Christmas is not over yet!!

I have been reading about others saying that Christmas is over and they are taking their stuff down already. But I guess if the stuff goes up right after Thanksgiving, it has been up a month or more already. Or almost a month. In actuality, Christmas is NOT over. Today is actually Day 4 of the twelve days of Christmas. After the twelve days, then it is Epiphany which is observed on January 6th. Last year January 6 fell on a Sunday and we did an Epiphany pageant at church. Right now we are waiting for the Wise Men to visit the Baby Jesus. Epiphany is when we celebrate the Wise Men's visit to see Baby Jesus. So I am not ready to say Christmas is over because it is not. Not yet. I got another Angel for Christmas! I guess this is an Angel Christmas for me. This one above arrived in the mail yesterday from my husband's brother. The same brother who gave us the blue stained glass angel I had posted for a Blue Monday once. Notice this one is blue too. I just LOVE this angel. I am keeping it out all year. I can't stand the thought of putting this pretty angel away for the year until next Christmas. This beautiful nativity scene was on display at church on Christmas Eve. It is not out anymore. I noticed that when I went to the church last night to practice the organ for today's service. Isn't it gorgeous?

The church was also decorated with poinsettas. People donate them in memory of loved ones. It is posted in the bullentin who donated them and who they are in memory of for this year. They are displayed so nicely this year. Well, actually they are every year.

Here is the tree at church which is also still up. The tree is decorated with Chrismons. Some are made out of styrofoam and beads and gold foil. The women's group made them one year. Quite a few years ago. Okay a lot of years ago. They are still holding up well. The small round ones are cross stitched and in small embroidery hoops for frames. One year when we were adding those to the collection my daughter, my mother and I all helped to make a few of those. Each of the Chrismons have a meaning. One year we did a program where each one was described and what it meant as they were put on the tree. On this first Sunday after Christmas we are doing only one service of lessons and carols. So today as the organist I have lots of hymns to play. It will keep me hopping on the organ bench for sure. I spent over two hours practicing last night. And this morning we will get over there at least one hour early so I can warm up my fingers for the service. As soon as I finish this post, I will need to sign off and start getting ready to go. I made or rather my husband made copies of each of the hymns I will be playing. That way I don't have to be flipping through books. I will just arrange the copied hymns in order and go for it. Also today everyone is supposed to bring goodies to share after church. I am bringing mine in the pretty tree shaped dish. This was another gift from a secret sister in a previous year. I do remember who this one is from. If she is there I will have to show her I am using her gift. Here it is filled with the goodies I made. Yum yum yummy! This time I used Christmas colored M&M's for the centers. These are the same goodies I made for my co-workers that I posted about for Blue Monday last week. So Happy 4th day of Christmas!!