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"Possibility and promise greet me each day as I walk out into my garden. My vigor is renewed when I breathe in the earthiness and feel the dirt between my fingers. My garden is a peaceful spot to refresh my soul." Meems






Welcome to my Central Florida Garden Blog where we garden combining Florida natives, Florida-Friendly plants, and tropicals.

Monday, December 24, 2007

The Greatest Gift Ever Given

The presents are wrapped and the stockings stuffed. The cookies and cakes are baked, the table is set and the guests are soon to arrive.



The decorations are sparklee and bright throughout.























I love almost (don't love wrapping) everything about Christmas. It is a lot of work for a lot of weeks, but the times/memories made together with family make it all worth while. All my children are married; some live in town... some out of town. The out-of-towners will arrive here this afternoon. We will be together for our traditional restaurant dinner reservations for Christmas Eve. Going out on this evening is a much-looked-forward-to break for me as well as the rest of the family in the busy days leading up to Christmas.


After dinner we will come back home and sit around the tree to exchange gifts. But before we open all the pretty packages filled with requests and surprises, we will each say what we are thankful for and what we look forward to in the coming year. It is often an emotional time of expressing our love and appreciation for how God has blessed each one of us. We have much to be thankful for every year but this year has been especially wonderful!

Christmas morning I will serve our traditional southern breakfast of eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, toast, orange juice and coffee. There will be more gifts to open with more grandchildren and grandparents joining us as well. We won't have Christmas dinner until the evening when we gather in the dining room all scrunched together at one table extended to its maximum length.

I love every minute of our time together. The little ones reminding us of the joy we all had at some time in our life. Hopefully we still have. Sometimes I have to remind myself to be like the little children and not be stressed. :-) I get as excited about giving the gifts we've purchased (and made) as even the thought of getting anything. It is a joyous time of year!

I'd love to share with every reader, the true meaning of Christmas. No matter our situation in life, and no matter what is inside the boxes we receive this year, the reason we celebrate Christmas around hoe and shovel is because of the greatest gift ever given. It is the gift of Jesus Christ. Given by God as a baby, lived as a sinless human being until he sacrificed Himself for you and for me in order to bring us back to peace with God.


Merry Christmas and God bless each of you!




The Christmas Story as told in the Bible. Luke 2

...And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them at the inn.


And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.


And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.


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.

11 comments:

  1. Thank you so much Meems for sharing a bit of your christmas traditions. May you be stress-free and happy this Christmas.

    Merry Christmas ~Lisa

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  2. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

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  3. Wishing you a joyous holiday season, Meems. Thanks for making the world (and cyberspace, too) a more beautiful place!

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  4. Merry Christmas! I hope you have been able to enjoy a wonderful couple of days with your family!

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  5. lisa, rusty, nan, and jane: A very Merry Christmas to you and your families! Thanks for stopping by on this beautiful day. I hope you enjoy the rest of this season as we move into the New Year! God Bless.

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  6. Meems,

    thanks so much for everything. This years Christmas may have been the best ever.

    The food was awesome, the decorations beautiful, the gifts way too generous, and the fellowship priceless. We loved every minute of it.

    Great getting to tour the garden in person as well. It is so lovely and peaceful. It was awesome getting to see your resident hawks in action and getting to photograph them on my own camera. too cool.

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  7. NT: I think you may be right... the best ever. I especially liked the beautiful weather so we could enjoy "talking garden" outdoors as we browsed. Thanks for sharing it with me.

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  8. After you left such kind comments on my garden blog in Brittany, France I've taken the time to take a peak at yours... it's SO good to see that the reasoning behind Christmas hasn't been forgotton behind all the presents etc - we really noticed a huge difference in the lead up to Christmas coming to France - in the UK there are Christmas things in the shops from Sept onwards whereas here from around mid November! Christmas in the UK was turning into a mass marketing campaign and material opportuntity for people to spend more and more money - where I think it must be so easy to overlook the real meaning of it all! You have a great site and will look forward to future postings in 2008.... Happy New Year and may 2008 be another great year for you... Miranda

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  9. What a beautiful post, meems, and I say Amen! Thank you for making this post and sharing The Gift!

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  10. Enjoyed my colorful visit ... May your days be merry and bright. Happy holidays!

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  11. Miranda, Kylee and Joey: Happy New Year to you all and blessings in 2008!

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Have a blessed day,
Meems


September 2010

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Tropical Pathway