WE HAD TO CUT THE LEGS OFF

 

We had to cut the legs off

The turkey to get it in the oven

But I think we should have

Killed it first on reflection

INSTEAD OF THE TRADITIONAL TURKEY

 

Instead of the traditional Turkey

We had Venison this year

While up at the North Pole

Santa was missing a Reindeer

EVERYONE KEPT SAYING I SHOULD DECK THE HALLS

Everyone kept saying I should Deck the Halls

There is even a Christmas song about it

So I acted when the opportunity came along

And you know Mr and Mrs Hall didn’t like it a bit

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS GRACE

 

Christmas Grace is set over several Christmas seasons and tells the tale of rival toy store owners, Gary (Ryan-Iver Klann) and Mr. Tollman (Tim Kaiser) who have very different approaches to their stores and their lives.

Gary walks the path of Christ and lives his life righteously, while Mr. Tollman lives his on a different path of avarice, greed and dishonesty.

But despite their different methodologies they still find God's grace hard at work in both their lives.

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS # 40

 

Twas the night before Christmas

And all thru the Mill

Nothing was stirring

As the great wheel was still

Only the fire in the hearth moved

As it kept away the chill

THE LEGEND OF ST NICHOLAS THE RED SUITED SANTA Part one – Genesis of the Gift Giver

 

During this narrative I will be answering the eternal question which is all pervading during the festive season namely does Santa Claus really exist?

Obviously the answer we want is a resounding yes and so it will be.

Secondly I will be exploding the popular myth that it was the Coca Cola Company who were responsible for the red suited image of Santa.

 

St Nicholas is known by many different names around the world and he undoubtedly a legend.

The legend began in the 4th century A.D. in what is now Demre in modern Turkey.

Nicholas was a Christian priest and was born in 280 A.D. in the Lycian city of Patara near the ancient city of Myra where he later became Bishop.

 

Nicholas was the son of a wealthy man and when he inherited his father’s wealth he traveled the land helping the poor and sick and he was greatly admired for his piety and kindness.

He became the subject of many legends for example he was said to have brought a dead child back to life and he once saved the life of a prisoner by putting himself between the condemned man and his executioner also he is said to have stopped a storm in order to save three sailors from drowning.

But the most enduring and perhaps the best known of the Nicholas legends was when he secretly left golden dowries at the house of a poor man who was on the verge of selling his three daughters into slavery or prostitution.

The dowries meant the three poor sisters could be married.

This remarkable event has led to a tradition we still celebrate to this day as the sisters had left there stockings by the fire to dry and it was in the stocking where Nicholas placed the gold.

Despite his many secret late night visits to the homes of the poor and needy of the city he is forever known as the gift giver of Myra.

 

In the year 303 A.D., Diocletian the Roman emperor commanded all citizens of the Roman Empire to worship him as a god.

Nicholas and his fellow Christians believed in but one god and in all conscience could not obey the Emperor.

In his Anger Diocletian threatened the Christians with imprisonment if they did not comply.

Many Christians including Nicholas defied The Emperor and were imprisoned.

Nicholas was confined to a small cell for almost ten years and suffered greatly but never wavered in his beliefs.

It was In 313, when Constantine replaced Diocletian to become the first Christian Emperor and Constantine’s first act was the release of the Christians and upon his release Nicholas returned to his post as Bishop of Myra where he continued his good works until his death on December 6, 343.

On his death he was sainted to become St Nicholas the patron saint of Children and sailors.

THE FESTIVE INTERVAL

When celebrating

The festive interval

Please refrain from calling it

The winterval