Ramblings from my treehouse

Mr. T and I recently attended a Living Christmas Tree production at one of the churches in our town.  Here is what the front of the sanctuary looked like before the program began.

                                                  Here is what it looked like when it began.

There are 40 singers in the middle tree.  Yes, I counted them:)  The Christmas carols were just beautiful, and it was just what we needed to get in the spirit of Christmas.

We also got to attend the Rockettes Radio City Christmas Spectacular while we were in Florida recently.  The last scene is The Living Nativity with live camels, sheep and donkeys and beautiful costumes.  The Living Nativity upholds a tradition begun by St. Francis of Assisi in 1223, and has been a revered part of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular since 1933.  It was just fabulous, and I wish I could share pictures with you, but photography wasn't allowed.  But I can share the wonderful poem that they read that was written by Dr. James Allen Francis in 1926.  I definitely had a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye when it was read.

ONE SOLITARY LIFE

He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman
He grew up in another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty

Then for three years

He was an itinerant preacher

He never had a family

or owned a home

He never set foot inside a big city

He never traveled two hundred miles from

the place He was born

He never wrote a book

or held an office

He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness

While He was still a young man

the tide of popular opinion

turned against Him

His friends deserted Him

He was turned over to His enemies

and went through the mockery of a trial

He was nailed to a cross between two thieves

While He was dying

His executioners gambled for the only piece

of property He had--His coat

When He was dead

He was taken down and laid

in a borrowed grave

Two thousand years have come and gone, and today

He is the central figure for much of the

human race

All the armies that ever marched

and all the navies that ever sailed

and all parliaments that ever sat

and all the kings that ever reigned,

put together

have not affected the life of man

upon this earth as powerfully as this

"One Solitary Life"

May each one of you have a very Blessed Christmas!

Encourage One Another♥♥