Christmas 2020 is like no other we’ve ever encountered. There’s an overarching sadness and we all know why. Rather than lamenting on what we can and cannot do, I choose to think about the reason for the season and past Christmases where happiness abounded. Unlike Ebenezer Scrooge, we’ll take a trip to a Christmas past and relive a fond memory.
Every year, my husband and I travel to Northeast Ohio where my entire family gathers for Christmas and we return to North Carolina before New Year’s. My two children and grandchildren fly or drive to visit my mother, my sibling’s family, and of course, us. Three years ago, it was no different.
Without telling me, my husband had invited his older sister for a visit to North Carolina for her birthday in January, My husband wanted to do something special for her and take her (and me) to see the Christmas decorations at The Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina. (We had visited one summer a few years before, but wanted to see it at Christmas time).
While the sentiment was lovely and his sister deserved it for all she had done for his family over the years, it was December. I was knee-deep in cleaning, decorating, baking, wrapping, and last-minute year-end work stuff. I told him he had to plan the entire trip because I couldn’t possibly put one more thing on my plate. So he did.
Of course, anything my husband does, it’s always the last minute. Tickets for Christmas at the Biltmore (not to mention hotel rooms) would have been impossible to get, not to mention ultra-expensive if he’d wanted to go in December. But, thankfully, The Biltmore keeps the Christmas decorations until around the tenth of January. So, he could get tickets and make hotel reservations.
The day his sister arrived, it snowed. It delighted not only my husband, but his sister as well. Since they grew up in the Los Angeles area, snow was a big deal. Except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, snow had lost its luster for me since I lived in it growing up. The rest of the time, I could do without it. For the three years we had lived in North Carolina, that year was the coldest we’d experienced.
We had dinner and planned for the four-hour trip to Asheville, North Carolina, the next day. The day we left, the sun shone and but the air was frigid as we traveled to the estate, which is in the northwest mountains of North Carolina. When we arrived, we checked into the smaller of the two Biltmore hotels. To date, with all our travels, it remains my husband’s favorite hotel.
We had tickets for the Candlelight Christmas tour that evening. The hotel and exterior decorations were spectacular, but being in the mountains, arctic-like temperatures prevailed, which curtailed our ability to walk the estate. Shopping was a must, though, and the quaint shops on the Biltmore estate still had Christmas themed items.
The carriage house next to The Biltmore has quaint gift shops year-round, but at Christmas, they transform into a unique Christmas shopping experience. Since ornaments are my favorite item to purchase during the holiday season, I bought several not only for myself but for my children for the following year. Interestingly, the sales clerk who sold his sister the delightful Santa she shipped back to California, grew up in the same little town where my husband grew up. What a small world! Neither my husband nor his sister could get over it.
The intense cold bit through several layers of clothing, but after our shopping expedition, it was finally time to see the interior of the house. Every fireplace and lamp was lit and made the enormous rooms look cozy and inviting. Words cannot do justice to the grandiose beauty of the Biltmore at Christmas, so I won’t even try. Instead, here’s a look at just a few of the photos we took and I hope someday you too, may see the wonder of The Biltmore at Christmas… Enjoy!
Merry Christmas from our house to yours! May you have peaceful and blessed Christmas, remembering the reason for the season.
For almost four hundred years Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving. This year will go down in history as different from all other Thanksgivings in the past century. It is still the fourth Thursday of November as Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared it to be in 1941. We’ll still have Turkey with all the trimmings, pumpkin pie, and the Macy’s Day Parade. But it will be different. Different in a way few of us have seen in our lifetimes.
In 1620, the Pilgrims proclaimed the Mayflower Compact, which would become the basis for America’s Declaration of Independence. This was a scant year before the first ever Thanksgiving. And if you were in any doubt as to this country’s roots, check out what the Mayflower Compact says. I’ve been out of school for many, many years and didn’t remember it or what it said. But after listening to a Thanksgiving message last night from one of my favorite Bible teachers, Jack Hibbs, I looked it up, and our nation’s colorful history enthralled me.
Thanksgiving. We have lost sight of what is truly important. What do we have to be thankful for this year? Given all that Americans have suffered and lost, it doesn’t seem like there’s much to be thankful for. And while I understand the need for all the changes to our national holiday this year, I don’t have to like it. Not at all. And yet there are things to be thankful for. Like what you ask.
Family? Spending time with family will be relegated to telephone calls, FaceTime, Zoom, or any other method we can come up with to see and spend time with family. I am thankful for those methods we have at our fingertips to see and talk to loved ones. That we even have loved ones who we can call is a blessing and a cause to be thankful. Some do not. Yes, I’m exceedingly thankful for my family.
Provision? In a time where there are nations who are starving, we have an abundance of food in our pantries and freezers. Restaurants who will make your Thanksgiving meal. I’m thankful for a well-prepared meal, even if I have to prepare it myself. It’s not about the turkey and trimmings or having a day off from work (some even have two days off.) It’s about Thanking God for His Provision in our lives.
So.. we return to the core of why we celebrate Thanksgiving. Opening the door to our hearts will enable us to give thanks for those things in our lives. Search for something in which to give thanks this day, and every day.
and the man, Amos, is one of the minor prophets of the Bible. His name means “burden” or “burden bearer” and he was a man of burden as he delivered prophecies of judgment on the nations surrounding Israel and Israel itself. He lived about ten miles from Jerusalem and Bible scholars have dated his ministry between 750 and 760 BC, at the time of King Uzziah, when the nation of Israel had been divided into two nations for 150 years
So how does this verse correlate to today’s society?
America celebrates its 244th birthday today. The fourth of July. The day the Declaration of Independence was signed by America’s forefathers. Thinking back on my childhood, Independence Day meant picnics and barbecues, fun and fireworks, and spending time with friends and family. Articles and television broadcasts covered the valiant struggle to achieve Independence. But as a child, I focused on the fun aspect of the day and not on the battles or the loss of life. Most, if not all, of those childhood memories, have been shattered by a deadly virus that has claimed the lives of more than 132 thousand people. On the heels of this deadly plague, we have the destruction of property and monuments through protests and violence.
Focusing on the good times of the past and trying to enjoy the day is a dream when I can’t visit my community’s gorgeous outdoor pool because I need to make an appointment and have a limited time frame for that visit. Do I even want to attempt to schedule a time (if there are any available) or do I just stay home and possibly go see fireworks to have a celebration?
Most, if not all the firework displays have been canceled. So that’s out. But maybe there will be displays on television that I could watch, but it’s not the same. Parks and beaches are closed. Boat ramps are closed. Many restaurants are closed or are open to half capacity. We’re destined to stay home just as authorities dictated. Nothing is as it was.
Based on this list, I’d say the United States is well on its way to complete destruction. But, wait. Do we want to give up our way of life because research has shown this happened in the Hittite Empire, the Western Roman Empire, the Gupta Empires in India, the Han and Tang dynasties in China, and the Mayans? Or do we fight like the ancestors this nation fought for a well-earned liberation?
Our first independence was fraught with the sound of cannons and guns, but I would hope today’s fight would be fought on our knees. I’m but one of the millions who have been praying for our nation, our leaders, and our people. All people.
Cyrus was an ancient, cruel and pagan king. It’s interesting to me that this mighty king would proclaim the Jewish God, THE God and then give the Jews the green light to return to Jerusalem and build the temple to their God. This king ultimately allowed the exiled people to return to their homeland. 
Solomon asked God not for wealth, health or abundance of any sort but he asked for wisdom. How wise it was of him to ask God for a trait that he could use to push the nation of Israel to heights no one had ever seen before. God was exceedingly pleased with the request and not only gave Solomon great wisdom, the likes of which this earth hadn’t seen before him or since but great wealth and favor among the nations.
One day last year my husband called me on the phone from work and said he was having a tough time dealing with a case he had (he’s a network engineer and many times those cases have a complexity that sometimes can be way over not on his head but also his colleagues.) We had prayed that morning, but this was a special prayer for the specifics of the case. We took about five minutes to ask the Lord to intervene and give my husband the “eyes” to see the problem to fix it or have His ministering angels intervene and fix it for him. The wind up was when he got off the phone and went back to work on it, he figured it out, fixed it and the client was happy. We have scores of stories like that. Where God answered the prayer for wisdom. God gives us our needs, not our greeds. We were specific in the wisdom he needed for the moment and God answered that prayer.
One hundred and ten years ago, Anne Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St. Andrew’s Methodist church in Grafton, Virginia. She abhorred the commercialization of the holiday and attempted to have it removed from the calendar in her later years.
Mothers, like all humans, are imperfect but they gave us the gift of life. Without them, where would we be? They are a gift from God who can never be replaced regardless of circumstance.