"Joy to the World"

448. It's Christmas once more and it never gets old.  Each year I can't wait to decorate our tree, bake cookies, place candle light all around and wrap gifts.  The Christmas season always brings wonderful joys to mind.

Decorating my home with all the special, memorable items collected and gifted from friends.  Each item has a story or person to reflect on.

And then there are the ornaments I've collected for years...43 years to be exact.  From our "First Christmas Together" Hallmark ornament to a beautiful handpainted creation by a charming friend.  To the mushroom ornaments my dear mother gifted me for years and my cherished Santas.  Each one is so special to me!

And, my favorite Christmas song that says what my heart loves..., "Joy To The World".

Adorable pencil tree with antique ornaments and a gorgeous painted Santa by my dear sister.

A Christmas Crèche purchased so long ago for our family.  As a child I would arrange and rearrange the characters and animals daily.  My mother gave this treasure to me.

Side vignettes of beauty all around.

A handmade Father Christmas from many years ago made by a dear friend.

From my home to yours, have a very Happy Christmas and Blessings in the New Year!

"Joy to the World"

"Joy to the World is a Christmas hymn written in 1719 by Sir Isaac Watts, an English Christian minister and writer whose sacred words were inspired by Psalm 98 of The Bible.  In its original form it had nothing to do with Christmas and was never intended to be a Christmas song.  Musically, the first four notes are the same as the first four in the chorus "Lift up your Heads" from Handel's, "Messiah" from 1742.  However, in 1836 Lowell Mason composed a riveting melody for the second part of the hymn, which combined with its popularity in the church, started its journey into the music (world).  Mason was a great admirer and scholar of Handel's music.

Christmas Cookie Baking 2023

447.  Christmas Baking 2023 highlights:

Poppy Seed Rugelach

          Peppermint Bark

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies with Cream Cheese Filling

Coffee & Cream Cookies with Chocolate Hazelnut Filling (These are 5 Star Cookies!!!)

Moon Cookies with Cinnamon/Powdered Sugar dusted on top

Cranberry Orange Chocolate Sliced Cookies

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 

“‘There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,’ returned the nephew. ‘Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'”

~ "A Christmas Carol", Charles Dickens