Christmas Post Memories

Posted on December 10, 2017 by vanbraman

Tonight I am thinking of a few Christmas posts that I have written in the past.

Manger at Megiddo, King Ahab, StablesOne of the posts is titled Away in a Manger and talks about what a manger would have looked like at that time of Christ’s birth.

I have been seeing a lot of pictures of Nativity scenes and many of them have a wooden manger. Would they have been made of wood? Click on the link above to learn more.

Three Wise Men - The Three Magi - Melchior, Gaspar and Balthazar - Wise Men - OrientThinking of Nativity scenes, I also thought about a post I wrote titled Three Wise Men?

Do we know how many wise men there were? Why are they depicted in a Nativity scene? They did not visit right away. Again, click on the link above for more of my thoughts on this subject.

Olive Wood Nativity Set, Kado Store, Bethlehem, Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Stable, MangerOf course, many Nativity sets include the three wise men including the ones that I wrote about in Olive Wood Nativity Sets.

Anker Nativity Scene - Toy Blocks - Ankerstein - Christmas - Christmas Eve - Anchor BlocksA Nativity scene is also known as a creche. Here is a picture from an Ankerstein plan book of a creche. As usual the wise men are there much earlier than they should be 🙂

You can read more about Ankerstein creches and see pictures of some I have built in my post Three Anker Creches.

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - The Crane Classics - 1908I am also thinking about A Christmas Carol. It won’t be long and I am sure I can find a version to watch on TV. Or, I could probably search on-demand or Netflix and find something to watch now.

Oh, back to the post I wrote about A Christmas Carol. Click on the link to find out who I got to hear read a selection from the book. I also share some of my memories of watching renditions of the book on TV.

Do you have memories of watching A Christmas Carol?

Steven

 

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Party Time

Posted on December 9, 2017 by vanbraman

Tonight was the annual gift exchange party with my friends in Patterson. We always have a lot of fun at the party.

party time, finger foods, cheese, meats, bacon, yummyOf course that means a lot of yummy finger foods. Of course, maybe they are not always the most healthy, but they are good :-). Oh wait, I do see some fruit on the counter.

Salami, Olives, cream cheese, finger foodsI really liked these little bits. I have often seen salami wrapped cream cheese, but the olives were a nice addition. There were also several bacon wrapped items and even praline coated bacon slices.

Hawaiian Chips, Onion Rings, Party foodWith the very long week I have had and a busy day I was looking for ideas of what to bring. I got a text that all the men were wearing Hawaiian shirts to the party. Since I don’t have a Hawaiian shirt I decided to at least bring Hawaiian chips and onion rings. The gift I brought for the gift exchange also included a little set of Hawaiian themed salt and pepper shakers.

party food, finger foods, bacon, brownies, salami, chipsHere is my healthy? plate of food. I like savory items, so a lot of good tasting choices.  I had to try a little of most everything.

Holiday Singing, Carols, 12 Days of ChristmasAfter enjoying the finger foods it was time for our Christmas carol singing. We all enjoyed singing the carols, including our traditional ending song of The 12 Days of Christmas. We divide up in groups and each group sings one or more of the days as they come up in the song. This year I was in a group that sang the 2nd and 9th day. We have a lot of fun with the song including adding action into some of the parts. It is also traditional that the newest members of our group always sing the Five Golden Rings part.

Hot Chocolate, Starbucks, Mug and Hot ChocolateThe last section of our party is the gift exchange. We all draw numbers to see the order of picking the gifts. I think most of you know the logic behind a gift exchange. You get to choose between stealing a gift that has already been unwrapped or a new one. If a gift is stolen then that person has the same choice. As soon as a gift is unwrapped then the person with the  next number begins the next round.

I brought the Hawaiian salt and pepper set as well as a small box of tea flowers. See: Tea Flower

When it came my turn to pick I unwrapped a red coffee cub with a packet of Starbucks coffee. Luckily, the gift was stolen from me and I was able to pick again and got a different mug with a packet of Starbucks hot cocoa.

We had a lot of fun at the party. Now to look forward to a holiday party for work next Wednesday.

Steven

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