Glad Tidings

IT'S DECEMBER, FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I shall try diligently (not) to contain my enthusiasm. (If you aren't a big fan of Christmas, just bear with me. One month out of twelve can't be that bad!)




I started getting ready for this month a few weeks back, by pulling out my copy of The 25 Days of Christmas: An Advent Celebration for the Entire Family, by Rebecca Hayford Bauer (a Goodwill snag). Originally published by Victor Books, it seems to have been picked up and republished by Charisma House and retitled Just 25 Days 'Til Christmas (and is available through Amazon). (See, so you can pick which title you want by your mood. A whole TWeNtY FiVe DAYS of ChrIStMaS!?!?! Or "Just 25 days unnnntiiilllll..." (which could freak you out if you aren't careful).

Either which way, this book won a Gold Medallion Book Award and although I am not familiar with the specifics of such an award, I am sure it is deserving. This book breaks down the Christmas story into 25 days. There are 25 devotions, 25 scripture verses you can memorize, 25 songs to sing, a suggested schedule for how to organize gift buying and travel arrangements, etc., to afford you the most peace possible during the holiday season. I love it.

It's a bit too old for our family at this point in time, but we did make a little use out of this book. Last year was our first year to really do Advent and we had Bookworm1 memorize "Away in A Manger" and we familiarized him with the Christmas story. This year we're going to memorize the following verse:

"We have been saved by believing in Jesus Christ. It's nothing that we've done . . . it is God's gift." Ephesians 2:8

We will also memorize the song, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."

I'm excited to expand our knowledge of what it meant for God to send His son down to earth. It is the best and most important message of Christmas (and life in general) and to share the wonder and excitement of it with little ones has to be the best thing in the whole wide world! We sure plan on having fun with it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

December 1st is also the day we traditionally decorate our home (so as to be able to enjoy it for the longest reasonable period of time possible). This is how we decorated last year. I also posted this picture last year:


It is a picture from right outside our house. Yes, we have a Narnia lampost (on purpose). I have to repost the picture again because it's still one of my favorite images that Jonathan has ever captured. It's so Narnia! Happy thoughts, happy memories.

December 1st was already booked for this year though so we decorated on Sunday. I love having the house decorated for Christmas! Pictures forthcoming.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lastly, here are a few of my favorite Christmas songs for you to turn up the volume on and just ENJOY. (Hey, it's December 1st! It's now quite legal to listen to Christmas music!) Here's some Carrie Christmas Song Trivia For you...

Carrie's Favorite Just for Fun Christmas Song, by my artist of preference:



Carrie's favorite Christmas hymn of all times (and one rarely sung anymore):



A song Carrie will never get tired of hearing:



The Old Stand-by:



And that reminds me! It's now also Christmas Movie Watching Season, legal, no fines attached!

Who ever gets tired of listening to Bing Crosby? You can't have Christmas without him! It's illegal! So here's one for my kidlet, as an introduction to one of the greats:



And wait!!! I found one of my favorite Crosby songs of ALL TIME:



Have fun people!

Do you have a favorite song that you just love to listen to during the Christmas season? Leave a comment below with the name of the song, or a url to a youtube post and I'll go and give it a listen!