Christmas dinner

Hi everyone!

I had an amazing experience. Yesterday, the 22nd of December, there was a Christmas Dinner at my friends place. We were with a group of ten people: friends and boyfriends. At eleven a.m. I arrived and helped with cooking, which was a lot of fun to do and a great experience, as I learned a lot. After that, we changed clothes and prepared us for the dinner. Around five o'clock the first people arrived.
While waiting for the others, we played the piano and sang. Then we decided to relax and sit down in the living room. Another friend arrived. Finally, after waiting for more than an hour, when everyone had arrived, the dinner could start.

The long table was beautifully decorated: candles everywhere, and plates and cutlery nicely put down. Next to the table was a large, decorated Christmas tree. As an appetizer, two different soups were served: broccoli soup and tomato soup. Secondly, as main course, due to different diets, the choise was made to prepare a lot of different snacks. Everything I ate tasted delicious.

After the main course, we decided to have a break. The group split in two. One half was relaxing in the living room, while the other half was making music and singing. Finally, it was time for desert. There were two different cakes, ice, bowl, a hollowed ananas filled with fruit, and trifle. All were delicious.

Last but not least, we watched Love Actuallly. It was all in all a wonderful day with amazing people, something I will never forget!

Merry Christmas!

A rainy Christmas

Hello everyone!

Yesterday I read it in an article, I hear it on the radio, and see it with my own eyes on all the weather sites: It is going to be a rainy Christmas. There is no small sign of snow. For weeks I hoped the weather would still change and that it would cool down. But none of that is true.

While regretting that there is rain with Christmas, a question popped into my head. Why exactly is snow associated with Christmas? And where does it come from? I decided to do some research.
After searching for a while, there weren't a lot of explanations. However, I found one which sounded good to me.

In the northern countries of the Northern Hemisphere Christmas is in the winter, therefore it is realistisc to snow on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. However, December is in the middle of Southern Hemisphere summer, and therefore white Christmases are extremely rare. Ivring Berlin's song "White Christmas", sung by Bing Crosby from the Film Holiday Inn, speaks of a traditional snow-covered Christmas, and is the highest-selling single of all time.

This song could be a good spark for everyone to believe Christmases should be white, and they relate snow to Christmas. For this year, I give up hoping for a white Christmas. Hopefully next year I'll have more luck and there will be snow with Christmas!

Christmas movies

Yesterday evening, after I came back from a Christmas concert where a friend of mine was a host, I sat down on the couch and watched a Christmas movie. It wasn't on dvd, but on a (old-fashioned) video tape. An eight year old boy in Chicago is left behind, when his whole family was going to Paris with Christmas. The boy, named Kevin, is quite happy being home alone. However, there's going to be some trouble. I won't spoil the movie, but I can tell you it's a real Christmas movie. In Home Alone the perfect Christmas is shown.

The family lives in a huge house, 

it snows, 

in the city Christmas is everywhere, 

it is about love, family, and so on.

There are several do's and don'ts while watching a Christmas movie.

Do's:

• You need to turn the lights in the Christmas tree on
• You need to drink hot chocolate.
• Sit on the couch underneath a warm blanket.

Don'ts:

• Leave all the light in the room where you are watching the movie on.
• Be on your phone during the movie. 
• Ask what Christmas is.

If you haven't seen the movie(s) yet; I really recommend Home Alone. Their are four movies in total.

Enjoy watching Christmas movies!!

Where do I start?

So about Christmas; where do I start?

First of all I will explain what Christmas is for me and how I feel about it.

It's going to be so much fun.

Okay, lets start.

My whole life I've been celebrating Christmas. On Christmas Eve there is a celebration in church. I think it is beautiful, because at one moment they turn off all lights and light up chandeliers that are hanging through the whole church.

Afterwards I go home and be together with my family. The lights in the christmastree are on and there is christmas music playing on the background. We drink hot chocolate and enjoy playing games or watching christmas movies.

The next day I visit the rest of my family. There are going to be A LOT of conversations about God will know what..

Luckily, there will be some things I can talk about as well.

Okay, enough about the talking.

There will be dinner and then I'll go to my other family and everything will repeat itself.

It seems like I don't like Christmas now. That's not true. However, Christmas is different every year, so I can only tell what's the same every single year. Which is boring to tell.

Lets go on to what Christmas does to me.

It makes me feel good, happy, beloved etc.

Christmas is in one word: legendary! 

There is a whole story behind the word legendary, but I won't tell it, because I'll go to much off topic then. 

Sorry, I could not help it..

Once upon a time in Bethlehem...

This could be the perfect beginning of a fairytale, which it is not. However, the story of Jesus Christ does not differ much from other fairy tales. On a clear night Christ, the son of God, is born in a stable in Bethlehem, and it is told that he is the new king and Messiah. Three wise men and shepherds are coming by, because a star and angels told them to do so.

In his life, Christ has done miracles. Such as curing people with the power of God, changing water into wine, and even walking on water.

He is the real hero.

 

Of course not everything is perfect. The Romans and Jews are against him and try to ruin his life. Finally they succeed, due to Judas, a friend of Jesus, who betrays him. Jesus is sentenced with death penalty. Not in the way which is known nowadays, but by crucifixion. After a long way to the cross he is finally crucified, together with two other men. Jesus is laid town in a tomb and a few days later, when women want to take care of him, the tomb is open. Angels tell them that Jesus stood up. At last but not least, Jesus ascends to heaven.

 

 

 

 Doesn’t this sound like a fairytale? After all, he sort of does live happily ever after.
The Bible is the holy book of Christianity, a book with all stories about the time before the birth of Jesus Christ and his life. Maybe someday, people will see it as a book of fairytales, whether you are christian or not.

 

Nowadays we still celebrate important events from Christianity.
One of them is of course:
CHRISTMAS!

I love the celebration of Christmas and all the different events related to it. But more about that another time.