Elsie' s 80th birthday

Meet Elsie, in the center, she had an open day at her house to celebrate

 her 80th birthday. Of course Joan is holding the mistletoe...

We all had a fun and relaxing time chatting.. Here are a few photos...

The Christingle

I  must confess that where I used to live, in the Isle of Man, we did not have a Christingle service. If you are in the same case, let me explain what it is about. The tradition of making Christingles comes to us from Moravia, where the first Christingle service was held on Christmas Eve, 1747. A Christingle comprises of
· an orange - This represents the world in which we live that God created.
· a red ribbon - This is tied around the orange and represents the blood which Jesus shed for us.
· four cocktail sticks - These are placed around the orange and represent the four seasons.
· nuts, fruit or sweets - These are placed on the ends of the 4 cocktail sticks and represent the fruits of the earth which God provides.
· a lighted candle - This is placed in the centre of the orange and represents Jesus Christ the Light of the World.
During the service, the candles are lit and the following is read:
In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
In him was life,
and the life was the light of all people.
The true light, which gives light to everyone,
came into the world. (John 1:5)
Glory to the newborn king.
Jesus, the light of the world.
God is light,
in him there is no darkness at all.
Although darkness covered the earth
and the people lived in thick darkness,
God's glory appeared over us
Preparing the Christingles takes a bit of time!

Blessings to all of you!

Humour 3

May your troubles be less, your blessings more,

and may nothing but happiness, come through your door.
On the first day, God created the dog and said, "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years."
The dog said, "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?"

So God agreed......
On the second day, God created the monkey and said, "Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."
The monkey said, "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?"

And God agreed......

On the third day, God created the cow and said, "You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said, "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?"

And God agreed again......

On the fourth day, God created humans and said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years."

But the human said, "Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay," said God. "You asked for it."

So that is why for our first twenty years, we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years, we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you. There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I'm doing it as a public service.

This year why not make a change ?

O Come Let Us Adore Him



by Sue Towler

Christmas comes but once a year


But what does it mean to you


An enormous meal, course after course


Helped down with a drink or two ?


Waking up on Christmas Day


With anticipation to see


All the oddly shaped parcels


Wondering are there any for me?


Once the meal is over


Sitting to listen to "The Queen"


Then waiting for "The Rellies" to come


Late again!! where have they been ?


Well after all the panic and fuss


The day has almost gone


Do you wonder what it's all about


It wasn't even much fun.


Maybe thar's because the real reason


For celebration has been ignored


The birth of Christ our Saviour


Is he no longer your Lord?


Or is he only someone


You turn to when in need


That doesn't seem quite right though


A one-way friendship indeed


So this year why not make a change


Fix your thoughts on Christ our Lord


Put Him First above all else


To be truly worshipped and adored.

Tonight, I have just come across the following website : christart.com full of cliparts and art stuff obviously. Unexpectedly they also have a number of beautiful poems written by talented brothers and sisters. I couldn't resist sharing this one with you. Praise the Lord.
May the Lord bless you in abundance.

Try this for a smile . . .

Two ninety-year old men, Mike and Joe, had been friends all of their lives. When it was clear that Joe was dying, Mike visited him every day. One day Mike said, “Joe, we both loved rugby all our lives, and we played rugby on Saturdays together for so many years. Please do me one favour, when you get to Heaven; somehow you must let me know if there’s rugby there.”
Joe looked up at Mike from his death-bed, “Mike, you’ve been my best mate for many years. If it’s at all possible, I'll do this favour for you.”
Shortly after that, Joe passed on.
At midnight a couple of nights later, Mike was awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to him, “Mike! Mike!”
“Who is it?” asked Mike, sitting up suddenly. “Who is it?”
“Mike – it’s me, Joe.”
“You're not Joe. Joe just died.”
“I'm telling you, it’s me, Joe,” insisted the voice.
“Joe! Where are you?”
“In heaven”, Joe replied. “I have some very good news and a little bad news.”
“Tell me the good news first,” said Mike.
“The good news,” Joe said, “is that there’s rugby in heaven. Better yet, all of our old friends who died before us are here, too. Better than that, we’re all young again. Better still, it’s always spring-time and it never rains or snows. And best of all, we can play rugby all we want, and we never get tired.”
“That's beyond my wildest dreams!” said Mike. “So what's the bad news?”
“You’re in the team for Tuesday!”

Quality time with friends and family

Some time ago, Patricia and Michael invited us for Sunday diner and we had a wonderful time.  It was great to spend some quality time. There was a beautiful log fire in the lounge and we were pampered beyond measure!






We love having friends round, however, finding the right time can be difficult. The week-end before last Pat, Alan and Jason came to ours. You can guess who is the cook! Diner was délicieux and I will extrapolate about the desert!

I was told that best English trifle is made with custard! I was quite happy to make it with jelly topped up with custard..I hear that there is a bit of controversy..so what kind of trifle do you prefer ? When we went shopping on the saturday, Steven put some summer fruits in the trolley but somehow, when he unpacked the shopping, he could not find them, ..checked the bill and he had not paid for them either..Earlier in the week, I bought a pineapple..you can guess what happened...this is a pineapple trifle façon Etienne.

Family and friends, cheerful hearts, are a blessing from the Lord. Praise the Lord.

Home early!

I am home early as there's been a water leak at my school in the basement and it's not safe to stay there! We  taught periods 1 and 2 and at break we told our form to go home! Needless to say that the children were pretty excited! So I shall catch up with bits and pieces at home, admin and I ought to start writing those Christmas cards!