It was Sunday morning at Fellowship Bible Church in Manchester New Hampshire. Church had just concluded, and my older siblings and I watched with eagerness as the deacons set up the wooden choir stands on the stage.  None of us ever wondered why they set them up after church, though now, I still muse over it, maybe so that they could have choir rehearsals during the week. Maybe I was too young at the time and missed some obvious connection. But, we didn't worry about that, all we saw were the stands being set up, and we knew, that just as soon as the church cleared out, we were going to have fun!  Thankfully for us, it took an hour to get to church, so naturally we were the last ones to leave, giving us no worry that we would clear out before the church did!  ~  As soon as the coast was clear, Timothy, the acknowledged leader led his three sisters up the steps and on to the stands. Each of us had one all to ourselves; we were going to sing to our imaginary audience. We were going to be the Hellwig quartet!  Just as we were about to begin, a lady friend of ours, Mrs. Shuler, walked up and asked us what we were going to sing. "All the Way My Savior Leads Me."  Was Arianne's quick response. She was the spokes person in the group, being that she was the least shy of all of us!  "I Love that song!" Was our friend's response, "How about, I'll be the conductor."  To this, we agreed, and started to sing, although, in my characteristically shy manner, I nearly backed out of it when I saw the pastor and his wife watching us along with Mommy and Daddy and the rest of the "stragglers!"  But the other three were already singing and my dissenting voice was lost in their's so there was nothing for it but to sing, and sing I did! In fact, we sang so well and always knew the words to the songs we sang every time we decided to "have choir", that mommy got a few calls asking if we could join the children's choir...which, she politely declined!
   
   To this day, I and many of my siblings know all the words to that song perfectly, as well as the words to most of the other hymns I know. This has been marveled at by many and people wondered how we could do it! The answer - We sang without the hymnbook!  Mommy had the hymnbook, but none of us did. Every morning, after breakfast, we sang a hymn together and if we didn't know the song yet, we followed along as best we were able. In a few days, we knew the song. The more songs we learned, the better we got at learning them. The more verses to a song we knew, the more eager we were to learn the rest!
   This was a great lesson for me later on down the road. It was such a blessing to know all those songs. Even though, at the time, I just followed with out realizing the meaning and I sure wished I had a hymnbook, what I couldn't understand at the time ended up having greater implications for me later on!
    
   Now, as this year of our Lord two thousand fourteen, becomes a time of the past, and the new year unveils itself with all the glory of an unmarked slate, I see before me a time of preparation. A time of hard work and a lot of expenses (that's college incarnate!) a time of doing things that may not benefit me now, but will set up my life for later on, besides which, giving me joy in my life right now! Because, the greatest joy comes not in doing what we want but what we ought!

   Now, I know the truth of that hymn I mouthed as a little five or six year old:
                      "For I know, what  e'er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well!"
                                                and,
                          "This my song through endless ages, Jesus led me all the way!"

Of course we can't forget the second verse, which is my personal favorite! We always put extra emphasis on the word "Gushing!" It always made me think of a wild, raging, out of control, glorious waterfall, and my heart would soar into the skies when we reached that line!

---

Today is the final day in advent, and I wanted to post something really special!  At first I tried to find the twelve days of Christmas, but after listening to a few videos, I became so bored with the song and the spoofs off of the song, that I decided to do something else!
   I started looking up the oldest know carols, and came up with three I thought I'd post here.
The first one is in Latin and has a very Celtic sounding tune.  I rather like it; though certainly, I prefer the style of music that was written a little later, during the late medieval and early reformation time.   This one is called "Personent hodie."  Which literally means, "Let resound today." Although most translate it into "On this day the earth shall ring."     
   I would give you the words, except, it's going to take too long to type them out, and I can't find any which I can copy and paste without trouble! However, I will give you a link to where you can go and read the words, right here! 
  And here is the video:
    Then, the second song; "Good King Wenceslas!"   Most of us know this song; I had my little choir sing it this season, but this is the sort of song which I say you can't hear too much!
And last, but by no means least; "The holly and the Ivy!"  This is my favorite!
  There! Now, you'll have to let me know if you enjoyed my series this year!  ~ I would be interested in finding out how many of these songs you heard for the first time one my blog! 
 ~ And have a very Merry Christmas!

Today, I'm really in a dreadful rush, but I want to share this song with you anyway!   ~  I think in this case, the video should speak for itself!  ~  I wish I would be around when a group does a flash mob attraction like this! Perhaps someday I will!  ~ Until then, I'll enjoy the youtube videos such as this one!  
I think I'll have something more complete for you all tomorrow...But...Don't get your hopes up!

Yes, I have missed three days! But I'm going to give you three songs to account for those three runaways!
  I must be brief for even now I'm short on time! But I'd ask you to take the time to listen to these three songs.
   I have posted them all before, so if you've been following my blog for any considerable length of time you've already heard them!
   Still, these old familiar carols are good to listen to sometimes!
           This song is pure beauty. One of my absolute Christmas Carols! Beside which, the words don't carry that Catholic/pagan ring to them which many old carols do.  ~ Let me know if you agree with my first statement, after you've listened to the song!

I mixed up the title of yesterday's post and realized my mistake after I'd already shared it all over the place! So, for your knowledge as well as for my memory, it's 'Six geese a laying, Seven swans a Swimming!'
 
   Tonight I will be going to a ball.  It will be a Christmas ball but probably the music will be more of a Classical kind than Christmas music!  ~  But Carols actually used to be used as dance music! Popular dance tunes were combined with Christian verses so that people could sing to their own dancing! Many of the older tunes can be danced to quite easily. Besides it makes sense, peasants wouldn't have had too many musicians at their beck and call and if they wanted to dance they would have to sing themselves!  It has only been in more recent years that people sing of Christ's birth only at Christmas. It used to be one of those things that was sung of all year round. After all,  why not?  But that's just the way it is! Nevertheless, wouldn't it still be fun to dance to Christmas music?  -  I looked it up to see if it was actually possible with any modern dances and I actually found quite a bit; people still dance to Carols!  The word carol does actually come from a French word meaning to sing and dance!
  I can almost see a song like "Masters in This Hall," or "Ding Dong Merrily on High," used for a lively reel.  And songs like "What Child is this,"  used for a stately waltz!

   So, I want to share, with you, a couple videos of people doing some Scottish country dancing to Christmas carols, let me know what you think!
 Until I write again!

I don't have much time to write today, but I still want to share something with you all!
   I stumbled across this video on someone else's blog, and it made me cry, but the tears were joyful! I'm sure most of you have heard of the famous 'Christmas truce' between German and Allied Soldiers during world war II.  This video, though not a music video, I think portrays a good part of the heart of Christmas!
   Enjoy, and hopefully I'll have something better for you tomorrow.
    Let me know how you enjoyed it!

I always cry when we sing the fourth verse of  "I heard the bells on Christmas Day!"  When I was about five or six, my siblings would laugh at me and I translated both that, and the crying into the idea that I didn't like the song.  So for many years this gorgeous hymn was chalked down on my 'disliked songs' list and I never sang it because it always made me cry and by the time we reached verse four (which to me was the climax) I was sobbing so hard I couldn't even voice the song!  I was a child at the time and it wasn't so much the song itself that I hated, but the very fact that I could not express why I was so moved to tears over it.  All I could tell myself (though not in the same words) was that something was lost during the first three verses and then found again in the fourth in a joyful reunion though not untouched by sadness.  Of course, I felt silly telling this to my family and all they got from me was that I thought it was a very sad song!  I always associate the fifth verse with tasting salt on my tongue and the feel of tears drying on one's cheeks.  This verse, I felt, was the one happy verse in the song.  Everything was resolved and made whole again and somehow, it all seemed glorious; that was the best word I could think of!
  Even now, I cry when I sing that song, though my tears are not as profuse as they used to as life has taught me to control my emotions better. But now, I understand why I cry!
   When I was younger, I didn't understand most the words.  All I really remember catching from the song are the third verse, the fourth verse and the first couple of lines of the fifth verse!  The truth is, that John Baptiste Calkin really captured the spirit of the song with his tune, Waltham.  And I, but a small child, through that tune, felt the same sorrow and joy over the song as Longfellow must have felt as he penned the song!  -  Below, I have shared a video which, I believe, conveys the spirit of the song as it was meant to be, along with an excellent retelling of its history!  They only sing three of the verses, however, and I'll post all of them below, in the order I have grown up singing them so that you all know which verses I have been referring to!
 

Today It's rather cloudy and gloomy. And, in my home, there are some rather gloomy spirits as well!  So, what can be better than a sprightly Christmas song to lift the spirits?
  I wonder how many of you have heard the traditional Catalan Christmas carol, "Fum, Fum, Fum!"
I know I didn't hear it until I was about thirteen on a CD we received from some dear friends of ours!

  The word "Fum" literally means "Smoke", and could either refer to the movement of smoke rising from a chimney as seen from a distance, or, some say, refers to the sound of a drum. Still others say that it refers to fiddling (which, as you can imagine, I want, very much, to be so!), or the rocking of a cradle...Nah! 
I would sing this verse as written, but inside, I'm thinking: 

Sheep have always been my favorite animals. There was never any doubt on that score!  My siblings used to try to dissuade me from that stance by pointing out that they were killed and eaten and their wool used for sweaters.  This only served to convince me of the superiority of my favorite. The sheep was useful in every part, it wasn't just an unprofitable pet!
   Now, of course, as I grew older, I learned that not only were they practically useful, but they also hold a great use in not only illustrating Christ and His sacrifice but also in mirroring ourselves! 
  There really is a reason why Isaiah says that "We like sheep have gone astray", and Jeremiah compared Judah to flocks being turned aside on the mountains by false shepherds!   -  Sheep are exceedingly gullible; they will follow practically anyone who knows how to lead them. When left to themselves they will scatter, which is why they must be watched constantly.  Does that remind you of yourself yet?  -  But wait...there's more!   If one sheep starts running around, all the others will follow him, and do exactly what he does. If you were to hold a stick in front of the leader so as to make him leap over it, all the rest would leap when they reached that same spot even if you removed the stick!
  That is how stupid they are - and, by extent so are we!
So today, I want to share with you, two selections from Handel's Messiah, referring to sheep. These also happen to be some of my favorite selections!  -  Many people do not hear these parts all that often because they are not among the 'popular' sections of Messiah; but, I think they are just as beautiful and a reminder to us. That, though right now, we are celebrating the glory of the incarnation, we must not forget that He came so that we might no longer be sheep without a Shepherd and that He might be the perfect lamb to take the sins of the world!
   And just so you know, if you cannot make out the words, they are basically repeating Isaiah 53:4-6:
     "Surely He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows...and by his stripes we are healed...All we like sheep have gone astray."
  These are the last to parts of the entire piece; "Worthy is the Lamb," and "Amen" which are from Revelation 5: 12- 14!
  "saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing."  ...  "And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped."  

 Indeed, He is worthy! Let us all give Him our power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing this Christmas season.  Amen, and Amen!

"Christ was not, in all likelihood, born anywhere near December 25th."
   "Christmas was introduced to cover up the pagan holiday of Saturnalia which the Romans celebrated at that time."
        "People get so excited about what they're going to get, it just becomes a time of selfish thoughts and 'me' glorification!"
            
    These and many more are all reasons people give for why Christians shouldn't celebrate Christmas. Having been exposed to a lot of legalism and ungracious Christians in my short life, I have heard many arguments; some reasonable, some strong, some lame and some which are simply absurd!
   I once heard someone, whom I still greatly respect, say that when a child bends down in front of the tree to pick up a present, he is bowing down before the tree and that is a form of idolatry.
  Someone else went still further to suggest that by putting up trees and greenery in and around our houses, we were in sin insomuch as we were reviving the Roman worship of Saturn which involved the decoration of homes with that same colored foliage.  The ideas get so creative that I sometimes wonder what people mean to accomplish by such statements and would rather they just out and say: "I don't celebrate Christmas because I do not think it glorifies Christ!"   Because when all is said and done, this is the ultimate measure by which, I hope, believers decide to celebrate this controversial holiday or not.
    When I think of how much our Lord must have loved us to be willing to come down and live in submission to His own creation and then take our filth on Himself to the extent that His own father would crush Him with pleasure, so that we should receive a gift that we in no measure deserve, then I wonder how we can possibly be so callous as to bicker with our fellow redeemed over whether a holiday which commemorates His incarnation should be celebrated because of its roots and possible connotations!  -   Put it however we may, there is no reason that one cannot celebrate Christmas today in a completely God honoring fashion.  It is easy enough to toss out all the bad parts and leave the good and lovely ones.
    Then I would ask, why not celebrate Christmas?
Some would say that the proper question for believers who love their Lord, would be "Why would we celebrate it?"
    A very good question!
       
       1. It helps you get out of yourself.  
    Many people think that Christmas is a self-centered holiday when everyone is thinking about what he wants except for the frantic parent running around trying to find a gift that his child will like.  I think this is only if  the focus is in the wrong place.  In our family, everyone gets a gift for everyone else, so nobody really has time to add to his wish list, he's to busy thinking about what to get for everyone else! And for children who are naturally more self absorbed this is an excellent exercise, not only in learning to sacrifice oneself,(so that we don't grow up a bunch of miserly Scrooges!) but to think of others, ie. making sure the gift is something the recipient wants not the giver!
      2.  Christmas music is so lovely!
 I had to put that in!
      3. The Christmas tree and all the decorations look, and smell, so lovely!
 Our heavenly Father made all these things, why should we refrain from celebrating the incarnation with them just because the Romans used them to worship Saturn?  -  Though such a custom may have been offensive, in the time of the Roman empire, to Christians. Such is certainly not the case now!
      4. Christmas lights are so beautiful!
This one speaks for itself. Just go for a drive through the city at this most wonderful time of the year; you'll see what I mean!
     5. It is so much fun to give gifts!
If you don't agree with this one, then either you haven't given enough gifts or they've been something the recipients didn't want!
     6. Christmas brightens up Winter when it is so nasty to descend upon you with out any snow!
  White Christmases are nice but you appreciate the holiday so much more when you live in the south and don't get the snow as recompense for  the cold!
     7.  I am certain that The Lord Jesus Himself is pleased when we celebrate Christmas among our families with Love and joy in our hearts towards everyone!

     There!  -  Now, I doubt you can contend with me!

   Finally, anyone who has followed my blog for any significant length of time, knows that this is the first day of my annual "Twelve days of Christmas" series for this year, (even though the titles are going to be a little different this year!) and that I am supposed to share a Christmas song with you all.

   So today I am going to share with you two songs! Just in case you haven't seen the one I posted on Google+ a few days ago, I'll show that one, and just in case you have seen it; I'll post another so you aren't disappointed!

  So here is the first one which is terribly funny!
  And here is another one which I enjoy and consider a very Jolly song - Deck The Halls!
I will do better next time, 
                                                   but for now,
                                                                                 'tis the season to be jolly!

   

Actually, it was Squash! ~ We don't like pumpkin too much around here so we call it a pumpkin pie but substitute Butternut Squash for the pumpkin; most people have never guessed the difference!
  But that is supposed to be a secret, so if you ever come to our place for Thanksgiving, just pretend I never said that!
  I don't know about you all, but for me, Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year! Why?  Because it is the herald of the festive season! It is the porter who opens the door to what I consider, the best time of the year, because it's the time, at least around here, people are thinking about others instead of themselves! How much better can it get to start off the festivities by being thankful for what we have already got?
   Someone posted a very wise question a day or two ago on her blog. (person shall remain unnamed!) I'm pretty sure it was a quote, though I am not certain who said it, and it goes something like this:
  What if you were to wake up one morning possessing only that for which you thanked God yesterday? 

   Rather scary don't you think?
       Of course this got me thinking about all the technical issues of such a plan, such did this include one's body? Or does it just refer to earthly possessions? What if you were just a spirit floating around because I doubt too many of us thank God regularly for a healthy body? What if we didn't thank God for an atmosphere...?
      But that was not the point! (those of us who are too logical often miss points!) The message is, that people are ungrateful as a whole, and most of the things we have that many people don't go assumed and unnoticed. - Actually, studies have shown that the more you have the less thankful you'll be and the poorest people are overflowing with thankfulness for what we would consider a small thing! America is the richest country in the world, and yet it has been shown that they have the shortest list when it comes to things they're thankful for! (I wish we would keep that in mind before we flourish  our mile long Christmas wish lists!)
     
But, I didn't start this post to talk about the depravity of depraved human beings! What I really want to do, is introduce you all to what a typical Thanksgiving is like for the Hellwig family.
  Sometimes we have guests - sometimes we don't - this year...we didn't!
(in all fairness, we did invite several people, but they all had different plans! It reminded me of the parable of the king who's son was getting married and he sent out his servants to bring the invited guests to the feast, but...they all...made...EXCUSES! ~ (I really am not applying this to our would-have-been guests, I understand their reasons!) ~ But what I really wanted to do right then, was finish the parable and go out along the highways and through the hedes and bring in the poor, the blind, and the lame, the alien (not the Si-Fi Kind), the widow, and the orphan! But that wouldn't have been practical, for several reasons, in this year of Our Lord Two-thousand fourteen...so, Ah well! )
   We did have our grandparents over though!

  But, anyway, back to the story!

 We decided to do something new this Thanksgiving. We filled a tall vase with sticks, twelve to be precise, and cut out lots of leaves out of construction paper using Arianne's set of leaf cookie cutters, (no easy task I can assure you!) punched holes in them and put them in a basket. Throughout the days before Thanksgiving, we wrote down what we were thankful for and hung them on the branches with green or orange ribbon!
                                                 "Mommy", was by far the most popular!
Next came "Cookies!"  - After all, what can be better? With Mommy and Cookies you have it all!
 Doesn't this look lovely? I love pies; we made four and if we had had more pie pans, I would have made more! As it was, we made one in a tart pan (not pictured here) because we only have three pie pans! - hmm...I'll have to remedy that in time for next year!
Arianne made an Apple Crumb Pie. By accident, she didn't realize that just a little poke while it was hot, would make a large hole in the crumb topping! - But it still tasted very good!
 There was lots of preparation going on!
 Plenty of dishes to wash, even before the festivities began!
 And we even tried to get a fire going, though we didn't have much success because there was a light misting rain falling all day and so instead of fire, we had smoke - Never mind!
 We still had the Autumn colors hanging around though, at least what there is of them down here, and it was quite peaceful and quiet outdoors!
                                     I spent a good portion of my afternoon folding our napkins...
                                                       setting the table...
              Writing out place cards, and things of that sort! (I wrote a silly rhyme for each person on the back of each of the cards, but I've no intention of showing you those!)
This is a very bad picture of how the table looked once it was set and ready for the food, but it really doesn't do it justice; you had to have seen it, it was simply grand! (At least I flatter my self that it was so!)
 By that time, Meme and Pepe had been transported, and I had to rush and whip the cream for dessert, as I had no intention of doing it between Dinner and Dessert! I'm wearing a no good apron, as both of mine happened to be in the Laundry! (That was slightly exasperating at the time...but this one worked!)
Don't you think whipped cream, whipped with Maple syrup like we do it, is almost the best thing in the world? It's certainly better than Ice-cream! (though I could get into seriously hot water with a statement like that!)
This was the brussel-sprout and bacon dish which mommy made, it was so good!
  Unfortunately my photographer did not get pictures of all the food so don't assume that everything you see is all we had!
 There was Brie; I hate it but everyone else loves it; so, behold, it is there!
 And this is the most popular dish on the table; if you ever have it you will become addicted to it too! It's........CRANBERRY ORANGE RELISH! - 'So', you ask, 'what's the big deal?' First, don't talk until you've tried, and if you want to say you've tried it, let me tell you right now, that there is hardly a thread of a chance that you have ever tasted our relish recipe in your life - Want to prove me wrong? Give me your relish recipe and I can almost bet ten to one that it won't match, even closely, to ours! - I'm not joking! :)
Here is how the table looked before we brought in the Turkey! (Once again, the picture does not do it justice!) You can see the crock of stuffing over on the left, and the buttered carrots on the right, but they were both covered and my camera man(who shall remain nameless) didn't think to lift the covers and capture the delicious contents so you have to take my word for it! (I'm pretty sure you haven't tasted any carrot dish so good as ours either!)
 'Here comes the bride turkey! All basted and brown!' Doesn't it look so picture perfect?
Here is the best picture we have of the table! - If you're wondering what's in the white pitcher, I will tell you; that, my friends, is the gravy! (There you have it even if you had no intention whatsoever of wondering!)
  And so we ate and drank and were merry for..........it was Thanksgiving day!
 This is how we looked towards the conclusion of the meal! Tobias made a piggy of himself with relish, and then, after proclaiming loudly, to all ears present, how stuffed he was, helped himself to more!

It was so nice to have everyone there and every gap around the table filled! I was disappointed that Sir Camera did not get picures of my Grandparents or any one on the other side of the table, but he tried; I shall be sure to instruct him better next time!
Then we (that is Elliot Jedidiah, Mommy and I) banished everyone to the living room, while we cleared the table and set it again for dessert! (You cant get enough pictures of whipped cream; I'm addicted to that delectable delicacy!)
 
 After we set the table, Timothy and I turned on some music and danced a waltz, then the cha-cha,(benefits of taking dance lessons!) and even mommy and daddy got inspired and danced too! (No pictures of that either! - I'm really glad I have what I do though!) Then everyone else got inspired and we lined them up and taught them the Virginia reel - That was fun! 

   After we had gotten our exercise, we descended onto the dining room to devour dessert!
 This is how the table looked after we had we set it!
     The pies you have already seen. It is time I introduce you to the rest of our spread!
First meet the chocolate pecan pie! (the one that was mention as 'not pictured', above, which we made in a tart pan!) It was very good and I liked it in spite of the fact that I dislike that popular substance called chocolate!
 Next make low obeisance to the crowning jewel of all Hellwig family feasts. The Baklava! (made with a secret ingredient, no less!)
 Give a polite greeting to Elliot's contribution to the menagerie! ~Sweet Potato Cookies! ~ nice and Autumny to go with the occasion! ~ They were very good!

   After Dessert, Mommy left to bring Meme and Pepe back to their place, and while the boys looked on Timothy and I danced the east coast swing
                                           Alright, we got one, blurry, picture! - Not so bad!

Then we watched a Charlie-Brown Thanksgiving when Mommy came home and after the boys had gone to bed we watched a grown-up movie with the grown-ups who were yet conscious after all the eating and dancing!
 Next Day, we promptly went out and bought ourselves a Christmas tree and said goodbye to Thanksgiving for 2014 A.D. 

But it was good in spite of it just being family, and I was glad it had turned out the way it did even if it didn't happen as I had wished!

   Maybe next year we'll have piles of people crammed into our little house. Maybe next time it will be sunny and we'll go out and play croquet. Perhaps we'll sing together in glorious harmony!

  But we only have now what our Good Lord has given us, so let us indeed rejoice and be glad in it!  We might not be here next year, maybe some will be gone. But we were here this year, every single one of us, and I'm so very glad for that!

I leave you now with a parting hymn:
I hope you all had as joyful a Thanksgiving day as I did!

  But I most earnestly hope that the contentment which Thankfulness brings is even now springing out of you like a foaming torrent that will not be stopped!