Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
Blessings of the Season to All who stop here...
Wishing you Peace and Love
My baby Jesus
Anne Geddes Happy Birthday Jesus
My Church Nativity with roses
Each Christmas eve I lay roses at the manger, before Jesus is placed, to welcome Him...
Mary's Grotto
Saint Francis' birds are fed on Christmas Eve - a new tradition launched
Sir Chancelot helping feed the birds
Sir Chance Christmas morn
Scenes from My Beloved Fernandina Beach
Surfin' Santa in Fernandina Beach, FL
Oh, God-With-Us,
For so long you have promised
forgiveness, peace, salvation.
Now in my heart, I am filled with joy
because of your coming.
Thank you for your promises
and for the way I can trust in you.
I feel a new freedom in my life
and a courage I have not known before.
I know you came to save me and bring new life
and I am so grateful to you.
Let me show my thankfulness
with my life.
You have brought me through the darkness
and into the light of your saving grace.
Your ability to charm others may be heightened today, and you may wonder if this developing allure is the result of some modification you have made to your physical appearance or a trait that has emerged within you. More likely than not, the enchantment others feel while in your presence is the result of your having revealed your true self. If this idea leaves you feeling vulnerable today, consider that your openness can be a valuable tool in your quest to surround yourself with positive, sincere people. Your honesty coupled with your natural charisma will likely serve you well whenever you are called upon to mingle with others.
Winning over others is easy when we make a real effort to be ourselves no matter our circumstances. Though we may feel that society asks us to wear masks in our many outer-world roles, we can only find out who are true friends and trusted colleagues are by letting our guard down socially. As we interact with others without masks, allowing our natural charm to show through, the people around us are given a bird's-eye view into our souls. Those who truly care about us and respect us appreciate this new honesty and will honor it by standing by us even when others choose to distance themselves from us. We then know definitively who our real allies are and who we will be able to count on. When you choose to be yourself today, you will discover that your natural allure is enough to help you win friends and bond with associates. -my horoscope from daily ohm
as i step more fully into my authentic self and embrace the path i have been led to follow, i find there is grace and ease to the former confusion and chaos...i have been open, or shall i say opened, during the past two years...layer after layer of protective coating has been peeled back and has slipped away...and, gradually, the me that i am is...
this week at sunrise by the ocean
the following post from September 2007 talks about the beginning of this two years transitioning period...and how my life, every event and every day, is stacked on each other like alter stones...
Fellow My Sacred Life journeyer Milton Brasher-Cuningham here wrote Saturday of author Madeleine L’Engle's thoughts about "being every age you’ve been at the same time, life stacking itself up like altar stones, our experiences singing out in chorus rather than speaking one at a time." It so touched my soul at this moment...
Do you feel every age that you have been? I deeply feel that stacking of my life...layer upon glorious layer...day upon day...year upon year...age upon age...growing...joining...fusing into the blessed woman I am today.
It is amazing how one statement can touch our heart...Milton, and Madeleine through him, reached out and touched my soul so completely...IT MAKES SENSE...so much sense that I feel enriched and wise and blissfully stacked...like the metaphor of the alter stones of my life...one resting upon another...stacked purposefully and lovingly by my creator...not straightly stacked...or even neatly stacked...how ever they are stacked, they form me...just as I am...strong yet, fragile...ME!!!
In the spirit of the holiday season, we here at L are giving away an L Letterpress Combo Kit , valued at $150, plus your own custom printing plate, valued at $39.99. Included in the kit is everything you need to be on your way to letterpress bliss.
But that’s not the real culprit. Much more, it’s the way all the noises that we choose to listen to have infiltrated our minds. We’re caffeinated, buzzed, wired, plugged-in. In one recent survey, only 19 percent of Americans said they wanted a "more exciting, faster-paced life." Excitement can’t excite us anymore.
What can excite us – what can make us salivate the way a circus could make some Kansas farm boy salivate – is the prospect of a lull, an interlude. Stillness scares us (that’s why the TV goes on when we walk in the hotel room) but it attracts us, too. If there’s one thing we’d really like from Christmas, I think, it’s a little of that "season of peace" that the greeting card writers are always promising. It’s one of the reasons "Silent Night" is the all-time favorite carol. There’s a moment when we sing it each year at the end of the Christmas Eve service, with the lights out and everyone holding a candle that frames their face with soft light, and that marks for me the absolute height of Christmas.
If there’s one way in which the world has changed more than any other since 1840, one thing that’s truly different about our lives, it’s that we’ve become such devout consumers. That consumption carries with it certain blessings (our lives are long and easy by any historical standard) and certain costs (first and foremost the damage it causes to the rest of creation). But the greatest cost may be the way it’s changed us, the way it has managed to confuse us about what we really want from the world. We weren’t built just for this life we find ourselves leading – we were built for silence and solitude, built for connection with each other and the natural world, built for so much more than we now settle for. Christmas is the moment to sense that, the moment to reach for the real joys.
I am challenging myself and others to create A Hundred Dollar Holiday this year...
I have updated my Squidoo Lens...click the above link to get tons of information on creating a beautiful holiday celebration for less than $100.
You want to make a memorable Christmas holiday for your family but you have no idea how to do it! We will explore ways to make a beautiful Christmas memory without spending a lot of money.
I have always been a make it, take it kind of person. There will be how-to's, ideas, recipies, videos, and much more. New stuff will be added daily...so chack back often!
angel art by Rebecca E. Parsons (Cre8Tiva)
Please share a favorite homemade idea, your family holiday traditions, or special things you do on Christmas Eve or Christmas day in the guestbook at the bottom of the page!
"So the reason to change Christmas is not because it damages the earth around us, though surely it does. (Visit a landfill the week after Christmas.) The reason to change Christmas is not because it represents shameful excess in a world of poverty, though perhaps it does. The reason to change Christmas - the reason it might be useful to change Christmas - is because it might help us to get at some of the underlying discontent in our lives. Because it might help us see how to change every other day of the year, in ways that really would make our whole lives, and maybe our entire 365-days-a-year culture, healthier in the long run." Bill McKibbon - see his book below...read the rest of the article here...
I never buy gift tags...there are plenty of them available on the internet from artists who gift them to you. Just download and print them on card stock!!! Cut them out - or let you kids do it- and voila...tags for any mood or personality!!!
while you're in the spirit, check out my Hunderd Dollar Holiday ideas here... loads of fun, FREE, inexpensive ideas to make your holidays more joy filled and less stress filled...
eileen @ keeping it rural in wisconsin is having a great giveaway...if i win it i will be sure to get a poster size copy of one of my sunrise prints...or my herons...or sir chancelot..oh my...i hate decisions... i am excited about this...making my photos into posters!!!
i am filled with joy and peace after my morning ritual at the beach...this is one reason:
my first glimpse of the sunrise this morning...
a couple was taking pictures with their cell phone...i captured them...
the breathtaking awe...
i often take these little snaps of beach treasures i call nature vignettes....i take them as i find them with no arrangement by me...here are some from this morning: click to enlarge...
this quirky dame is going downtown to historic fernandina beach this morning for the black friday pajama party... during the Thanksgiving Weekend my city (America's 2nd oldest city) holds the popular Pajama Party Sale & Contest...held annually on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Shoppers are encouraged to dress in their favorite pajamas, fuzzy slippers, and other assorted sleepwear and stroll along Centre Street and throughout downtown Fernandina Beach, exploring the eclectic shops, local attractions and eateries. Pajama-clad shoppers will enjoy deals and discounts, along with fresh juice, coffee and pastries to fuel their shopping spirit. Shoppers who wish to be eligible for “Best Dressed Individual Shopper in Pajamas” and Best Dressed Shopping Group in Pajamas” must wear their pajamas (of course!) and have a free photo taken at the judges booth.
Santa Claus will arrive at 2 p.m. at the Fernandina Harbor Marina aboard the Ye Olde Pirate charter boat and all are invited to welcome him to town
Your Score: Katharine Hepburn
You scored 23% grit, 28% wit, 38% flair, and 23% class!
You are the fabulously quirky and independent woman of character. You go your own way, follow your own drummer, take your own lead. You stand head and shoulders next to your partner, but you are perfectly willing and able to stand alone. Others might be more classically beautiful or conventionally woman-like, but you possess a more fundamental common sense and off-kilter charm, making interesting men fall at your feet. You can pick them up or leave them there as you see fit. You share the screen with the likes of Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant, thinking men who like strong women.
"Besides the earth, man's principle resource is man himself. His intelligence enables him to discover the earth's productive potential and the many different ways in which needs can be satisfied." -- Pope John Paul II
in my dreams there is a banquet...and everybody i love, or ever have loved, or ever will love is there...and it is beautiful...and everyone is happy and there is enough food for each to have their fill...no one is hungry or in pain or sad...
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday...i love to get up early to bake the bread that has risen all night...and cook, and cook, and cook...pumpkin soup in tiny pumpkins i baked to the perfect golden glow...my turkey served with tiny ruffled shoes...homemade gravy and the inner parts turned into a feast for the animals...
this year is different...and i pray:
Lord, continue to fuel me with the desire to be productive...and understand the different ways in which needs can be satisfied...
pictorial essay...all photos taken this morning at sunrise...
for these i am thankful
natures' vignettes
a tiny feather in the sun
my great blue heron muse
a great splash photo
a chubby sanderling
a sunrise portrait session by the sea
rippled sand in the sun
surfers at dawn
pelicans flying low over waves
finding a perfect nautilus shell
a flock of sea gulls
colorful sea foam bubbles
haze over the ocean
watching a thanksgiving family photo session by the sea at sunrise
mostly i am thankful for the beautiful friendships i have found during the past 18 months...they have fueled my energy when i had none and filled my weary spirit with joy...you have given to me knowing that i had nothing to give in return... you know who you are and i hope you know how much i love you...and i say simply...
thanks
please read the post below about food banks and what they need this season...if you can help, please do...
My baby Jesus
Saint Francis' birds are fed on Christmas Eve - a new tradition launched
Sir Chancelot helping feed the birds
Sir Chance Christmas morn
Surfin' Santa in Fernandina Beach, FL 
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