Opinion

Body “The First Noel” is one of the oldest Christmas ballads still sung today. The song first appeared in print in 1833; however the song goes back at least three hundred years prior to that. The origin is also unknown as both France and England claim it as a part of their heritage.

Body THIS AND THAT * If you are Christmas shopping for me, I am a size seven day Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas and Cocoa Cay. * The Olde Tyme Christmas Parade was absolutely fantastic!

Body Keeping with the past two years, in the month of December I have been sharing the stories of how some of our beloved Christmas carols and songs came to be. The information comes from a little book I own: “Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas,” by Ace Collins.

Body MERRY DECEMBER! * Happy Merry December! * You may or may not know this about me, but I love to collect pens. I guess I shouldn’t say I love to collect them; what I should say is that I always take a pen if someone is giving them away for free to advertise their business.

Body Several seeks ago I shared with a Bible study group that lately, I’ve been feeling so much anxiety, with gut-wrenching worry as I watch the evening world news. I really didn’t WANT to watch the constant bad-news stories, but at the same time, I also couldn’t NOT watch.

Body ‘TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING Saw this and had to pass it on… ‘Twas the night of Thanksgiving, but I just couldn’t sleep, tried counting backward, tried counting sheep. The leftovers beckoned— The dark meat and white, But I fought the temptation With all of my might.

Body You probably saw this on TV news a couple weeks ago. I got a cold chill that didn’t go away for hours after seeing the story on TV news of five people who were stranded over 200-feet underground at Grand Canyon Caverns when the elevator malfunctioned, and they could not get out.

Body THIS AND THAT * November looks like a world covered in an apple cobbler crust of brown sugar and cinnamon. * I heard that some “celebrities” are leaving Twitter.

Body For whatever reason, this has been “the summer of Jell-O” at our house. It started back in spring/early summer when we had some Jell-O salad left over after some event; I don’t remember just what exactly.

Body HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY TO TRENT Oh, my blue Heaven, Mr. Trent Avery is turning seven! My, how the time has flown, And look how much you have grown! Swimming, softball, soccer games, Flag football and all kinds of board games. Mix it all in with Mario Kart And racing as Donkey Kong Jr.