Birthday Boy celebration
My entire life so far has been spent in the Northern Hemisphere, and as a result, my body clock is programmed to recognize dropping temperatures and shortening days as su... »
Volume 14.12 | December 2013
The Christmas star
I’ve always loved red and green poinsettia plants and assumed that it was their vibrant colors that had earned them a place in Christmas decorations. But there is more to... »
Ring the bells
Let the joy of Christmas touch your soul, whether in the peal of bells, the chorus of songs, or the quiet of your heart. There’s plenty to celebrate: Jesus is born! Ring... »
Christmas charades
In charades, the player acts silently while the audience guesses “who” he or she is meant to be. The players in the first Christmas might have appeared like this: [Astoni... »
A Christmas carol
What comes to mind when you think of Christmas? Perhaps gifts, evergreen trees, lights, holly, good food, the birth of the Christ Child, the coming new year, the end of t... »
The gift of your heart
All the works that Jesus did on earth had to be extremely important for the Son of God to come down in order to do them. But when you examine those extremely important th... »
Christmas memories
I was born in 1955, only ten years after World War II, when wartime hardships were still fresh in people’s minds. Grandfather used to tell us children of the extreme hung... »
A very personal dilemma
The world in which Joseph and Mary, Jesus’ earthly parents, grew up was substantially different from our world today, and they were probably still very young when they we... »
Why Christmas?
There was once a man who didn’t believe in God, and he didn’t hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays, like Christmas. His wife, how... »
Be an angel
There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone’s life. —Sister Mary Rose McGeady (1928–2012) We should make the Yuletide seas... »
Candlelight
Remembrance, like a candle, burns brightest at Christmastime.—Charles Dickens (1812–1870) I light this Advent candle in ANTICIPATION… The fact that we don’t know the exac... »
What I gave at Christmas
What did I give the world at Christmas? My life for the forgiveness of your sins. That from Me and through Me and in Me you could have life.[See Romans 11:36.] It all beg... »