A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....12-25-02....Christmas Day

Billie and daisyscarlett

[daisyscarlett]

Click on Baby Jesus

THE CHRSTMAS STORY
As told by Matthew

THE NATIVITY

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us."

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

WISE MEN

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'" Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

GIFTS

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

FLEEING TO EGYPT

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."

So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

--Matthew 1:18 - 2:23 New International Version

JESUS IS THE REASON
FOR THE SEASON

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 12-23-02 Christmas Music 12-24-02 Twas the Night Before Christmas

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
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5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me an FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

[ST.LOUIE1]

Thanks!!! It's nice to come to "family" here too.

You're most welcome, Kneez. We do have a nice little "family" here. You and Sassy should drop by more often.

Hope you are having a great holiday!

I am, thanks. I read where you and Sass are too, glad to hear it.

[ST.LOUIE1]

This is so cute!

Wouldn't you just love to hug every one of those pup 'Babes'? : )

Billie comes up with some of the neatest stuff.

[Budge]

Dreamy Creamy Baked Potato Soup

Ohmigawd, that sounds more than delicious, Carlo!

I will get all the fixins in the morning for sure! Thank you, thank you, thanks you!!!

[Budge]

Is this recipe in the cookbook?

No. This is an added bonus.

[swheats]

Happy Holidays, and I hope your Christmas was a joyous one. Auqamarine thanks for fixing Sadie up so cute.

[Iowa Granny]

Good Morning, Sweetie. Nice to see you this morning.

[Mudboy Slim]

Howdy Pippin, yer lookin' beautiful, my FRiend...

The Cap'n just emailed this to me...just wanna say Merry Christmas to my kid brother, doing his AF stint over in Germany, and his beautiful wife and boy, as well as the little one who'll be born any day now...

Washington Post
> November 26, 2002
> Pg. 29
"My Heart On The Line"
> By Frank Schaeffer

"Before my son became a Marine, I never thought much about who was defending me. Now when I read of the war on terrorism or the coming conflict in Iraq, it cuts to my heart. When I see a picture of a member of our military who has been killed, I read his or her name very carefully. Sometimes I cry.

"In 1999, when the barrel-chested Marine recruiter showed up in dress blues and bedazzled my son John, I did not stand in the way. John was headstrong, and he seemed to understand these stern, clean men with straight backs and flawless uniforms. I did not. I live on the Volvo-driving, higher education-worshiping North Shore of Boston. I write novels for a living. I have never served in the military. It had been hard enough sending my two older children off to Georgetown and New York University. John's enlisting was unexpected, so deeply unsettling. I did not relish the prospect of answering the question "So where is John going to college?" from the parents who were itching to tell me all about how their son or daughter was going to Harvard. At the private high school John attended, no other students were going into the military.

"But aren't the Marines terribly Southern?" asked one perplexed mother while standing next to me at the brunch following graduation. "What a waste, he was such a good student," said another parent. One parent (a professor at a nearby and rather famous university) spoke up at a school meeting and suggested that the school should "carefully evaluate what went wrong."

"When John graduated from three months of boot camp on Parris Island, 3,000 parents and friends were on the parade deck stands. We parents and our Marines not only were of many races but also were representative of many economic classes. Many were poor. Some arrived crammed in the backs of pickups, others by bus. John told me that a lot of parents could not afford the trip. We in the audience were white and Native American. We were Hispanic, Arab and African American and Asian. We were former Marines wearing the scars of battle, or at least baseball caps emblazoned with battles' names. We were Southern whites from Nashville and skinheads from New Jersey, black kids from Cleveland wearing ghetto rags and white ex-cons with ham-hock forearms defaced by jailhouse tattoos. We would not have been mistaken for the educated and well-heeled parents gathered on the lawns of John's private school a half-year before.

"After graduation one new Marine told John, "Before I was a Marine, if I had ever seen you on my block I would've probably killed you just because you were standing there." This was a serious statement from one of John's good friends, an African American ex-gang member from Detroit who, as John said, "would die for me now, just like I'd die for him."

"My son has connected me to my country in a way that I was too selfish and insular to experience before. I feel closer to the waitress at our local diner than to some of my oldest friends. She has two sons in the Corps. They are facing the same dangers as my boy. When the guy who fixes my car asks me how John is doing, I know he means it. His younger brother is in the Navy.

"Why were I and the other parents at my son's private school so surprised by his choice? During World War II, the sons and daughters of the most powerful and educated families did their bit. If the immorality of the Vietnam War was the only reason those lucky enough to go to college dodged the draft, why did we not encourage our children to volunteer for military service once that war was done? Have we wealthy and educated Americans all become pacifists? Is the world a safe place? Or have we just gotten used to having somebody else defend us?

"What is the future of our democracy when the sons and daughters of the janitors at our elite universities are far more likely to be put in harm's way than are any of the students whose dorms their parents clean? I feel shame because it took my son's joining the Marine Corps to make me take notice of who is defending me!!!

"I feel hope because perhaps my son is part of a future "greatest generation." As the storm clouds of war gather, at least I know that I can look the men and women in uniform in the eye. My son is one of them. He is the best I have to offer. He is my heart."

Frank Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book, co-written with his son, Marine Cpl. John Schaeffer, is "Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story About Love and the United States Marine Corps."

[Jen]

Hi Pippin! Happy Birthday - a couple days late! Hope you had a great one, and a good Christmas.

[Mudboy Slim]

"A FReeper fundraiser is something I'd be very interested in."

Please count me in as well...MUD

[FreeTheHostages]

Ok, I'm not as good as Mudboy Slim, but here goes (:::clearing throad:::)

I wish you a Free Republic.
I wish you a Free Republic.
I wish you a Free Republic
And a happy New Year.

Oh Bring us some figgy pudding,
Bring us some figgy pudding,
Oh Bring us some figgy pudding,
Because Gilligan's hungry again.

(I told you I wasn't good at this!)

[Aquamarine]

Aquamarine thanks for fixing Sadie up so cute.

Had fun doing that one. :)
Billie went through so much making that graphic of our pets I thought it deserved some more exposure.

[swheats]

Good morning Iowa Granny hope your holidays are peaceful.

[Libertina]

Happy Birthday Pippin!

[Pippin]

Thank You, Libertina!

[Pippin]

Then I better have the recipe copied.

Thanks!

[Libertina]

Good morning dear FReepers! Sounds as if everyone had a wonderful Christmas, include me in that! Now I need to catch up on some of the posts since I missed a day or two :)
Morning! (almost noon ;)

[Pippin]

That's a beautiful story, MUD.

I saw Frank Schaeffer and Marine Cpl. John Schaeffer on the FOX channel while signing thier book. They were bering interviewed.

[Pippin]

Thanks, Jen!

Hope you had a great Christmas too!

[Pippin]

Very Good, FTH! :^)

[daisyscarlett]

Good afternoon dear sistahs and all...Just checking in with the calendar page for today.

Today is a rest day for me and DH.....and we need it. Too much fun all week, lol.. We are both bushed...Although I will probably do some needed housework in between rest periods plus I have to clean the stove and oven....The oven part is easy-just press a button and wait for 3 hours and presto it is done. The cooktop is something else again...Is really gross (gas)....

I have still not hit any after Christmas sales and I must get some 1/2 price wrapping paper for next year...I just hate to pay full price for wrapping paper.