The Christmas Ornament by Patty Smith Hall

     The Saturday after Thanksgiving, our family always puts out stacks of storage boxes and decorate our home for Christmas. It’s not much to speak of, certainly nothing compared to some of the beautiful layouts in those home and garden magazines you see at the grocery store.
     But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Each ornament no matter how large or small holds a memory, a special place in our family history. The tiny wooden elf with his faded cotton hat, the teardrop glass ornament with the year of our marriage engraved on it and so many others that tell the stories of Danny and my life together. But none tell the story of those early years of our marriage as much as the simple ceramic Nativity we bought our first year together.
     I was in my last year of nursing school and Danny had just started his first job out of college. We were as poor as church mice with barely two pennies to rub together but that didn’t dull our Christmas spirit. Somehow, we managed to save a few dollars out of our meager grocery allowance. With few decorations to call our own, we went to the local discount store to see what we could get to fix up our home for the holidays.
     And we were terribly disappointed.
     Everything pretty and festive was out of our price range. We would only be able to buy a few cheap things. Then we saw it, a small ceramic Nativity set. Having met in Sunday school, it seemed right that the first Christmas decoration we bought for our home would be a representation of Christ’s birth. Though it wasn’t expensive, it was still out of our tiny budget. Reluctantly, we moved on, trying to find something else but our attention always shifted back to that Nativity. In the end, we decided it was worth eating spaghetti for an entire week so we bought it.
     Over the last thirty-two years, that ceramic Nativity has traveled thousands of miles, made it through six moves and survived two active toddlers. It will always hold a special place in our home. . .and our hearts.   
    

Home from the war, army nurse Thea Miller is determined to adopt her late sister's baby and begin a new life. But someone else has the same intentions—the town sheriff and Thea's old friend, Mack Worthington. Now, in order to keep her niece in the family, Thea must reach an agreement with him.

Mack isn't sure Thea—whose actions once hurt him badly—is committed to baby Sarah. And a judge may never approve a single-parent adoption for either of them. But what if they got married? It would be a marriage in name only. Yet the more time Mack spends with Thea, the more he begins to believe their pretend family can become the real one they've both been longing for.

A CHRISTMAS STORY TOLD IN ORNAMENTS

Last weekend, with my grandson “Boo’s” help, I put up my Christmas tree. It definitely doesn’t look like anything out of a magazine. My ornaments range from homemade reindeer made out of candy canes and pipe cleaners to construction paper cut by overzealous preschoolers with pictures their happy little faces carefully, if crookedly, glued on top. We also have a tradition of purchasing a dated Hallmark ornament every year—more than one on years where weddings take place or babies are born.

For me, the process of decorating the tree is always an occasion of happy memories and a few tears. This year, as I removed each ornament from its box, I explained the significance to an over-excited and not-always-interested three-year-old boy who thought the cheap-o shiny glass bulbs were of more interest than the carefully handcrafted ornaments. Occasionally, though, his big blue eyes would light up with curiosity.

“This is your mommy when she was little.”

“Look! It’s Santa Claus.”

“Here’s baby Jesus with his mommy Mary.”

“This is you when you were just a bitty baby.”

At one point I pulled out an American bulldog ornament from a few years ago. “Hey, this ornament looks like Rubble on the Double,” I exclaimed. (From the children’s show Paw Patrol, for the uninitiated.)

Boo rolled his eyes. “No, Granny. That’s a regular puppy.” I stand corrected.

In Yuletide Baby, my December release from Harlequin Love Inspired, my heroine Heather’s tree tells a story. It’s not decorated with strings of lights and expensive ornaments. Rather, she’s strung popcorn and cranberries with her three foster children. When Pastor Shawn enters the picture with baby Noelle, it is Heather’s tree that first opens his eyes to Heather’s large, caring heart.

Every day since our tree went up last Friday, Boo comes to me with the same request—

“Granny, let’s go see the tree that we make-ded.” He’ll flip on the lights and we’ll exclaim in delight at how beautiful it is. I love sharing his enthusiasm for Christmas, the excitement never dims. And it reminds me that, just like a child, I should always find joy and excitement in the season. We're looking back at a most blessed event, but also forward to our Lord's coming again, and what could be more exciting than that?

Wishing you much joy and delight during the blessed seasons of Advent and Christmas. May you fall more and more in love with our Savior Jesus Christ as you take time to remember His humble birth and the wonderful advent of His return.

And also, if you happen to have decorated a Christmas tree this year, may you enjoy what you make-ded.

Love Courageously!

Deb

Christmas Preparations!

Missy Tippens, here. Getting ready for a big Christmas with all my family here at our house. I'm writing this on Saturday after spending two and a half hours at the grocery buying all the food we'll need. I've been batting around menu ideas for weeks. Finally just bit the bullet and jotted down a list in the grocery store parking lot. :) I hope my family enjoys what I have planned!

As you can see, I finally got all the decorations put up, including stockings for the dogs and cats! :) Yes, we like to put treats in them to occupy the dogs so they don't interrupt gift opening. So the pets are all settled, yet I still have shopping to do. What about you? Have you been rushing around getting ready? What do you have left to do?

Speaking of dogs…I love this ornament!

Missy

www.missytippens.com

Crafts and Craftie Ladies

Hi everyone!

Rhonda Gibson here.

I was thinking... yes a dangerous task I know anyway ... I was thinking, what do my sister Craftie ladies do for fun when they aren't writing? Then I got a little more specific, what kinds of crafts do they do?

You see, Winter time is when I craft the most. My favorite craft to do is beading. I make beaded jewelry. I'm not real fancy but I do have fun with it and it relaxes me. Just this last week, I made a pair of earrings and a bracelet for a friend for a birthday present. She loves lighthouses and the color blue. I was going to post a picture but it doesn't look like it will let me here... so if you want to see it go to Rhonda's Ramblings and have a look.

Now on to what some of my Craftie Ladie friends are crafting!

Debra Ullrick reported that she enjoys drawing. She does Western Art with charcoal.

Christina Rich says my youngest dd and I love making scarves. See their creations here.

Jo Ann Ferguson enjoys knitting, lately she's been making personalized Christmas stockings for each new member of the family (baby or bride/groom).

Cheryl St. John makes jewelry and Valentine's once a year.

Allie Pleiter says "Most of you know how passionate I am about knitting.  I've written a knitting and travel blog for three years: destiKNITions.blogspot.com. I'm NEVER without yarn and needles!"

Deborah Hale here: "I used to do cross-stitch. The last projects I did were individual stockings for my four children. I would love to get back to it and scrap booking if I had more time. About the only crafts I do these days are sometimes at Christmas when I make an ornament or two for my tree. This year I made half-a-dozen new decoupage egg ornaments which turned out really nice. Here's a link to a picture from Cheryl's Christmas tree tour"

So now it's your turn! Tell us what crafts you enjoy doing!!

Remembering...

Are you a collector?

 

I used to collect stamps and coins and every other imaginable thing a child finds to collect. But I have one collection (besides books) that I still cherish and add to every year—my Christmas ornaments.

Some of the ornaments were lovingly crafted by my children. Some commemorate births and anniversaries. Some I crafted. But most were gifts.

Why am I telling you this?!

Because one of those ornaments, the dove photographed below, became an important symbol in my debut Love Inspired Suspense, Deep Cover (September 2011).

 

The undercover cop hero had given the dove to the heroine when they’d dated previously, saying, A soaring dove to remind you God is watching over you when I can’t be. She hung it from her rearview mirror. After the hero left her, it became a reminder that she needed to lean on God alone.

Later after the heroine’s world has crashed around her, and quite literally around the dove in the car, the hero sets out to rescue and return the gift as a symbol of God’s protection where he failed.

As I opened my box of Christmas ornaments this year and pulled out that dove, I was reminded of the story thread it inspired, and more importantly of the truth behind it. That God is watching over each one of us. We may not always feel that He is, but if we’ve surrendered our hearts to him, He has promised to never leave us.

My prayer is that each one of you will experience His love in a richer way this season.

As a special gift to my readers, I’ve generated some novel “Extras”. Think DVD extras, except for a novel. Things like deleted scenes, bloopers etc. You are all invited to hop over to my website and check them out. There are also two free recipe books you can download, and for my newsletter subscribers, a bonus Christmas story. 

Your turn: Do you have an interesting or unusual collections?