Wishing you….

 

 

It’s First Advent today – the beginning of the season of looking forward to the celebration of our Lord’s birth. 

This first day of celebration we honor the hope that God gave to the world when he promised the coming of Christ, the hope that Christ brought to the world.

In our home we celebrate Advent, each Sunday lighting the successive candle to honor that day:

And we spend some time contemplating the Reason for the Season.

Today I wish for all of you that you can know personally the hope that God gave to the world, and the hope of life everlasting.

Because it’s coincidentally also December 1, this is the day we decorate our home for Christmas.  So now, the tree is up, the decorations are everywhere to be seen.  A few weeks ago I shared with you a mantel piece that I’d made, today we completed the ‘scene’:

And the final touch on our tree is 12 candles – yes, real candles.  Grizz is from Germany, and we’ve kept the German tradition of candles on the tree, 12 of them to recognize the 12 days of Christmas.  Our tree stays up until that 12th day, January 6, Epiphany, the symbol of the day the wise men arrived to bring their gifts to the baby Jesus.  We light the candles occasionally through the season, when we have friends or family in, on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years, Epiphany – and we are very careful, carefully placing the candles, and keeping a vigilant eye on them for the short times that they are lit:

 

Wishing many rich blessings to each and every one of you.     Peg