ByGrace

  I finished reading The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery over the weekend. This is one of Montgomery's only books with an adult heroine intended for adult readers. It's the story of Valancy Stirling, 29 years old and still living under the control of her domineering mother and prying aunt. She's never been in love and is hopeless that she ever will be. She lives in fear of offending her mother by breaking one of the overbearing rules of "the clan," her small-town extended family full of quirky characters. Valancy's life is so dreary that her only solace is in reading nature books by her favorite author, John Foster, and dreaming of life in her imaginary Blue Castle, where life is perfect, her home is beautiful, and her handsome prince awaits. The story begins on the morning of Valancy's 29th birthday, as she realizes she probably will never marry and will be trapped in her miserable life forever. Then she visits the doctor and receives the news that s...

  Christmas Credo Let us keep Christmas softly ~ Apart from crowds and noise and vain display; Let us hang garlands fresh of prayer and praise, All love-entwined, in glad array, In the deep chambers of the heart, where He, The Holy Child alone may see And gladdened be. Let us in silence wait Before His altars 'til we see the Face Of the Most High ~ That we may worship truly in the secret place. He will give peace and joy; and as we sing Our carols, let us give ourselves an offering Of love to Him, our Saviour-King. Then let us seek the lonely and the sad, And make them glad  That Christ is born this day, That He in yielded lives holds sway. So shall we keep the Day of Days all softly and know well His coming to our hearts anew to dwell: Our glorious Lord, Emanuel, Emanuel! ~~ Lillian Imhof Robinson ~~ Day 24 Scripture: " And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said...

   "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:13,14 photo credit: Infomastern via photopin cc

Welcome to another week of Worth the Read ! We're getting close to the end of the year, and most of us are setting goals and making plans for 2014. Today I'm offering some links to focus on preparing for the New Year . . . 5 Accountability Sources To Help You Reach Your Goals   Accountability is not mandatory to reach your goals, but it sure does help when you know someone will be checking up on you!   10 Practical Ways to Stay Focused For the Coming Year   Stay focused this year instead of failing within the first three months. 5 Ways To Stop Wasting Time Surfing the Web   Does anyone else get sucked in like I do? I sit down to check "just one thing" and look up an hour later. Here are ways to learn balance in using your online time. Ten Tips For the Next Ten Days   Not ready for the new year quite yet? Here are ten tips for enjoying Christmas week Bonus: O Holy Night Free Chalkboard Printables   Beautiful printables based on one of my favor...

  I'm joining Susanne at Living To Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five . Each week, we share five blessings we've enjoyed during the past week.Hop over and take a look at others' blessings, then share some of your own! 1.Yet another Christmas party , this one for my Patch the Pirate Club students. We didn't have a lesson, practice a song, or listen to a story, but we had treats, games, and a craft. And now we have a break! We're taking the next two weeks off from Patch Club - and this teacher is grateful! 2. A Christmas quilt. I found this quilt at the thrift store last spring. I love the colors in it (they match my craft room ), so I've been using it on the bed in there until this week, when I realized it would look great hanging over the back of the love seat in our living room. I'm really enjoying seeing it all through the day as I work around the house. 3. Pain relievers . A couple of years ago, I was diagnosed with rotator...

I loved this poem when I first read it, because it echoes a belief that I hold dearer the older I get: the joys of life - the jewels, if you will - are the little, everyday things that make up each day, if we will just see them. Take time to see life's jewels this Christmas! Jewels The jewels of life are not rare stones To be cherished and hidden away; They are not the diamonds deep in the earth, For which men labor each day, They're the little things we seldom note, That we carelessly pass by . . . The song of the birds that herald the dawn, The stars in the midnight sky. They're the fragments of a robin's egg That we find in the emerald grass, The crystal of the dewdrops That vanish when morn is past; They're the silver of the moonbeams, Too fragile for hand to hold,  Yet all of these jewels are there to see,  If we only pause to behold. They're the perfume of the flowers That rises like incense above, The tender kiss of a little chi...

My friend Barbara of Stray Thoughts wrote a new Christmas meme (pronounced "meem" to rhyme with "cream") last week. What's a meme, you ask? In bloggy terms, it's a list of questions about a topic which one blogger asks on her blog, and other bloggers copy and answer on their blogs. I've answered a wedding meme , a Thanksgiving meme , a kitchen meme (when we lived in North Vancouver), a Meet My Bible meme, an Eight Questions meme , and another Christmas meme , among quite a few others. I enjoy doing them, and I enjoy reading them on others' blogs, so if you choose to do this one, let me know and I'll come read it! Just be sure to give the credit to Barbara , ok?! Photo from Stray Thoughts What is your favorite Christmas song?   My favorite Christmas hymn is O Holy Night; my favorite secular song ( since I'm not a kid anymore !) is All I Want For Christmas Is You, the older version. Favorite Christmas special/movie? I love A Charl...