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Showing posts with label Season's Greetings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Season's Greetings. Show all posts
Thursday, December 25, 2008
A Christmas Message From Our Family To Yours, CHRISTMAS 2008
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Tuesday, December 25, 2007
The "W" In Christmas
Below is the text of an email I received from a friend a few days ago. I believe it is appropriate for today's post:
"As every December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations-extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.
My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six-year-old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's Winter Pageant. I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there would be a dress rehearsal the morning of the
presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise. So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.
Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as Christmas, I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment - songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snow caps upon their heads. Those in the front row-center stage-held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing C is for Christmas, a child would hold up the letter C. Then, H is for Happy, and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."
The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W." The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her W. Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:
"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"
And, I believe, He still is. Amazed in His presence... Humbled by His love.
May each of you have a Merry Christmas as you reflect on His Amazing Love!
It's me again. I am not certain of the song mentioned above. I have done some searching and this may be it: Christmas Love from Tru North Music. It is the only song by that name I could find. Try the link.
And again, Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
"As every December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations-extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.
My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six-year-old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's Winter Pageant. I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there would be a dress rehearsal the morning of the
presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise. So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.
Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as Christmas, I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment - songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snow caps upon their heads. Those in the front row-center stage-held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing C is for Christmas, a child would hold up the letter C. Then, H is for Happy, and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."
The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W." The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her W. Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:
"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"
And, I believe, He still is. Amazed in His presence... Humbled by His love.
May each of you have a Merry Christmas as you reflect on His Amazing Love!
It's me again. I am not certain of the song mentioned above. I have done some searching and this may be it: Christmas Love from Tru North Music. It is the only song by that name I could find. Try the link.
And again, Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Tis The Season
This has been a very good year. We continue to live in Robinson on the “Farm”. I just did not “farm” this year. Some of you may know that I am referring to my vegetable garden. It seems that our spring was so wet and my Spring schedule so hectic that there never seemed time to prepare the ground and actually get to work on it. While we all missed the fresh vegetables from the garden it did allow me more time to work with my flowers. Chris and I worked very hard last winter to protect the flowers and we had several that survived. I was kept busy all summer with the survivors and the new flowers that were planted, but it was worth it. The garden was very pretty and very restful to work in. Some of the flowers I had were marigolds, gazanias, carnations, dianthus, zinnias, geraniums, mint, chrysanthemums, and many others that I can’t remember the names of. I apologize for not having pictures posted but the hard drive containing the photos is not being cooperative. Guess I will need to get a new one.
This is my 4th year working in Waco ISD. Good news. I have been promoted to Kindergarten. For the last 3 years I taught Pre-K. The district realigned the campuses and moved all Pre-K classes to 4 “Pod” campuses. I did not want to leave Brook Avenue, so I asked to move up to Kindergarten if there was an opening. There was! I work with a wonderful group of people at Brook that really cares about the children. I could not ask for a better group to work with. It has been an adjustment getting accustomed to a different curriculum, but I think I have finally adjusted.
Chris has a lot more time on her hands since our grandson Jace has started Kindergarten and we quit running the antiques booth at the Cedar Chest. It proved to be more time consuming for us than we had hoped. Jace still visits often and has to stay for short periods when his parents schedule requires it. Yes, he also comes to visit just to visit. Chris has enjoyed using this extra time decorating the house. She also likes to shop for things that she thinks Jace will like. Chris has also discovered eBay. She loves to search for small items which she uses to decorate with. She has found several Gurley candles and other decorative items this way. As always, Chris loves to take care of her family.
Julie graduated from MCC with her Associates Degree. She has been working at HEB in the pharmacy. This has been hard for her since the pharmacy is open 24 hours and she has had to work some late shifts. She is planning to return to college soon and possibly pursue a degree in education. She has mentioned that she is interested in Elementary Bi-Lingual. She enjoys helping with Jace, so I know that she would be a good teacher. Julie also designed the logo for Grandpa Hank’s car lot.
Scott has returned to MCC also. He is working very hard to keep his grades up because he would like to pursue something in the Medical/Nursing field. He still works part-time at Circuit City. With any spare time that he has he works on cars, helps us do many things here at the house (Lifting, Moving things, etc.), and helps his Grandpa at the car lot occasionally. Scott, Jessica, and Jace have moved to Robinson and live nearby which makes it very easy to visit each other and help out each other when needed.
Jessica is a Pharmacy Tech at HEB. She has been there long enough that she is now working Monday – Friday and is able to have weekends off to spend time with Jace. This past fall Jessica and Jace also went to many Baylor football games with me. Jessica loves football, especially if she gets to go to the game and see it live. Jessica was also able to visit her family in East Texas several times this year. Jessica’s family came to Robinson for Thanksgiving this year.
As mentioned earlier, Jace is in Kindergarten at Robinson Primary. He thoroughly enjoys school and stays on Blue most of the time. Jace helped his Grandma Chris and Aunt Julie decorate our tree and the house for the holidays this year. You may look at the decorations by clicking here> CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS SLIDESHOW. I had to run some errands yesterday and Jace went with me. We were talking about school and his Christmas party. Out of the blue he said, “Mrs. Ringo knows everything!” I agreed with him and assured him that since I am a teacher I also know everything. He agreed. It seems that part of our discussion had centered on who stayed in school longer; his class or my class. My class left at 12:00 Noon. His class left at 1:00. Try explaining to a 5 year old that his class stayed longer because they stayed until 1:00 instead of 12:00, “But Grandpa, 12 is a bigger number than 1. Your class stayed longer. We left first.” That lasted a while but we soon called a truce and continued with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.
Hank, Chris’ dad, continues with the car lot. For those of you that do not know, Hank operates Aardvark Auto’s in Robinson, TX. He enjoys his time there and going to the auto auctions. He still has his rental properties. Between the car lot and his rental properties, Hank is kept very, very busy. However, he does find time to sing at church and visit his sister June in Moberly, Missouri.
That sort of catches you up on all of us in a nut shell, a big nutshell. Kinda like a coconut shell.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our family and friends a glorious holiday season. Please remember that while we get busy in the day-to-day hustle and bustle of shopping, gift-giving, and holiday parties; the real reason for this holiday season is the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I would also like to ask all of you to take a moment to remember the families of those who are fighting for our nation overseas during this holiday season.
© 2007 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Friday, December 21, 2007
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