some days of Christmas, a nail appointment and a memory

 Whoa did I fall behind!  

5 Golden Rings:  first 5 books of the bible, aka pentateuch

6 Geese a Laying:  God made the world in 6 days

7 Swans a Singing:  7 gifts of the Holy Spirit:  Prophesy, service, teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership and mercy

8 beatitudes:  poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted because of righteousness.  

The Pentateuch is the books of Moses, and theologians say this forms the foundations of the Bible.  Genesis, Exedus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deutoronomy.  As the world gets stranger and more muddy it may be important to know what's in these books.  Just sayin'.

6 Days of creation.....amazing.  mind-blowing.  significant.

7 gifts of the Holy Spirit:  if you want them, pray.  Ask God to gift you with them and then when He does, don't exuse or deny you have the gift.  Use it.  Share it  Bless God with it.  

8 Beatitudes:  these are the blessed, folks.  God sees and knows and loves and blesses the poor, the sad, the shy, the needy, the ones who forgive, the ones without a hidden agenda, the ones always looking for a way to solve problems and the missionaries.  If we want God's blessings we need to find our lane here.  

Today I went to get may nails done.  I had a small window of time and I needed to get the old stuff off and something fresh on.  It may sound like its high maintenance but believe me when I say that if you are post menopausal and your nails shred because you no longer produce collagen to care fo them, then you become a regular at a local salon to save your fignernails.  If you cannot relate to the above then good for you.  I go every few weeks to have mine done so that I am not a hot mess of hands and pain.  While my friend was caring for my nails, we talked about Christmas.  She is Buddhist, not Christian.  She likes Christmas because of santa and food and gifts.  We spent about an hour sharing what is similar and what is different about our religions.  My take away is that we are more the same than different, except that she longs to see the guy who manages the temple because he is popular and good at his job....and I long to be in the arms of my Savior and Lord forever and ever.  Buddhists may be reincarnated to a higher or lower state depending on how they lived (according to my nail stylist).  Christians land in Heaven or Hell.  I know where I'm gonna land and that gives me so much joy to celebrate Christmas!  

I also remembered a story from my childhood as I sat in the nail chair.  I was maybe 10 years old and had neighbors and friends over.  We were playing hide and seek.  A friend told me she had seen my gift under my mom's bed when she was hiding.  Did I want to see it?  I did not.  I really did not.  I wanted to be surprised and delighted on Christmas Day when I opened my gift from my mom.....but this friend kept pushing and pushing me to come look so eventually I did.  It was a doll.  A beautiful tall doll with blond hair like mine.  I loved her.  I was so happy to see her....but I had to push her back under the bed and forget what I saw.  My stomach hurt.  I was sad that the surprise and wonder were taken from me.  On Christmas day, I opened my gift and had to pretend I was surprised and delighted and it was so hard.  The wonder of the gift was taken from me and it mattered.  Unfortunately my mom reads my blogs so now she will know, too.  

Can we try to preserve the wonder and delight of Christmas for our kids?  It matters....but also, it's not about santa.....afterall, that's all the Buhdists have to celebrate and we have so much more.....so maybe the 12 days of Christmas gifts is on to something afterall.  I'll keep exploring it for the next 4 days give or take.....