The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's a little late, but here are a few pictures of those favors I put together for Thanksgiving. What great times. I love getting together with the family and eating to your heart's content. Of course, that tends to be every holiday in my family.


On the back of each place card, this is what it said:

So, over the past couple of weeks, we've had a couple of good snow storms. After the first one, this is what I saw Saturday afternoon above our front door. Poor little bird! He was probably so shocked by the sudden cold storm.

Here's a not-so-good picture of our street at night after another small amount of snow fell.

Last night, I went to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert with the King Singers, and it was wonderful! I think one of my favorite things to do during the holidays it go to Christmas concerts. I love imagining the heavenly hosts singing praises at the most significant event to ever happen on this earth. The Choir's version of The First Nowell is exactly what I envision the angels singing.
I also love Christina Rossetti's setting of that first Christmas night. It's a song that often heard this time of year, but often, my favorite part of the poem isn't sung (the middle stanzas). Here's the full version:
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air,
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.

I love the subtlety of the event--that the world at that moment didn't know or understand the significance (except for a few shepherd and wise men from the East). But the angels of heaven couldn't hold back their exuberance. They sang "glory to God on high." What must that have been like? To be a prophet who has prophesied of Christ's birth or to be one of the people that knew this is the event that has been anticipated for thousands of years. And here is the event that proves to the world that God keeps his promises to His children. He did indeed provide a Savior for the world, and this was the beginning of his earthly ministry--a humble birth where angels rejoiced, a star showed the way, and only the humble and faithful worshipped him.