Christmas Bells are Ringing, Ringing!

Hello all my dear friends in Bloggyland!  I know it's been a few days, but we've been so busy here lately. I never knew getting ready for Christmas could be such a busy time! Well, mostly for Mommie, but if she's busy, then I don't get to write very often.  Mommie says she is sorry, and this will probably be a longer post since we're making up for lost time!

First of all, I want to show you my very beautiful new Christmas dress!  

It arrived in a very exciting package in the mail last week, addressed to ME, and it said to "Open Now!"

Inside was the beautiful dress, and boots and stockings and all kinds of fun stuff!

And this beautiful picture of my "identical cousin Tracie", wearing the same dress!  Her Mommie, my "Auntie Debbi", got this pretty dress for Tracie, and Tracie wanted me to have one too, and so they sent me one just like it!  I was SO excited I had to put it on right away!! My Mommie said that Tracie and her Mommie are so very very thoughtful and kind.  This made us both so very happy.  Mommie said that sometimes people just love to give gifts and they do it because they love Jesus and they love people, and we can't always repay everyone who gives us gifts, but we can always say "thank you" and perhaps we can do some special kindness for someone else and pass it along.

Mommie shared this special song/poem with me that we sometimes hear or sing at Christmas:

Christmas is all about Jesus' Birthday, and that's why people love to give gifts to one another, to celebrate His birth.  But the most important gift of all is for us to give our hearts to Jesus, and to live for Him...and share that gift with everyone we meet. 

I know I love Jesus, and I want to give Him my heart too.

How about you?

Lately I've  noticed a lot of churches around here in our Christmas decorations.

Mommie even has one on her teacup that she's been drinking her morning tea out of each day:

There's little churches that light up:

And some bigger churches that are like birdhouses...(Mommie said this one really isn't a Christmas decoration, but it stays out all year long because it is so pretty:

Here's another little one over by the skating pond:

And this one is hanging on the tree!

So is this pretty gold one! Mommie said this ornament came from a church where she used to work:

And then of course there's our pretty little church in our "Little Village of Bethlehem" 

One thing I noticed is that all the churches have something called a "steeple". I asked Mommie what's a steeple? And she said it is the place where they hang the bell! Oh! A bell? "Yes, " Mommie said, "and they ring the bells when it is time for church to start or when there is something special happening that they want the people to know about!"

Some church bells even play songs, like Christmas carols, and people can hear them all over town. 

That must be very wonderful to hear! Have you ever lived in a town where the church bells played real songs?  Mommie said that she has, and it was so lovely. One place where she lived they played hymns every day at noontime. It was really beautiful to hear.

Mommie said that especially the churches would ring the bells on Christmas day, to celebrate the Birthday of Jesus!

She showed me some other special little bells on our Christmas tree:

This little Caroler is actually a bell, and Mommie said that her Grandma gave this to her when she was a little girl:

And this special little  angel ornament is ringing bells. Mommie said this one reminds her of my big brother Matthew, who is in heaven now, and maybe he is helping to ring the bells of heaven on Christmas day!

These next three little bells belonged to each of my big brothers when they were little:

Mommie said when my big brothers were little they used to say a little poem when they would hang the bells on the Christmas tree...it went something like this:

"Christmas bells are ringing, ringing.

Christmas bells are ringing, ringing.

Happy Birthday, Jesus dear!

Happy Happy Birthday!

Then they would hang a star in the tree and say:

Christmas stars are shining, shining.

Christmas stars are shining, shining.

Happy Birthday, Jesus, dear!

Happy Happy Birthday!

And here's another beautiful angel ringing some bells:

And then they'd say:

Christmas angels singing, singing.

Christmas angels singing, singing,

Happy Birthday, Jesus, dear!

Happy, Happy Birthday!

And then they'd sing Happy Birthday to Jesus!  I thought that was really really special!

Did you do anything special like that with your family when you decorated the Christmas tree?

Mommie said it is nice to have special traditions and memories...

Well, I guess that's all for today. Oh, one more picture I think you'll love:

This is me with my big sissie, "Baby Elva".  We are both in our pretty Christmas dresses, and guess what! We BOTH have red and white striped stockings!!!  Isn't that special???

We want to wish you a very Merry Christmas!!

Now, let's go ring some Christmas bells!!

Happy Birthday Jesus, Dear, 

Happy Happy Birthday!!

 

Lily Grace Learns about JOY!

I was so excited this morning when Mommie said I could go to church with her and Daddy because they were going to a meeting there.  After our morning walk in the woods (which I will show you pictures of later), they took me to the church!

Mommie said this funny little poem and showed me on her hands how to do this. She said most everyone knows how to make this little church and steeple.  Do you know how to do this, Aunt Debbi? Can you show my identical cousin Tracie how to do it so we can sing it and play it together when we see each other again?  

Mommie said it is supposed to go like this:

"Here's the church...

Here's the Steeple...

Open the doors...

And see all the people! "

But Mommie said today, since it is a Monday, there are no people here. So we could have said, 

"Here's the church, 

Here's the steeple, 

Open the doors,

and where are all the people?"

I would have loved to have seen all the people, but Mommie said because of this "Covid" thing, many people are still staying home from church on Sunday and watching it on their computers instead. She said we should pray for all the people to stay healthy and for this bad virus to go away so people can come back to church and worship together like we are supposed to do.

She said we should pray for all the people who are sick now, so they will get well very soon.

I am sad that so many people have been sick, and I hope and pray that none of my family gets sick.

I loved seeing all the pretty hymnbooks and Bibles in the pews.  Mommie said that the people in our little church love to sing and they are sad when they can't sing lots of songs together.  She said when this bad virus is over we can all sing lots and lots of songs again out loud, and without having to wear a mask over our face.  I pray that will happen really really soon.

OH look, Aunt Debbi and Tracie! Look at this beautiful piano!! Isn't is pretty? I wish I knew how to play the piano! Then I could play lots of nice songs and sing too!

Oh, and look at that big banner on the wall! It says:

"The JOY of the LORD is Your Strength".  

Mommie says that is a Bible verse found in the Old Testament, in Nehemiah 8:10.  

The Bible sure has lots of good things to tell us, doesn't it? Mommie says this verse means that when we are joyful in the Lord, we are very strong. Having God's joy helps us to stay strong.

Oh, aren't these windows wonderful?  They are so colorful and when the sun shines through them they light up with so many beautiful colors. They make me feel joyful too!

It's like God's rainbow of colors streaming into the church to make us all happy!

And here is a beautiful cross.  Mommie said the cross reminds us of Jesus, because He loved us so much that He died on a cross to save us from our sins.  Jesus never had any sins in His life at all, but He knew that all of us had lots and lots of sins, and if He didn't die in our place, we could never get rid of our sins.

Mommie said that when Jesus died on the cross, He took all of our sins with Him, and if we believe in Him, and ask Him to forgive all of our sins, we can live without those bad old sins in our hearts and go to be in heaven with Him when we die. That made me very happy and joyful.

After we saw all these pretty things inside the church, we went back outside and Mommie showed me some beautiful flowers that were blooming all around the church:

Aren't they gorgeous?  (Mommie said that's a big word for beautiful).

She said these are called "Camellias", and they only bloom at special times of the year, like right now.

It is a special time because it is winter here in Florida where we live, and most everything else has stopped blooming for a while, but then these pretty flowers bloom and make everyone smile.

Mommie said that pretty Camellia matches my pink lips! I like that! 

These pictures are not in order for our day, but this one below was early early this morning, when Mommie was having her morning cup of tea.

Today Mommie's tea cup said:

"Oh, sing to the Lord a new song.

Sing to the Lord, all the earth."

Psalm 96:1

I didn't know the Bible said so many things about singing, did you, Aunt Debbi? Her cup also had pretty birds on it, because they love to sing! I also love Mommie's teapot that has cute snowmen on it and lots of little birdies flying around in the trees and snow. It's a happy teapot.  Mommie said a good friend gave it to her for Christmas!  Mommie must have lots of good friends! They make Mommie smile a lot!

Mommie said to remember that "the Joy of the Lord is my strength!"  When we have joy in the Lord, we are a lot stronger! So it is good be joyful!

Oh guess what, Aunt Debbi and Tracie!!  I got to help Daddy put out the American Flag this morning. Daddy likes to put it out in front of the house every morning, unless it is raining. Today it was very foggy, but there wasn't any rain, so he said it was okay to put it out.

Mommie and Daddy are very proud to live in America, the land of the free! 

They said that we should always pray for our country and our leaders, and pray that God will keep our country free.

Next we checked Still Waters Pond to see if there were any geese, but it was too foggy and the geese weren't there this morning.

In a little while we took our morning walk.  

I loved these little tiny things that look like baby pinecones growing on the pine trees. Aren't they cute?

And then we saw this funny looking little pine tree that looks like it has really long funny hair sticking out all over it.  Mommie says this is a "long-needle pine tree", and the other one is a "short-needle pine tree".  I didn't know pine trees had needles! Yikes! I hope they don't prick me with them!!

Then Mommie showed me this funny looking tree that she calls "The Grinch Tree".

Mommie said she has told people about it before HERE.  She said that when she sees this "Grinch Tree" it reminds her to not let "the Grinch" steal her joy!  

So we finally came back home and what did I see? This tiny little lizard peeking at me!!

He was coming out from behind the skirting on the house to have a look at me. Mommie said they've been hiding in there all winter, and today is a much warmer day, so he probably wanted to come outside just like we did and enjoy a pretty day!  I thought he was cute, and I wanted to play with him, but he ran back inside and hid again.  Maybe next time he'll be brave enough to come out and visit with me.

Well, Aunt Debbi and Cousin Tracie, Mommie says it is time to fix supper so we have to bring this letter to a close.  Mommie said that you weren't feeling real good, so we are saying a prayer for you to feel better soon.  

Thank you again for sending me here to live with my new Mommie and Daddy. Mommie said that she thinks you knew that she needed a little girl to play with and that I help her have so much joy!!  That makes ME have joy too!!  

Bye Bye for now!

I love you.  Be joyful, because remember, "The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength!"

Love,

 Lily

Lillian Grace

xoxo