The A - Z of Christmas - G and H

G - The precious Gift of God's Son, Jesus Christ.

G -  Glitter....how many times in my life has glitter been a apart of Christmas.... As a Sunday School teacher.....my class used glitter alot. Wanted to make any Christmas projects pop out. And oh the glitter that you can never get off your hands, your face, your clothes, etc. And we also used glitter when homeschooling. Always had the stuff on hand, ready to use.

G  -  Now that I am older, Christmas time is much grander...because of our 3 Grandchildren. Oh to see the sights and sounds of Christmas through a child's eyes.

G -  One of our biggest traditions, is Getting a live Christmas tree. The kids always loved to go and help out a tree. Some still do. Although that is getting increasingly harder to find a time when we can all get together to do this. Some years we have gotten a tree that would already be cut. The fun times, though , is when we go to a  tree farm, to find that perfect tree, and cut it down ourselves.

H - Herr's Potato Chip Factory drive through lights display......this is a highlight for me. We always have to drive through two or three times because you can't see it all the first time through. Then to park and have to get out and take pictures of us standing next to something.....most likely the caterpillar. When we are finished, then it is off to Wawa (right across the road), for hot chocolate or coffee.

H - Hot Chocolate

H - Ho Ho Ho ----Even though our emphasis is not on Santa Claus for Christmas.....(we do very much believe that Jesus is the reason for the Christmas Season, and the reason we give gifts, is because God gave the ultimate Gift...His Son)....it is still alot of fun to create memories in our family that deal with Santa and Ho Ho Ho.

What are your G's & H's?

The A - Z of Christmas - F

The F of Christmas
Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.....how many Christmas Plays have I been in throughout my years. You cannot have a Christmas play of the Nativity and not have props for the Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.  Another F...is a big one for me....FAMILY. Throughout the years we have tried to create some traditions that our kids, and now our grandchildren that would give them lasting memories. Christmas, for us, is a time when we gather as a family, and celebrate the birth of a King, and give gifts to each other as God gave the ultimate Gift, His Son, for us.

The A - Z of Christmas - E

The A - Z of Christmas  -  E
This was one of the harder letters.....I came up with Christmas Eve. It seems we have all the kids around on Christmas Eve as well as Christmas night. I have been doing our Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve for the last couple of years.We have also went around riding to look at Christmas lights. Christmas Eve is when the last minute gifts get wrapped. After everyone (even now) goes to bed...I go and fill stockings. Also on Christmas Eve is when we would write our letter to Santa Claus. These are just little traditions we have started over the years. It's funny, I can still remember the first few Christmases of our married life, and Christmas Eve when Chrisy was little.

The a - Z of Christmas - D

What would our celebration of Christmas be without decorations. We have put up inside and outside decorations since we have been married. Sometimes we get the feeling why do we mess with all of this. But every year, we get the decorations out, and just can't seem to help ourselves. It brings back such fond memories of when I was little, and when our kids were little, how much they looked forward to seeing the lights at night. Now we have the grandkids, so it is hard to not use our decorations. One of the highlights for me, is all of us piling into the van to go to the Herr's Potato Chip Factory to see their huge Christmas light display....beautiful.
Another D - Christmas Dinner....either at my house with our family, or at church with our church family. Always a high point to the Christmas season. Do you have another D for Christmas???

The a - Z of Christmas - C

The C of Christmas

 Of course, the big C word would be Christmas, but that is obvious.
What would Christmas be without these things that begin with the letter C: Chocolate drops, Christmas cards, baking Christmas cookies, candy canes and caroling. These are a few words that come to my mind.
Chocolate drops again take me back to my younger years and our church Christmas programs. My grandfather would buy and bag all of the treat bags. And those treat bags ALWAYS contained Chocolate Drops. In those days, Kleins only had one store and that was on the the corner of Jarrettsville Pike and Route 24, right in the center of Forest Hill. And in that store, there were bins and bins of candy, especially at Christmas time. What a memory of going in there and scooping out candy from those bins.
I have been doing Christmas cards ever since we were married....34 years ago. With the price of postage, alot of card sending has stopped. There was a time when we would receive ten or more cards everyday for Christmas. But not the times are tough. And virtual cards have taken over. But it is not the same.
And it has become a tradition for us, that I bake Christmas cookies every year. These are given as gifts, and then we also have tins for us to eat whenever we feel like it. And even though my kids are all grown....they still have their favorite that Mon just has to make. So it will be again this year.
Candy canes....even though I do not like to eat them much....are one of my favorite things for the holidays. There was a time when the kids were smaller, that candy canes were our theme for decorating outside. I guess those decorations are just a memory now....who knows what happened to those decorations.
Christmas caroling has been a big part of my church life. Even now, we still (our church) will go caroling. It is a lot of fun, no matter, if we are outside going from house to house, or in a nursing home going from room to room. We always make a treat bag to give to each person. It brings such a joy to those who hear, and also those of us who sing....to see the big smiles of those who enjoy it.
Those are some of C's of Christmas? What are ours?

The A - Z of Christmas - A & B

So I wanted to do another Christmas blog, and came up with this idea......The A - Z of Christmas.
And seeing that I am 2 days late already....today's blog will be A  &  B. If you want to add comments about what comes to your mind with each letter, please do so. Would love to see what comes on everyone's mind.

A -  Apples and oranges......Growing up in church all of my life, has given me many special memories. And one of those memories is Christmas Programs. I have been involved in plays and programs for as long as I can remember. But as a young girl, still living at home with my grandfather and grandmother, there is  a special memory during Christmas that deal with apples and oranges. When our church would have our Annual Christmas Program....my grandfather would put treat bags together. These bags always included hard candy, chocolate candy and of course, apples and oranges. Today, at the church my husband pastors....we put treat bags together at Christmas time when we go caroling to those that are sick and shut in. And, of course, they always contain apples and oranges.

B - Beautiful Star of Bethlehem.....what else can I say about this beautiful Christmas hymn. It has been a a favorite of mine since I was a little girl.

So what is your A and B of Christmas?

To Decorate Alot or A Little

Another Christmas is just around the corner....and Hubby and I go through this decision every year....to decorate alot or a little? Every year we say we are only going to decorate a little...but when we get the boxes out, we always say...well we might as well put this out too. So, I looked at a picture from last year of the outside of our house decorated. And I look at it, and I say to myself...How can we not put out Joseph and Mary? Or how can I not put out that Momma Reindeer and her two babies? Then we do have the Grandchildren, and this will be Porter's first Christmas, how do we not put out all the things that we have for years, and this being his first Christmas? What about Austin and Jordyn? They will know that this or that is missing. But on the other hand, it is so much work....and it's cold.    I remember my Grandfather..he would always decorate for Christmas....ALOT. He was a painter by trade so the heights or ladders did not scare him. And he always did it. And usually On a Sunday, he would gather us all up, me, my brother and all my cousins, for the big initial turn on of the decorations. That began Christmas Season for us. Hubby and I went to Home Depot last night, and while we were there, I, of course, had to walk through the Christmas aisles. There was Santa in his sleigh and his reindeers (the hard plastic kind), that brought my mind back to Christmases Past. My grandfather had one of these (I wonder where it is now), that he would put up on the roof of our 2 story house every year. I will never forget that. So here we are trying decide if we decorate alot or a little. Not sure how this will play out in the next few weeks, but once those Christmas decoration boxes are out...who knows what will happen.....maybe we should ask Austin, Jordyn and Porter.