A few of the Christmas graphics and photos I've saved over the years. Click directly on each image to enlarge it...
CHRISTMAS GRAPHICS:
 |
| Our fur babies: Amber (b. 2012), Mysti (17.5 b. 1999), and Cameo (b. 2001) |
 |
| graphic created by Warren in 2008 |
 |
| Gingerbread house I created with the 2016 Jacquie Lawson Advent Calendar [video trailer] |
PHOTOS I'VE TAKEN:
 |
| Our tree before Mr. AOW's 2009 stroke, but we no longer have room for a big tree |
 |
| My piano decked out for Christmas |
 |
| Our house in 2013 |
 |
| Our house in 2013 |
HAVE FUN, BUT NEVER FORGET THE REASON FOR THE SEASON:
love it! those icycles! and the pictures say it all AOW! the gingerbread is so cute as well! xoxoxox
ReplyDeleteWonderful pictures. The angel cat was my favorite. I gave up on a tree after my cats upset the tree one time too many,
ReplyDeleteA beautiful montage, AOW! Thank you for invoking the Christmas Spirit with such warmth, charm and character.
ReplyDeleteMay this Wednesday prove to be your personal Day of Deliverance –– the best possible Christmas Gift you and all who are close to you could hope to receive.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Love came down at Christmas,
ReplyDeleteLove all lovely, Love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the Sign.
Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token,
Love shall be yours and be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.
How it teaches us forgiveness
Blesses everyone who's kind!
Please, dear infant Jesus,
Bless with Insight all the Blind.
~ Christina Rossetti (gently emended with an additional verse by FT)
PS: I love the way the icicles appeared to echo the stripes on the American Flag in 2012! Every picture I've ever seen of your sweet brick cottage has about it an aura of MAGIC –– like the fairytale home of a Good Witch. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMERRY CHRISTMAS!
Even the clever determination of the Jewish Tin Pan Alley composers of commercial Seasonal Favorites to avoid with utmost care and surgical precision even the merest hint of The Reason for the Season failed to quell the Joy inherent in the Good News of the Gospel.
ReplyDeleteJesus OUTFOXED all of them, because His SPIRIT SHINES THROUGH the shallowness and silliness of the secularism, and an atmosphere of warmth, joy, hope, conviviality, wholesome activity and love of home prevails in ALL of the secular delights.
God REALLY DOES work in mysterious ways. He helps us often IN SPITE of ourselves. To wit:
Haul out the holly
Put up the tree before our spirits fall again
Fill up the stockings
We may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now
Because we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
Candles in the window
Carols at the spinet
Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute
It hasn't snowed a single flurry
But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry
So climb down the chimney
Turn on the brightest string of lights we've ever seen
Slice up the fruitcake
It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough
Because we've grown a little leaner
Grown a little colder
Grown a little sadder
Grown a little older
And we need a little angel
Sitting on our shoulders
Need a little Christmas now
For we need a little music
Need a little laughter
Need a little singing
Ringing through the rafter
And we need a little snappy
"Happy ever after"
Need a little Christmas now!
~ Jerry Herman (from "Mame")
Good Stuff AOW.
ReplyDeleteLOvely interlude from POLITICS! Thanks, AOW...beautiful, lovely..peaceful and happy! Happy Advent :-) XXX
ReplyDeleteDONALD J. TRUMP TRIUMPHS in ELECTORAL COLLEGE - WOO HOO!
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON (AP) — There were many protesters but few faithless electors as Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote Monday — ensuring he will become America's 45th president.
An effort by anti-Trump forces to persuade Republican electors to abandon the president-elect came to practically nothing and the process unfolded largely according to its traditions. Trump's polarizing victory Nov. 8 and the fact Democrat Hillary Clinton had won the national popular vote had stirred an intense lobbying effort, but to no avail.
Even one of Trump's fiercest Republican rivals, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said it was time to get behind the president-elect.
"We want unity, we want love," Kasich said as Ohio's electors voted to back Trump at a statehouse ceremony. Kasich refused to endorse or even vote for Trump in the election.
With Hawaii still to vote, Trump had 304 votes and Clinton had 224. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency. Texas put Trump over the top, despite two Republican electors casting protest votes. ...
[The whole article, should you want it, is available at my blog]
MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY LITTLE OLD NEW YEAR!!! WHOOPEEE!!!
The Capitol Dome beautifully sheathed in symmetrical scaffolding has a peculiar beauty all its own. I've watched the progress of the Repair and Restoration of the Dome's cast iron surface during C-Span's Washington Journal for many months. It was fascinating to see the scaffolding gradually removed layer by layer till the project was finally completed.
ReplyDeleteTell me, have The Cathedral and the Washington Monument ever received the repairs they needed after the earthquake damaged them a few years ago? I've never read or heard any follow up to that story. You would know, I imagine since you I've in the area.
Always on Watch,
ReplyDeleteI image of your piano, and the corner where the Christmas tree used to reside make me miss you tremendously! Here's to our next cup of coffee!
Tammy
Cat photos bring back the memory of when Hobbes, now long gone, was a kitten running on a polished wood floor headed straight for the Christmas tree and couldn't stop. He ended up getting dunked in the water. He never did that again!
ReplyDeleteMERRY CHRISTMAS!