{"id":1024,"date":"2008-11-30T06:35:58","date_gmt":"2008-11-30T12:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromthefrontporch.com\/WPBlog\/?p=1024"},"modified":"2013-11-07T08:54:31","modified_gmt":"2013-11-07T14:54:31","slug":"the-coming-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/2008\/11\/the-coming-of-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"the coming of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today is Advent Sunday &#8211; the first Sunday in Advent &#8211; <em>&#8220;the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus&#8221;. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/XBobStockings500333.jpg\" target=\"Large\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/XBobStockings500333.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I gather those things that say Christmas, Light, dreams, hope and whimsy&#8230; some just wait&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/XTrain500333.jpg\" target=\"Large\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/XTrain500333.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/XSkier500333.jpg\" target=\"Large\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/XSkier500333.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This skier is special to me &#8211; it was always on the white sheet (snow) that was the tree skirt on our Christmas tree when I was a child.  Just seeing it makes me smile and remember wonderful snippets of memories from childhood Christmases.  <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/Book375535.jpg\" target=\"Large\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/Book375535.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I found this book some years ago and have since read it during Advent.  At the time of the writing, the author, Morton Kelsey was a professor of Theology at Notre Dame.  In this book, he uses scripture, tradition and legend to tell the Christmas story and explore the lives and thoughts of the &#8220;players&#8221; in that first Christmas.  For me, in the ever changing context of my life and experience, it refreshes my faith and makes Christmas the Holy Night that it is.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/XTree500333.jpg\" target=\"Large\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/XTree500333.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/XLight400422.jpg\" target=\"Large\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/XLight400422.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/XHolyNight500380.jpg\" target=\"Large\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/beardogco.com\/WPBlog\/blogimages\/Nov08\/XHolyNight500380.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Advent, the coming of Christmas &#8211; of the ultimate Love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today is Advent Sunday &#8211; the first Sunday in Advent &#8211; &#8220;the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus&#8221;. I gather those things that say Christmas, Light, dreams, hope and whimsy&#8230; some just wait&#8230; This skier is special to me &#8211; it was always on the white sheet [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spirituality"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13763,"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions\/13763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}