Merry Christmas!

For unto you is born this day

in the city of David,

a savior

who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11

With the Great Conjunction happening

as an almost unimaginable

heavenly event at the end of

this horrendous year,

I thought this Star of Bethlehem

was the perfect picture

for today's blog entry.

In the waning hours of 

Christmas 2020,

with fireworks going off at

random intervals,

I thought I'd reflect on the good

stuff from this year and not the bad.

Families spent more time together

and that can be trying, but mostly

it'll be something nice to look back on.

Yes, we've experienced more than our

share of Covid deaths and issues, hurricanes,

political and civil unrest, 

but...

human ingenuity brought about

new vaccines in record time,

we masked up, social distanced and

saved many lives,

carbon emissions dropped in the largest

amount ever recorded because

people stayed home,

people banded together to fight

wildfires, flooding, earthquakes,

record breaking heat ...

all out of a need to help our fellow man.

Let us hope and pray that

we all can fix the social ills

and hopefully take on

whatever this next decade has in store for us.

**********************************

3 French Hens...

I couldn't get everybody else

on board for a 

12 Days of Christmas

picture presentation.

So, Pepper, Nugget and Ethel stepped up.

Thanks girls!

********************

Ever read this sad tale 

by Hans Christian Andersen?

I remember seeing it on TV when I

was a kid and I bought the book

to read to my Grandkids.

It's kind of a bleak story

that leaves the reader sad instead

of uplifting like a typical

Christmas season feel good story.

This story was originally published

in 1845 and it casts the

only character as a dirt poor

motherless, waif who is sent out alone on

New Years Eve to sell matches .

She is afraid of 

being beaten by her father

if she can't sell all the matches,

and she has five left.

 At some point,

after being chased by bullies,

she loses one of her ill fitting shoes.

With only a thin scarf around her,

one shoe on and one foot in 

stockings that have holes,

she takes refuge in an alley

between houses to get out of the cold.

It begins to snow and she 

is shivering so she lights a match 

for the warmth.

In the flame, she sees her grandmother,

the only person to give her

love and kindness, but the match quickly burns out.

She lights the other matches just to 

see her grandmother again.

When all the matches are gone,

the girl sees her grandmother

again who carries her to heaven.

The next morning,

passers by find her,

frozen curled in a ball

and they express pity for her,

but

they don't know of her wonderful

visions of the beloved 

grandmother and her

happiness in heaven

Yes, 

it is sad,

but its' moral is to

be charitable to those less fortunate,

because you never know what

dire circumstances

someone is going through.

**********************

also...

remember this?

Here is the church,

and here is the steeple....

***************************

And this....

Poor Santa 

had a cerebral vascular accident

and has fallen and can't get up!

***********************

Playoff bound!

Go Kamara!!