An anxious note to baby Jesus - Peter Thurston.

How beautiful, thank you so much, thinking on his suffering and that of the Holy Mother makes anything we have to bear helps me x

Annie, you were most definitely on my mind. Our minister read this to us last year, and I kept a copy. Love and hugs to you. By the way, how is the search going for your jigsaw puzzle table?

Aw Auntieflo, how kind, I loved every word and it has caused me to allow myself to think of advent , I have been blocking it from my mind, I want to give you a cwtch because you have certaintly given me one x

The jigsaw table, honestly between that table, the desire to increase weight and the longing for a puppy I must be the biggest bore on GN.?

Have done some measuring and if I clear the drawers of a set of drawers I have in a corner , find somewhere for the plants and photographs on the top I can get rid of the drawers move the sofa down and have room for a table measuring 100cms x 75cms , in other words if I declutter the corner. Need younger daughter here, she is an ace declutterer , but she isn't coming for a few months .

Thank you auntieflo. Lovely poem. Thought provoking. I love Christmas but realise for many it is a time of sadness.

annie you are not boring. People like to hear from you. Still in our thoughts x

Crafting, how kind but even I find me a bore

Yes Christmas is a time of sadness when missing loved ones but for Christians it is the celebration of the coming of The Christ Child, truly joyous , the celebration can be carried out alone and in silence, in a carol service, at midnight Mass, that he was born is a gift to the world

Thank you for posting that - I was already feeling jaded and wondering whether to "bother" so much this year but the poem brought home to me what the Holy Family endured for us - it's not an aspect of Christmas that we think of. I remember seeing a painting of the Virgin Mary with Jesus and thinking that she looked sad and wondering whether she knew what her baby would have to go through

Sunseeker, Simeon told Mary when she took her baby to the temple - and a sword will pierce your soul too.

Lovely prayer auntieflo

Yes, sunseeker I always think that too.

Very well said, the poem.
I remember standing in a shop queue with eldest DGD a while ago and looking round at all the chaos said to DGD is it what Jesus would have wanted?
We have long since lost the meaning of Christmas IMHO and it's just a shopping-fest, fuelled, of course, by retailers. Encouraging us to spend money we don't have, buying things we don't want/need. We keep "lid on things" in our family and have a lovely time celebrating Jesus' birthday.

GN- how can we print things off from GN please? Would love a copy of this poem.

On a PC? Then highlight, cut and paste onto a word document.
On a tablet, do a screen shot then print from photo.

Thanks Friday, will have a go. I'll do it on laptop as can't print from iPad.