them sitting around from the cookie exchange yesterday), and I definitely didn't eat cookies for breakfast myself.
I don't have more than half of my Christmas sewing to do, because I have not been spending all my time focused on trying to finish knitting the little Bear's sweater (which actually really isn't a gift, it's just something I want to get done). (One cuff to go!)
And I absolutely didn't decide to scrap the family christmas letter this year, only to change my mind on the 20th and throw together a digital one....naw, definitely did NOT do that!

See what everybody else didn't do by visiting here!

Hanukkah can be for Christians too

(I thought I would share portions of a letter sent by a friend of mine...she knows more about this stuff than I do since she is a Christian who celebrates Jewish holidays....)

You don't have to be Jewish to celebrate Hanukkah. There is much in the feast which tells us of Yeshua (Jesus), and as you go through it, you will see certain parallelisms. Because the Biblical Feasts are dated from the lunar calendar, this year in 2008, Hanukkah's first night of the 8 nights, starts on Sunday, December 21. (The Biblical calendar expresses it as the 25th day of the month Kislev). We will give a brief summary first, and then the practical tips will be listed below that.

Brief History: Hanukkah's other names are the Festival of Lights or the Feast of Dedication. This feast commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the wicked Greek King Antiochus and the Hellenistic Syrians, who were trying to force Jews to bow down to idols, and to stop all Jewish rituals. In 168BCE they seized the Jewish temple, and used it for worshiping Zeus. Some Jews were so full of fear that they did not retaliate; but a small yet tough Jewish family called the Maccabees, led by the priestly Hasmoneans, revolted at Modi'in, and stood up for righteousness, thereby saving the Jewish race. One of them called Mattathius, rose up and slew a fellow Jew who had weakened by offering to comply to pagan worship, thereby betraying the Jews. Mattathius also killed the Greek officer who had demanded Jews worship idols and eat pig, both of which are forbidden in the Torah. (If he had not done this, the Jews would have been wiped out, and our Jewish Messiah Yeshua would never have been born to save us.) After this brave encounter, they found much destruction in the temple, so in 165BCE they cleaned it up and rededicated the ransacked temple that Antiochus had used to put a non-“kosher” pig on the altar. The idea of lighting the candles comes from the fact that a real miracle happened after the Maccabees found only one flask of oil left to light the damaged temple “m'norrah”, and it actually stayed lit for 8 days amidst great celebrations!

Do try to keep your commemoration of the event separate from Christmas. That is easy to do when the dates do not collide, but this year they DO! Here are some guidelines as to how you can celebrate Hanukkah nightly right in your home.
1) Buy or make a “hanukkiah” (haw–noo–KEE-yah). That's a 9 sticked candelabra. Buy enough candles for lighting fresh ones each of the 8 nights = 72. They don't have to be big ones – the little ones are available at Jewish stores, and sometimes at supermarkets. You can buy a “hanukkiah” from a Jewish store on-line [or from etsy]. Sometimes you can find them in second-hand stores too, or make your own!.
2) At nightfall, someone (even a child) lights the first candle – and light the end candle first. You can look up the Hanukkah prayers to read. After this, put out your match and use the end candle, the “shamash” (sha-MASH) , the “servant candle” to light the first candle. (Sometimes it's on the extreme right and sometimes it stands in the centre by itself. Put the “shamash” back into its place. And then stop - don't blow out either candle!) That's all you light the first night. The second night, you add one more, and then the third night, the third one as well, till the last night when ALL the candles are lit – still by the “shamash” which lights all the rest throughout the week – not the SAME candle, as it is fresh each night. To us as Christians, we see the parallelism in our Messiah Who took upon Himself to be a servant to us all, Who “lights” up our lives!
3) Recite the “hallel” - Ps. 11-118.
4) Sing a Hannukah song. Here is one that has a recording, and Hebrew and English words written out below. Or sing any worship song you know that has to do with LIGHT or DEDICATION or STANDING strong. Merla Watson has written several songs for Christians to sing at Hanukkah - here's one called “Father of Lights”. Look it up on our web site: www.mervandmerla.co It's listed under “New Messianic Songs” in a book with many feast songs in it.
5) Cook the traditional food (Google this = Hannukah traditional food or recipes), or order from a Jewish delicatessen or supermarket grocery store ahead of time. First the “latkes” (LAT-kuz) = shredded potato pancakes served with homemade apple sauce, and “suvgani'ot” (soov-ga-nee-OHT) = jelly filled donuts. Recipes of both can be found on the Internet. Just Google it. Lots of folks have a “latke” making party beforehand or as even part of their party the same night.
6) Traditionally, small gifts are exchanged during this time as well.
7) Find a small “dreidel” (special spinning top) at a Jewish store, or order one on-line. It has a big Hebrew letter on each side of its square sides, which is an acronym of 4 Hebrew alphabet letters standing for: “A big miracle happened there!” During the time of persecution in ancient history, while the Jews were really studying Torah, if they heard the Greek soldiers at the door, they quickly snatched their “dreidels” from their pockets, pretending to be playing with them, and not reading Torah. There are “dreidel” games and other Hanukkah games on the Internet.
8) Appoint someone to read the story of Hannukah.
9) If you are part of a community, you could have the festivities at a different home each night.
10) Try to involve kids as much as possible – in the lighting of the “Hannukiah”, in baking cookies, in helping with the cooking or baking, in singing along with the songs, and in playing games with the “dreidel”.

And by the way, Hanukkah is not pronounced "han" as in our word "hand" but you pronounce it "haw" as in "HOLLow". So it would sound "HAW=noo-kaw". Even better if you can do a guttural sound for the first "H" - like the German "iCH" or the Scottish "LOCH Lomond". THERE! You HAVE it! You can find other information about Hanukkah on our web site under the BLOG button or under the FEASTS button.

HAPPY HANUKKAH - for a whole week!

Soup for Solstice

So, we had a soup potluck for solstice. I don't know if that might be better as a vernal equinox celebration, but it's what we did this year. Yummm!

Celebrating Solstice

In Ireland there is a passage tomb called Newgrange. It's the oldest known man-made structure on the planet. On one day of the year--winter solstice--the rising sun shines through the doorway and up the passage to the center chamber. (You can see a short informative clip here, it has clearer images than the embedded one, and also shows just how small and claustrophobic the place is. It wasn't really on solstice though--they have an electric light they use to demonstrate for tourists...the embedded film below is the real thing, which is why I included it here):

(this movie is a 6min compilation taken from the live filming of the event in 2007)

Winter Solstice is the shortest day, and longest night of the year. Although it is traditionally a pagan holiday, I like the idea of celebrating it too, and here is why.

It is the day when darkness begins to recede and light returns--like Christ's Light conquering the darkness of evil.

It reminds me that the darkness of sin can be replace with the light of repentance and forgiveness.

It is a reminder that the darkness of death is only temporary, and will be followed by the light of resurrection.

In short, Winter Solstice reminds me of the Greatest Light of All.

Mannheim Steamroller brings Joy to the World

To keep up the something-holidayish-every-day-this-month...

I grew up with this Christmas music, and it has always been some of my favorite.
Hubby and I went to the live concert for our first anniversary date (thus sharing it today!)...yeah, it's a bunch of old hippies acting half their age, but you know, it was really a lot of fun. And the music is awesome.

Five Years

Five years ago today Hubby and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Portland Oregon temple. I've been thinking about this for a few months, and how five years seems like a looong time...and on the other hand it's gone by so fast. I can hardly remember what it was like to not be married, and yet it's been less than a 5th of my life. It will be 17 more years before my time as a married woman equals my time as an unmarried one. ☺ So, I thought today I'd share the story of my rings, since it's somewhat unique...

Hubby proposed with a simple solitaire. Classic, elegant, etc etc. He had picked the stone and the band and all that. A couple of days later he explained to me that he had bought a wedding band also, because he had thought it was pretty, but that he did not want me to feel obligated to have it if I would prefer something else. Well, I had been mentally designing my ring since my early teens, and the band he'd picked wasn't a match to my mental images. Pretty--yes, what I wanted--no. More than anything, the sentimental side of me really wanted for us to have matching rings, so since the band had a row of stones, I asked him how he would feel about having a ring with stones...he didn't want stones. So we concluded that we'd do something else, and I figured he'd exchange this ring for whatever we got instead.
Skip forward to actually choosing rings. This was not an easy proposition! I really liked little side stones that wrapped around the diamond, but the setting on my ring was too tall for them. The jeweler offered to set the diamond in a new band, but I am sentimental and wanted the band that Hubby had picked. Finally we found a ring for him that had a three-band look, and we got me two small bands (one to go either side of the solitaire).(This photo shows the height of my setting, and why a wrapped band was not an option. And yes, I know, his ring is WAY too big for my finger, but it was easier to get a clear picture if they were both on one hand)

Several months later I learned that there is an old Swedish tradition of having a three-banded wedding ring--an engagement band, a wedding band, and a band (also given at the wedding) representing motherhood and the children that were to come. I get a kick out of the fact that my ring follows a tradition I had not even known about when I chose it. ☺

But that is not the end of the story! Unknown to me, Hubby did not return that other band. Instead, he turned it into a mother's ring by having one of the diamonds removed, and having Wolf's birthstone put in. He gave it to me on our first Mother's Day (which was particularly moving since I had miscarried less than a month before). After Bear was born we added his birthstone too, and the middle stones are sitting there waiting for the next few siblings. ☺

(I wear it on the other hand, but again, for the sake of the photo...
and yes, I realize that it only has 5 stones, and no, we are not basing our family planning on this ring. If I need to get a new ring at some point I will! ☺)