Give away Children

Firstly I would like to say and explain that this post had nothing to do with my New Year's posts. It's just something I wanted to write about.

It amazed me yesterday at work that I was offered (jokingly) two boy children instead of the money for the drinks the lady was buying for them. It amazed me further still when today at work I was again offered a boy child. What is with that?!? Is it a message to me from God or just the holidays wearing the parents out with pestering children? Whatever the case it has got me thinking about my future and how many children I think I would like to have and whether I would prefer boys or girls or both? To which my reply was...what does it matter? I love both and I think children are adorable! However, I think boys would be rather nice to have cause they are less troublesome...well actually both can be just as troublesome as the other. And really in the end I will be grateful for the children that God will eventually bless me with...and there is absolutely no way I would have an abortion! 

As to how many...again if God blesses me once, twice, or five times I don't care I will be happy no matter what cause I believe children are just perfectly wonderful!...no wonder I'm going to be a primary school teacher! 

New Year's Resolution slash Challenge

So here's the deal. I figured I need a reason and an enticing reason at that to continue this blog on into the new year. I realised this for a number of reasons. 1. I don't have a lot of followers or readers which can cause a writer to start thinking that there is no real point in writing stuff like this at all. 2. I am starting to run out of ideas of things to write about... it's not that I don't have a million thoughts running through my head it's just I don't think I have interesting or worthwhile things to write about out of those thoughts. So I have struck upon an idea (with the help of my wonderful boyfriend) to start up my New Year's Resolution a week beforehand and to write about it. My new year's resolution is more like doing a challenge from week to week rather than giving something up or doing something more. See I'll come up with a challenge that I have to complete within the week or continue it throughout the week and to write about it and share it with you my dear readers. For example, (in case you still don't understand) my first challenge will be to not be negative about the LAN party my boyfriend is going to for a whole week. I'll explain more about this later but right now I have to go get some shut eye because my birthday is tomorrow and I'm working. So Goodnight!

Joy To The World...

Well here it is the week had finally arrived. Christmas celebrations are about to hit me and I'm working for most of it and missing my boyfriend terribly. But what's this? I still manage to have a smile on my face!? Why do I have that you may ask when everything seems to be set on ruining my Christmas this year? Even me slicing my finger on mum's self bought Christmas present (A fancy schmancy slicer/grater thing) the day she bought it hasn't brought me down that much. Albeit I am a little sad but I will never let all this get to me fully so that my Christmas is ruined entirely because this is JESUS' birthday. The time when we celebrate the day that God sent his one and only Son to this earth to save us all from our sins!
Well I'm here sitting at this computer trying to think up something really clever to write about but that pretty much was it. That God loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to us to die for our sins. But when you think about it that is a pretty significant thing to proclaim in this humble blog. God didn't just send his Son to save those who were good and thought themselves perfect. He sent Him so that EVERYONE can be saved and be welcomed into His family! And when you think about all the horrible things you have done you too will see (as have I) how wonderful this message is. So I pray that you dear reader this Christmas will endeavour to find peace with God. Go to a church service and hear God's message of love and accept it personally as a direct message from God alone!
I hope you have enjoyed hearing my thoughts on what I think are the important aspects of Christmas are and I hope you have a blessed Christmas! Peace on Earth, Good will among men!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas..

OH MY GOSH!!!! I just looked at my schedule for writing these blog posts. I have only this one and the last post to write!!!!!!!! and that means.....DRUM ROLL PLEASE! it's so close to Christmas! Yay!
So on to the topic. The family times!
let's get together yeah yeah yeah
we can have lots of fuuunn!...
ahem sorry. That was the first song that popped into my head when I mentioned family. (btw if I start reciting lyrics again just keep in mind that I'm in a musical mood...for the entire month of December....actually no I'm usually in a musical mood...well just keep that in mind)
anyways! This week I found out that my family's Christmas is going to slightly be different in how we go about our celebrating. Instead of just having our usual Christmas eve dinner together we are going to my Uncle's and Aunty's for dinner and then coming home and opening our presents. I'm looking forward to this muchly! It means I get to spend more time with my cousins who I'm slowly seeing less and less of...which makes me sad cause I grew up with them.
I suppose I should come to some point of why I included family times in the list. That was because I think that if you spent Christmas alone it would not and can not be the most happiest time of the year. Celebrating requires at least two people!!!! (well according to me it does) Whether it is your biological or your Christian family I hope and pray that you have someone you can celebrate Jesus' birth with!

Unto us a Child was born...

PRESENTS!!!!!!!!!
Every year that I have been alive I have received presents at Christmas. But only about half of those have I realised what it means to give presents at Christmas time and what really Christmas is all about. Yes yes I realise that I am probably going over something I have mentioned in my earlier posts but this message is REALLY REALLY important!!!! God sent his Son...the first Christmas present if you like :) for us to be saved from our sins. And we celebrate this birth as our saviour coming. The reason....well the reason I see for us giving each other presents is to spread and show our love for one another as God showed His love for us in sending His  Son.
This year my family (by my prompting) we have had a jar where we place our spare change. And about two weeks ago we counted it all up and then sent the money off to buy Christmas presents for people in Third world countries. This is the first time we have done this and I hope it's the first of many. I love to think that we have contributed to someone's happiness and shared with them the Love of God through our simple gifts we give them.
My family's deal this year for Christmas present giving was that we could only buy our presents from Op shops and had to be under $10 for each person. This I saw as a challenge but also another way of showing our love for God by giving our money to charities. I have succeeded in finding wonderful gifts for my family members.
So as you see presents aren't just about receiving (I know I know this is a bit cliche but it's true) it's about giving and showing God's love to each other. It's also not about how much you spend.
Merry Christmas! God loves you!

Here we come a Wassailing...

Christmas is renowned in my family for the huge meals we prepare and eat. Every Christmas I have found myself feeling like the stuffed turkey or chicken cause of the mountains of food I eat. And of course there is a downside to all the yumminess that I get to eat...the dreaded extra Christmas weight. I'm still trying to lose last year's! But have no fear Maija. You have promised yourself that you will try smaller portions of everything and not have seconds! How hard can it be? I'll tell you...REALLY HARD! My mum (and if I do say so... myself) and my sister prepare the most delicious Christmas food. My favourite Christmas dessert has to be Plum pudding. It's a classic recipe that is fabulous! But seriously the food is to die for! And I love it!

But sadly I need to watch my weight this year or else I'll be buying a new wardrobe next year (woo Boxing day sales...not!) so I must be persistent in my efforts to not eat so much of the wonderful meals we have at Christmas. 

As for the actual meals I will now explain how my family decide on what we have for Christmas dinner. I believe I explained what happens on each of the days. So as for this post I will only go into detail of the Christmas eve dinner that my family have. We start off with snacks that include (and always do include) nuts and dried fruit, licorice all-sorts, lollies of some sort, chips and chocolate. Then we proceed to the actual dinner where we will would have been slaving over all day. It tends to be either of two meals. It's either the cold meal or the hot. I like either but I think my favourite is the hot meal but the cold meal I remember more from my childhood. The cold meal tends to be for the years that we have a particularly hot summer and it consists of cold meats, fruits (especially oranges and plums), salad of some sort and beetroot! The hot meal is a roast of any meat we decide me want except for pork. Then we have an array of roast veggies. 

The meal is always accompanied with wine for the adults and ginger beer for the under age. 

After the main meal we have a time to let the food settle and during which we would read the Christmas passage and sing some songs. After which we have dessert which tends to change each year but most often it is the plum pudding which these last few years I myself have made. 

Out of all the Christmas meals I have over the Christmas period this is my favourite because it has a speciality to it because it is a tradition within my family. I would hate to see it change but that is something that always happens even when we are unwilling for it to do so. We grow up and go our separate ways and start our own families. But Christmas meals will always stay special and unique because it is not quite like a Birthday meal (although it should be) but it is better because it is the ultimate birthday party!

(NB the song that titles this post actually mentions a Christmas meal in the fifth verse)

Hark the Herald Angels Sing...

So this is meant to be a cheerful bright happy post about the decorations we all put up at Christmas time...however I do not feel the Christmas cheer too much as I write this. This is due to the fact that my 'true love' is far away now. Thank the Lord for creating the person and blessing them with the idea of Facebook and chat messaging! I'm talking to him now as I write this... so it's not all that bad and I'm cheering up.
So onto the actual topic shall we?
Christmas decorations come in all shapes and sizes and colours. I do not remember what my favourite decoration from my childhood but I do know now that my favourite decorations include any beautifully crafted decoration of angels. I think the reason I love these so much is because they were the messengers of the Good news that Jesus was born. If I could be an angel I reckon I would always be singing the Good News that God has....cause I love singing!
I wish I had pictures to show you my collection of Christmas angels but I don't.
no wait.
maybe I do.
...checking...
nope sorry I don't :(
I know I do have them somewhere just not on this computer apparently.
Well the other thing I wanted to mention about Christmas decorations was that it is one of my favourite parts of Christmas (hence it being on the list for me to write about it). I have fond memories of my family pulling out the old favourites; bought and hand-made to place delicately on the Christmas tree.
If you haven't ever looked into the meaning behind the first Christmas decorations I think you should by looking at this. It's fascinating how I sometimes find the Christmas decorations just that. Decorations. nothing more. nothing less. But when I actually look at what they are and what they symbolise I find myself mesmerised by the deep and powerful message they share. Majority of the them will lead to the true meaning of Christmas. Which I will assume everyone knows what it is. But in case you are new to this world (ahhh there's an alien reading my blog!!!! lol) or just haven't heard it before I will elucidate the true meaning of Christmas. Primarily, it is about a baby being born...but not just any ordinary baby. It is the Son of God. A child that had been long awaited for to come and save all human beings. And it turns out that He was sent to Earth not for the reason that us Earthly beings would assume...yes people!..God is so focussed on saving you from other humans. pfft no! (well ok He is but there is something more important than that) He wants to save you (personally) from the sins you have committed and the ones you will commit. He wants to save you from eternal damnation so you can rejoice with Him and be with Him for all eternity in Heaven. And that is what I love to remember at Christmas time cause I know that it all starts with new life and a new beginning. Being able to know that God has come to Earth and understands our pain...however minuscule it can be He loves us enough to go through it all and save us for all eternity.
Wow. this post got deep but that's the only way it should be...when you talk about Christmas. Well I hope and pray that this post will yet again (like my like minded posts previously did) remind you of the true meaning of Christmas and prompt you to seriously think and celebrate the reason for the season...sorry for the cliche saying. God Bless you all my wonderful readers!