There was time when baking Christmas goodies was a very important part of our holiday celebration. Everyone has grown up and is now watching their calories. Even the neighbors are hesitant about adding to their food intake.
These bakers used to turn out a mountain of tasty treats.
Okay, so I was born and raised in Oklahoma and now live in Arkansas. It’s my marathon, so indulge me this one post from two other Oklahoma natives.
Lucy and I are just waiting to taste test whatever comes out of the kitchen.
Angels have always played an important role in Scripture and the Christmas story is no different. In the first chapter of Luke the angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias and told him the he and his wife would be expecting the child that we know as John the Baptist and this child would be the one to introduce the world to Jesus Christ.
The first chapter of Matthew an angel appeared to Joseph, in a dream, told him that Mary was going to give birth and give him instructions to name the child Jesus. An angel also appeared to Mary and gave her specific instructions concerning the precious child that she would bring into the world. At first the thought of having a child in their situation probably seemed like a broken dream. But God can take a broken dream and turn it into a miracle.
We have always decorated the exterior of the house for Christmas. I am in charge of the lighting while my wife handles wreaths & garland. This was our house in 2011. You will notice there are no roof lights and that’s because this was a tall roof with a steep slope and I didn’t want to test my health insurance policy.
We loved this house, but in 2013 I retired and in 2014 we moved into town and closer to things like groceries, medical professionals and our church.
In 2015 I found some small flood lights for the front, began using the gutter lights and changed the bulb in the porch to green.
By 2019 I was using larger flood lights and placing a couple in the yard to light the entry gable. Keeping the shrubs lit became an issue so I dropped them from the design.
Last year I dropped the green light out of the porch, placed one behind the white trees I had built to replace the store-bought trees (in the 2015 photo) that had aged out. My wife began lighting the door garland and the wreath in the window.
This year I added solar powered green floods to the corners of the garage to balance the overall design. This may prove to be the final design. I like the way this one looks. Merry Christmas to one and all.
Lucy will celebrate her eighth birthday on Christmas Eve. She was 10 weeks old when we brought her home and a tiny five pound bundle of joy. She has always been good a posing for photos.
She was about 6 months old in this image and we kept her in a little longer cocker cut. She’s been going to the groomer every 7-8 weeks since she was 12 weeks old and she loves her spa days.
Some days we may ask a little too much of her but she is a good sport. This look says more “Bah…humbug” than “Merry Christmas”, but I’m sure Christmas is her favorite holiday…It’s her birthday!
The third and final tree in our home is a table top tree, approximately 4 feet tall and very narrow. It is a special interest tree that sits in the window of our home office. It started several years ago as an outdoors themed tree that my wife decorated with some of my fishing lures and a few special ornaments like a fishing Santa, trout fishing bear, and a construction worker that pays tribute to my career in architecture/construction. Now it features family interests that include Lucy, a camera and a train engine that honors my father’s career with the railroad.
At the base of the tree you have seen Santa, the Sooners coffee mug and 1994 Razorback carton of Coca Cola. A new addition this year is a ceramic pup that looks like our cocker spaniel, Lucy. Let’s see, my wife does three trees, I still can decorate the exterior with lights, we read the Christmas story from Scripture, and we love spending time with the family. I guess you could say, “We do Christmas Like We Mean It”.
I don’t know how many more years I will be doing the exterior of the house. I limit my ladder time to just the icicle lights on the gutters. I built the three white trees and my wife found the stars that go on top. I have found that when it comes to lighting the house, flood lights are your friend. They actually make the house a part of the display and eliminate the need for covering shrubs in lights. Since virtually all the lights are LED, it only takes one controller to light almost everything. The wreath, tree, and door garland are separate because their power is coming from a different outlet. There is an outlet in the soffit above the garage door that takes care of those icicle lights and they have to be controlled manually. It takes about four hours to get it all done, including testing the lights before install. I will install the lights in early November while the weather is still nice, but I don’t turn on the display until Thanksgiving night. It our signal that it’s Christmas time.
There are three trees in our home each year. The main tree is in the living room, there is a small tree in my office and this tree resides in the den. It is our favorite tree. The ornaments on this tree are photo ornaments of the grand kids at Christmas from age 1-18, so there are a total of 72 ornaments that we rotate annually. This is not just a decorated tree; it is a family history filled with precious memories of Christmas past and I captured virtually every one of the images. This is a tradition that I would encourage anyone to begin. Twenty years from now you will grateful for the memories.
One Christmas tradition we have is that we open our presents on Christmas Eve. Prior to opening our gifts we read the story of the birth of Christ from the second chapter of Luke, we give thanks to the Lord for His mercy, grace and priceless gift of a Savior. I started reading the entire story, but as the grandcrew began to read I would let them read a few verses. Now, one of the family members typically reads the entire story before we open our gifts. It helps us remember exactly why we celebrate Christmas. Jesus is truly the reason for the season. On a cold winters night life was changed by a baby boy. Have a blessed Christmas and a joyous New Year.
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