New Year Greeting and message.

Have a great wonderful New Year's Day!  Let us bid farewell to 2011 and welcome in 2012 and as a result that we will be a better person to ourselves and to each other!  Be safe and love you!

Christmas Day Greeting.

Today is Christmas Day!   The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square sings this song so great! What a wonderful way to celebrate the day of song.

 1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Interesting facts about Christmas.

Today is Christmas Day!   The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square sings this song so great! What a wonderful way to celebrate the day of song.

I just thought it would be interesting to post some facts about Christmas down.

• That Christmas is the only holiday that gets a lot of controversy over.  About saying Seasons Greetings instead of Merry Christmas, wither the carols should be sung or not, calling it a Holiday tree instead of Christmas tree. 
• That it’s the only holiday that is celebrated over 3 months. 
• The only holiday that we say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Christmas.
• Attached to Happy New Year as well as Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.
• The one holiday that has carols attached to it instead of saying Christmas songs and the most of any holiday that I know of.
• That celebrates a day of birth of the Lord.
• That has a plant that we decorate inside the house.
• That the event actually happened in spring time not winter time, though we celebrate it in a month different than the month it actually happened. 
• The only holiday that uses the phrase "Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Men"
• The only holiday that we are told to keep throughout the coming year and not just at the end of the year when we are thinking about it the most.

Feel free to let me know if you can think of any more that I haven't already listed.  Thanks.

The symbols and meaning of Christmas.

I was looking for something to tell the meaning of the symbols that we use at Christmas time and came across this site that looked really good to use.  The author is unknown.  Its called Teach the Children.

                                                                  TEACH THE CHILDREN

I just finished the household chores for the night and was preparing to go to bed, when I heard a noise in the front of the house.  I opened the door to the front room and to my surprise saw Santa himself stepped out from behind the Christmas tree.  He placed his finger over his mouth so I would not cry out. 

"What are you doing?" I started to ask.  The words choked up in my throat, and I saw he had a tears in his eyes.  His usual joy manner was gone.  Gone was the eager, boisterous character we all know.

He then answered me with a simple statement, "TEACH THE CHILDREN!"

I was puzzled; what did he mean? He guessed my question, and with one quick movement pulled a miniature toy bag from behind the tree.  As I stood puzzled, Santa said,  "Teach the children! Teach them the old meaning of Christmas.  The meaning now-a-days Christmas has forgotten."

Santa then reached into his bag and pulled out a FIR TREE and placed it in front of the fireplace.  "Teach the children that the pure green color of the stately fir tree green all year round, representing the everlasting hope of mankind, all the needles point heavenward, making it a symbol of man's thoughts turning toward heaven."

He again reached into his bag and pulled out a brilliant STAR.   "Teach the children the star was the heavenly sign of promises long ago.  God promised a Saviour for the world, and the star was the sign of fulfillment of His promise."

He then reached into his bag and pulled out a CANDLE.   "Teach the children that the candle symbolises that Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this great light we are reminded of Jesus who fills our lives with light."

Once again he reached into his bag and pulled out a WREATH and placed it on the tree.  "Teach the children that the wreath symbolises the real nature of love.  Real love never ceases, like Gods love which has no beginning or end."

He then pulled from his bag an ornament of HIMSELF.  "Teach the children that I, Santa Claus symbolise the generosity and kindness we feel during the month of December."

He then brought out a HOLLY LEAF.  "Teach the children that the holly plant represents immortality.  It represents the crown of thorns worn by our Saviour.  The red holly represents the blood shed by Him." 

Next he pulled from his bag a GIFT.  "Teach the children that God so loved the world that HE gave HIS only SON...We thank God for his very special gift."  "Teach the children that the wise men bowed before the Holy Baby and gave HIM gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  We should always give gifts in the same spirit of the wise men."

Santa then reached into his bag and pulled out a CANDY CANE and hung it on the tree.  "Teach the children that the candy cane represents the shepherd's crook.  The crook on the staff helps to bring back the lost sheep to the flock."

He reached in again and pulled out an ANGEL.  "Teach the children that it was the angels that announced the glorious news of the Saviour's birth.  The angels sang 'Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth goodwill to men."

Suddenly, I heard a soft tinkling sound, and from his bag he pulled out a BELL.  "Teach the children that as the lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it should ring to guide us to God.  The bell symbolises guidance and return.  It reminds us that we are all precious in the eyes of God."

Santa looked back and was pleased.  I saw the twinkle in his eyes as he said, "Remember, teach the children the true meaning of Christmas and do not put me in the center for I am, but a humble servant of the One that is, and I bow down to worship HIM, our LORD, our GOD."

Thoughts of Christmas from "SHREK THE HALLS" "CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS"

Last Sunday was able to go to listen to the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints give the Christmas Devotional.  One of the speakers was President Uchtdorf, to where part of his talk was on about not trying to have a perfect Christmas.  That to plan a perfect Christmas is not going to happen.  That there will be problems along the way to make it not possible: The food dish burnt, the wrong size of clothes given as a present, the tree losing its needles all over the floor, and even trying to recreate the memories from long ago.  Trying to recreate a perfect Christmas is not going to happen and will cause more stress on you and others around you.  Just go with the flow and knowing the real meaning is about Christ and his gift to us.

Later that night I was thinking of  "Shrek the Halls".  It’s about Shrek trying to have the perfect Christmas for his wife and kids.  Though as the movie goes along it goes far from being perfect Christmas.  Everything goes wrong that could possibly go wrong.  At the end, Shrek learns from Fiona that being with family, and friends and having a good time in each other’s company is what spending time for the holidays is about. 

It would also coincide along with "A Charlie Brown Christmas".  Charlie Brown is trying to have a good Christmas by putting on a play of the first Nativity put on by the cast of his friends.  When nothing goes as it should, he gets frustrated and feels that it’s hopeless to celebrate the Christmas holiday.  This is when Linus reminds Charlie Brown of the true meaning of Christmas:

  "Charlie Brown: I guess I don’t really know what Christmas is about. Isn’t there anyone who understands what Christmas is all about?"

Linus: "Sure, I can tell you what Christmas is all about."

“And there were in the same country Sheppard’s abiding in

the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the

angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone

round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said

unto them, ‘fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great

joy which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in

the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this

shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in

swaddling clothes lying in the manger.’ And suddenly, there was

with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and

saying, ‘glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good

will towards men."  

          "That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

A few thoughts from CHRISTMAS CAROL.

On a side note I did do a posting about "Christmas Carol" posted on September 28, 2010 and "Its a Wonderful Life" on July 30, 2010. 

Jennie and I went to watch a play version of Christmas Carol being done at Centerpoint Theatre.  As I was watching it I was thinking of what Ebenezer Scrooge said at the beginning:

"What else can I be, when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in `em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!"

Hopefully we are more of what Fred would say and less than what Ebenezer Scrooge said.

"There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say, Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"

Do we find ourselves saying this at times.  Just thinking of ourselves and not others? Or should we be more like what Fred says:

A Christmas carol that is commericalized.

This is just a random thought that I've been thinking of for a bit.  Not to be down and a Grinch or Scrooge about Christmas songs.  I've been thinking that a couple of Christmas songs to be in itself a song about trying to sell stuff.  For example:

It’s Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Toys in ev'ry store

But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be

On your own front door.

A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots

Is the wish of Barney and Ben;

Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk

Is the hope of Janice and Jen;

The Big Storm the came in and left destruction in its path.

To anyone who hasn't heard there was a big huge wind storm last week Thursday.  Wind gusts were up to 108 in Centerville, UT, which is about hurricane wind symptoms.  I had to trek through the wind to get to the bus stop, which was freezing cold and felt like I was going against a wind machine.  Later that night and the next day found out of how much damage was done.  There was uprooted trees, fences broken, trash everywhere, some cars smashed, some roofs off of houses, and few businesses lost part of their signs.  A Front runner Station in Farmington was badly damaged along with the camping site of Lagoon.  As we went through the trash there was a sign that we found which said, "Come and celebrate the Handcart Day Brunch on July 23, 2011. Property of Dick's Market".   Thank goodness there was no fatality or death of anyone.

The National Guard came to help out on Sunday to pick up the derbies.  There was a second storm that came on Sunday night, but wasn't as bad as was the first storm.  It took 5 days for power to come all the way back on in Bountiful.  We got our electricity back on Friday morning. 

The Christmas Carol to start off the Christmas "Oh Holy Night"

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!  Now to look forward to Christmas! 

I like to start out with this Christmas carol Oh Holy Night!  This version is John Sullivan Dwight's.  The carol we usually hear the most. 

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O hear the angels' voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born;

O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men from Orient land.

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

His power and glory evermore proclaim.