No doubt about it, Christmas is Coming! As we shop, we hear Christmas music, old and new. As we drive down the streets, we notice places we usually just pass by. . . Christmas lights, blow ups (or collapsed) vinyl figures, sometimes manger scenes attract our attention. Churches are decorated (we took advantage of that fifty-six years ago for our wedding), Christmas cards arrive (I gave up that practice when stamps soared to the price of a quarter-pound of hamburger……
It used to be a superstition that Friday the thirteenth was a “beware” day. Hope that’s not the case today. It’s a “prepare” day.
Monday my writers’ group “You Are Unique” plans to have its third “Book Signing” event. These ten writers have worked for three months to complete their third anthology. This one is called…..
In these days of preparation for 2025, it might be a good thing, it seems to me, to assess where we are and where we’re going. To make it a bit personal, this morning I am preparing materials for my new You Are Unique Memoir Writing class at Glenbrooke Senior Center. For those of you reading my blog or post for the first time,…..
Does the world seem to be spinning out of control in these days leading up to the celebration of Christmas? Has it hit you yet that you’re only one person and need the hands, wisdom, time, imagination, and accomplishment of several as you prepare for the time of joy, peace, wonder, and promise? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, isn’t it?
When the Christ child was born, Mary must have felt that way too. Like every mom-to-be, the “nesting stage” takes…..
I’m always looking for ways to tell the Christmas story and make the holidays special. For years, my family shared a special recipe for our Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus cake for Christmas Eve after we came home from church. A single white candle was blown out by the youngest capable child. We started this tradition with other families and entire church congregations.
Yesterday at Glenbrooke Senior Center, we made a sandwich bag “trail mix,” with item(s) representing all parts…..
From my book, Advent Adventure, we begin the celebration of four Sundays before Christmas. 
THE ADVENT WREATH
The four Sundays before Christmas are times of celebration with the Advent Wreath ceremony. If Christmas falls on the weekend, this can be the fifth Sunday. Each year’s dates will be different. The Christ Candle is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, or both, symbolic of…..
MY THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION
Betty Whitaker Jackson
On this day of the year we know as Thanksgiving
’Though every day in my prayers I remember
To show attitude’s gratitude to practice thanksliving
This day is special, a specified moment
For success’s excesses our homage to pay.
Tradition demands we go back to the Pilgrims
Whose very survival was divine intervention,
We collectively remember their daily struggles and trials
Through cold, heat, and danger and daily encounters
That magnified reliance…..
Adventt is a season of “Looking Forward.” We look forward to Christmas. We look forward eagerly to the return of Jesus Christ on the last day to His triumphal entry and the Peaceable Kingdom.
I have written a book called Advent Adventure, with scriptures, hymns, and symbols to help families prepare for Christmas and understand both the Old Testament prophecy and the traditional church symbols of our faith. The Old Testament ornaments, with patterns you can reproduce, are called Jesse…..
As Advent approaches, show your family the true message of Christmas through prophesy and the symbols of the historic church through my book Advent Adventure. Also included are four scriptural services for lighting the Advent wreath candle the Sundays before Christmas. Get your copy by going to my website at www.bettyjackson.net and/or ordering from the Betty Whitaker Jackson search on Amazon.com. Make sure your family knows the REAL reason for the season and the historic/spiritual significance of its celebration.
Usually in November, I am writing daily for NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. This year has been a planned hiatus.
Let me recount my November.
I succeeded in getting my sister relocated from New York to Florida, no easy task. She is now living in a senior residence facility ten minutes from my home. In the first week there, she fell twice, visited both local hospitals, spent three weeks then in a rehabilitation facility, and has just this week returned…..