Christmas--part 3
So as most of you know by now, I am a Daisy Girl Scout leader! This has been a great adventure for me. Seeing as though this year I added so many new things to my calendar, I have not really had time to think about getting everything planned for Girl Scouts. So on a "fly by the seat of my pants" thought, I had a friend of mine come to one of the meetings back in November to help us make Christmas cards for a nursing home. My friend is a Creative Memories consultant so we scrapbooked the cards (without pictures). They were very cute! We ended up with almost 80 cards.
Well, I decided that cards were not enough of a Community Service Project. These girls needed to earn a Petal (badge) for their tunics. So I made arrangements for the troop to go to the nursing home to sing Christmas Carols. I chose the nursing home for somewhat selfish reasons. MY Grandmother lives there. Some of the people in the nursing home aren't as lucky as Grandmother. Some of them don't have people to come see them everyday! (My Grandfather, who is a Cannon Mills/Pillowtex casualty, still works part time for a farm out in the country. He's off work by noon every day. Then he's up at the nursing home feeding my Grandmother--she can't do it herself--by 1pm! He stays with her to play BINGO and go to activities on premises. Some days he even takes her out for "a ride around town". He brings her around to see all of us when he does that!)
I'm a little high strung! (OK...a LOT high strung!) I expect a lot of these girls! There were only 6 who went with us to the nursing home. However they sang their little hearts out. Some of the troop parents went with us. My parents met us there! My Grandmother cried when the girls were singing. Then she "adopted" them all. We walked around the nursing home singing in the hallways and giving the cards to people in the hall and in their rooms. Papaw pushed Grandmother's wheelchair around behind us. She kept telling everyone, "These are my great-grandchildren." I stopped correcting her after about the 10th time she said it.
The people there were so happy to see the girls. They were excited over the little paper cards that the girls had made! Although most of them had no idea what was going on, they were still smiling and happy!
It kind of made me think. (Here I go getting "mushy" again!) Why are we so happy this time of year? Is it buying things? Is is giving gifts? Is it GETTING gifts? Is it the smile on an older person's face when you hug them and say 'Merry Christmas'? Is it the joy that lights up the eyes of a child when they wake up on Christmas morning? Or...is it that we know the REAL REASON for Christmas?
Sure, all those things are great. But... if we don't know and remember the real reason for Christmas, none of the other things really matter do they? Can you imagine what it must have felt like that first Christmas morning? Can you imagine what Mary and Joseph had to be thinking when Jesus was born?
Maybe this Christmas should be the Christmas that we all take a minute to think about that First Christmas! It's not about angels and nativity scenes. It's not about shepherds and wisemen (although they are a part of it). It's about that little baby--born of the love of God!
Merry Christmas to you all!
Until next time........
Well, I decided that cards were not enough of a Community Service Project. These girls needed to earn a Petal (badge) for their tunics. So I made arrangements for the troop to go to the nursing home to sing Christmas Carols. I chose the nursing home for somewhat selfish reasons. MY Grandmother lives there. Some of the people in the nursing home aren't as lucky as Grandmother. Some of them don't have people to come see them everyday! (My Grandfather, who is a Cannon Mills/Pillowtex casualty, still works part time for a farm out in the country. He's off work by noon every day. Then he's up at the nursing home feeding my Grandmother--she can't do it herself--by 1pm! He stays with her to play BINGO and go to activities on premises. Some days he even takes her out for "a ride around town". He brings her around to see all of us when he does that!)
I'm a little high strung! (OK...a LOT high strung!) I expect a lot of these girls! There were only 6 who went with us to the nursing home. However they sang their little hearts out. Some of the troop parents went with us. My parents met us there! My Grandmother cried when the girls were singing. Then she "adopted" them all. We walked around the nursing home singing in the hallways and giving the cards to people in the hall and in their rooms. Papaw pushed Grandmother's wheelchair around behind us. She kept telling everyone, "These are my great-grandchildren." I stopped correcting her after about the 10th time she said it.
The people there were so happy to see the girls. They were excited over the little paper cards that the girls had made! Although most of them had no idea what was going on, they were still smiling and happy!
It kind of made me think. (Here I go getting "mushy" again!) Why are we so happy this time of year? Is it buying things? Is is giving gifts? Is it GETTING gifts? Is it the smile on an older person's face when you hug them and say 'Merry Christmas'? Is it the joy that lights up the eyes of a child when they wake up on Christmas morning? Or...is it that we know the REAL REASON for Christmas?
Sure, all those things are great. But... if we don't know and remember the real reason for Christmas, none of the other things really matter do they? Can you imagine what it must have felt like that first Christmas morning? Can you imagine what Mary and Joseph had to be thinking when Jesus was born?
Maybe this Christmas should be the Christmas that we all take a minute to think about that First Christmas! It's not about angels and nativity scenes. It's not about shepherds and wisemen (although they are a part of it). It's about that little baby--born of the love of God!
Merry Christmas to you all!
Until next time........
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