Merry Christmas To All!

Lately I've been contemplating Isaiah 9 where Jesus' birth is foretold and Luke 2 where his birth is accomplished. The similarity in wording between the two is amazing!

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." - Isaiah 9:6-7

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." - Luke 2:10-14

I pray that you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! As you celebrate may the love that God offers touch your heart. 

Winner of the JABA Short Story Contest

The Jane Austen Short Story Contest has come to a close and a winner has been chosen! There were three delightful entries and as a judge it was so lovely reading the three continuations of unmarried Austen characters!  And the winner is:

Maria Elisabeth from Miss Georgiana Darcy with her delightful short story 'In Which Another of Mrs. Bennet’s Deserving Daughters is Married' about Kitty Bennet of Pride and Prejudice.  You can read her winning entry here.
Congratulations Maria Elisabeth! 
And many thanks to my JABA co-host and friend Melody for hosting the Short Story Contest at her blog Regency Delight! :)

Christmas Carol Lyrics Quiz

Singing Christmas carols is one of my favorite things to do this time of year, especially when I get the chance to sing all the verses ("sing ALL the verses!!!"). This game is all about verses of favorite Christmas carols, other than the common first verses. Below are second, third, fourth or even fifth verses of classic carols for you to identify. 

How To Play: Read the lyrics below and leave a comment guessing which classic Christmas carol each one belongs to. I'll respond with your score. You may guess as many times as you wish. Answers will be posted next Saturday.

Scoring: Ten points for each correctly guessed Christmas carol title. A high score of 150 points can be earned.

Christmas Carol Lyrics

Carol #1.

No more let sins and sorrows grow 

Nor thorns infest the ground: 

He comes to make his blessings flow 

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse if found. 

Far as, far as the curse is found.

Carol #2.

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!

Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings,

Ris’n with healing in His wings.

Mild He lays His glory by,

Born that man no more may die.

Born to raise the sons of earth,

Born to give them second birth.

Carol #3

From God our heavenly Father a blessèd angel came;

And unto certain shepherds brought tidings of the same;

How that in Bethlehem was born the Son of God by name.

Carol #4

And by the light of that same star

Three Wise Men came from country far;

To seek for a King was their intent,

And to follow the star wherever it went.

Carol #5

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Carol #6

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;

Jesus, to Thee be glory given;

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.

Carol #7

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Carol #8

So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh,

Come peasant, king to own Him;

The King of kings salvation brings,

Let loving hearts enthrone Him.

Raise, raise a song on high,

The virgin sings her lullaby.

Joy, joy for Christ is born,

The Babe, the Son of Mary.

Carol #9

The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,

But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes;

I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky

And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.

Carol #10

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His Gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother

And in His Name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy Name!

Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!

His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

Carol #11

Saints, before the altar bending,

Watching long in hope and fear;

Suddenly the Lord, descending,

In His temple shall appear.

Carol #12

“To you, in David’s town, this day

Is born of David’s line

A Savior, who is Christ the Lord,

And this shall be the sign,

And this shall be the sign.

Carol #13

For lo! the days are hastening on,

By prophet-bards foretold,

When with the ever circling years

Comes round the age of gold;

When peace shall over all the earth

Its ancient splendors fling,

And the whole world send back the song

Which now the angels sing.

Carol #14

Pray you, dutifully prime

Your matin chime, ye ringers;

May you beautifully rime

Your evetime song, ye singers.

Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!

Carol #15

And our eyes at last shall see Him,

Through His own redeeming love,

For that Child so dear and gentle

Is our Lord in Heav’n above,

And He leads His children on

To the place where He is gone.

Merry Christmas!

Sink Me! Contest Entries

Miss Dashwood is having a Charles Dickens Funnies Contest at Sink Me! 

Here are my three entries. All are photos from Bleak House 2005. All three sort of require explanation. 

Mr. Guppy Meets Sesame Street

This post brought to you by the letter L! 

Quote is a classic Sesame Street song "La, La, La".

Larry The Skimpole

Quote from Larry the Cucumber in Veggie Tales: Dave and the Giant Pickle. 

Watch clip of scene here.

The Princess Housekeeper

Quote from The Princess Bride. 

Watch quoted scene here.

December Letters

A series of short letters to different people, experiences and things that are making up my world at the moment. I've seen this style of posting done on several blogs recently so am giving it a try.

Found on Pinterst

Dear M., K. and A., 
It was so much fun taking care of you boys for three days while your parent were at the hospital with your new baby sister!
A., what a wonderful thing it is to be six- years old! You are so sweet and full of funny remarks. Your love or music and musical instruments is infectious!
K., your funny faces and voices crack me up every time! You're so comical and independent most of the time that it surprises me that you would be the one who feels more deeply than your brothers, is the most excited to visit us and never wants to leave!
M., being eleven-years-old and the oldest brother is rough stuff but you're doing it right. Your concern for your siblings and parents is so sweet, but I'm so glad you still enjoy playing, being a kid and letting us take care of you. You three boys are going to be the best older brothers to your adorable new sister! Your are so right M., she is "an angel" and a Christmas miracle!  Dear Arabella Faith, you are such a cute little bugga-boo and we're so glad you are here!

 *sings* "Dear Jane Austen, what's my problem? I wish I lived in those simple olden days!" (never mind my horrible singing, go watch the music video)
I've had so much fun celebrating your 237th birthday! But it's also been a tad hectic these last few days and I'm kinda glad it's over now so I can focus on enjoying Christmas with my family. Dear Melody and Lizzy, thank you both so much for your awesome help with JABA! You ladies are such good friends and I love ya!

{Via Pinterest}

Dear Taco Dip, 
I'd never made you before but I've loved eating you at parties for years. Thank you so much for being such a simple recipe and coming out as scrumptious as I could wish! Everyone at the Christmas party thought you were terrific! (Skinny Taco Dip Recipe on Pinterest)

Our White Elephant Gifts

Dear Bible Study Christmas Party, 
My siblings and I were so excited for you to come and we had a blast!!! The food was delicious (homemade cheesecake and handmade truffles!), the scripture reading made me teary-eyed, the carol singing was amazing, the board games were silly and the conversations were terrific! But best of all was the White Elephant gift exchange! We all laughed so hard and had so much fun stealing gifts from each other! My face hurt for a long time after laughing and smiling so much! :-D

My Christmas on Amazon

Dear My Christmas - Andrea Bocelli CD, 
I'm so glad my turn to open a gift came toward the end of the gift exchange so that I got to keep you for my very own! Oh how the other girls "ooh-ed" and "aww-ed" and begged to trade, but I wouldn't have given you up for the world! I look forward to listening to you over and over again!

Dear UMass Doo Whop Shop, 

You guys have amazing voices and I've been watching videos from your school concerts non-stop! I'm particularly obsessed with your Disney Medley video (watch above or on YouTube so you can see all their funny faces)!

 Dear Star Trek, 
You are truly a blast from the past but it's been fun watching some episodes of four different of your shows on Netflix. My favorite series is still Star Trek: Voyager with its story of the amazing crew trying to get home.

Dear Muppets, 
Somehow Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without ya'll! Muppet Christmas Carol, A Muppet Family Christmas and Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas are such classic in my house and not matter how many times we watch you we always sing along!

Dear Christmas Tree Sellers, 
From the first moment of stepping out of our car your trees smelled wonderful! I forgot how much I missed the comforting smell of pine woods that were all around in Maine. You guys were so helpful in picking out our tree and the whole experience was just like being given a piece of "home"!  If there had been snow on the ground it would have been just perfect.

Buy It Here

Dear Focus on The Family Radio Theater, 
I so love your radio play version of A Christmas Carol! It's wonderful how you take scenes right from the book and I don't mind in the least the extra scenes with wonderful Christian messages. One winter I listened to you nonstop and now as I listen again so many years later I can hear all the voices in my head. *happy sigh*

Dear Tiny Tim, 
No matter how many times I read or listen to your part of the story I always cry. Even though I know you don't die, or maybe because I know you get to live, I cry for you and your sweet family!

This moment is going to be amazing!

Dear Les Miz 2012, 
So many tantalizing clips, trailers and behind the scenes videos are out and I've watched them all at least ten times! I really would love to see you in cinemas but I still don't know if I'll be able to. All these clips have even gotten my sister interested. I think she's already a Hugh Jackman as Valjean fan and likely to stay that way.

Dear BBC Merlin, 
My sister and I have finished watching the first four seasons and we can't wait for the fifth season to come to USA! We waited a while to watch the last two episodes so that it would last longer. So glad season four ends on a really happy not but looking forward to the inevitable Mordred and Morgana team up.

Dear Kentucky Weather,
How I wish that you would snow for Christmas! I know the hail storm the other day was incredible and looked an awful lot like snow but...it just wasn't! A real snow that sticks around a bit would be so nice!
And if you don't snow, I'll!...I'll...hmm...Oh! I know!  I'll keep singing "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas,  just like the ones I used to knoooooooow!" until it does snow!

Dear Friends & Readers, 
I hope that you ate having a wonderful December and are enjoying the delights of the season! Christmas is fast approaching! Have you got your shopping done yet?