Wrapped in Love

Today feels like the day after Christmas,

you know those feelings you get when it's all over,

the mully-grubs as my mama would call it,

you know,

the house is empty and in complete dissaray, 

dishes need washing, 

wrapping paper litters the floor, 

the kids are gone 

and you're missing those babies.

Yet, I am filled with a deep sense of peace

and satisfaction that God is Emmanuel,

He indeed has come very near. 

So, until I can get the house in order, 

wrap the presents, and get ready for the next few days, 

I'll share some of the wrappings from Nashville. 

Sometimes all you need is a simple bowl of ornaments
and the lights on the tree to stir the emotions of Christmas.

Vintage ornaments take me back to a much
simpler day when trees were filled with
bulbs lights, Shiney brites, and icicles.

There was always something special about
sitting beside a lighted tree at bedtime.

Glass ornaments reflecting the lights adds more twinkle
to an already glistening ornament.

Both of my girls enjoy the vintage-like bulbs.

It's amazing how the tree changes when little ones are added.

I think we would all agree that
the sweetest wrappings come not in paper packages
but are wrapped in love from above.

These are our joy and delight.

I thank the Lord above,
for sending these loves to us.

Even sick with fever,
these little munchkins were full of joy.

Thanks for sharing our joy!

Merry Christmas,
Bonnie:)

A Little Touch of Christmas

Just adding a little Christmas to every room.

I had to have a little of my own sand and sea.

Decorating this room, gave me a chance to use

a favorite piece of my blue glass. 

I'm leaning into JOY this Christmas. 

Someone once told me, 

"Surround yourself with the things you love and you'll always be happy."

I bought the two candle holders at The Dollar Tree.

That's right, $1!

They made me think of the sea.

I am getting ready to mail the Giveaway Prize.

I'm keeping this one for myself. 

I see a star, a bright and shiney star.

See there, up there, it is so very far.

(A song my girl sang as a 5 year old in a Christmas play.)

Hope you enjoyed the blue room

and are enjoying a little touch of Christmas everywhere this year. 

It's only 10 days til Santa comes!

Bonnie:)

Cast Your Vote and Once Last Chance for a Giveaway

Now, it's time to cast your vote.

Which table will it be?

Table #1:  Blue Christmas

Table #2: Happy Birthday, Jesus

Table #3:The Christmas Bird

Table #4:  Silver and Snow

Table #5:  Sand and Sea

Table #6:  Simple Elegance

Table #7:  Black Tie

Table #8: Red Berries and Balls

Table #9:  Pink with Promise

Which do you prefer?

Giveaway winner announced this evening.

Table #7: A Black Tie Night Table #8: Red Berries and Balls

The week of the giveaway is almost over. 

I have three more tables to feature.

Tomorrow, the whole town is headed to the dome,

including me and I don't even do football.

Our local football team is playing for the 

Region 3A state championship 

so I need to get these in before Saturday.

Please allow me to do a quick post.

Table #7

Black Tie Night

Tables #7 and #8 were class and elegance at their finest.

The designer of these tables is one of the most positive people I know. 

She sees the glass as half full.  

She decorates likes she lives, beautifully care-free and with class.

While decorating, we were all fussing over this and that.

"My table is not as pretty as hers......"

You know how we women are about worry

and comparison.

Teena said, 

"I don't worry about anything. I know God is going to take care of it."

She is the coodinator of the church soup kitchen.

She is a giver.  She will give you the shirt off her back

so quietly that no one will notice that she's missing a sleeve.

Table #8

Red Berries and Balls

I like the idea of using beads

in displays, and

making candle holders out of stemware. 

Don't be surprised if you see something like this on a future post.

We all steal share each other's ideas anyway, right?

I will post my table on Saturday

and I'll pick a winner of The Giveaway.

Bonnie:)

Table #6: Simple Elegance

Meet Tina at Table #6.

This is Tina and her husband, Steven.  They are practically newlyweds, high school sweethearts who found each other again after many, many years.  She says thank you to her elf who helped her pull it all together. 

I knew from our very first conversation that Tina knew the Lord.  Every time I talk with her, I get Holy Ghost bumps all over.  Now, I know that's a term that not everyone understands.  The teenagers I worked with knew so well, they'd go, "Oh, she's getting the chill bumps thingy again." It's just one of the ways that God reveals Himself to me and I'm so thankful.

Tina is a hairdresser and unapologetically shares Jesus. I would betcha she prays over every head she touches.  She's very humble and would certainly not want me to draw attention to her.

Table #6 is elegant, not in a foo-foo kind of way, just simply elegant.

To me, Tina's table is like her, not doing-your-good works-to-be-seen kind of thing. 

"You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before man, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."  Matthew 5:14-16

When I look at Tina I see the example of a godly woman. 

"Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from the outward of appearance...instead it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is of great worth in God's sight"  1 Peter 3:1-4

Comment, follow and/or share and enter into the giveaway.

Sand and Sea Ornament Giveaway

Table #5: The Sand and the Sea

The beach is my favorite place in the world to be.  It is at the beach that my mind is clear and I am able to hear God speak. Far from the distractions of the world, my soul is quiet and I am at peace.

The idea of the giveaway came from the next table.  Table number 5 was displayed by several women who have known suffering.  Three of the ladies suffer quietly with Rheumatoid Arthritis and another finished treatments this year for breast cancer. All suffer without complaint and continue to serve the Lord.

It is comforting to know that in the midst of the storm, Jesus offers peace.  When faced with uncertainly, he whispers, "It is I; do not be afraid." (John 6:20)  In another Gospel, the disciples were amazed that even the winds and the seas obeyed Him.

Table #5:  The Sand and the Sea

When I am asked to speak to women, I always remind them that they are beautifully and wonderfully made.  My favorite chapter in the Bible is Psalm 139.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  your works are wonderful, I know that full well." (v. 14)

"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you." (v. 17-18)

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting."  (v. 23-24)

On the first table post, I mentioned a guy named Bob Benson.  His writings are somewhat like parables using this and that, things we can relate to to tell a story.  Please allow me again to share some of His words.

At our home, we have a lovely Nativity set of wood carvings of the Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the angels, and the shepherds.  It also includes some sheep, lambs, horses, cows, calves, ponies and even a sleeping rooster.

Peg is really the decorator in our house, and she has a knack for displaying things at their best and making places look special.  But she agreed to let me set up the manger scene the first season.  

I have accumulated a box or two of materials that I use along with the carvings. There are some pieces of driftwood I picked up on our various vacations on the coast.  I take them out of the box each year like old friends.  I know each one of them for its special size and shape and smoothness.  I wish that I could ask them questions and hear them answer back. "Where did you begin your journey?  What kind of tree were you?  What brought you crashing down? How did you get washed up on that lonely stretch of beach? Did you once hold up a little girl's swing or a boy's tree house?  Were you part of a house or a boat or a packing box?"  For I believe that everything has a story; it has been somewhere, and it is going somewhere.

In early December, I get out all these manger things.  With the stones, I make a rocky hillside, and with the wood, I build a barn and a stall.  I carefully place the manger, the Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and all the rest of the figures (right down to the sleeping rooster on the roof).  Then I light a candle, sit down before the scene again, and try to imagine how this holy story could ever have happened at all.  

Admittedly, I have gathered up this materials for this scene from lots of places.  But always I am impressed to remember that everything needed to make this sacred tableau can be found in anybody's neighborhood.  Sticks and stones, straw and foliage, dogs and cats, neighbors and a virgin girl.  All of them can be touched with the meaning that only Christ can bring, meaning that obliterates the lines that separate the divine and the commonplace, meaning that changes a stall into a holy place and a manger into an altar. 

I consider this story and I ask you the same questions, "Where did your journey begin? Is it painful even to think about? Was there something that happened to cause you to come crashing down or have you been down so long that you can't even remember where it all began?  Do you feel washed up like shells on a sea shore? Has the stretch been lonely? Have you held dreams in your hand, as the song-writer wrote, and watched them drift like sifted sand?"

The same God who is constant in the ebb and flow of the tide, consistently loves you and draws you Himself. May you be aware of His presence this Christmas season.

Don't forget to post a comment, follow my blog, or share with a friend.  See the following link to particiate in the giveaway, 

http://vintagegirl901.blogspot.com/2014/12/lift-banquet-and-give-away-everyone.html

LIFT Banquet and A Give-Away (Everyone Wins Something): Table #1

Last night was our LIFT Christmas banquet.

It stands for Ladies In Fellowship Together.

 I have decided to do a giveaway.

I started to say that I'm in the Christmas spirit, 

but really I'm just enjoying the Joy of Jesus.

I have been to Bethlehem.

I'm giving away an ornament 

made by one of our ladies.

(I hope she'll make me another, HINT-HINT)

I will feature one or two tables every day for a week.

1.  Be a follower of White Lace and Promises
2. Visit and leave a comment on Facebook 

or White Lace and Promises. 

(any suggestions or comments are welcomed)

3.  Share my blog with a friend. Let me know you shared.

Your name will be entered twice.

If your friend follows me and comments, she will be entered too.

She must be a new follower.

4.  On the last day, vote for your favorite table.

Everyone who enters, comments, shares or invites a friend

will get a special little (I say little) gift from me

just to say thanks and Merry Christmas, 

so be sure to send your address by email.

Our speaker tonight is a close friend of mine. 

Oh my goodness, she is so full of Jesus.

HE just oozes out all over her and gets me gooey too.

Do you hear me?

She talked to us about The Table of Jesus.

We are all invited to the table.

At His table, there is more than enough.

As Bob Benson would say, 

enough fried chicken for everyone,
and still we hold on to our balony sandwich on stale bread
and say, "No, I'm fine."

Table #1

Blue Christmas

Sparkly, blue bows for napkins holders.

The hostess of this table gave each of her guests a cross.

Hilda asked if we had met Jesus at the cross.

I know my need to go to the cross daily.

The cross...

The place where we find

redemption and restoration.

Some call it the GREAT exchange,

the place where we exchange

our sorrow for joy,

our hurt and resentment for forgiveness,

our pain for peace, 

our rejection for His acceptance, 

our sin for HIS grace and mercy.

She asked that we meet Jesus at the manger,

the place of worship where we may sing as the angels.

"Glory to God in the Highest and on earth, peace, goodwill to men."

It takes my breath away to understand that He loved me 

enough to give up Royalty, and to become a servant,

that I may be adopted into His family.

He is the King and that makes me a princess.

To me Thanksgiving should be every day.

So, I think it's perfectly alright if we put up our trees in November. 

Jesus died on a tree.  He is what Christmas is all about anyway.

This is a busy time of year.

Many people have more on their plates than they can digest. 

During this season, I pray for you, my dear sister 

that you will not let the hustle and bustle make you miss Jesus.

Tonight I noticed as each lady tried to decide where she wanted to sit.  

So many pretties, but ladies who didn't feel pretty.

Ladies who came not feeling that they belonged at any table. 

I too have felt isolation at times.

We ladies are like that aren't we?

I invite you to just pull up a chair and sit at HIS table. 

There's room enough for all and as Bob Benson would say

there's plenty of potato salad, mashed potatoes, and fried chicken.

Just throw the baloney sandwich in the garbage

and let's ask the blessing and EAT.

God's table is full and He always has enough for everyone, 

enough grace, enough peace, enough love, enough joy.

He has more than enough.

Join me at the table. 

Bonnie:)

Don't forget to enter.  Everyone wins!

I am linking up the Cozy Little House this week
for Tweak it Tuesdays.
http://www.cozylittlehouse.com/