STAND

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DECK

Almost December, and ET along with Gizmo are getting festive...

GROTTO

Now that Halloween and Guy Fawkes are done, it's really good to see Christmas surroundings being errected and the proverbial road to the Festive Season being paved.

Of course, I am not big on the commercial stores setting up thier idea of what people should buy thier loved ones last minute on Christmas Eve. Those Christmas surroundings are just merely 'adverts'. I care more about towns putting up lights, trees and other clobber to indicate that Christ's 12 day birthday encore party is coming...



Places like Garden Centres and some Toy Store windows whilst still advert-like will always put on something spectacular to gaze at, with no visual obligation of telling the passer-by that thier overstocked lacey bra, perfume or Harry Potter DVD is the ultimate present.

That ultimate 'gift that keeps on giving' present has already been given.

MIRACLE

A couple of days ago I had started to unpack the nativity set in my living room and was thinking about another Christmas season of using the broken one armed Jesus ornament as the centrepiece.

As I was unwrapping the individual figurines (I bubblewrap my nativity stuff) I unwrapped what I thought was just one of the smaller models, maybe one of the sheep but it wasn’t.

There it was, a brand new unbroken baby Jesus!

For the last couple of Christmases I have griped about how stores don’t sell individual nativity pieces (and nobody on ebay seems to either) and asked around everywhere to get a replacement. No such joy, until this recent comeuppance.

I won’t question how this mystery replacement model found its way into a sealed up cardboard stable and twisted itself in bubblewrap at the bottom of a large decorations box…

Fact is, if I actually bought a replacement Jesus or had one given to me I would have remembered something like that. There also is no way anyone would have gone to so much trouble to plant this on me either considering how I store my decorations very tightly.

To me, this is an unexpected Christmas blessing and miracle. I feel this is certainly a small happy event I have to share with all I know.

God has a great and generous sense of humour