Happy Birthday Jesus

From our very first birthday we celebrate each year with gifts and

songs and sweet fellowship with friends and family.  What kind of

birthday gift can we give the Savior, the Son of God?  It is not

like we can FedEx a holy bauble to bring a moment of pleasure

to the Creator of the universe.

Several years ago the Single Sisters and Friends decided to give

Jesus a birthday gift, one that comes from our hearts and our

hands.  It might look like miles of garland, unending numbers

of white lights and red bows, and too many wreaths to count

but to us, the "sisters" it is far more than that.  We give our time

when we could surely be doing other things, we give the work

of our hands when our fingers are sore from fluffing greenery

and ribbons, and we give of our hearts as we pray to Him with

words of worship and thanksgiving.  We give Jesus the work

of our hands and hearts and we call it decorating.

Friday and Saturday...  From bulletin boards to decorated trees
to snowflakes, Tyke Town is made ready for Christmas.

 

 

Not everything goes smoothly.  The tree in the Childrens Lobby

refuses to light except from the middle down.   Judy heads

for the restroom with a suggestion to pray for the tree lights

while she is in there.   When she returns, the lights are

still off but she puts her hand on the tree and

instantly, it sparkles from top to bottom!

How is that for an answer to prayer!

 

The Knight from the Academy did not escape our

garlands and bows!

As the Children's area was being decorated Carole and
Rick Batten were stringing garland, wreaths and lights
all around the walking track.  Miles and miles of decoration!

 

Sunday afternoon was the day we decorated the Worship Center

stage and we had to call in the reinforcements.  Men to the rescue.

Rick Batten, T.J. Ford and Sam Parker did the work that

the sisters just cannot do alone.  They hoisted the trees

into position, connecting each section perfectly.

 

 

Sometime lights come on and sometime it requires some

crawling around under the trees to get the connections

working  just right.

 

 

Sam (on the left below) has helped us for years, since he was a

young teen.  Now he is a senior in high school and soon

will be leaving for college.  Thank you Sam, we love you!

 

 

As the lights come on section by section, the stars are

carefully placed at the very top.  Sometimes a sister has

to make sure the star is not crooked!

 

 

When the trees are up and ready, decorations do not

magically appear.  They have to be hauled in boxes

and unpacked by a smiling sister....

 

 

Bows by the dozens and dozens have to be fluffed...

 

 

Garlands by the mile have to be fluffed from their

smushed condition after a year in a box...

 

 

And sometimes we have to hurry up and wait until we are

ready to do the next step.

 

 

The trees are covered with stars from the top to the

lowest branches reminding us of the stary night when

angels proclaimed the birth of the Savior to shepherds on

the hillside and the star that led the Wise Men from the East.

 

 

 

Some stars require some careful ladder balancing while

others are hung from a safer place!

 

Deep red poinsettias are carefully put in place, surrounding

the base of each worship center tree.  The Christmas

poinsettias are a reminder to each of us of the blood that

was shed for our redemption some thirty-tree years

after the birth of Jesus.

 

 

Then comes Monday morning...day 4 of decorating.

Years ago the Single Sisters and Friends asked Dale Boyer to

design and build a stable for us.  A stable that would honor

the lowly birth of the Son of God.

 

Each year Dale has erected the stable, this year the stable team

consisted of Rick, Stuart and of course Dale.







 

Dale is serious when it comes to the stable but once it was

constructed again this year, he was one happy fellow!

 

 

Stable is up and ready and now here come the stable decorators.

 

Our stable has three sections...

 

One side shows stable critters...donkeys, kitties, mice and birds.

 

 

 



The other side has shepherd children with their sheep.

 

 

 

 The center section depicts Mary, Joseph, and the newborn Christ Child.

 

             

 



 

He came as a newborn infant in order to bring us salvation,

to give us the example of true love,

and to seek and save that which was lost...us. 

You....and....me.

 



 

And so the work of our hands and the love of our hearts says

"Happy Birthday, Jesus"