A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

We are WAAAAY behind. We bought the pine roping but haven't put it up. We have some outdoor lights up, but not as much as we like. We are going to cut down a tree later today. And the shopping - not close! But we are going to see friends for dinner, so that'll be lovely.

We are rather ready here... glimmering tree: check. Gifts under it: check. (some have yet to make their way there from their hiding spots, but that doesn't count!) ;) Son scheduled to arrive on time... ON TIME!?!? YEAH RIGHT!!! Modest menu planned and shopped for: check. Okey Dokey, nothing to do but goof off until then! < =D

We still don't have our tree. We had planned to go yesterday, but couldn't get everyone together. So it'll be today -- probably in the rain!

Happy--

Look at the good side of it. The rain will hydrate the branches a bit---
freshen them up.
Who knows when there trees are cut--or do you cut your own???

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!! Yes! This is a window at that BIG store in NY
taken a couple years ago!

Gita

Very cool window, Gita!

Gita, that's really pretty!!!

Some places that sell Christmas trees will give a fresh cut to the bottom of it for you before they load it onto/into your car or truck. We do that at work, and we'll even prune off some of the bottom branches for you as you like, too. =)

So Happy, did you get your tree? Is it all up and decorated yet? < =D

Hey Doc, you can come back now, we're all on Christmas track again!! < =)

My thoughts go out to those people who for whatever reason are having a rough time this season--losing homes and loved ones, without shelter or enough food, battling chronic health problems, lonely and depressed, or otherwise not snug in a warm house with bills paid and loved ones around. My daughter and I are preparing a dinner for and then serving at a homeless shelter for women in our area on Dec 26. It is very sad. Doc, I wish you good health and am sorry to hear about your family farm.

AMEN, Cat. Amen and Amen!!!

Hope you get to see this, Doc. "Have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!"

Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas. Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Merry Christmas to all! May your life be filled with happiness and your gardens filled with beautiful flowers :o).

Merry Christmas Doc! I hope you and yours are having a blessed holiday!
May you continued to be blessed with good health and good fortune all year through!

And to all on this holiday, may you feel the spirit of the season and enjoy the time with family and friends!

Love to all,
Karen

My Brother sent this Wendell Berry poem as the lead in to his Christmas letter. I think it goes well with Doc's picture that opens this thread and my experience of Christmas 2013.
Doc, maybe you will let me borrow your picture to share with him?

Remembering that it happened once

Remembering that it happened once,
We cannot turn away the thought,
As we go out, cold, to our barns
Toward the long night’s end, that we
Ourselves are living in the world
It happened in when it first happened,
That we ourselves, opening a stall
(A latch thrown open countless times
Before), might find them breathing there,
Foreknown: the Child bedded in straw,
The mother kneeling over Him,
The husband standing in belief
He scarcely can believe, in light
That lights them from no source we see,
An April morning’s light, the air
Around them joyful as a choir.
We stand with one hand on the door,
Looking into another world
That is this world, the pale daylight
Coming just as before, our chores
To do, the cattle all awake,
Our own frozen breath hanging
In front of us; and we are here
As we have never been before,
Sighted as not before, our place
Holy, although we knew it not.

Woooooowwwwwwwwww Judy, .... I'm speechless.....

That was breath-takingly beautiful, thank you soooooooooooooooooooo much for sharing that with us. That reminder of the Miracle that happened once.

Coleup -- that poem sent chills up my back!

Speedie and Gita: We did (finally) get our tree -- we cut ours down every year at Maynes, which is near Frederick, Maryland, http://www.frederick.com/index.php?action=sponsor&id=861, very easy, fun and inexpensive. Maynes supplies the saws, and they tie the tree up and put it on the top of your car. We get to pick the tree out and cut it down ourselves -- the cutting takes only about 5 minutes. I think Critter may have suggested Maynes to me years and years ago. This year the skies held back the rain just long enough for us to get the tree on the car, but it was nip and tuck!

Simply beautiful Judy.

Wendell Berry is a real treasure. Here is a rare live interview with him and Bill Moyers from Nov this year on his hopes and dreams for the future. indeed what is needed to have what has happened before happen again for each of us, our beautiful planet and all creatures great and small. May each of us find the spirit and means to reclaim the sacred holy places all around and within us. Happy New Year
http://billmoyers.com/segment/wendell-berry-on-his-hopes-for-humanity/

It's a shame that we cannot accept "Peace on Earth Good Will to Men", worldwide. There was a young lady at the USO, I remember that she walked out on a coffee house because she thought that the song "Imagine" by the Beatles was communist propaganda. If everyone opened there hearts, instead of closing there minds, just think where we could be if we did "Live as One". Peace Be With You in this season.

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Amen, Ric, and Happy New Year!

Coleup, I love your phrase, ''reclaim the sacred places all around and within us". Beautiful.

Here's a poem that I saw at work and thought was really nice:

To the New Year

With what stillness at last
you appear in the valley
your first sunlight reaching down
to touch the tips of a few
high leaves that do not stir
as though they had not noticed
and did not know you at all
then the voice of a dove calls
from far away in itself
to the hush of the morning.

So this is the sound of you
here and now whether or not
anyone hears it this is
where we have come with our age
our knowledge such as it is
and our hopes such as they are
invisible before us
untouched and still possible.
Merwin

Since we are "waxing poetic" here---I will add one also
as I wish you all a happy new Year. Gita


This Year

mend a quarrel.
Seek out a forgotten friend.
Write a love letter.
Share some treasure.
Give a soft answer.
Encourage youth.
Keep a promise.
Find the time.
Forgive an enemy.
Listen.
Apologize if you were wrong.
Think first of someone else.
Be kind and gentle.
Laugh a little!
Laugh a little more.
Express your gratitude.
Gladden the heart of a child.
Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the Earth.
Speak your love.
Speak it again.
Speak it once more!

Anonymous

Happy New Year everyone!
May you be blessed with happiness, peace, and prosperity
now and always!

Karen

Happy New Year everyone!!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!

Lovely poems everyone. Good thoughts to ponder

Happy New Year!!!

And Happy New Year a day late from me!