I wanted to share some neat Christmas things that I feel most people even know. My mom and I found them in a church cookbook and used them at the old folks home my Dad does church service for. We had to put together talks last minuet. I hope you enjoy these

The Candy Cane                                                                TheTwelve Days of Christmas          
During the latter part of the 18th                                              A week before Christmas a bulletin from a             Century in England, all religious symbols were                           St. Louis Church gave this explanation of    
banned from public display.  No longer Christian                      how creatively the Christian religion has had
brothers and sisters recognize one another in public                  to teach and spread the gospel in times of
by the crosses they wore on their clothing, or as jewelry.           persecution.  From 1558 until 1829, Roman
                                                                                                Catholics in England were not allowed to
During this time, it was told, there was a dedicated                     practice faith openly. Someone during that
Christian candy maker who set out to find some way                era wrote this carol as a catechism song for
for members of the Christian family to indentify each                 young Catholics.  It has two levels of
other, in spite of the ban.  He began with a piece of                  meaning : the surface meaning plus a hidden
pure white candy to signify purity and holiness of Jesus            meaning known only to the members of their
Christ. Next, he fashioned the candy into the shape of a          church. Each element in the carol has a code
sheperd's staff, as a reminder that our Heavenly Father           word for religious reality which the children
is the Good Shepard.  Then he placed three small red              could remember.
stripes ' round the candy to represent the encompassing
power and presence of the Trinity, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.  Finally, he placed a single, bold
red stripe through the candy to demonstrate the redeeming
power of the blood that Christ shed upon the cross for each
of us, and the forgiveness of our sins.

• The partridge in a pear tree- Jesus Christ
• The two turtle doves- were the old and new Testament
• Three french hens- stood for faith, hope and love
• The four calling birds- were the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
• The five golden rings- recalled the law, the first five books of the old testament
• The 6 geese a laying- stood for 6 days of creation
• Seven Swans a swimming- represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit
• The eight Maids a milking- were the eight beatitudes Christ shares
• The nine Ladies dancing-  these were the fruits of the Holy Spirit ( Galatians 5)
• The 10 Lords a leaping- were the 10 commandments
• Eleven Pipers piping- stood for the 11 faith disciples of Christ
• finally, the 12 Drummers- symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles creed.

Crazyiness!!

So, went out with a friend last night. We had the most crazy adventure I have had in a very long time! We had planned to go for hot chocolate and than go see Christmas lights. Well, I had printed out the directions to an I hop near the lights.  We follow these directions and look when we supposedly should have arrived to our destination for this i hop. Well, didn't see one. Drove around the area didn't see one. The lightrail turn signal for traffic didn't go off. We waited through 3 lights while we saw the lightrail driving next to us 2 times.

We moved up to the next light, and by this time we decided to use the GPS ha ha! It started taking us a new route and we followed it and followed it and started ending up in interesting places. It dragged us all over the valley, out to the desert areas on the outskirts of the city, and finally it took us to a shopping center area that had one. We didn't see it at first because it is a large shopping area. It didn't take us to the exact spot it was located. We drove around didn't see it. We ended up out of the shopping area and unfortunately for the turn off we were at goes straight to the freeway h a ha! So, we drove down the freeway trying to get back and nope started taking us the other way. We take out the GPS to get back on track and it took us back to that shopping center. We decide to ask someone in a shop where in the center place it was. We go to this western store and tell them our story. The laugh and relate with us. They told us where to go and we finally got there 1 1/2 hours after setting out to get to the place. We just ate and had hot chocolate and talk. Than, went home ha ha! But, on the way home my friend ended up turning in towards a one way street with on coming traffic. I didn't realize she was doing this until we were turning around in the intersection. I had thought she would go straight like your supposed to. It's a street that has 2 of the same street. One that goes for one direction of traffic. Than, to go the other way you have to pull farther up the street and there will be the exit to turn on to go the opposite direction. So, needless to say we thankfully hit no one. Everyone just watched us drive a lovely circle in the intersection. Later, when we were going the right way again a car drove up next to us laughing very hard. We knew they had seen what had happened. But, we were laughing at the moment about it all ourselves. It was highly amusing for a night.

Earlier when we first started out we talked about driving and stuff. We did everything we had talked about from earlier that night. I just think it was funny.

Poinsettas everywhere!!!

These are pictures of a annual poinsetta festival that a nursery was hosting. But, this was the last year and day of it. They said, it just is not cost effective to do it anymore. :(.