Merry Christmas! Includes Update and Blessings.

Red and white camellia flower: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2017

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)

Merry Christmas to you and yours! I wanted to share my Instagram photo but couldn't get the link to work here. It did work on my relatively new Facebook "writer" page. So if you follow me on either of those places you can see our 2018 Christmas card. But I do like the Christmas-y camellia flower featured in this post and hope you do to.

May this Christmas bring you renewed faith, pure joy, and the sure knowledge that Jesus loves you! If this is a painful time of the year for you, I pray that you will draw near to God and He will comfort you with His peace that passes understanding.

I haven't been blogging much this year but I have been praying a lot. I feel like God is leading me to start my own webpage but until I'm sure of what He wants me to do there I'll keep posting here. In the New Year I plan to share some of the things I'm considering and I will welcome your input.

May God's peace be upon you, light fill your soul and blessings be with you!

Related posts:
Christmas blessings: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-blessings.html
Longwood Christmas: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-at-longwood-gardens.html
Cute Christmas cat: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-cat-santa-and-reindeer.html

Merry Christmas & National Tree

2014 National Christmas / Holiday Tree, Washington D.C.

"For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 NKJV

Merriest Christmas wishes to you and yours! May Jesus Christ's love and peace that passes understanding rest in your hearts and minds!

My husband and I went to see the National Christmas tree at the Washington D.C. mall today. As you can see, it's a big tree. According to the sign in front of the tree, it's called the "U.S. Capitol Christmas tree" or the "People's tree." Each year the tree is donated from a different state and this year marked the 50th year of this Christmas tradition. This year's tree came from Minnesota and is an 88 year old, 88 foot tall white spruce with a trunk diameter of thirty inches. "Minnesotans sent 10,000 ornaments from the land of 10,000 lakes to decorate" the magnificent tree. I'll share a few of my favorite ornaments with you below.

National Christmas tree flower ornament

This pretty poinsettia looks like it was hand crafted from birch bark and I love nature crafts.

Assorted national Christmas tree ornaments

I liked all three of these ornaments for different reasons. Both my mother and my mother in law love snowmen so I think of them every time I see a snowman decoration. Joy, as you can probably guess from the title of my blog, is very important to me, and I liked the poinsettia topped skis too.

Canoe ornament with signatures

This canoe ornament with what I presume to be the signatures of those who helped make it is adorable. I think, like the first poinsettia ornament above, it is hand crafted from birch bark.

Minnesota state and mixed ornaments

There were many creative ornaments in the shape of the state of Minnesota but I liked this multicolored one with the silver glitter cross the best. I hope you enjoyed this mini photo tour of our national Christmas tree! Merriest Christmas and happiest New Year wishes to you!

Related posts:
2013 National Christmas tree: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/national-christmas-tree-with-childrens.html
Smithsonian Christmas tree: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2011/12/smithsonian-castles-christmas-tree.html
Christmas blessings: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-blessings.html
Funny Christmas cat photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-cat-santa-and-reindeer.html
Longwood Gardens Christmas: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-at-longwood-gardens.html

National Christmas Tree Ornament Photos

As mentioned in my previous post, I love seeing the handmade ornaments crafted each year for our National Christmas tree. This year the honor went to California as you can probably guess based on the themes of some of the ornaments. I thought the contributors did a great job and hope you enjoy this little taste of our National Christmas tree's ornaments for 2011. All photos by me.

I wish you a joyous New Year. May God bless you this holiday season and always!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

"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 Saviour, 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."

(Luke 2: 10-14, KJV)

Photo by naygyl from www.morguefile.com

"Grant us, Father, hearts of worship
At this time of Jesus’ birth;
We would see anew His glory
Shine throughout this sin-cursed earth." —D. De Haan on today's Our Daily Bread.

Today we celebrate Jesus Christ's birthday, His coming to earth in human form for the express purpose of saving our souls. Happy birthday dear Jesus!

We are all sinners in need of our Savior. Only by God's grace and Christ's sacrifice can we be saved. Let's praise God and worship Him today and every day. Let the joy of salvation flood through every cell of our beings. God loves us so much! Glory to God in the highest! Merry Christmas to you and may You know His peace and blessing.

Merry Christmas Cat Elf

Merry Christmas from our home and hearts to yours! I had a lot of laughs photographing our elderly cat, Moose, in her elf costume. The package indicated that the costume was sized for a small dog so I thought it would work on our 12 pound cat but it was really too large and she was swimming in it. Lucky for me she was more interested in the roofers working on my neighbor's house than on our photo session. Still, I made it as fast as possible for her and rewarded her with her favorite cat treats.

May God bless you this Christmas and always!