Tuesday 4~ The End of the Year

I'm a day late, but it's still The End of the Year!!

 The End of the Year

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 in the new year. We wish you a very Happy New Year!


January is named for Janus the two faced god who looked into the past and future. Some believe he was Noah who may have been worshipped by his progeny. He certainly looked into the pre flood world and the new world.

The Anglo Saxons called January Wulfsmoanth meaning Month of the Wolf and the Wolf moon appears in January.

1. January 1, 1892 Ellis Island opened it's doors. Did any of your relations enter the United States through Ellis Island? If not, do you know your family's history?

I really don't know about Ellis Island, if any of our family ancestors came that way. I know my paternal Great-Grandfather and his mother and others did migrate from Germany, and I'm not sure what year, but I am quite sure it was before 1892.  And I know that my paternal Grandmother's ancestors were also here before then, as one Great-Great-Great Grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War, and her maternal grandfather fought in the Civil War.  I have done some family ancestry research, the one most prominently done was about my paternal Grandmother, and I have shared her history HERE before, "Elva's Story~ A Story of Sacrifice and Love.  I especially wanted to remember her again right now as December 27th would have been her 130th birthday, and her story is so very special.

2. January's birth stone is garnet and the flower is the carnation. Do you have favorite gem stones or flowers? 

My birthstone is Sapphire (blue), for September, and that is my favorite gemstone.  This is the birthstone ring my hubby gave me many years ago...before the Princess Diana ring was so popular! It is a very dark sapphire, so much so that I wasn't sure it was a sapphire until I read the link above about the darker sapphires actually being considered the best! I didn't know that! So now I love it even more! LOL. Really, I love it already because my hubby gave it to me totally by surprise! That is a blessing in itself!

The other ring is my mother's wedding and engagement ring set.  I was blessed to be given this by my father right when my mother passed away. He told me to take it off her finger and keep it. Later I was pleased that my other siblings confirmed that it was okay with them that I should keep Mom's rings. So I wear them proudly and thankfully in loving memory of my mother.

 Flowers? Well, there are so many I can't name them all.  Roses, lilacs, peonies, and simple summer flowers like daisies and sunflowers and zinnias, and so many others. I love most wildflowers too! The Blue Aster is my birthmonth flower (September).

3. January 6 is Epiphany. Many take that day as the final day of the Christmas celebration and take down their decor. What about you?

My family tradition growing up was to always wait until January 6th to take down our tree and decorations, but I always thought it was because January 6th is my mother's birthday! She said they always waited until her birthday to take down the tree, but I don't know if she ever made the connection with it being Epiphany! Maybe she did, but I was too young to understand that.  As an adult in our own home, we have often waited until January 6th, but lately I've usually wanted it cleaned up before then, so often it comes down right after New Year's Day.  I don't like to do it on the holiday itself, as we may have company or we may be doing something special, so I usually wait until after.

4. There is some scientific evidence that January can set the tone for your entire year. What do you think of this? Do you make resolutions, etc? Do you pick a word of the year or have any traditions like that?

I don't make resolutions as I know that I most likely won't keep them, so why stress myself?  However, I have for the past several years selected a "One Word" for the year, and I have seen how God has used that word in my life throughout the year to help me to grow in a certain area of my life, whether spiritual or physical or other.  For 2025 my One Word has been "Wisdom".  These verses from Proverbs 2:1-11 have been my guide throughout the year:

Proverbs 2:1-11 NLT

The Benefits of Wisdom

2 My child, listen to what I say,

and treasure my commands.

2 Tune your ears to wisdom,

and concentrate on understanding.

3 Cry out for insight,

and ask for understanding.

4 Search for them as you would for silver;

seek them like hidden treasures.

5 Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord,

and you will gain knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord grants wisdom!

From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

7 He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest.

He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.

8 He guards the paths of the just

and protects those who are faithful to him.

9 Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair,

and you will find the right way to go.

10 For wisdom will enter your heart,

and knowledge will fill you with joy.

11 Wise choices will watch over you.

Understanding will keep you safe.

I have not zeroed in on my new One Word yet for this year,  but hopefully by tomorrow I will have a better idea of what it might be. However, I normally do not reveal it until January 1st.  Right now I am still praying about it.  I do believe the Lord will help me discover it between now and then.

Click HERE for a previous post on this same topic.

Now, if you want to join in the fun, you can CLICK HERE and visit with others who are also playing along!  Happy New Year!

Here's some other good thoughts from Isaiah the Prophet as we approach the New Year...

Isaiah 43:18-19 NKJV

18 “Do not remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

19 Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert."

On another note...last night we celebrated our sweet Daughter in love's birthday. They came over and made homemade pizzas  (no picture of that, however), and then we had birthday cake and ice cream.  Rose is such a sweet sweet person, and she is such a wonderful blessing to our family.  Here's a few pictures of the celebration:

I changed the table decor from Christmas to birthday in her honor:

We always take pictures of people blowing out their candles! That's a family tradition!

Rose loves to work in her garden, and so she needed some new gloves. They actually have roses on them...

And she loves to feed the birds and needed a new bird feeder that was somewhat squirrel proof. Time will tell...and who doesn't love a soft new cozy blanket...especially when it dipped down to freezing last night?

All in all it was a lovely little family party.  Hubby was feeling well enough to join us but still has a bit of a cough, so he had to stay away a distance...and I am mostly better and thankful for that...

Okay, now we are ready to begin the big festivities of seeing in the New Year, right here from our couch...well, most likely from our bed because we never stay up that late!  So so long 2025, and we will see you all next year!!  

Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV

24 “The Lord bless you and keep you;

25 The Lord make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,

And give you peace.” ’

Christmas!

 The past few days have been a whirlwind of activity...joyous and awesome, but busy and somewhat exhausting as well.  But isn't that the way Christmas has been from the very beginning?  I mean, think about it.  Christmas is all about the birth of a baby, and not just any baby, but the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world! And not just any simple kind of birth in a sterile hospital...but a hard and exhausting labor, after traveling for days on the back of a donkey, and ending up in an animal stable behind the Inn, because there was no room in the Inn for Joseph and the very expectant Mary. We've sung songs about the birthday of Jesus and read all the Scriptures pertaining to His birth, and visualized in our minds how it must have been, especially for Mary, to have to go through labor and the delivery of her amazing baby boy in such difficult circumstances. Mary had much to ponder...the Angel's message to her before Jesus' conception by the Holy Spirit, Joseph's surprise and confusion about her pregnancy, until he also had a visit from the Angel...and then the Angels announcing His birth to the shepherds...the shepherds coming to visit and worship the newborn baby in the manger...so many things happening at once! I can well imagine Mary's consternation and exhaustion at the same time. And yet she was willing to trust God enough to go through this, so that God's plan of redemption for all of mankind could be fulfilled. We owe a debt of gratitude to Mary for her obedience to God...but most of all, we owe a debt of gratitude to Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, who came to earth specifically to die for our sins so that we might have eternal life! That is a debt we can never repay...but all He wants is for us to be like Mary, and say "Yes" to whatever God asks of us, and leave the rest up to Him. He will always be there to carry us through to our destination.

With that being said...as I started this out saying, it's been a whirlwind of activity!  I didn't get around to doing the Tuesday 4 meme on Tuesday, which was about Christmas Eve on Christmas Eve! One of the questions asked about whether or not we would be attending church services or doing anything special on Christmas Eve, and I would like to answer that question...Yes! We attended the Candlelight Christmas Eve service at our church.

All five of the Advent Candles were lit, including the center white candle, also known as The Christ Candle, which is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas day.

And as we lit each of the Advent candles, it was so wonderful to sing the familiar Christmas carols and hear the Christmas story once again as we lit the candles of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, and then we lit the center Christ Candle to remind us that the Light of the world was born this night. "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them a light has shined." Isaiah 9:2 "You, O Lord, have multiplied the nation, You have increased its joy. For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:3, 6) And we were once again reminded that Jesus is also called Emmanuel, for in Him God is with us. This is what Christmas is really all about...and I am so thankful that we started out our Christmas Eve and Day with these special reminders of why we are celebrating.

The choir was singing "A Celtic Silent Night" while the candles were being lit throughout the sanctuary. It was a beautiful, peaceful and moving way to close the service of carol singing and hearing the Christmas story once again. (I quietly took this picture from the choir loft while we were singing. Try doing that while holding a lit candle in one hand, your music book in another hand, and taking a picture with your cell phone with ??  Thankfully we were sitting down while we sang, so my book was in my lap. LOL.)

I've shared this song with you before, and this video below was actually recorded by our choir on Christmas Eve, 2020, during the "pandemic", hence the "social distancing" by the choir.  We didn't record it again this year, so I hope you will enjoy this earlier version. I couldn't help but notice as I watched us singing that two of the dear ones singing in this video are now singing in the heavenly choir. I wonder if they sang Silent Night in heaven? I wonder if they even think about Christmas Eve and Christmas in heaven...or if they have a birthday party for Jesus?  These are all things we will find out someday...

Christmas day was a lovely day in every way.  Our son Scott arrived the night before, and true to his tradition, he baked cookies for us.  He didn't do the traditional Sand Tarts that he's done many years before, but did my mother's Orange cookie recipe that is another family favorite. I forgot to take pictures, but here's a picture from the past of when he baked these before:

They are always a welcome treat in our family, and we are thankful that Scott loves to bake them as his "gift" to the family.

Christmas morning was kind of quiet and laid back, while we waited for "the kids" Benton and Rose and the grand pups to come over to open gifts.  Baby Elva and Lily Grace wanted to come out and see the Christmas tree...(and Lily took a few pictures with her new camera, lol).

While I was taking this picture of them, we had some nice Christmas music playing on the television with beautiful winter scenes.  Little did I realize until after I took the picture that a "Barred Owl" had photo bombed the picture! LOL.

And then on second look, someone's leg and foot also photo-bombed the picture! LOL. That was Scott sitting in the recliner relaxing...funny pictures!

Finally Benton and Rose arrived, and Scott's help was needed to unload something from the back of the truck:

Yes, this is my "Mom's Secret Garden" bench from the past, but it has been totally renovated, rebuilt, repainted, restored, by Benton. This was supposed to be done for my birthday in September, but you know how that goes, life happens, and so now it is a birth-mas gift! LOL.  Originally this bench was a Christmas gift to me from Scott, who found the original iron parts of the bench in a dumpster, and he brought it home and restored it for me, (about 7 years ago now already!) Then over the years the boards started to deteriorate and rot out here in the weather, and it needed to be restored once again. So, Benton took it  home with him back in September with the intention of finishing it in time for my birthday. It's only 3 months, late, and well worth waiting for! 

Here I am testing it out...it's perfect!

And sweet dil Rose came and sat on it with me. What a sweet blessing, and a great way to start out our Christmas day.

We decided that before we started opening family gifts, we would give Sugar and Spice their gifts, so they would have something to entertain themselves with while we were all busy opening up our gifts.  They were  happy to get some new toys that will stay at Grandma and Grandpa's house to play with when they come to visit.

Rose and I were busy in the kitchen getting the lasagna ready to put in the oven, so it could bake while we opened gifts.  The guys were patiently waiting for us to come get this 'party started'. LOL.

So finally things were under control in the kitchen, so Rose could join Benton on the couch...

and I could join John in our recliners....Oh, I forgot to mention that one other little pleasant "delay" we had was a phone call from our grandson Noah in Maine, along with his mother Nicole. So we all took turns talking to them and enjoyed a wonderful conversation getting caught up on what they have been up to. That was definitely a happy diversion.

Meanwhile, Scott finally put the star on top of the tree for us. It's been waiting for him to do it all these weeks! LOL.

I won't bore you with tons of pictures of us opening our gifts and oohing and aahing over every thing, but suffice it to say, God has been VERY good to us and we have had a very blessed and beautiful Christmas.  Here we are, sitting down to the table to finally eat our wonderful lasagna dinner...

I wish we had thought to take a picture of all of us in the same picture together, but still you can see we are all there.  Rose and I collaborated on the lasagna, salad and garlic toast...a simple and yet delicious meal.  We had pie and cake and cookies for dessert, so no one went away hungry for certain!

But here's the most important gift of all:

"Jesus, the Heart of the Holiday".

Amen.

And with that I will say good night.  

And also say a prayer for our Rose...after leaving here last night she became very ill with a stomach virus. We were afraid it was food poisoning, but no one else has gotten sick. And today she has a fever, so it must be the flu. She is feeling some better tonight, but has slept most of the day, which was good for her. (although she was scheduled to work today, so that was too bad she had to call in sick).

So please pray that Benton doesn't get it or any of the rest of us.  John is going to be preaching this Sunday at that little church out in the country in Florahome, where he has filled in for the Pastor before. Oh, and then after church Scott is coming down again and bringing steaks to cook for us to celebrate Rose's 50th birthday, which is next week!

So again, we pray we will all stay well. 

I hope to get caught up with the rest of you in the days to come. I know you are all probably busy too, but hopefully we will get back in the routine soon!

God Bless you each and every one!

And Happy New Year!

Tuesday 4~ Holiday Thoughts

 Holiday Thoughts

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 which you can do any day of the week you want! No time limit.
It's frigid across Canada and America and winter is early this year.
There are only a few days left until Christmas...how are you spending this time?


1.What are you up to in preparation for the holidays?

Too much to write about! LOL. This last week is filled with a lot of little things that keep me busy.  Tonight our choir has the dress rehearsal for our Christmas Cantata, "Christmas Forever Amen". We will record tonight's rehearsal for our website, but it won't show up until Sunday morning. I will post a link to it next week. I pray it will go well. We've worked really hard on it!

Oh, there's me and my other alto friend now! We are practicing our duet that is in one of the songs of the cantata! LOL.

I've been finishing up my shopping, and now begins the great wrapping marathon...I will  have to break it up into segments so I don't wear out my back. 

HERE is a link to how that goes from a post from the past. It's pretty much the same thing every year...

And yes, I am working on Christmas cards, little by little. Not as many are going out this year just because I'm having some issues with my back again, and sitting for long periods of time and writing is difficult. So I try to do a few every day as I can.

The little family at Pamela's Victorian Cottage has been busy finishing up their decorations and getting their house all ready for Christmas:

Oh, and some dear soul gave them some kittens, so that adds to the merriment! You can can that the little Mother is perplexed by yet another addition to her large family!

The girls have been busy hanging wreaths and other decorations outside as well as inside the house:

And it looks like they are just in time, because already there's some guests knocking at the front door!

Oh! Those are the little angels who come down to visit every Christmas and help make the season bright!

Remember what is says in the Bible about entertaining strangers:

Hebrews 13:2 NKJV

2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, 

for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.

I think it is a good idea to remember that especially during the Christmas season, because God may be sending special messengers to us to encourage and bless us in some way, and perhaps they could be "angels unawares", like the old King James Version says of this verse:

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."

2. What is your absolute favorite holiday movie?

My favorite is The Bishop's Wife, with Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven.

3. What are your hopes for this coming season?

That we will focus our thoughts and attention on Jesus, the real "Reason for the Season"...our Savior Who came down from heaven as a little baby to grow up to live and teach us how to live, and to die for us so that we would know how to die and live for eternity with Him in heaven.

4. Tell us your view on the great tea/coffee/hot chocolate debate and do you want it with fruitcake or cookies? Come on own up!!

I wasn't aware that there was a great tea/coffee/hot chocolate debate?  For me, it is always tea first, and hot Ovaltine as needed!  I don't drink coffee in any form, and can't drink regular hot chocolate, but the Ovaltine does not affect me the way chocolate does.  I do like home made fruitcake. My mother in law made a very good fruitcake, loaded with nuts and fruit. That cake probably weighed 10 lbs. when she was done with it, but it was very good.  I've only made it once and took some to my mother in law when she was in the nursing home, and true to course, she told me I didn't do it the way she did, but she ate it anyway and I think she was pleased that I at least tried.  I did tweak it a bit and used butter instead of "oleo" in the recipe.  I personally liked it better, but she knew right away that something wasn't right! She was very sharp right up until the end at age 95!

Here is her recipe, in her own handwriting.  It says "Nell Bateman's Fruit Cake Recipe", so apparently she borrowed the recipe from her friend Nell. To me it will always be "Vivian R. Steiner's Fruitcake Recipe"

Back:

I hope you've enjoyed this Advent Window for Day 17! Thank you, Annie, for coming up with these questions for our Tuesday 4 each week.  Praying that you and yours will have a blessed and joyful continued Christmas season!! 

Friday Foto Friends~Christmas Fellowships

 Happy Friday the 13th!  Not that it means anything to me...it's just the date today! I am expecting only GOOD things to happen today...planning to get out early this morning and go "shop 'til I drop".  I tried going with hubby the other day, and he wanted to come home by 10:00 am, so that didn't work very well. Today it will be just me, myself, and I, and hopefully the three of us will be able to get the job done!  I know all of you who do all of your shopping months early or online are chuckling at me and my inefficient manner of doing things, but hey, it works for me! I've tried all the other methods, and still it just seems that I work better under pressure, even if it does cause me to have meltdowns in aisle 4 of the store! LOL.  It wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't have a meltdown or two in the process of shopping, wrapping, and all the other "fun" stuff that has to get done!  So I will be putting on my "running shoes" this morning and heading out as soon as I've had my tea, breakfast and finished all my other morning "duties"...like trying to write this post!

It's been a busy week already...Wednesday was our church "Women in Faith" annual Christmas luncheon/party.  Do you want to see the pictures? Sure you do...so here are the collages I put together of everyone at the party. We had a larger group than normal this year, with one table filled with our "sisters" from the Florahome church...which is the same church where we went last night for the Caroling and Candlelight service...but more about that in a minute! First things first:

Can you find me in the group?

Our youngest new member of the group slept through most of the laughter...

I'm the one wearing the shirt with the pink flamingos and palm trees with Christmas lights on them. Yeah, that would be me. Here's a close up in case you missed it:

And here's all the fun stuff: gifts and lots of food and desserts and ladies laughing and talking and having a wonderful time of fellowship! That's what Christmas parties are all about...

Plus, we always have a special tradition of having a birthday cake for  Jesus, and we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  

And one of the ladies from our sister church also led us in a special devotion about the birth of Jesus. It was a wonderful time, filled with joy and many blessings and fun!

Then last night we braved the cold (it was in the 40's) to go to our sister church in Florahome for that wonderful Christmas Caroling and Candlelight service.

Here's the church:

And this is the outdoor nativity scene, where we would gather after the service with our candles and sing Silent Night:

These pictures were taken inside their beautiful little church, which was filled to capacity with people from our church, their church, and another "sister" church from Palatka. This is an annual event, and our choirs sing a few songs and there was an mini-organ concert by a very excellent organist, and even a miracle happened, when the other church choir could not get their accompaniment CD to play correctly in the sound system...it looked like they would have to either sing their songs a capella, or pick a hymn to sing out of the song book.  Suddenly a man unknown to them or us stepped out of the congregation and offered to play their music for them on the piano! He had NEVER seen this music before, and it wasn't just some simple music that would be familiar. He sat down at the piano and accompanied them as if he had been practicing with them all along! It really was a miracle! I love it when God shows us that He is present and there for us even in the special things like being able to provide music for a choir in need of some assistance! What a blessing that was for all of us!  The man was a guest from out of town, with a God-given talent that he was willing to use on the spot so that the people would be blessed. I wish I had taken his picture! 

After the service we bundled back up and went outside for this candlelight time of singing Silent Night together.   It was very special to see everyone gathered together, holding their battery-operated little candles that were provided instead of real candles that always would blow out before...great idea!, but the best part was hearing everyone singing together in harmony and full of the beauty of that moment, remembering the night that our Savior was born!

It really was a special moment.

Then we went inside to their newly remodeled Fellowship Hall and had some delicious refreshments. I forgot to take any pictures of that as I was too busy eating and enjoying the sweet fellowship of friends.  It was a beautiful night.

Well, folks, I need to get a move on if I am going to go shopping this morning. Remember to keep Jesus in your hearts and minds as you go about your Christmas duties. He truly IS the Reason for this season!

1 O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,

O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!

Come, and behold Him, born the King of angels!

Refrain:

O come, let us adore Him;

O come, let us adore Him;

O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!

2 God of God, Light of Light,

lo, He abhors not the virgin's womb;

very God, begotten not created; [Refrain]

3 Sing, choirs of angels; sing in exultation;

sing, all ye citizens of heav'n above!

Glory to God, all glory in the highest![Refrain]

4 Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;

Jesus, to Thee be all glory giv'n!

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing! [Refrain]