Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Arizona in December

Have you ever seen a Saguaro cactus dressed up in Christmas lights? Only in Arizona. I know its hard to think of Arizona as "Christmasy" but those Arizonians can really decorate! We stayed in Prescott the first 2 nights. The town was founded in 1871 and many of the original buildings and Victorian homes still line the streets. The courthouse is the centerpiece of town and people come from all around to view the Christmas lights around the courthouse and down the quaint streets.

Further out of town are the more modern homes. This is where Mozart and I ended up the next day. Prescott is spread out in every direction and it took most of the day to explore different areas. I will try to post some pictures, but I can't find the CD right now.

And I'm typing 80 wpm because I'm quite busy. I am working 3 part time jobs and we don't even have our tree up yet. The trip set me behind as far as Christmas preparations, but we are doing a simple Christmas this year...so things will work out.

Regarding Christmas. I haven't had time to do ANYTHING...but most amazingly Christmas keeps coming to me. What I mean is...one of my jobs was to take the older woman I care for to her grandson's Christmas program at our local public high school. It was wonderful to hear so many Christian carols. One teen girl sang "O Holy Night" and the final number was the Hallelujia Chorus. As the teens were singing the chorus, people began to stand up in the audience (of 600). Pretty soon the whole audience was standing, and the students sang "and He shall reign for ever and ever!" I don't know if they knew the gravity of what they were singing, but God was there!

Christmas came to me as I had the opportunity to share the Christmas story with the 6th grade students in my Special Education class.

A storm brought Christmas to me. Our local mountains have snow...and they rarely do. They look so beautiful.

Christmas came to me in Scottsdale Arizona, as Mozart and I visited the church of an old friend and enjoyed the special Christmas music. Mozart had done an arrangement for their orchestra and it was fun to hear it played.

So I may not have any Christmas decorations up and we are a bit low on gifts, but the fresh cool breath of Christmas is in the air. I am learning that I can let things slide. And everything will be okay.

God brought Christmas to me. That's the best gift!

4 comments:

Willow said...

I'm glad you had a good time in AZ. We were there two weekends ago helping our daughter move out here. And our son and his wife live in AZ.

My Christmas will be more low key too. What gets done, gets done. Christmas will still come.

Susan Skitt said...

How beautiful Sharon. I loved hearing how God brought Christmas to you - how special indeed!

And that little town in Arizona sounds adorable!

Vanessa Cole said...

Merry Christmas!

It is great to be here again; it's been way too long.

I remember my one Christmas in AZ, very different than back east. But still Christmas! :-)

I'm back in Blogland with a new blog that fits me where I am now in my life. Please stop by if you get a chance.

You will find me at "In Search Of."

Vanessa

Dawn said...

Beautiful post, Sharon. It sounds like you had a great get-away with Mozart, and things are going to be just fine with Christmas!