Although Margaret is still too young to really appreciate or grasp the meaning of Advent and Christmas I am enjoying doing a little Advent calendar with her at breakfast and gathering up ideas and plans for upcoming years with our little family. We have all been greatly enjoying our beautiful Christmas tree that lights up the whole living room.
There is lots of imagery we have as Christians for all the decorations, most specifically the Christmas tree... I can't wait to start using it all to talk to Margaret! About it representing the tree of life bearing fruit, the Joshua tree, the original tree of Paradise, the life-giving tree of Christ's cross and the cedar in Ezekiel 17.
Searching online I found a few other neat images: Holly representing the crown of thorns Christ wore with the red berries symbolizing the blood He shed for us. Mistletoe with its known healing powers representing the healing power of Jesus. Poinsettia's star shaped flowers reminding us of the star of Bethlehem. And supposedly the tradition of candles in windows comes from Ireland when the catholic church was being repressed and priests were in hiding. Families who hoped hiding priests would come celebrate Christmas mass with them signaled with these candles and left their doors unlocked.
Pastor Tuuri also mentioned that one of the reasons Christmas is in December is because it is the darkest part of the year, and Christ is the light piercing the darkness. Lots of beauty!
lovely imagery
Elissa, Happy 2009! Hope you survived the Portland Artic Blast! we went through there, it was wild!
ReplyDeleteHope you are doing well. Thanks for the Christmas card. If we were on top of things, our loved ones would have received something from us as well.....oh well.
Blessings! Tell Margaret hi. and Clay.