Cherish. . . the word!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Alphabet Soup--Letter O--Christmas Version

Alphabet Soup is hosted by Morning Glory at Seeds From My Garden. Why don't you go over to her place and get all the scoop on participating. We have fun with it every Wednesday!

OOPS! I just checked at Morning Glory's and she is not hosting Alphabet Soup today. Hmmm--Oh Well, I have it ready to go up, so I'm going to leave it. I'll adjust next week!

Here is my list of things in my life that "bring me joy, happiness, or just plain humor." This is a Christmas Version of Alphabet Soup, brought to you by the letter O.

O Holy Night--One of my favorite songs of the season. It is definitely one of the carols that reminds me best that amidst all the hustle and bustle I must stop and remember why we celebrate--"It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth!"

Others--My husband and I enjoy the giving part of Christmas. It has always been one of our joys to choose gifts for our children. The shopping (online now), wrapping, and watching them open the gifts are highlights of our Christmas. We have also enjoyed sharing parts of Christmas through the years with friends. Our social life is somewhat limited now because of illness, but we still look forward to visits from friends during the season. We treasure the memories of parties, dinners, gift-giving, and visits we have shared with family and friends during this blessed season.

Others also include people that we reach out to in ministry through gifts to the Christmas Toy Store, mission offerings through church, contributions to organizations like Second Harvest Food Bank, and my husband's writing through a radio ministry called Christ to the World. Any effort to help others, at Christmas or other times of the year, enriches our lives as well as those we seek to assist.

Oranges--When I was a little girl we always got an orange in the toe of our stocking on Christmas morning. I remember that we used our own socks for hanging. My sister and I would always talk Daddy into loaning us one of his--for obvious reasons! We also could expect nuts, a candy cane, and perhaps a candy bar, and a small toy. You can go here for a history of the Christmas stocking.

Okra Pickles--This may be the best kept secret of Christmas dinner at my house. I have served them almost every year. I think I am the only person who eats them! But, I want them at Christmas; so, they are right there along with the sweet gherkins and deviled eggs that others in the family look forward to. If you've never had them, I recommend you give them a try. Look here for the brand I buy--note the Texas connection! "Makes Your Mouth Happy!"

Orient--The story of the three Magi from the East is told in the song, "We Three Kings of Orient Are " The story was first told in Matthew 2. You can read it here.

Ornaments--Don't you just love putting the ornaments on the tree, recalling where or when you got each one, choosing just the spot you where you want to hang it on the tree. When you think about it, that is a strange custom! Exactly why do we do we hang ornaments on trees for Christmas? You can read the legend here.

Organization--Yes, it has something to do with Christmas! I have my decorations fairly well organized. However, I think this year before I put things away I will do a purge and downsize a little. That means I will have to reorganize the bins and boxes before they are put away for 2008. I may need to check this out.

(Jolly) Ole St. Nicholas--I love the original version of this children's Christmas song. I found this new little ditty while cruising through You*Tube. A little parody just for fun--

PLEASE, SANTA, DON'T CHANGE YOUR WAYS!!!

Labels: Alphabet Soup, Christmas

posted at 12:06 AM
9 comments

9 Comments:

At December 5, 2007 at 2:26 PM, Unknown said...: We used to get an orange and a pure sugar candy peppermint stick, which we would stick in the orange and suck the juice out of the orange like a straw. Oh, I looked so forward to that treat. I recreated it last year, and had so much fun.
At December 5, 2007 at 4:25 PM, Linda said...: I'm glad you went ahead and did "o" Myrna because it is a wonderful list. Don't you just love this time of year?
Blessings dear friend.
At December 5, 2007 at 5:27 PM, Holly said...: Cute post. Loved the Christmas theme. My how spoiled my boys are with their stockings. I want to see those ornaments before you purge. I want Kevin to find his. I would love to do a small tree with his, mine, and the boys. I would like to let them do it all. I bet it would be cute if they wouldn't fuss while doing it. Love you and hope today was a better day.
Holly
At December 5, 2007 at 5:57 PM, Frazzled Farm Wife said...: My mom talks about getting an orange in their stocking on Christmas morning too!
At December 5, 2007 at 6:22 PM, someone else said...: Myrna, this was a fun take on the O theme. I've never heard of okra pickles, but I do like fried okra, if it's done properly.

Sorry I forgot, but this has just been a busy time and it completely slipped my mind.
At December 5, 2007 at 7:46 PM, Susie said...: Hi Myrna,
What a delightful meme you did with the letter "O". We used to get oranges in our stockings too!
The most surprising to me was your Okra pickles. That brand is a must have at our house. (We like the Hot)
They are about 4.00 per bottle here, so one year I got ambitious and went and picked the fresh okra and pickled my own. (they were OK, but I'm back to buying them in jars!!)
xo
At December 5, 2007 at 10:00 PM, Dawn said...: What a fun list. Good job!
At December 5, 2007 at 11:06 PM, Julieann said...: My daughter just loves pickeled okra!!! I used to buy it all the time when we were in Georgia last year:) I will have to look for it here.

I really enjoyed this post!

Julieaann
At December 6, 2007 at 9:33 AM, ellen b. said...: I have my soup post already for tomorrow and I'm excited to see more recipes. I love soup! Love your o's...