Reading 1 Is 9:1-6
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
a light has shone.
You have brought them abundant joy
and great rejoicing,
as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,
as people make merry when dividing spoils.
For the yoke that burdened them,
the pole on their shoulder,
and the rod of their taskmaster
you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
For every boot that tramped in battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given us;
upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,
Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
His dominion is vast
and forever peaceful,
from David’s throne, and over his kingdom,
which he confirms and sustains
by judgment and justice,
both now and forever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!
Gospel Lk 2:1-14
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that the whole world should be enrolled.
This was the first enrollment,
when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.
And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth
to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem,
because he was of the house and family of David,
to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
While they were there,
the time came for her to have her child,
and she gave birth to her firstborn son.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields
and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were struck with great fear.
The angel said to them,
“Do not be afraid;
for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.
And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel,
praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When I hear that first reading at mass, my heart swells with joy, and I can barely contain my excitement, and my tears. Each family has special traditions and observations that make the holiday a holy day, and a truly memorable day, unique to them. I think we Treepers have managed to forge bonds, and find traditions of our own, drawing strength from each other, sharing the bad times and the good, making each other laugh, and praying for the needs we present here to our friends.
Merry Christmas Treepers, from each and every one of the Admins here in the Tree. God bless us every one.
God Bless You All….I immediately thought of this Carol…
Clay Aiken Mary, Did You Know
Thank you for posting this one, I *so* love it.
(I’m listening to all the great videos everyone is posting with headphones, since DH long ago toddled off to bed….he looks so innocent …ahem…when he sleeps.)
Again, my heartfelt wishes for blessings and grace upon all the wonderful friends I’ve found here in this God Loving and Faith Filled Tree House!
I feel so humble….
Right back atcha, CK!
Was bein a worry wart ’bout ya last night Gracie. Those were some awful storms that passed through our state. Alexandria *really* got slammed I hear.
Good to see ya postin!
Thanks CK! We are good here. The bad stuff was North of us.
Glad to hear it!
We’re gettin powdery swirls here at the moment. Ain’t a snow ball’s chance in hell it’ll stick though, thankfully.
Stuck at the Tejas border, I can report, and was nastiferous for about 300 miles!! >:-(
And since when did they start naming winter storms?????
This year.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
The grace and peace of Jesus Christ and the prayers and comfort of His Mother who is above all angels be with all of you now and in the new year.
And….this fella’s pretty good too!
He sure is
Merry Christmas Puddy
Giuseppe Di Stefano “Santa Notte”
Oh….this one’s even better. It’s lyric quality is a perfect match for his voice. And those exquisite pianissimos….the best.
Have a most Merry Christmas Rumpole!
Oh, I believe there was a giant cat there….but giant cats–often accused of being prideful–actually have a magnificent timing of appropriate comings and goings, and thus The Cat which was honored to be present that night stayed quite quietly just out of sight, not wanting to startle Mary or Joseph.
Folks around Bethlehem did talk about it for some time in the following weeks–an unusual sighting of an amazing huge cat with a great look of tenderness on its furry face. It seemed to be a Watch Cat of some sort, and it disappeared, never to be seen again, at the same time that The Holy Family left Bethlehem after Mary was able to travel.
There was a giant cat there–a very wise, gentle, giant cat.
Grazie, Rumpole2,
Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo.
Tino
Grazie
Sama, sama (as we used to say in Singapore)
Love that! Thanks Puddy! Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Gracie! (((HUGS)))
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Merry Christmas Auntie! I’m sure you and the family are enjoying a most beautiful white Christmas this year in Big Sky Country. Be sure and give your son our best wishes too….is he still singing for large audiences?
Bless you Puddy! As a matter of fact it is snowing and colder than all get out – so the streets are quiet and still – beautiful morning. I will pass your good wishes on to #1 son. He most recently had a solo in the Helena Chamber Singers’ Christmas performance of Bach’s Magnificat last weekend. The best part of my Christmas has always been attending my kids’ Christmas programs.
I hope your first Christmas with the newest member of your family is the beginning of wonderful new traditions and much love and laughter. God bless you all.
We demand to see proof of #1 son’s magnificent performance!!! Video and pictures will do quite nicely.
Oh Auntie! Love me some Bach at Christmas!
I will do my best to procure said proof of performance. I know they recorded it (not sure about video) but the official recording will not be available for a while. In the meantime, you just have to trust me – he was spectacular
.
Merry Christmas!!
Merry Christmas MRM! Wishing you and your family all the blessings and joy of the season.
Back atcha Puddy! I hope your Christmas has been Purrrrrrfect!! xo
Merry CHRISTmas y’all. I’m out, goin’ to bed. My 5-year old great grandson’s finally fallen asleep after leaving Santa a plate of cookies and a glass of milk (former now crumbs on a plate, latter a white film on the glass) and his great great grandmother’s finally fallen asleep after reading The Night Before Christmas with him. You take what you got and enjoy it then, you can’t tell if you’ll ever it all again.
Wow…..I can not think of a better way to spend Christmas Eve. And the best part is you know how very blessed you are.
How lovely! You are truly blessed.
Merry Christmas!
to fall soundly asleep. I caught her setting up an iPod to tape Santa! Oh my, gotta figure something out like flashing something red/white in front before the video goes blank.
I’m still waiting for my youngest that still believes in Santa (last year
LOLOL!!! That little acorn didn’t fall too far from the tree!
Merry Christmas to you all!
Sharon…..How come you never told us you could sing? Look what I found on the YouTubes…..
I can’t believe that’s still out there—I told them that was not my good side
Have a Very Merry Christmas everyone. Santa Puppy and Santa Kitty should be arriving any minute. (we don’t have any human kids for Santa Clause)
Merry Christmas Maggie! I can imagine your kids perfectly…..
Oh, that’s too precious! Puddy – you are amazing!!!!
Thank You so much. I love that photo, my girls all say thank you also. Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas …..Here’s this year’s BBC Songs of Praise Christmas Special
Merry Christmas Walther.
There is something quite unusual and precious about The Treehouse.
It must be YOU, and You. and You, and You and YOU and YOU AND You, and YOU….
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!
May God continue to bless each of you.
Amen
And YOU too, Caruhsel! Merry Christmas to you and yours! Thanks for joining up with the rest of us misfits!
The master of the pan flute..Zamfir
Not a Christmas goes by that I don’t listen to his carols and feel a sadness. The wife of the man who often accompanied him on piano was a dear, long time online friend of mine. She is singing with Christ’s Holy Choir now.
And then I laugh about her first Christmas here in the US. She discovered PURPLE Christmas lights! LOL, the neighbors were ready to start a petition to evict her, as she decided those lights were far too pretty to take down just because it was March! Their entire lawn and house was covered in “beautiful” purple lights!
Coming from Romania to the US resulted in her being like a child on Christmas morning every day of the year.
May you rejoice with the angels on this day, my dear friend, and celebrate by stringing purple Christmas lights on those Pearly Gates!
I pledge that every Christmas God graces me with from this year forward, I will hang a single ten penny nail with a red bow on it somewhere in my home:
The Christmas Nail®
It’s Christmas time at our house
and we’re putting up the tree.
I wish I could find some simple way
to remember Christ’s gift to me.
Some little sign or symbol
to show friends stopping by,
The little babe was born one day
but He really came to die.
Some symbol of His nail-pierced hands,
the blood He shed for you and me.
What if I hung a simple nail
on my shining Christmas tree?
A crimson bow tied round the nail
as His blood flowed down so free,
To save each person from their sin
and redeem us for eternity.
I know it was His love for us
that held Him to the tree,
But when I see this simple nail
I know He died for me.
by John Patton, creator of the The Christmas Nail® product
Merry Christmas Treepers! May the light of the Lord shine on each of you today.
And we believe in the words of our Lord….
Psalm 9:8
He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
As I count all the many blessings Christ has bestowed on me this year, I count all of my new friends at the treehouse to be among one of the most cherished!! Thank you all for you’re warm welcome, incredible conversations, and joy and even strength you sometimes provided me without even knowing. May God Bless you and all you’re families on this special day and for endless days to come. I LOVE YOU PEEPS!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Merry Christmas all!!!
Just had to stop by and wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and hoping loads of joy and peace fill this day for you and evermore
.
Merry Christmas Treepers. May your day be filled with lots of joy, family, friends and good food.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
Merry Christmas to you Wee. Did Santa bring you something to shoot with?
Don’t know about Wee but my great grandson unwrapped his Daisy and a co2 pistol from under the tree and, in about half-past lunch, he’ll be going outside to flex his 2nd Amendment rights before the Grinch(s) creatively redefine them. I noticed the pistol I ordered on-line at an unnamed but huge big-box store had appreciated a good deal between the time I ordered it and what the price was in the store when I picked mine up.
You iz a Patriot and the perfect grand-parental unit, Zaub – raising Americans!!! I should be so lucky, one dayy!!
Weedie……’member what you said… about how my being good would pay off in the end?
Well, ya’s shouldn’t have pizzed him off at the wedding. I tole ya’s.
Merry Christmas to all the Tree people, and thank you for the wonderful year and great blog.
May the year 2013 be better.
Tino
Dalle tue labbra all’orecchio di Dio.
From your lips to God’s ears?
Molto bene!
This is a wonderful story.
http://chicksontheright.com/categories/weeps-and-glees/item/23595-weepy-glees#pagejump
Her mother and dad are Polish, and now naturalized American citizens. As a gift to their daughters, they wrote and bound a book about their lives in Poland, her father’s escape to Russia during the German invasion in 1939, and the rest of the story continued in the United States. It tore at my heart, and brought tears to my eyes. Her mother writes:
May you all have a blessed Christmas, and may God’s mercy make our nation’s future not as bad as it might otherwise be, and may He keep His protective hand over Israel.
Amen!
Merry Christmas to all of the Patriots who post here. There is always thoughtful conversation to be had here. I can always find encouragement here. Thank you for that!
I am spending a lot of Christmas Day at the hospital with my ninety-six year old, Step-Grandmother/Adoptive Mother who has pneumonia. It is a complicated history of a turbulently blended family. Think Isaac vs Ishmael combined with Jacob vs Esau in which three generations of my bloodline was denigrated, cursed and exterminated so that my step siblings could be blessed and exalted. Needless to say, I have a lot of ambivalence about my step-grandmother/ mother as well as my Step-brother/uncle’s obvious intention to let her die. Where do you draw the line between withholding medical care that is probably futile and euthanasia?
One of my fondest memories of the Christmas season is singing Silent Night in the original German at the North American Baptis Church that I grew up in. My old pastor had been raised to believe that God Spoke German! Hearing Silent Night is iconic for me, especially if it is in German. I find myself wondering if there any Christians left in Germany or is the whole country secular or Muslim?