Saint Lucia’s Day

Saint Lucia’s Day

Emma Christine couldn’t have known at that time that she would one day take a ship to Ellis Island to meet her fiancé in New York. She couldn’t have known that they would have many descendants and she couldn’t have known that I would be one of them. Yet here we are, well over a hundred years later, preparing to celebrate her homeland and the traditions she brought to ours.

Epiphany

Epiphany

It’s Epiphany today: the feast of the three kings, the three sages, the three very wise men. They arrived late on the scene — some say two years — when Jesus was no longer described as a baby, but a young child; staying not in a stable, but a house. The point is: they showed…

Tidings of Joy

Tidings of Joy

I’ve always wondered what it might have been like to be alive that night in Bethlehem. I’ve wondered what it would have been like to be one of those shepherds on the hills… to have seen it. To have heard it. To have been there to welcomed Him. I read the words and imagine myself…

Welcome, Advent
Christmas

Welcome, Advent

As I snuggle under a fleecy snowflake blanket in my cozy chair, devotionals in my lap and a cup of tea in my hand, I watch the single candle flickering in the darkness. Three more will join it as the weeks go by.

It is the beginning of Advent.

Christmas Past
Christmas

Christmas Past

Once upon a time, my Christmases really were like Victorian greeting cards. Back when all ten of us lived in one house, when everyone bought presents for everyone else. (With a little help from our mom, if necessary). There were the secrets in the closet, the anticipation of seeing this person’s face when they saw…

Why we should have Second Christmas as well as Second Breakfast.
Christmas

Why we should have Second Christmas as well as Second Breakfast.

I think the Hobbits were on to something. Tea and scones, porridge and eggs, toast and sausages are well worth considering a second time, especially on a long and cold walk near Mordor when the first breakfast consists of rabbit. The Incarnation, the Atonement and the Second Coming are well worth considering a second time,…

St. Lucia Day

When does the Christmas season really begin? That’s a topic open for discussion, but to my mind it begins on the magical morning of December 13, Saint Lucia’s Day. Although our family isn’t of Swedish descent, our neighbors don’t seem to mind that we’ve adopted their holiday, and it has become a special tradition. We’ve…

The Nativity Story

The Nativity Story

The Nativity Story is the first Biblically-based movie to be produced by a major film company since the epic Ben-Hur (1959). Epic The Nativity Story is not, at least not on the grand scale of Ben-Hur or The Ten Commandments (1956), with lavish sets and thousands of extras. No, the strength of The Nativity Story…

The End.

The End.