"JINGLE BELLS"

     One of the highlights of my December 2013 has been playing the piano at the Marion Nursing Home (Fountains) for the weekly Whiteash Freewill Baptist service for the residents.  There are three guitar players who also come.  I love playing the piano with guitars.  I'm not that good, but they are!  Larry, Don and Jimmy play the guitars and each can sing a really good special song.  Two weeks ago, I heard "Come and See What's Happening In the Barn" for the first time.  I was really impressed with Jimmy's special version and the guitars, all of them.  Seems now like I've been singing it in my head forever.  

     Br. Andy, the pastor at Whiteash, who comes with Stephanie (his wife and a wonderful singer) brings the message.  There are children who come along from our church.  They're home schooled, so going to the nursing home every week is a part of their schooling.  See, they are called upon to quote scriptures and cite the Bible book, chapter and verse.  A couple of the older ones are memorizing the books of the Bible and are asked each week to recite them.  Sometimes Steph or Br Andy will offer a clue or hint to keep them going.  The residents love having the children.  You can see drooping heads lift a little, blank faces try to smile and even tired hands may be lifted up in a sort of wave to the kids. The kids are even asked to lead in prayer and I'm here to tell you, their prayers will humble your spirit.

    Each week, it seems like a different one takes up the end of the piano bench and really makes my day.  A week ago it was Natalie.  She is precious and a joy to watch and kind of special, cause she's the only girl most of the time.  Caleb and Jack are Br. Andy's boys.  Jack played a solo on the piano.  He's only six.  He did great.  

      This week my piano assistant was another young lad, Dillinger.  A well behaved youngster, but he is a very inquisitive child.  I was using music from the book displayed above for some of the songs.  Dillinger points to all the pictures in the book, asking very quietly about Frosty or Santa or the angels displayed above the music.  He's very quiet about this and the conversation is just him and me.  I love it!

     On this page, he points to the sleigh and I explain the sleigh. Next he points to the horse and I say, "Yes, that's the horse pulling the sleigh."  Then he points to the horse again, and I guess I'm a little confused, "Yes, that's the horse."  He points again.  This time I get it.  He's pointing to the harness.  Oh yeah, now I get it.  I explain that those are bells on the harness.  When the horses run, dashing through the snow, the bells ring and that's why the song is called "Jingle Bells."  Dillinger lifts his head, smiles up at me. I say, "So, now, you know about jingle bells."  He nods his head up once and down once, with a little smile and a satisfied look that says, "Yep, I got it."  So many things in life we just take for granted.  

Spend some time with a child.  

Spend some time with the old folks.  

Think about it!  

Heard any new songs lately?  

Did you hear those bells ringing?  

Did you hear the angels singing? 
Did you see what happened in the barn?

It's Christmas !  

I hope you hear the bells!

Copyright - 2013 - Doris Grant Frey

A Christmas Newsletter from Shawneetown First Baptist:

BRO JACK’S NEWSLETTER

(Mon, 16 Dec 2013)

Pastor Jack Hall

Since I last wrote, the First Baptist Kids and I have lit two more Advent Candles in preparation for the day that we celebrate the “Coming” of our Savior, Jesus Christ, into our world.  Those two candles are the Bethlehem Candle which I call the candle of peace and the Shepherds’ Candle which I call the candle of love.

  Peace and love are among the top things that most people long for in their lifetime.  And, I don’t know about you; but I believe they are the two things most needed in our world today!

   In Isaiah 9:6, one of the names attributed to the coming Messiah is Prince of Peace.  Jesus is that Prince of Peace who was born in Bethlehem.  I don‘t call the Bethlehem Candle the candle of peace because Bethlehem was a town of peace.  In fact, it was anything but a place of peace on the night when Jesus was born!  Caesar Augustus had called for a census and all the men had to return to their place of birth to register.  That included Joseph.  So he and Mary, who was pregnant, returned there.

   The town was filled with people, many of whom were seeking places to stay.  Mary and Joseph entered this town of bedlam and turmoil looking for a place for themselves.  The only place they could find was a cave where cattle and sheep were kept.  It was in the midst of turmoil that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was born.

   It’s the same with us today!  We live in a world of bedlam and turmoil.  Our hearts are filled with anxiety and frustration.  We seek peace in so many places; mostly the wrong places.  But when we look to the Prince of Peace, we can have peace in the midst of our turmoil.  The only real peace is peace with God through Jesus.

  When I got to the Shepherds’ Candle (love), I asked the children what they might have thought if they had arrived at the church that morning and someone was standing at the door and said, “You can’t come in!  You’re not good enough!  You’re not one of our kind!”? The answers were “sad” and “mad.”

   Then, I explained that the shepherds were not allowed to worship in the temple simply because they were shepherds!  And, it was to those shepherds that the announcement was first made:  “Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David” (Luke 2:11).

   That announcement to those lowly, outcast shepherds shows the great love of our God!  God loves you!  It doesn’t matter who you are, what your background is, or what you have done in the past.  God loved you so much that He sent His One and Only Son into this world to be your Savior!  You just need to receive Him by faith!

   One of the things which I enjoy about sharing these scriptural truths with the kids is their enthusiasm and excitement.  Each Sunday they cannot wait for us to get to “that white candle in the middle!”  That is the Christ Candle (the candle of salvation).  Wouldn’t be wonderful if the rest of us (us adults) were that enthused and excited to get to Christ?

Bro Jack
I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

Christmas At The Gas Station    

(Adapted by John McNeil from a short story by an unknown author)

The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn't been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. It was just another day to him. He didn't hate Christmas, just couldn't find a reason to celebrate. He was sitting there looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a homeless man stepped through.

Instead of throwing the man out, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the heater and warm up. "Thank you, but I don't mean to intrude," said the stranger. "I see you're busy, I'll just go."

"Not without something hot in your belly." George said.
He turned and opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. "It ain't much, but it's hot and tasty. Stew ... Made it myself. When you're done, there's coffee and it's fresh."

Just at that moment he heard the "ding" of the driveway bell. "Excuse me, be right back," George said. There in the driveway was an old '53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front.. The driver was panicked. "Mister can you help me!" said the driver, with a deep Spanish accent. "My wife is with child and my car is broken." George opened the hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked from the cold, the car was dead.

"You ain't going in this thing," George said as he turned away.

"But Mister, please help ..." The door of the office closed behind George as he went inside. He went to the office wall and got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked around the building, opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting. "Here, take my truck," he said. "She ain't the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good."

George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it sped off into the night. He turned and walked back inside the office. "Glad I gave 'em the truck, their tires were shot too. That 'ole truck has brand new ." George thought he was talking to the stranger, but the man had gone. The Thermos was on the desk, empty, with a used coffee cup beside it. "Well, at least he got something in his belly," George thought.

George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start. It cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the garage where the truck had been. He thought he would tinker with it for something to do. Christmas Eve meant no customers. He discovered the the block hadn't cracked, it was just the bottom hose on the radiator. "Well, shoot, I can fix this," he said to himself. So he put a new one on.

"Those tires ain't gonna get 'em through the winter either." He took the snow treads off of his wife's old Lincoln. They were like new and he wasn't going to drive the car anyway.

As he was working, he heard shots being fired. He ran outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground. Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned, "Please help me."

George helped the officer inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic. He knew the wound needed attention. "Pressure to stop the bleeding," he thought. The uniform company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels. He used those and duct tape to bind the wound. "Hey, they say duct tape can fix anythin'," he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease.

"Something for pain," George thought. All he had was the pills he used for his back. "These ought to work." He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills. "You hang in there, I'm going to get you an ambulance."

The phone was dead. "Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your car." He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard destroying the two way radio.

He went back in to find the policeman sitting up. "Thanks," said the officer. "You could have left me there. The guy that shot me is still in the area."

George sat down beside him, "I would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain't gonna leave you." George pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding. "Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right through 'ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff though. I think with time your gonna be right as rain."

George got up and poured a cup of coffee. "How do you take it?" he asked.

"None for me," said the officer..

"Oh, yer gonna drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain't got no donuts." The officer laughed and winced at the same time.

The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun. "Give me all your cash! Do it now!" the young man yelled. His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this before.

"That's the guy that shot me!" exclaimed the officer.

"Son, why are you doing this?" asked George, "You need to put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt."

The young man was confused. "Shut up old man, or I'll shoot you, too. Now give me the cash!"

The cop was reaching for his gun. "Put that thing away," George said to the cop, "we got one too many in here now."

He turned his attention to the young man. "Son, it's Christmas Eve. If you need money, well then, here. It ain't much but it's all I got. Now put that pea shooter away."

George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time. The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. "I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week."

George handed the gun to the cop. "Son, we all get in a bit of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the best we can."

He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a chair across from the cop. "Sometimes we do stupid things." George handed the young man a cup of coffee. "Bein' stupid is one of the things that makes us human. Comin' in here with a gun ain't the answer. Now sit there and get warm and we'll sort this thing out."

The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop. "Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I'm sorry officer."

"Shut up and drink your coffee " the cop said.

George could hear the sounds of sirens outside. A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through the door, guns drawn. "Chuck! You ok?" one of the cops asked the wounded officer.

"Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?"

"GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did this?" the other cop asked as he approached the young man.

Chuck answered him, "I don't know. The guy ran off into the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran."

George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other.

"That guy work here?" the wounded cop continued.

"Yep," George said, "just hired him this morning. Boy lost his job."

The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher. The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, "Why?"

Chuck just said, "Merry Christmas boy ... and you too, George, and thanks for everything."

"Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there. That ought to solve some of your problems."

George went into the back room and came out with a box. He pulled out a ring box. "Here you go, something for the little woman. I don't think Martha would mind. She said it would come in handy some day."

The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring he ever saw. "I can't take this," said the young man. "It means something to you."

"And now it means something to you," replied George. "I got my memories. That's all I need."

George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had left for him to sell. "Here's something for that little man of yours."

The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that the old man had handed him earlier.

"And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner with? You keep that too," George said. "Now git home to your family."

The young man turned with tears streaming down his face. "I'll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still good."

"Nope. I'm closed Christmas day," George said. "See ya the day after."

George turned around to find that the stranger had returned. "Where'd you come from? I thought you left?"

"I have been here. I have always been here," said the stranger. "You say you don't celebrate Christmas. Why?"

"Well, after my wife passed away, I just couldn't see what all the bother was. Puttin' up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree. Bakin' cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn't the same by myself and besides I was gettin' a little chubby."

The stranger put his hand on George's shoulder. "But you do celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I was cold and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a great doctor.

The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a rich man and not take any for himself. "That is the spirit of the season and you keep it as good as any man."

George was taken aback by all this stranger had said. "And how do you know all this?" asked the old man.

"Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your days are done you will be with Martha again."

The stranger moved toward the door. "If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big celebration planned."

George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden light began to fill the room.

"You see, George ... it's My birthday. Merry Christmas."

George fell to his knees and replied, "Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus"

MERRY CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES:

Some things I remember about Christmas Past.

When I was little, I lived at Gramma’s house.  She always put the Christmas tree in the front room.  It was usually closed off to cut down on using coal (we had coal stoves) until company came.  We still slept in the bedrooms in the front of the house.  Yes, it was cold.  But I slept with her on her feather bed or with my Mom.  You can see my poem about ‘The Wishbook Doll’ in my December 2012 blog post.  (see list of posts in the right margin)

When I was in the eighth grade, I started collecting stamps.  My Christmas present was a Liberty Stamp album from H. E. Harris.  I was so proud to have it.  Still save stamps.  Still enjoy that.  Wonder how much longer, we’re going to even be using stamps?

When Gene and I moved home from St. Louis, 1975, we lived in Aunt Stell’s house in FudgeTown (ie. Ferges).  We went to Uncle Frank and Aunt Viola’s on the road to Crenshaw Crossing (now is Reed’s Cemetery Road).  He took us way out back into his woods and we got our own Christmas tree.  It seemed really special being in FudgeTown with a real live Christmas tree, after all those years being away in the city.

Sometime in the early 80’s, we lived on North 13^th St. in Herrin.  I remember Mom (Lola) was with us and we had our Christmas party going on Christmas Eve.  Then the hospital called and asked me to come.  I sat with Aunt Phyllis, so Uncle Obed could go home and rest.  She had huge problems after a surgery and ended up being moved to St. Louis.  Eventually, I had to give a deposition in the case.  Sometimes Christmas is more about being there for others than just enjoying the season.

One time in the fall, there was a tiny lost kitty meowing from atop the rear tire of my car (on North 13^th St.)  So I thought, ‘Well, this will be good.  Mom will have a pet and good company while I’m at work.’  I had several cats in my life time.  The very first was Casper, a solid white kitty, whose mother chose my lap (at friend Clara’s house) to have her water break and start her labor.  (Remember, Casper the Friendly Ghost?)  Casper lived a long time at Pop’s, mostly in the chicken coop and the barn.  Probably the most precious, of course, was my Serena.  I got her while Gene and I were in St. Louis, a full blooded, seal point Siamese.  And she was my best friend through that first ill-fated marriage, until she died on the front porch at Herrin.  Anyway, the little lost guy was kind of a grey striped feisty little feller, so I named him Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Mom was writing pen pals, and stories and poems and was actually the poet in the Herrin Spokesman Poet’s Corner.  I fancied myself a writer and poet as well, so I thought Henry would be a good addition to the family.  That year at Christmas I was working evenings.  The tree was up and the house was all decorated, etc.  One night I came home from work, worked 3-11:30, but often worked late.  When I came in, Mom, who should have been in bed, was sitting in her wheelchair in front of the Christmas tree with a fly swatter in one hand and a can of room spray in the other.  “Mom, what in the world are you doing?”  She points to Henry, perched low and behind the tree, “Keeping Henry from climbing the Christmas Tree.”

In the late fall of 1989, Gary Frey came into my life.  Wow, a Southern Illinois redneck, marine, coal miner with red hair.  I was not impressed.  But he kept hanging around and he was highly recommended by my Aunt Helena.  (Who just happened to be married to his Uncle Harry.)  AND he WAS a cowboy.  So early December I said, “We have to get ready for the Christmas Eve party.”  He looked at me, very solemn and said clearly, “I don’t do Christmas”.  Whooo!  Who doesn’t do Christmas?  So I just flipped back at him, “Well, if you’re going to hang around here, you will do Christmas.” So we went on and a few days later, I said, “Well, it’s time to get the tree out and put it together and get the house decorated.”  And HE SAID, “I don’t do Christmas trees.”  So I said, “Okay, we’ll have a tree decorating party, too.”  So we did, with Lawrence and Clara and Amanda and Preston.  It was great fun.  Lawrence and Gary put the tree together and strung the lights and we decorated it.  It was really pretty.  So on Christmas Eve we had a party.  By the way, he got the barbeque, the buns and was pretty much the happiest duck in the puddle.   After everyone left, he brought in this big box all wrapped up in Christmas paper and gave it to me, I mean scooted it over on the floor.  It was a huge box.  I unwrapped it and opened it.  A complete set of that Visions Cookware.  I mean,  Come on,  something to cook with?  But see, he already had given me roses (Yeah, on our first date!)  and he gave me something else I’d never had. 

It’s why Christ came and why we have Christmas every year. 

And it’s why God put Gary Frey in my life, just in time, 1989, for Christmas. 

It’s called “love.” 

I hope you all get lots of love for Christmas and all year long.  Yeah!

(Copyright – 2013 – Doris Grant Frey)