This is Christmas

This says a lot...

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You know that if you want to make a place look cheerful and welcoming for children, there is not substitute like having balloons.

What's more if there are lots of balloons.

And very colourful shiny ones too!

Like these ones!
The children ministry of the church did just that - they blew up and hung lots and lots and lots of balloons for the outreach they had on Christmas Day. The folks involved opted to run a simultaneous programme as the Christmas Day adult one.

The result?

More than twenty children made decisions for the Lord. More than twenty others rededicated their lives.

To God be the glory!

Christmas at the Mall

Christmas can often be so very commercial.

Buying and giving and more buying and lots of giving.

Shopping and sales and bargains and discounts.

Get this product, NO, buy that instead.

And so forth. I think you get the picture.

I get a reaction inside. I dread going to the malls. I get a bad taste when I see some of the advertisements.

This year, however, is a little different.

A non-profit organisation set up to help the poor with no strings attached has done something wonderful to benefit some needy causes.

With more than one thousand bears, shipped in specially for this season, they aim to raise money for these causes.

Buy a bear and get your name put on the tree.

Alternatively, you can also donate your bear to children, orphans, or hospitals. After you have given of course.

During this season, the local church is encouraged to go and sing carols and to highlight this wonderful event.

The response has been tremendous. The smaller bears are totally sold out an entire day in advance.

Christmas at the mall doesnt seem so bad now....

What's it all about

Thanks for the reminder, Rolita,
of what Christmas is about.

Christmas Decor with a Difference 2

Here is another kind of Christmas decor - found at the largest hypermall here.
This is taken from the Central Atrium of the 1 Borneo Hypermall. Their decorations are about 90% up at this time of writing.

Kind of commercial.... but wait for more news of how the church is going to touch the community but use this!

Christmas Decor with a Difference

In some parts of the world, it is customary to not only set up Christmas trees and decorate their homes. Some places go to great lengths to decorate the outside of their house too, often putting lots of lights.

One such home, obviously with a sense of humour and quite fed up with the conventional style of decorations, took this yearly event to new heights. Called the greatest Christmas decoration ever, go check it out and have a laugh!

The Family

Parents arrived today.

Second arrow will be back in a few weeks time.

First arrow who is assisting at a camp will be around from the weekend.

All the family together.

For Christmas.

It could be a busy time. But it can also be a fun time.

It's what you make of it.

But whatever it is, we do it as a family.

Tips to Setting Up a Tree

OK, I am not an expert I know, but I must say, I have set up some nice trees. So I have been told! Ahem!

So I am going to share a tip or two with you about how to set up good Christmas trees.

First of all, decide the size of the tree! It is worth spending more on one that will last. It should obviously go with the size of your room. When I first bought a tree, it was only 2feet high as I was renting a one bedroomed flat!

My present one however, is a six-footer bushy thing which I got as payment in kind for a decorative job I did one Christmas for a hotel. That was a good 15 years ago and it is still going strong!

In fact, folks, I have in total, five huge boxes of decorations which I have accumulated since my first Arrow was born 20 years ago! So that's tip number 2 - take care of your decorations and they will last. By the way, every year I set aside a budget to go Christmas decoration shopping!

Let's move on to decorating the tree then.

Have you decided where to place the tree? Does the base need covering? Do you have pretend presents to place underneath? I like to put my tree eventually on a small table, so I will decorate the tree on the floor and then gently ease it up, often enlisting help to do so. Before I decorate, I will have decided which side faces the wall and work accordingly.

The lights should be the first things to go on. But let's talk about the lights themselves first. Do you get the multicoloured ones? I find that once I do that, my colour scheme is limited. I tend to get plain where possible. White goes with many colour schemes. Sometimes I mix whites and colours. Whatever you choose, be wise and get some decent ones.

Back to putting on the lights then. I prefer to place the lights with them turned on. This way, I can see where they fit in. Dont put them too far out. Each tree of a different height should have lights of a certain number. For instance, a 6-footer like mine takes a 200 light bulb set very comfortably - one ring for each row of branches and it will finish at the top comfortably. Oh yes, you should start from the bottom where possible. I also prefer to get two sets and wind them round in opposite directions. By setting the lights slightly back into the tree, you get the effect of stars being hidden amongst the leaves. My personal preference are lights which have combination effects.

Then if you plan to use big ribbons or tinsel, this is the time to put them on. I try to intersperse the lights with the ribbons/tinsel so that the tree looks more fully decorated. Dont let these ribbons/tinsel hide the lights too much. A little here and there is ok.

Some people try to put the ribbons downwards. I find that it can be messy and crowded at the top of the tree so I prefer the old-fashioned way - go round.

I sometimes add other decorative things like long silver coloured beads and string them in scallops. This is especially nice when you intersperse with other beaded things like snowflakes. Again, depending on the size of the tree, you might need to get more than one set.

Then the little decorations go on. Hang them in the spaces, and at the tips. If you only have a few of the same, spread them out. One thing to remember is to keep taking a few steps backwards to see the effect. I find that simple balls of different shapes, sizes and designs are very effective. They also make other special decorations stand out. Poinsettas and ribbons of different colours add to the merry effect.

The crowning touch should be what you put on the top of the tree. I have to say that I dont like stars very much. They tend to be two-dimensional and I am partial to "angels" instead. It took me YEARS to find the exact one I liked. What a find it was! Adjustable hands, ribbons that spread out behind the wings and add to the sense of majesty, gold and cream coloured.... I must get a decent photo!

Finally, before I place the pretend presents under the tree, I like to cover the base with some cloth. Depending on the colour scheme for the year, I have pieces of cloth which I have scrounged from reject trays of fabric shops. This year, the silver, white and gold theme sees a garishly gold hard cloth which no one wanted.... but looks perfect under this tree!

By the way, tree decorating is doubly fun if you have children to assist you. I would put the lights and tinsel on and then let the children loose with the rest of the decorations. Unless they had specific personal preferences, it didnt take long to adjust whatever they had put up once they went to bed. And even if it did, so what! I remember the joy they had, even now... even though they no longer want to help, they still enjoy the end result!

So, how about sending some photos of your tree to share? Any tips to add on?

And in this corner....

... we have our Christmas tree!!

Countdown Already?

It's beginning.

I just saw it earlier today.

The signs.

Yes, the signs are there...

Starting, as usual, with music.

The Sounds of Christmas.....

It was on the song list!

Finally - Boxed Up

Christmas decorations.

It took ages to put them up.

It only takes only half a morning to take them down.

That is despite my taking care to remove the decorations and sort them before putting them away!

I have been collecting Christmas decorations for years. Each year I will purchase a little bit. Here you see the result of the umpteen years. Hmmm It might even be as long as nineteen years - from the time my eldest was born!
I decided that despite the pagan roots of this festival, the fact that it has been changed to celebrate the birth of our Saviour made it special. Each year as we exchanged gifts, we explained why we gave gifts - to celebrate the ultimate Gift of Jesus Christ.

Of course I was not going to let it stop at just the birth. We always moved to be reminded of how He came to die that we might live.

In this way, Christmas isn't boxed up. It's all year round!

A Christmas Variety Act

Whilst still on Christmas, last night I went to a church celebration. There were a number of presentations.

* Three part harmony - exquisite voices and parts.

* Praise with Movement - although they hardly moved their feet it was sweet, especially the chubby little girl at the front.

* Concert pianist - awesome fingerwork. Showmanship too. He was raising funds for children in India.

* Children doing a High School Musical dance - they had fun, but what about Christmas?

* Drama on the Nativity - from the perspective of bees and a Sabahan Joseph and Mary.

* A Mime based on the song, "What a Strange Way to Reach the World" or something like that. It was simple and powerful. I texted the leader of the congregation to tell her that she should take them further afield. She replied that she planned to take them to Brunei. So it is confirmation for her!

* Youth dance - my daughter was in it. No comments! Hahahahaha!

* There was even a Lucky Draw, Christianized by calling it a Blessed Draw

And so it went on.

I sat through the evening, I wondered about it. No strong theme throughout. No strong push for altar call. I wondered, what is this all about....

Then the Lord answered.

"This church doesn't need one-off events for outreach. They do it all year round," He seemed to say.

I thought about that.

This church has recently established a new church consisting of 60-70% new believers. In a short while, they have 100 members. They have another 2 congregations, the youth service, and are planning for a bilingual BM-English congregation next year.

I guess this was a variety act Christmas service, yes.

But it was also a celebration of their diversities as they came together to celebrate the Lord's birth and reason for His birth.

Nice.

Xmas Hols? Christmas Hols?

It's the holiday season, I am told. Some would find it hard to celebrate due to their losses - loved ones, homes, careers, whatever.... Others carry on regardless.

It's the holiday season, I am told. But surely there is more to just having a holiday time?

And so indeed, there is. It's to celebrate the birth of the Christ. The Messiah. The Saviour of the world. Christ is taken from the Greek - Christos. Messiah is from Hebrew. Saviour is obviously English. They all refer to one Person as far as I am concerned - the Lord Jesus.

Some take offence to Christmas being re-labelled to Xmas. They say that Christ is being taken out of Christmas. Which does make sense.

On the other hand, the word Christ comes from the Greek, and the Greek alphabet for CH is written like an 'X'. So this abbeviation doesnt seem that far wrong.

Whatever your preference, what is most important is to remember that it doesnt end at the end of the week, or the calendar year.

This was only the beginning. While the world celebrates in all its form, let's keep the main thing the main thing.

From our home to yours.

Cancel Christmas!

That's what the headline blared today.

But when you read the article (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1093053/Cancel-Christmas--Jesus-born-June-17-say-scientists.html), it is obviously written by someone who had not taken the time to find out more - a crime, really, for a any newspaper reporter. But I suppose, not surprising, considering which newspaper this is. Known for its sensationalism and gossip, the reporter must have been in a rush to meet a deadline.

He describes the three wise men as mentioned in the Bible. I need to show him my post in The Hinge (http://thehingeblogs.blogspot.com/2008/12/frankincense.html) about how this is not true!

As for the date that is mentioned, it is obvious that the date is only for the "star". It still does not mean that June 17 was the date of the birth. This reporter even makes mention that the nativity could have happened between 3BC and 1AD. That means that when the Christmas star" which was most likely a magnificent conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter, which were so close together they would have shone unusually brightly as a single 'beacon of light' which appeared suddenly" appeared, the "baby" Jesus could have been as old as 2 years old.

All said and done, it doesn't bother me if the birth is celebrated in the winter of England, or in the winter of Australia (i.e. middle of the roman calendar). The historic birth cannot be denied.

Furthermore, in my books, Christmas is all year round. It's a celebration of the birth of the one and only Saviour. Any day is good for that.

Christmas Gifts?

Christmas gifts.

At the risk of being branded as succumbing to the commercial hype, yes, I am going to blog about this. Read on!

Unlike other years, I not turned my thoughts to this topic until recently.Normally I would be looking into this during the middle of the year!

What would I give to so-and-so?

Should it be home-made?

Hand-made?

If I give to so-and-so, what about so-and-so?

What is my budget?

And the list goes on. You know what it's like.

As if the Lord knew my thoughts, a friend came on skype. Perhaps he was also going through the same dilemma.

This is what he sent me -

Christmas gift suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, your heart.

To a customer, service.

To all, charity.

To every child, a good example.

To yourself, respect.

Happy Christmas

Yes, He came to us as our best gift from God.

Above all else, let's demonstrate this Gift this Christmas.