Day 4
by Jessica Mann
When I was a kid, me and my neighbor Annette would make Christmas sweaters with the best puff paint you could find! Oh, the times! Here is a picture to document our glorious fashion sense...gotta love that puff paint!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
4 days til Santa is here!
Todays story comes from Jessica Mann in Wilmington, NC (well..actually today shes in my living room but...you get it. :) ) She just has this little picture so I thought I would share it with you all... gotta love those great pictures you got suckered into as a kid...ENJOY!!!!
Day 4
by Jessica Mann
When I was a kid, me and my neighbor Annette would make Christmas sweaters with the best puff paint you could find! Oh, the times! Here is a picture to document our glorious fashion sense...gotta love that puff paint!
Day 4
by Jessica Mann
When I was a kid, me and my neighbor Annette would make Christmas sweaters with the best puff paint you could find! Oh, the times! Here is a picture to document our glorious fashion sense...gotta love that puff paint!
5-(FRESH GOLD CHAY-E-AINS!!!!!) :)
5 days left and I thought I would interject a few of my favorite Christmas Carols in these last few days worth of post...not every one knows the lyrics to their favorite Christmas songs, so I thought I would post some that way you can actually see the words, reflect on what they mean, and think about their true meaning next time you sing them. Here are the lyrics to "Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel"
"Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel"
(and there are a LOT more verses than I knew about!!!)
"Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel"
(and there are a LOT more verses than I knew about!!!)
Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
Oh, come, our Wisdom from on high,
Who ordered all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
Oh, come, oh, come, our Lord of might,
Who to your tribes on Sinai's height
In ancient times gave holy law,
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
Oh, come O Rod of Jesse's stem,
From ev'ry foe deliver them
That trust your mighty pow'r to save;
Bring them in vict'ry through the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
Oh, come, O Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
Oh, come, our Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by your drawing nigh,
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Oh, bid our sad divisions cease,
And be yourself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Day 6
Day 6...again..another day closer. :) Todays story comes from Meredeth McDonald from Savannah, Ga (Illinois actually but...Savannah for now..:) ) This is a story that she was told about by her parents when she was younger and shes sharing it with us today, i love it! You guys all know about our involvement with Operation: Love reunited and i just love stories that show support and love to our soldiers...so this is a good one. :) Mer was but a twinkle in her parents eye when this event happened but I think its really cool that they have told her about it and shes letting us in on it. Enjoy!
day 6
by Meredeth McDonald
Well, one Christmas around 1983 or so, my dad was in bed with a bad back and couldn't get out to do anything. My aunt called my parents to say my cousin, her son Tom, was in Rockford, IL (about 30 miles away) and couldn't get home to Peru, IL. He was going to head back to his house in Madison, WI, to spend the holiday alone. My mom told my Aunt to have Tom call her and she'd drive up to Rockford to pick him up, and he'd spend Christmas w/ our family. Uncle Mel, his dad, could later come and get him from our house when the roads cleared. My grandma was at my other aunt and uncle's houss (my aunt being her daughter, my dad's sister). My mom stopped by my aunt and uncle's house to see if my uncle John would go w/ her. They drove up to the bus depot, very, very slowly, as the snow had accumulated and the roads were very dangerous. When my mom entered the bus depot to get Tom, a young soldier asked her which direction she was going. She said "south," and he asked for a ride. He was trying to get to Sterling, IL and the buses had quit due to the snowstorm. My mom agreed, and he proceeded to tell her about his young wife and their baby whom he still hadn't met. He had been overseas, serving in Desert Storm, for a tour of duty. The four of them went out and got into the Blazer, and drove back to Oregon, IL, the town in which I grew up and from which they had come to go to Rockford. Upon arriving, they all entered my house, and my mom gave the soldier some dinner to eat. My uncle John, a circuit court judge at the time and a big name in the county, called the Sheriff's dept. to tell him that they had a young soldier that needed to get to Sterling. The Ogle County Sheriff picked him up, drove him to the Lee County line, where the Lee County Sheriff took him to the Whiteside County line, and the Whiteside County sheriff to Sterling, and home. Our cousin Tom spent Christmas Eve and Day with my family, and his dad picked him up the next day. Two people were able to spend Christmas with people that cared and loved them, in spite of adversity and seemingly impossible circumstances; a true Christmas story, indeed.
day 6
by Meredeth McDonald
Well, one Christmas around 1983 or so, my dad was in bed with a bad back and couldn't get out to do anything. My aunt called my parents to say my cousin, her son Tom, was in Rockford, IL (about 30 miles away) and couldn't get home to Peru, IL. He was going to head back to his house in Madison, WI, to spend the holiday alone. My mom told my Aunt to have Tom call her and she'd drive up to Rockford to pick him up, and he'd spend Christmas w/ our family. Uncle Mel, his dad, could later come and get him from our house when the roads cleared. My grandma was at my other aunt and uncle's houss (my aunt being her daughter, my dad's sister). My mom stopped by my aunt and uncle's house to see if my uncle John would go w/ her. They drove up to the bus depot, very, very slowly, as the snow had accumulated and the roads were very dangerous. When my mom entered the bus depot to get Tom, a young soldier asked her which direction she was going. She said "south," and he asked for a ride. He was trying to get to Sterling, IL and the buses had quit due to the snowstorm. My mom agreed, and he proceeded to tell her about his young wife and their baby whom he still hadn't met. He had been overseas, serving in Desert Storm, for a tour of duty. The four of them went out and got into the Blazer, and drove back to Oregon, IL, the town in which I grew up and from which they had come to go to Rockford. Upon arriving, they all entered my house, and my mom gave the soldier some dinner to eat. My uncle John, a circuit court judge at the time and a big name in the county, called the Sheriff's dept. to tell him that they had a young soldier that needed to get to Sterling. The Ogle County Sheriff picked him up, drove him to the Lee County line, where the Lee County Sheriff took him to the Whiteside County line, and the Whiteside County sheriff to Sterling, and home. Our cousin Tom spent Christmas Eve and Day with my family, and his dad picked him up the next day. Two people were able to spend Christmas with people that cared and loved them, in spite of adversity and seemingly impossible circumstances; a true Christmas story, indeed.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
7 more to go...
Day 7 is coming from me.... after my sweet sweet husbands post yesterday, i had to post today. :) I still need post for the next six days and although I LOVE that everyone is reading and I have heard some awesome comments of feedback about our stories..i NEED MORE! We have 6 days left so I need 6 more stories, so if you have one...please share it...as entertaining as I may present myself to be..Im not 6 stories worth of entertaining. :) heheheh so please send your stories in to me at melissa@melissapepin.com so we can get all warm and fuzzy (or have our eyes opened) by what you have to say. :)
DAY 7
by me... :)
There is really so much I love about Christmas time. As soon as Halloween is over I start getting the itch and the minute I swallow my last bite of turkey on thanksgiving, Im out the door for the wonderful shopping frenzy the next morning ...preparing to get into the Christmas spirit with all 800 million other people that help feed the black Friday plague. This time of year has a way of making me feel really safe...but really alone at the same time. I feel really homey...but distant too...its the weirdest thing in the world, but I find myself on Christmas night every year shedding tears because this wonderful happy, exciting time is over (they call that the post holiday blues people...and I get em..bad!) I have to say that my story is a compilation of a few. Any of you that know me know that I am long winded...but Im condensing it down into 3 little things. Three elements, the outreaching part...the lovey dovey part...and the contentment part. I remember the Christmas season when I was 17. I didnt have very much money in my piddly checking account, and it was right before Christmas and I desperately needed a new pair of shoes for school. I went to payless and was standing in line to check out my 14.99 paid of black flats, when a lady a few people ahead of me in line started crying at the checkout counter. She said that they had had a family emergency this Christmas and she had to return gifts this year to pay for whatever the emergency was. She was only returning two small change purses that came to about $6.00 all together and she took her money and left to go the the next store to return stuff. I can tell you now I have felt the tug of the Lord several times in me life, but this time His tug was especially strong. I grabbed the changes purses, told the clerk to hold my wallet as collateral, and ran next door the the store and gave the ladies her change purses back. They were for her grand daughters and I knew that she must feel awful for not being able to get them gifts for Christmas so I wanted her to have them. I told her I didnt have money or anything big to help comfort her or her family, but I would really like to pray with her. She cried and said yes and right in the middle of a Kmart entry way, we held hands and prayed. It was a short prayer but nonetheless, I knew God had given me that opportunity to intercede for that woman and her family and it was incredible. I dont know what happened to the family, I dont even know what the emergency was...but I do know that God showed me what Christmas was about that day and I havent forgotten it...ever.
Next is the holiday season that Anthony and I got engaged, it was the sweetest time of my life and I knew that God had brought me something that was rediculously beyond anything I ever deserved in a husband.He asked me to marry him right before Thanksgiving(of 04) and we spent Christmas eve at my house with me, him, and my mom sleeping on the floor falling asleep to the Christmas story in the living room of my apartment. We laughed and laughed because we all slept in the floor..I mean..thats cool right..yea..if your 5!!!!!!! But it was a super great Christmas and has been one I wont forget...
Lastly, things to come...contentment. Its something I have had a hard time finding but Im starting to understand more. This year alone things have been crazy, and I have so many ideas and plans for my growing business for next year that I cant wait to see how everything unravels...but for now Im so excited about being content. Content in where I am...and in who I am. This year will be the first year in our house...the first year really getting settled...and its really good. Its finally home and that is perfect to me. So, Merry Christmas everyone....and I pray that God shows himself to you in a new way this season that you haven't seen before... :)
because a post with no pictures can be dull at times..here are a few from when we got engaged. :) I'll be posting more pictures of our home at Christmas time soon!
DAY 7
by me... :)
There is really so much I love about Christmas time. As soon as Halloween is over I start getting the itch and the minute I swallow my last bite of turkey on thanksgiving, Im out the door for the wonderful shopping frenzy the next morning ...preparing to get into the Christmas spirit with all 800 million other people that help feed the black Friday plague. This time of year has a way of making me feel really safe...but really alone at the same time. I feel really homey...but distant too...its the weirdest thing in the world, but I find myself on Christmas night every year shedding tears because this wonderful happy, exciting time is over (they call that the post holiday blues people...and I get em..bad!) I have to say that my story is a compilation of a few. Any of you that know me know that I am long winded...but Im condensing it down into 3 little things. Three elements, the outreaching part...the lovey dovey part...and the contentment part. I remember the Christmas season when I was 17. I didnt have very much money in my piddly checking account, and it was right before Christmas and I desperately needed a new pair of shoes for school. I went to payless and was standing in line to check out my 14.99 paid of black flats, when a lady a few people ahead of me in line started crying at the checkout counter. She said that they had had a family emergency this Christmas and she had to return gifts this year to pay for whatever the emergency was. She was only returning two small change purses that came to about $6.00 all together and she took her money and left to go the the next store to return stuff. I can tell you now I have felt the tug of the Lord several times in me life, but this time His tug was especially strong. I grabbed the changes purses, told the clerk to hold my wallet as collateral, and ran next door the the store and gave the ladies her change purses back. They were for her grand daughters and I knew that she must feel awful for not being able to get them gifts for Christmas so I wanted her to have them. I told her I didnt have money or anything big to help comfort her or her family, but I would really like to pray with her. She cried and said yes and right in the middle of a Kmart entry way, we held hands and prayed. It was a short prayer but nonetheless, I knew God had given me that opportunity to intercede for that woman and her family and it was incredible. I dont know what happened to the family, I dont even know what the emergency was...but I do know that God showed me what Christmas was about that day and I havent forgotten it...ever.
Next is the holiday season that Anthony and I got engaged, it was the sweetest time of my life and I knew that God had brought me something that was rediculously beyond anything I ever deserved in a husband.He asked me to marry him right before Thanksgiving(of 04) and we spent Christmas eve at my house with me, him, and my mom sleeping on the floor falling asleep to the Christmas story in the living room of my apartment. We laughed and laughed because we all slept in the floor..I mean..thats cool right..yea..if your 5!!!!!!! But it was a super great Christmas and has been one I wont forget...
Lastly, things to come...contentment. Its something I have had a hard time finding but Im starting to understand more. This year alone things have been crazy, and I have so many ideas and plans for my growing business for next year that I cant wait to see how everything unravels...but for now Im so excited about being content. Content in where I am...and in who I am. This year will be the first year in our house...the first year really getting settled...and its really good. Its finally home and that is perfect to me. So, Merry Christmas everyone....and I pray that God shows himself to you in a new way this season that you haven't seen before... :)
because a post with no pictures can be dull at times..here are a few from when we got engaged. :) I'll be posting more pictures of our home at Christmas time soon!
Monday, December 17, 2007
On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Day 8 comes from my sweet sweet husband Anthony (i say this having NOT yet read what he wrote so...depending on what his story is about, i might take it back! :) just kidding. :) ) enjoy (and Im reading this for the first time with you all too. :) )
Day8
by Anthony Pepin
My favorite Christmas memory happened about 4 years ago. All of my brothers and sisters (there are 8 of us), their families, my mom, my fiance and I got together to celebrate the day with presents and Christmas dinner. So, early that morning we all arrived at my mom's house and everybody settled into opening presents. I got my gift from my secret Santa..... thermal socks. Definitely a must in northeast Georgia (for the love of God note the sarcasm!!!) It was the only gift I got that year from my family (other than Melissa of course). We set up tables in my mom's living room and everyone ate at the table this year. Normally we just sat on the floor or wherever there was room. We had coffee and wine with dessert. And as I sat there watching my family laugh and enjoying spending time together, I realized what I had been missing all these years. I got to have my family back together for one day and there was no arguing or bickering amongst us. We were simply being a family. I was spending the first of what I hope to be many Christmas's (i guess that's how you make it plural) with the woman who's now my wife. God has truly blessed me with an amazing family and I don't know that I'll ever be able to understand why He chose us to allow His son to come here and die for our sins. Maybe when I get to heaven one day, I'll ask. Merry Christmas and let us all remember the true reason we celebrate this year.
Day8
by Anthony Pepin
My favorite Christmas memory happened about 4 years ago. All of my brothers and sisters (there are 8 of us), their families, my mom, my fiance and I got together to celebrate the day with presents and Christmas dinner. So, early that morning we all arrived at my mom's house and everybody settled into opening presents. I got my gift from my secret Santa..... thermal socks. Definitely a must in northeast Georgia (for the love of God note the sarcasm!!!) It was the only gift I got that year from my family (other than Melissa of course). We set up tables in my mom's living room and everyone ate at the table this year. Normally we just sat on the floor or wherever there was room. We had coffee and wine with dessert. And as I sat there watching my family laugh and enjoying spending time together, I realized what I had been missing all these years. I got to have my family back together for one day and there was no arguing or bickering amongst us. We were simply being a family. I was spending the first of what I hope to be many Christmas's (i guess that's how you make it plural) with the woman who's now my wife. God has truly blessed me with an amazing family and I don't know that I'll ever be able to understand why He chose us to allow His son to come here and die for our sins. Maybe when I get to heaven one day, I'll ask. Merry Christmas and let us all remember the true reason we celebrate this year.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Day 9
I just LOVE that people everywhere are starting to get me their Christmas stories! This is getting me so excited about the Holiday and I feel like Im getting all of these really great ideas for gifts and new traditions to use next year! This next story is from Bridgette McConnell in Stillwater, MN and she tells us about when her family christmas tree decorating tradition gets a little out of hand! This story is a mix of Bridgette and her daughter Jillians versions of it so...enjoy!!!!
Day 9
By Bridgette McConnell (The Leader of the Pack... :))
It was time to put up the Tree and my husband brought it(the REAL tree) in from the Garage. The tree was bigger than in the past but, he managed to get it in.. We have always gotten a Blue Spruce, and this year was no exception. Scott put the tree in the stand and we heard a bunch of needles drop. Well, not to worry because we flock the tree (cover it with white spray snow, the kind in the can) and that holds the needles on the tree.
Day 9
By Bridgette McConnell (The Leader of the Pack... :))
It was time to put up the Tree and my husband brought it(the REAL tree) in from the Garage. The tree was bigger than in the past but, he managed to get it in.. We have always gotten a Blue Spruce, and this year was no exception. Scott put the tree in the stand and we heard a bunch of needles drop. Well, not to worry because we flock the tree (cover it with white spray snow, the kind in the can) and that holds the needles on the tree.
Jillian, my daughter, and I started to flock the tree and it started to lean a little. Well, Dad to the rescue! He picked the tree up and made it stand up right again, and we went back to flocking. We paused so that he could put the lights on and then... we went back to flocking. But the needles kept falling and the tree kept leaning. This continued for a few minutes, until it took a turn for the worse. WOW, finally Jillian was putting on the last ornament and that is when the tree decided to fall over. She was quick to jump out of the way and was not hurt. BUT, lots of the ornaments had fallen, what to do???? Well, Dad to the rescue again, he put the tree back up, this time he anchored it to the wall with rope that he attached and wrapped around the tree itself! Wow, the thing we will do for a Christmas Tree! Well, throughout the 3 week's that the tree was up, the needles kept falling, by the time new year came and we put the tree out to be picked up all the needles were gone. I think the bolts are still in the wall to this day...
Day 10
10 day's Left til CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIPPIE! Im so excited! Todays entry comes from Katie Moore in Athens, Ga. Here family is as sweet as pie and I think you all will get a kick out of this story! hahahaha Here ya go.... ENJOY!
day 10
by Katie Moore
My mom has always been a child at heart. But one Christmas my family and I had come down the stairs to the surprise of a shiny old-school pink bicycle with pink flowers in the basket. Seeing that I was in my twenties at the time, I knew that Santa must have made a mistake. Surely this was intended for the snotty-nosed kid next door. However, much to my astonishment, my fifty-something mom squealed with joy and immediately hopped on the seat! After about her third lap around the living room , clarity began to sink in. Apparently, my mother had always dreamed of a pink bicycle with flowers in the basket, and at long last her Christmas wish had come true. My father and I spent the remainder of the day watching my mom ride that pink bicycle up and down the street, while all the other kids were riding their shiny new Christmas bikes in her dust. I must say...this was not only one of my most memorable Christmas' ever, it was the most fun present I never received!
day 10
by Katie Moore
My mom has always been a child at heart. But one Christmas my family and I had come down the stairs to the surprise of a shiny old-school pink bicycle with pink flowers in the basket. Seeing that I was in my twenties at the time, I knew that Santa must have made a mistake. Surely this was intended for the snotty-nosed kid next door. However, much to my astonishment, my fifty-something mom squealed with joy and immediately hopped on the seat! After about her third lap around the living room , clarity began to sink in. Apparently, my mother had always dreamed of a pink bicycle with flowers in the basket, and at long last her Christmas wish had come true. My father and I spent the remainder of the day watching my mom ride that pink bicycle up and down the street, while all the other kids were riding their shiny new Christmas bikes in her dust. I must say...this was not only one of my most memorable Christmas' ever, it was the most fun present I never received!
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