Christmas Is on the Way

The merchants of America have been telling us about the coming of Christmas 07 since about the time we handed out the last Halloween candy. Most folks started at least thinking about decorating around Thanksgiving. At the Johnson house, we've finally gotten the message, broken out the boxes of decorations, and put some up. Virginia's good at it; it takes me a few boxes to get in the spirit.

We decided not to put the tree up this year, so we substituted this little fiber optic tree... sits on the piano and is only about a foot high. Here are some of the other decoration choices we made this year from our eclectic collection.

This is a new addition to our minimal outside lights. Believe it or not, it says Merry Christmas.

The center poinsettia is one of those with the mottled blooms.

Santa's boots light the way.

The piano top transformed.

Santa topper without the tree.

One of my favorite decorations that we've had for probably 30 years. The candle has changed, but that little cub still seems to enjoy the climb.

We are blessed to have my mom with us this year over Christmas. She flew in Friday, and it was a long day for her, but she handled it well. She'll be with us about two weeks. It's already been a "successful" trip... we enjoyed her signature whole wheat muffins this morning for breakfast.

I want to close with a prayer request. John Dedeaux, our benevolence deacon at church and an older gentleman with a wonderful heart, had knee replacement surgery Thursday. The surgery went well, but he now has pneumonia and is in ICU. Please pray for John... thank you!