Lights

It's been a busy few weeks, I've taken quite a few photos but not had time to post anything. Here's a few lights from Advent and Christmas, perhaps more pictures to follow...

Little Angels

 

 

On Tuesday "Little Angels" began their time together by meeting in church. We sang some carols and I told the Nativity story and put together our crib set. Mary and Joseph were abducted and taken for a walk round church but Jesus was left in the crib with shepherds and Kings to babysit!

 

We then went over to the hall for our party. Several of the children ignored the soft play are and chose to play with the Nativity set instead.

 

After lots of good food and yet more cake we had a special visit from Santa Claus. He had presents in his sack for everyone.

Digital Nativity

A friend sent me this link to the digital nativity, I think it's well worth a watch.

Christingles

On Saturday afternoon a group of us met in the church hall to make Christingles for our service on Sunday. We transformed a pile of oranges, candles and sweets into 200 Christingles. It was good to work together as a team, chatting and catching up on news as well as having cups of tea and the first mulled wine of the season.

 

The service on Sunday was a fun occassion and a few children managed to leave church with some sweets uneaten!

The Leaves

The Leaves (Adapted from Bambi by Felix Saltern)

The leaves were falling from the trees. Two leaves clung on. "It isn't the way it used to be." said one leaf to the other.

"No, so many of us have fallen off tonight, we're almost the only two left on this branch," answered the other.

"Even when it is warm and the sun shone, a storm or a cloudburst would come sometimes, and many leaves were torn off, though they were still very young. You never know who is going to go next."

"The sun seldom shines now," sighed the second leaf, "Soon we will go. Can it be true, that we are replaced by others, and then when they have gone by others, more and more?"

"It really is true," whispered the other leaf. "It makes me feel very sad. Why must we all fall? What happens to us when we have fallen?"

"We sink down … what do you think is under us?"

"I don't know, some say one thing, and some another, but nobody knows. No one has ever come back to tell us about it."

"Which of us will go first?"

"Let's not worry about that now, let's remember how beautiful it was, how wonderful when the sun came out and shone so warmly that we thought we'd burst with life. Do you remember?

"Yes, I remember, but look at me now. I am so yellow and ugly."

"No, you are as lovely as the day you were born.

Hours passed, a moist wind blew, cold and hostile, through the branches.

The leaves were torn from their places and spun downwards.

…winter had come.

communication

We communicate in so many different ways nowadays and often at the same time.

 

These friends were texting each other some contact details whilst having a conversation.

 

At one point yesterday afternoon I was chatting to a friend on facebook, another on google and then Richard came into the room so I was holding a conversation with him too. I couldn't quite cope with windows live at the same time!

 

Some criticise electronic communication and say it's stopping real conversations and relationships growing and can all be a bit too shallow, especially when people have many hundreds of friends on facebook. This can be true but it also allows you to keep in touch with people you'd otherwise lose contact with or find it too expensive to have live conversations. I've been able to "speak" to folk in Peru & New Zealand - I doubt I would telephone.

 

When we went to Peru last year we were able to meet up with friends of friends who are missionaries out there. It was only through the power of google and email that we were able to get together - we only found out about them about 12 hours before we were due to leave.

 

It was after I came back from the Holy Land in the summer I discovered through my blog that one of those I'd journeyed with not only knew Scott & Anjanette but had played a part in their selection process. The internet certainly shrinks the world.

 

frosty morning

A beautiful sunny, frosty morning. I went into the garden before going to toddlers group. It's a pity I can't recreate the sounds I heard on a blog - the sun was melting the frost on the leaves and this was dripping onto still frozen leaves, creating quite an amount of noise.

train not car

A visit to the Archdeacon for my review gave me the opportunity to walk over Wanstead Flats from the station this morning. It was still slightly misty and quite damp underfoot. It was good to get some fresh air before arriving and to take a few photos. It was much better getting the train over than driving and crawling through traffic. It's only when you walk you realise how much you miss seeing when you are sitting in a car.

 

The meeting was well timed as I finished just in time to go round to a friend's for lunch - fantastic vegetable soup, bread and coffee. It was great to be able to catch up on family news and have a good chat.

Shoeboxes

I find myself getting ratty at this time of year when there seems to be so much focus on Christmas. On the odd occasion I've ventured into Romford in the last fortnight I've come home grumbling about Christmas music being played in all the shops - the upside is I just try and avoid going shopping as much as possible.

I can never quite understand people who have all their presents bought and wrapped months in advance. It seems as though so many people rush through life always trying to get to the next event in advance and forget to enjoy the present time (no pun intended.) Christmas isn't until the 25th December; if we start celebrating Christmas two months in advance by the time it is actually Christmas we're fed up with it, the trees have lost their needles and the shine has gone off the season we should just be starting to celebrate. We also end up missing the season of Advent, a time of watching, waiting and anticipation.

I do however stop moaning when we make our annual collection for shoeboxes for operation christmas child. These need to be packed in advance so they can be delivered in time for Christmas.

During October as a church we have been wrapping boxes and collecting contents and today we spent time packing the boxes. A group of willing volunteers met in the hall and sustained by tea and cake packed and sorted 104 boxes which are now ready for collection.



We had loads of sweets to put in the boxes...



But fortunately we also had plenty toothbrushes and toothpaste!

Sparklers

Everyone has fireworks to celebrate my birthday.

1,000 words

It's said that "a picture speaks a thousand words." Just be grateful that my flurry of posting after my trip to Paris was of photos - imagine how long it would be otherwise...

Paris in puddles

Never one to miss an opportunity to take photos I found these pictures in the puddles.

Reflections of Paris

Paris was a good place to find reflections. I thought these photos made a change from the usual ones of Paris!

The Louvre

A variety of reflections of the Louvre