Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!! I'm experiencing a new phenomena this Christmas. Here in Huntsville, AL, we rarely get snow, and when we do it's just a light dusting, maybe half an inch. Today is the first White Christmas my family has ever seen, with about three inches so far and more coming.

Some very heavy laden bushes...


Early morning. First picture with new camera!



Pretty big snowman for us!


We had great times launching snowballs around.

The Reason for the Season

Wow. Well, my whole "post my favorite Christmas carols" thing kind of failed due to exams and the business of the Christmas season. Today I'm going to share a song with you, not a "Christmas carol" but a song about the reason we celebrate Christmas. It's "I Celebrate the Day," by Christian band Relient K. It focuses on the mystery of Jesus born fully God and fully man. A mystery we may never know the answer to. When Jesus was born, did He know that He had come to save Lauren Murphree? It boggles my mind and shows me how much God loves me. "And I, I celebrate the day that You were born to die so I could one day pray for You to save my life" is the last stanza. How thought provoking is that? How often do we forget? "Yay! Jesus is born! Time to open presents!" seems to be our normal line of thought on Christmas morning. We celebrate that Christ was born, but forget the reason He was born. Jesus Christ was born to die. Born to bear the full wrath of God and pay the price for our sins. THAT is reason for celebration.
Merry Christmas!!

And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let you know
How much you've touched my life because
Here is where you're finding me
In the exact same place as New Years Eve
And from the lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I wanna be

And the first time that you opened your eyes
Did you realize that you would be my Savior
And the first breath that left your lips
Did you know that it would change this world forever
And the first time that you opened your eyes
Did you realize that you would be my Savior
And the first breath that left your lips
Did you know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I'll compare
The things I've felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That you have come to meet me here

To look back
And think that
This baby would one day save me
And the hope that
That you give
That you were born so I might really live
To look back
And think that
This baby would one day save me

And the first time that you opened your eyes
Did you realize that you would be my Savior
And the first breath that left your lips
Did you know that it would change this world forever
And the first time that you opened your eyes
Did you realize that you would be my Savior
And the first breath that left your lips
Did you know that it would change this world forever

And I
I celebrate the day
That you were born to die
So I could one day
Pray for you to save my life
Pray for you to save my life
Pray for you to save my life

Once In Royal David's City

"Once In Royal David's City," by Cecil Frances Alexander, is the next Christmas Carol I would like to share about. Mrs. Alexander was an Anglican bishop's wife, and as she accompanied him throughout Ireland, she worked with many young children. For these children she wrote a number of poems and hymns, including "All Things Bright and Beautiful." In 1848 her most famous collection, Hymns For Little Children, was published, and there "Once In Royal David's City" first appeared. Beginning in 1918, King's College in Cambridge has used this hymn for the processional in their Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve. Traditionally it is begun with a boy soprano soloist singing the first verse to be followed by the rest of the choir. At my church, we also have a lessons and carols service on Christmas Eve, and a young boy standing at the back of the sanctuary singing into a mic normally starts off this song. Until today, I did not know that it was a tradition begun at King's College. Here are the words and a video of the King's College Choir singing this beautiful hymn. I encourage you to read the words of this carol and think about the amazing fact that Christ was God and Man, and how wondrous a mystery that is.

Once in royal Davids city,
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby,
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ, her little Child.

He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall:
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.

For He is our childhood's pattern;
Day by day, like us, He grew;
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles, like us He knew;
And He cares when we are sad,
And he shares when we are glad.

And our eyes at last shall see Him,
Through His own redeeming love;
For that Child so dear and gentle,
Is our Lord in heaven above:
And He leads His children on,
To the place where He is gone.