Hodgepodging Insomnia

 Getting the Christmas Tree


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 She writes the questions;

we write the answers.

Plug them into your own blog

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1.  What's something blogging has taught you about yourself?

I find blogging to be much more difficult with cats than with dogs.

Tommy, inserting himself into the conversation

2.  Leftovers...are you in the 'reheat and eat' camp or the 'put them in the fridge until they spoil and then toss them' camp? What's your favorite thing to have leftover? What can you not abide as a leftover?

I'm totally in the reheat and eat camp, as long as the leftovers don't get shoved to the back of the refrigerator and resurface later with fur on them.  I try to keep track of leftovers, but sometimes... I mean, when the refrigerator has a ton of produce in it, it's not that easy! ANYway, my favorite thing to have leftover is beef pepper steak. What I can't abide as a leftover is anything eggy. Ewww.

 View from Highway O

3. 'Me time'...your thoughts?

My 'me time' is divided between 'God and me time' and 'cats and me time' - in that order. I read a lot during the day - and again at night when I can't get to sleep or stay asleep. My brother told me that he read that sleep deprivation is the No. 1 factor (even above diet and exercise!) in predicting (or getting?) dementia. I wish I could figure out a way to sleep more and better. I also pray when I can't sleep, so at least that's a good thing. Now you know what I'm doing in the wee hours between 3:30 and 5:30, or for about two hours after I've had five hours of sleep. I then usually get another hour or so of sleep after that, before Tommy wakes me. What would be my favorite thing to do during 'me time'? Find answers.

An old barn near Hayward, WI

4. When people come to you for help, what do they usually want help with?

I think they simply want someone who will listen to them, someone they know they can trust not to take the conversation beyond the two of us. And maybe someone who will help them mull things over and see things from a different perspective.

 Sunrise on November 28, 2017
The heavens declare the glory of God

5. If your childhood had a smell what would it be? Tell us why.

Well oddly enough, the first thing that came to mind was the solution used in the milking parlor to dip cows' teats in before putting the milkers on them. That iodine? smell mixed with whatever other cleaning stuff was going on in the barn. And probably cow bodies mixed in. For someone who spent little time in the barn except for occasionally doing milk dishes, it's remarkable that it was my very first 'smell' memory after reading that question. My second would be furniture polish. I was the designated polisher and had that job every Saturday morning before I could go play. I don't know what my younger sister was doing during that time, but maybe cleverly escaping Saturday morning chores. I might have been watching cartoons while dusting the living room furniture very, very slowly.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

So far I have the Advent wreath ready and waiting, the real Christmas tree on the porch up and lit, a star that a friend gave me last year is hanging on the porch wall, and the little fake tree is up in the living room. I have it decorated with lights only, but will probably take them down until the family is here at Christmas. Why? Because Tommy and Smokey enjoy getting into the tree, dragging the strings of lights down, etc. I really don't mind.

From anglicanpastor.com: 

THE WAR ON ADVENT:

"You have heard of the supposed War on Christmas. But the real war is not about whether retailers use the word Christmas during December or not. In fact it is not even the Christmas season until Christmas day anyway. The real war is happening in many American churches. Its not a war on Christmas, its a war on Advent, and I want to enlist you on the Advent side. We need an Advent army that fights not with boycotts or browbeating, but with an invitation to a quieter, older path." READ entire article.

The chimes went wild yesterday.

***

Smokey, watching me make supper

I hope you're having a great week, everyone!

***

My shops will be closed from  
December 8 through December 17.

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The Three Little Kittens, Advent, and The Church Mice

 He needs his mommy to wash his face!

So last week I told you the crazy story about the three little kittens that suddenly appeared on our deck, seemingly out of nowhere. Their mother had been in the house with us for nearly a week. Anyway, some of you suggested that there must be another cat outdoors that had taken care of the kittens for that week that mother and kittens were separated. No, there are no other cats in the area. It's just an amazing story, and now mother and kittens are all doing fine, and I can hardly stop watching their cute little antics long enough to get anything done.

I have been busy making Christmas soaps and they're ready in my Etsy shop and at my website, HomemadeSoapnSuch.com. Don't forget, Etsy buyers, if you want multiples of any of my soaps, I can make a Reserved Listing just for you. Just let me know. (HomemadeSoapnsuch.com is already set up for multiples.)

I'm also collecting the books I'm going to use for Advent. I like to get at least one new book for Advent each year, and the newest addition is, 'O Come Emmanuel, A Musical Tour of Daily Readings for Advent and Christmas' by Gordon Giles. 

Also coming to our house is the book,  'Light Upon Light: a Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany' by Sarah Arthur.

And a book I ordered, particularly with the grandkids in mind is 'The Church Mice at Christmas.' We had the Church Mice books by Graham Oakley in the house when our kids were young, but evidently they were library copies. So it was time to buy my own. So many of the fun books our kids had when they were young have been replaced in the bookstores by newer, less interesting, books. Okay, that's my opinion. And I do realize that bookstores only have so much shelf space, but it's sad that some of the great kids' books are simply no longer found in the bookstores.

Although these are terribly grainy images from Amazon.com, I thought I'd include these three books today, should you wish to check them out and see if they're something you'd like to have at your house in time for Advent.  And of course if you're like me, you'll go to Amazon.com and read the reviews first to find out what they're all about and whether or not people liked them and what they thought about them.

I'll be sure to let you know later if I've liked the first two. I know that I like The Church Mice.

Audrey and kittens in a typical pose

Audrey, taking a break from the kids

***

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...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at
 
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and at


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Have a wonderful day, friends.

Our Father...Advent to Advent

Good Christmas Eve Morning, Friends.

I was reading my new book and had to share some excerpts with you (below). I included 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing' at the end of my post because it is my favorite Christmas song (well, that and 'Once in Royal David's City,' but I decided to only include one of them.)

This morning at 9 AM CST, I will be tuning in to The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, live from King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England (where it will be 3 PM Christmas Eve), as I do each year. I hope you will do the same. You won't be disappointed, I promise.  Check out the notice from American Public Radio.

Now on to the book excerpt I was telling you about:

"...calling God 'Father' is the great act of faith, of holy boldness, of risk. Saying 'our father' isn't just the boldness, the sheer cheek of walking into the presence of the living and almighty God and saying 'Hi, Dad.' It is the boldness, the sheer total risk, of saying quietly, 'Please may I, too, be considered an apprentice son.' It means signing on for the Kingdom of God... (Emphasis added)


"We live between Advent and Advent; between the first great Advent, the coming of the Son into the world, and the second Advent, when he shall come again in power and glory to judge the living and the dead. That's why Advent is sometimes quite confusing, preparing for the birth of Jesus and at the same time preparing for the time when God makes all things new, when the whole cosmos has its exodus from slavery...

"When we call God 'Father,' we are called to step out, as apprentice children, into a world of pain and darkness. We will find that darkness all around us; it will terrify us, precisely because it will remind us of the darkness inside our own selves. The temptation then is to switch off the news, to shut out the pain of the world, to create a painless world for ourselves. A good deal of our contemporary culture is designed to do exactly that. No wonder people find it hard to pray. But if, as the people of the living creator God, we respond to the call to be his sons and daughters; if we take the risk of calling him Father; then we are called to be the people through whom the pain of the world is held in the healing light of the love of God...

"It is the rhythm of standing in the presence of the pain of the world, and kneeling in the presence of the creator of the world; of bringing those two things together in the name of Jesus and by the victory of the cross; of living in the tension of the double Advent, and of calling God 'Father.'"

- excerpted from The Lord and His Prayer by N.T. Wright  (purchased on Amazon.)

"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”  Luke 1:32-33 

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord."  Luke 2:11

***

To all my lovely blog friends,

May you have a wonderful and blessed Christmas

as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior.

'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing'

King's College Choir, Cambridge

Celebrating Advent, Books for Advent

 Some Advent/Christmas resources for children

Mary's First Christmas

Song of the Stars (All Creation Has Been Waiting)

A Christmas Story

Good News of Great Joy

Papa Panov's Special Day (Tolstoy's 'Where Love Is, God Is')

Room for a Little One (especially for very little children)

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (read it to middle schoolers)

The first Sunday of Advent is a week from today, on November 30. For the next four Sundays and then Christmas Eve, we will ponder the prophecy of a promised Redeemer and fulfillment of that prophecy in God coming to rescue His people.

^"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Why celebrate Advent? Taking the time to sit down with the family and read the Scriptures in the weeks preceding Christmas keeps us focused on what exactly it is that we are celebrating. As Christians, we could complain that consumerism has hijacked Christmas and have nothing whatsoever to do with it, but why would we not want to contemplate the Creator and Savior of the world who loved us enough to become one of us, to save us?  Why would we not want to be reminded, once again, of the message of the prophets and the fulfillment found in Jesus? He is our Light, our Hope, our only Savior.

 My new favorite this year:

 Unwrapping the Greatest Gift

A Book for Families by Ann Voskamp

The Jesse Tree, December 1 - 25 readings about the lineage of Jesus.

Not only a wonderful book for Advent, but beautiful artwork and printed on quality paper.
(If you're like me, you notice that kind of stuff.)

From the Preface:

'If we want our Christmas tree to really stand wondrous and full of meaning, the tree we really need to understand and be astonished by is the family tree of Jesus Christ. Because this is our story - your story.

God doesn't cut off all the big cheaters, bad liars, weaselly sneakers, battling brothers, fighting families, and brokenhearted from His family tree - He makes families just like these perfectly His! He adopts all the messy and broken and imperfect people into His tree and His story and His heart, and He gives us His family name. He gives us His absolutely perfectness and makes us alive and fully free.'

A few more resources for Advent

which I've used over the years

Come Thou, Long Expected Jesus by Nancy Guthrie and R. Kent Hughes

God Rest Ye Merry by Douglas Wilson

Family Celebrations for Christmas by Ann Hibbard

Christ in Christmas - A Family Advent Celebration by various authors

Along with those pictured above, I also have, on my Kindle,  G.K. Chesterton's Advent and Christmas Wisdom and Dietrich Bonhoffer's God is in the Manger, Reflections on Advent and Christmas.

"There is a place in one of Martin Luther's Nativity sermons where he asks something like, 'Do you know what a stable smells like?  Do you know what that family would have smelled like after the birth when they went out into the city? And if they were standing next to you, how would you have felt about them and regarded them?' He is saying, 'I want you to see Christ in the neighbor you tend to despise, in the political party you despise, in the race you despise, in the class of people you despise.

'Christmas is the end of thinking you are better than someone else because Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you..." - T. Keller, from Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Check out a prior blog post about making an Advent wreath 
and celebrating Advent.

Why did I post this a week early? Just as a reminder to gather your resources, and so that I could share some of my favorites, with which you may not be familiar. I encourage you to celebrate Advent. It will transform your Christmas season and perhaps even transform your life.

I am thankful for excellent Christian writers who help me better celebrate Advent.

Have a blessed Lord's Day!

Although I usually forget to do it, there is a chance that this post will be linked to one or more of these great linky parties:  Amaze Me Monday and Inspiration Monday and Mosaic Monday and The Barn Collective and    Treasure Box Tuesday and Vintage Bliss Tuesday and KatheWithAnE and Rubbish Tuesday and Our World Tuesday and Tuesdays at our Home and Tuesday with a Twist and  Knick of Time Tuesday (vintage)  and   Tweak it Tuesday and Vintage Inspiration Wednesday and Ivy and Elephants Wednesday and Adorned From Above  and Artsy Corner Thursday and  All Things With Purpose and Home & Garden Thursday and Good Fences on Thursdays and  Time Travel Thursday and Freedom Fridays and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Saturday's Critters

Book Review - Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

Edited by Nancy Guthrie

With all the secular busyness of the season, it's often difficult to keep our hearts and minds focused on the real meaning of Christmas: Jesus, the Creator of the Universe, God's only son, came to this sin-cursed world to RESCUE His people. This Baby, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, went to the Cross to suffer the punishment for our sin. King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus conquered death and hell, securing forgiveness of sin, new life, and freedom to all who put their trust in Him.

I'm looking forward to using a new book to supplement our Scripture readings during the upcoming Advent season. Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus, which comprises 22 essays or sermons, was edited and compiled by Nancy Guthrie. She had been disappointed when trying to find 'a book with short readings on Advent themes from a number of different writers I trust and respect; that reflected a high view of Scripture; and that put the incarnation in the context of God's unfolding plan of redemption. And not finding such a book available, I embarked on what has been a sacred adventure of putting such a collection together.'

With the list of authors including John Piper, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, Saint Augustine, R.C. Sproul, Francis Schaeffer, Timothy Keller and others, this will make a great addition to our Advent devotions. Some selections have a longer Scripture reading than others, so with some, I will be using an additional Scripture passage as well as Christmas Carols appropriate to the Sunday.

I've read through the selections in this book, and am very pleased to have Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus to use with our Advent devotions for 2011.


'But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.'  - John 1:12


'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' - John 3:16

Do you have any favorite devotional books you like to use at Advent? I'd love to hear about them, for I always like finding out what's out there!  

Next week I'll be posting (or actually re-posting a blog post I put up last November,) which shows the Advent tree I made when the kids were little and the devotional book we used at that time. It is excellent for young families.

Remember, the First Sunday of Advent is November 27.

St. Paul's Cathedral, London

Although you no doubt realize that this is not Sunday, it is the day of the week when I usually write some sort of travel-related post. In keeping with that trend, I decided to write about St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

There are few things as thrilling as attending the First Sunday of Advent service at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, with my two daughters! 

We arrived at the west front of St. Pauls at 4:30 PM for the 6 PM service, and it was not a minute too soon! The lines became very long and I was glad we had arrived when we did. While we were waiting, we struck up a conversation with a student standing in line next to us, who just happened to be from...Appleton, WI.

 Evening at St. Pauls

Looking up at the interior of the dome

St. Paul's Cathedral - Under the Dome

We were seated in the 223 ft. long nave, just beyond the ticketed guests, so we were close enough and facing the Quire. (The green mark shows where we sat.) Guests were also seated in the north and south transepts. Just before the beginning of the service, lights were dimmed. At that moment, the whole congregation rose and turned to watch as the cantor began and the choir, with a processional cross in front, filed into the nave.

Choirboys, some of whom appeared no more than six years old, processed into the nave, carrying large candles. They stopped once for Scripture reading and anthems, then continued on to the 167 ft. long Quire.

 The beautiful quire at St. Paul's

View of the altar

Photo by Helen Devereaux

It's hard to describe how beautiful and meaningful the service was, reminding us all to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. The Maker and Ruler of the Universe, our Only Hope for Salvation, left the glories of Heaven to become human and dwell among us. He came to rescue us, bearing our sins in His death on the Cross, satisfying God's justice - that those who trust in Him might live. What amazing grace!

I love to listen to the great cathedral choirs, but I think they can only give us a hint of what it must be like to hear the angels in Heaven singing praises to our risen Savior, God and King!


P.S. By the way, the day after tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent.
 
  

Note: All photos, unless otherwise indicated, were taken from St. Paul's Cathedral website and Wikipedia. They frowned on photo-taking inside the cathedral. :-)

Note: I just checked the outdoor thermometer. It's 8 degrees out there. My dog is lying in the snow and loving it! 


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