Images of Christmas

Merry Christmas! Here is a snow human, who was in the process of turning into a puddle, as it was getting warmer yesterday. The snow human stayed intact for quite some time, although it leaned farther and farther over, sort of like the leaning tower of Pisa, which is the bell tower of the cathedral at Pisa. The bell tower is known for its unintended tilt. It has stayed upright for years. The snow human stayed upright for some time. 

It is a true delight to spend Christmas with kids. This is my great niece, Claire. She is fashionably attired for the occasion.

My great niece Addie also is a fashionable Christmas kid.

Elliott is busily exploring his world. He is fascinated by the Christmas tree and by all of the excitement of Christmas.

This was to be a photograph of the Christmas tree but it seems that Devin (aka Silly Daddy) has gotten into photo bombing.

A very red image. Diane, Elliott, and Claire.

Nonnie Vivian, Chrisha, and her three kids pose in front of the tree.

This is a super cute Christmas cookie.

After some fun family time, I went off to church at Saint Martin in the Fields. We sang many Christmas carols. During the sermon, we were treated to an entertaining surprise. Here is Father Earle as a radio talk show host. The time is more than 2,000 years ago and the place is Jerusalem. OK, so the fact that there were no radios 2,000 years ago is a minor detail. There is a producer on the balcony, who is trying without much success, to keep Father Earle on task.

A doctor reports that a baby was born in Bethlehem in a stable because there was no room at the inn. Hordes of people went to Bethlehem for the census. Apparently, all of the descendants of David had to be in one place and, since David's descendants all had huge families, there were thousands of people all in Bethlehem, straining the infrastructure. The doctor reported that the birth of the baby was not like any normal birth. "There was a glow of light when the baby was born," the doctor announced.

Father Earle, the announcer, was visited by a shepherd, who had also witnessed the birth of the baby Jesus. She was very excited about it and she showed her cell phone photographs of the new baby. 

The producer is getting irritated by the announcer's failure to stay on task.

But things only get worse when an angel appears, announcing the birth of a savior. This nearly completely knocks the radio announcer off the air. He keels over in amazement. Then he bows reverently before this angel.

That was enough for the producer. He shouted that the announcer was crazy. Actually, he said it in Yiddish: meshugga (crazy). That was hilarious because, 2,000 years ago, the Yiddish language didn't even exist. The Galileans actually spoke Aramaic. Finally, after yelping loudly in Yiddish, the exasperated producer announced, "You're fired!!!!"

That was probably the funniest sermon (well, actually, it was a skit) that I've ever experienced in a church.

The church decorations were completed after I left last week's decorating party. Here is the nativity scene on the altar. Father Earle acquired this nativity scene during one of a number of pilgrimages that he led to the Holy Land. All of people and animals are made from the wood of olive trees.

There were many poinsettias on the altar.

This morning, there were two regular church services at Saint Martin in the Fields. I went to the second one because I was helping with coffee hour and I was an usher. Here are the cookies that I arranged on the plate.

Merry Christmas!

I hope that it is a happy day.