MONDAY WEEKNIGHT MENUS - PLANNING MEALS FOR CHRISTMAS EVE

MAKING COOKING AT HOME EASIER
MENUS THREE AND FOUR

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf) 

FROM THE HEALTHY VERSION OF THE SEASONS OF LANDGRAF CASTLE COOKBOOK; VOLUME 2

So here we are in the final lap of the Christmas Season!  

No need to stress over meal prep and grocery lists!  I’ve done that for you this time. Today's blog turned into a double feature!  

Here is a simple Christmas Eve lunch menu as well as a Christmas Eve dinner menu.  I hope it makes your holidays a little lighter and you have a lot more free time to relax and enjoy those that you love and are inviting to your home for Christmas. 

If you are like me, you will need to have your guest come on THEIR schedule instead of yours, and that may make things a bit complicated unless you keep it simple.  The very first rule of holiday entertaining for the sane is “keep it simple.”

Typically, this holiday only last for two days; Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (unless you are doing the twelve days of Christmas) so rule number two is to totally forget about your diet and enjoy the day!  Yes, I DO like to keep these recipes healthy whenever possible, but this is a holiday celebration; feel free to indulge yourself!  Just don't overdo.  You can’t diet 365 days a year, and it is healthy and good to give yourself little rewards for all the other days you have stayed true.  Celebrate!  No dieting allowed.  And remember rule number one.  I’ll say it again…..Keep it simple!

Have you ever tried cooking two festive meals on Christmas Eve with a two year old granddaughter in tow?  It is a great balancing act for sure; but do I want to give up my time with my granddaughter to slave over a stove????  The answer is easy; it is a definite “NO!”

That is why I do all the heavy cooking and preparations the day before Christmas Eve, and have it all ready to go into the oven on THE day.  This really eliminates the haste of meal prep on that special day we all want to visit and have fun.  Only certain dishes will work for this.  I’ve picked an easy to prepare beef dish for Christmas Eve Dinner.  I’ve found a few perfect recipes that are simple, tasty and elegant and can be prepared ahead of time.  What more could you ask for on a holiday?  I’ll run through the whole routine with you, if you are interested in some ideas, and if you like; all you have to do is follow instructions, ready? 

Let’s do Christmas Eve lunch first!

CHRISTMAS EVE LUNCHEON:

The small for-lunch-crowd at our house on Christmas Eve consists of my Mom, my granddaughter, my husband and me.  The larger crowd comes in the evening.  Some years I do brunch for the early gang, and some years I do lunch.  This year it will be lunch.  I’ve tried to join these two events on our Christmas Eves without success for many years.  I finally gave up and went with what worked.  Now it feels like a normal routine.   When the adult children were growing up this gatering time in the daylight worked.  They could be around for lunch.  Now they are working and can only attend in the evenings, so we see them later.

My Mom can’t stay up too late or drive home after dark.  She likes to sleep in her own bed at night; and I can’t seem to get her to spend the night in my VERY comfortable guest room.  She isn’t up to the schedule of the arrival time for when my retail-working adult children begin to arrive on Christmas Eve (anywhere from 8 p.m. – 9 p.m., and then we often party all night long); so we have resorted these days to having Mom over for lunch, and we spend the day chatting and catching up on each other’s lives and doing Christmassy things with her during the day and then seeing our grown children and their families later.  We even have children from another state that can’t seem to make it to our house until New Years weekend.  Well, that's okay because everyone with children needs to be in their own home at Christmas.  We will see that part of the family (that brings my two grandsons) for New Year's this year, and that is another story for another day. 

Sometimes between lunch and dinner most Christmas Eves,  we may attend a candlelight service at a nearby church, or ride to some special mid-day Christmas Eve event together (the four of us.)   I love it when Mom wants to join in on these things. Sometimes we just relax at our home.   Always we have a nice brunch and/or lunch together, no matter what other activities we decide to pursue.  

I always want to volunteer to babysit with our two-year old granddaughter for the whole day on Christmas Eve while her parents work their last shifts before Christmas.  That way she gets to spend some Christmas time with her great-grandmother, and we get to enjoy some Christmas time with her too, away from the crowd that surrounds our tree on Christmas Eve.  We usually give her a few early gifts and that way she even remembers who they came from!   I love seeing her and my Mom together too.  It is a very special day for us!

I keep the lunch simple but tasty.  This year I’ve chosen one of our favorite soups to eat whenever the weather outside begins to be a bit nippy.  I call it “Christmas Eve Soup.”  I’ll make up some special cornbread with broccoli inside to serve with it; and I will have a cheese and fruit tray and a gelatin salad too.  I’ll have a dessert tray full of Christmas cookies, candies and some Key Lime pie afterward.  Practically all of this can be done ahead the day before and just pulled out of the refrigerator and/or re-heated.  That way we get to enjoy more visiting time and have less cooking time to worry with.  I’ll put on a pot of coffee to go with desert later and make some sweet tea to go with our lunch.

I’ll serve these foods up on the pretty Lennox Christmas China that Mom gave me a few years back when she and my Dad downsized.  She will still get to enjoy the pleasure of using these dishes that graced her table at their farm for so many years in the past.  It will be festive, simple and elegant.  I’ll serve this lunch at my bar-height table in my cozy little Christmas kitchen, and it keeps me from having to re-clean and reset the dishes in the dining room in a big hurry before our Christmas Eve guests arrive later for a more formal dinner at the end of the same day.

Here are the recipes I will be using for lunch:

CREAMY LIME AND PEAR SALAD

Ingredients:

1 can (15 ounces) pear halves

1 package (3 ounces) lime gelatin

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, cubed.

1 can (20 ounces) unsweetened crushed pineapple (drained but save juice on the side)

1 cup chopped pecans (toasted and divided into halves)

1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

Drain pears and pineapple and reserve the juices.  Set fruits aside in a bowl in the refrigerator while you make the rest.  Pour juices into a small saucepan and bring juice to a boil on top of stove.  Stir in gelatin until completely dissolved.  Remove from the heat and cool slightly.  Pour pears, crushed pineapple and cream cheese into a large bowl and mix together with hand mixer or food processor.  When all is well blended stir in the chopped pecans.  Fold the jello mixture into this mix and blend again.  Stir in the whipped topping (I use Cool Whip) and mix well.  Pour final mix into an ungreased 11 inch x 7 inch dish, or any decorative mold that you wish to use.  Refrigerate until well set.  Sprinkle the top with the remaining half of chopped pecans.  (This recipe yields eight servings.)

BROCCOLI CORNBREAD

(This dish is always a lot of fun to serve because the broccoli is a surprise which adds flavor and interest to the every-day dish of regular cornbread.  On holidays I use a premixed cornbread just for simplicity and to save time, but I rarely do this the rest of the year.  At Christmas, I’m all about easy!.)

Ingredients:

2 packages white cornbread mix

4 eggs

1 cup chopped broccoli

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup cottage cheese

2/3 cup melted butter

Directions:

Prepare a casserole dish.  Mix all ingredients together and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cut in squares and serve hot with butter.

CHRISTMAS EVE SOUP

(I love this recipe because it taste so good on a cold winter day, but it is SO EASY to make and easy to prepare ahead.)

Ingredients:

1 can tomato paste

1 can tomato sauce

1 pack Hidden Valley Ranch Powered Dressing Mix

1 can Rotel

1 can black beans

1 can white shoe-peg corn

1 can pinto beans

2 lbs. cooked lean ground beef, drained

1 cup water

1 onion, chopped

3 Tablespoons minced garlic

Sea Salt (to taste)

Ground Black Pepper (to taste)

Directions:

Sautee the onions and minced garlic, then fry the beef in a skillet on the stove, being sure to drain off any excess grease.  Transfer that to a soup pot and add all the other ingredients.  Stir well and heat until hot.  Add in the salt and pepper that you desire, then; simmer a few hours before serving.  (Grated cheddar cheese is a nice topping and I like to serve thin crackers with this too.)

Such a simple Christmas Eve lunch; but I promise all who eat it will enjoy a tasty meal.  My Mom doesn’t like a big fuss; so this suits her well.   I’ll let you pick out your own favorite cookies and candies and pie.  I can’t do it all for you! 

I also like to serve a fruit and cheese tray before this meal as an appetizer.  I’ve found that adding oranges (sliced) and pomegranates (sliced open with the colorful seeds spilling out the sides) to the Christmas fruit and cheese trays always makes it a bit more festive.  I just pull together some assorted cheese cuts with a platter of grapes and apple slices and add those little touches to it.   I halve the oranges and slice them very thin and stack them in pretty random designs leaving a few whole oranges placed here and there for an artistic touch with scattered crackers and chips and dips in little crystal bowls.  Maybe a few taper candles here and there or even inside the whole oranges????  These little things make soup and cornbread look like a feast fit for a king. My husband says I don't really care about eating the food and I just want to be artistic with the table; perhaps he has a point - that is one of my favorite parts of preparing a meal.

So we usually laugh the day away and spend time sharing our gifts with my Mom and my little granddaughter; then when it is dark, the rest of our Alabama immediate family members begin to come in from a long day of retail sales management and other such jobs.  They will be exhausted, and I love greeting them with a nice glass of wine and some appetizers when they walk in the door.  They often head for the coffee pot first! 

Soon their shoes are tossed over in a corner and they have changed into some more festive party clothes and they are unwinding and feeling ready to party.  They all also come in the door HUNGRY!!!!  This suits me fine, because I have a very festive Christmas Eve Dinner already prepared by the time they arrive.  Most of it is simply re-heated and ready-to-serve.  I have set the dining room table the day before, and it is all festive and waiting on its occupants.  All I have to do is light the candles and set out the food.  EVERYTHING is prepared ahead and either just re-heated or refrigerated until needed.  Easy-peazy – simply  due to a bit of prep time spent the day before.  The aroma of the meat will be drifting through the house and mixing with the smell of the cookies and sweet snacks.  It will not be long before everyone makes their way to the table and we offer up a prayer of Thanksgiving to God for another year of blessings. 

By this time I will have set out a more elaborate fruit and cheese tray than we served earlier on the cozy kitchen table (I’ve cleared and put away everything from the earlier luncheon.)  This time I’ll add a few olives and cold veggies and some cream cheese with red and green pepper jellies to the fruit and cheese mixes.  Nothing hard at all; just festive and colorful.  We will drink water, tea and wine with coffee later when we enjoy our dessert. 

We will serve ourselves from the kitchen and eat our meal in the dinning room, which I will have set in a festive pattern using my favorite dishes all covered with Cardinals in the snow.  As we begin the meal, I will light the candles on each end of the table, and as we have dessert later we will light the Hannukah Mennorah, as Hannukah starts on Christmas Eve this year.  We celebrate a Christian Hannukah at our home each year.  (We are NOT Jewish, only in our hearts and through adoption into The Kingdom of God.)   This   means lots of festivities will be uninterrupted for the next eight days, including Christmas Day, which we have come to realize is actually positive evidence of the fulfillment of the meaning of the message from that first Hannukah that spoke to say God is still with us!  He is sending a Messiah!  It will be a great miracle and He will be The Light of The World.   This is the way we, as Christians, will  celebrate the Miracle of Messiah that the Hannukah story so symbolicly points us to!  God was  in the miracle business back then, and He is still doling out Christmas miracles every year; if you just open your eyes and look around.  As we light the Christ Candle of the Advent wreath on Christmas Morning we wiill remember more of the same; of Emmanuel; Christ with us!  We will celebrate the miracle that made it possible for God to come to dwell on earth!  How significant all these beautiful candles are!  How significant it is that they all point to the miracle of Christ!

The Christmas Eve menu this year is Old Fashioned Cheery Coke Salad, Rolls, Red-Wine Infused Beef Tenderloin With Mushrooms and Gravy and Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Modern Day Green Bean Casserole.  There will be White Chocolate Cheesecake with Blueberry Topping for dessert as well as the assorted dessert trays I have prepared ahead full of assorted Christmas candies and cookies. (My granddaughter especially wanted some chocolate covered cherries.)  You know my assorted tray of cookies and candies will include some glazed donuts; which are traditional for serving at Hannukah!  There; you now have yet another excuse for throwing your diet out the window for a few days!  

Here are the recipes I’ll use:

OLD FASHIONED CHERRY COKE SALAD

Ingredients:

20 ounce can of crushed pineapple, drained and reserving juice.

14.5 ounce can of dark sweet cherries in heavy syrup, drained (but reserve the juice.)

1 large package of cherry Jello (8 ounce size)

1 12 ounce can of Coca-Cola

½ cup chopped pecans (walnuts work too)

Directions:

Drain the cherry syrup and pineapple juices into a saucepan setting the fruit aside in the refrigerator until needed.  Bring the fruit juices to a boil, remove from heat and whisk in the Jello.  When Jello is fully dissolved add in four cups of Coca Cola. Transfer all to a large bowl and add in fruits and nuts.  Pour into whatever mold you will be using or an oblong casserole dish.  Chill in refrigerator for 3 – 5 hours before serving.

RED WINE INFUSED BEEF TENDERLOIN

(This is a favorite for Christmas Eve at our house because it may be prepared in advance.  If you chose to do so, just bake and slice meat as directed, then return meat to the pan and cover with the drippings on top of the meat.  Refrigerate safely for up to two days.  To reheat simply bake covered in 350 degree oven for one hour or until heated through.  If you desire the non-alcoholic version; simply substitute water for the wine. This recipe serves four and I double it for my gathering of 8)

Ingredients:

2 large onions, sliced thin

1 beef tenderloin (have your butcher trim the fats)

1 can (10 – 12 ounce) condensed French onion soup

1-1/4 cups of dry red wine

½ cup ketchup

8 tablespoons minced garlic

½ cup brown sugar

1 package Lipton onion soup mix

Sea Salt (to taste)

Fresh Ground Black Pepper (to taste)

1 pint fresh mushrooms and one chopped onion sautéed together in1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Place sliced onions in a large shallow pan.  Cut small one-inch deep slivers into your meat in eight separate places.  Fill those slivers with the minced garlic.  Rub the meat with some salt and pepper.  Top the onion slices in the pan with the meat.   Sautee some mushrooms and onions in extra virgin olive oil.  Pour the sautéed mushrooms and onions over the top of the meat. Mix the remaining ingredients well and pour them over all.  Cover the whole dish with foil.  Bake the covered dish for three and one-half hours or until the meat is tender.  Let stand covered for ten minutes before slicing.  Serve topped with drippings.  (If you are cooking this ahead of time and refrigerating and heating again, let it cool, then slice and recover with the foil, then keep it refrigerated.  On the next day, simply place in the oven at 350 degrees F for one hour to reheat before you serve  Remove the foil and continue heating for 10 more minutes..  You may want to reserve some of the drippings to make a separate gravy dish on the side but be sure to leave some of the drippings around and over the meat.)

CREAMY GARLIC MASHED POTATOES

Ingredients:

5 pounds Russet potatoes

2 tablespoons sea salt

16 ounces half-and-half

8 tablespoons minced garlic

8 ounces grated parmesan

Directions:

Peel and dice the potatoes into small cubes.  Place in a large saucepan adding the salt and cover the potatoes with water.  Bring the potatoes to a boil over medium heat then reduce the heat to a rolling boil.  Cook until the potatoes are tender and fall apart when picked with a fork.  Set aside.  In another saucepan add the minced garlic and the half-and-half and heat over medium heat until it simmers.  Remove from heat and set aside.  Drain the water from the potatoes.  Using a hand- held mixer and a large bowl, mash the potatoes and slowly add the garlic and half and half mixture, then the parmesan.  Give this a few minutes to thicken. 

(I’m going to cook these potatoes ahead of time then put them into a crock pot to heat on the next day.  I’ll give them about two hours to heat up and add more half and half if they get dry before time to serve.  SO GOOD!!!  We never eat potatoes at our house except for special occasions; so that adds to the fun for me!)  That extra side of gravy you make from the meat drippings can also be available for the potatoes.  I also like to have little crystal containers full of grated cheese and green onions and bacon bits for toppings if anyone desires.  This turns out a lot like a potatoe bar.)  

MODERN DAY GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh green beans

8 ounces roughly chopped mushrooms

5 strips bacon

1 cup thinly sliced onions

3 tablespoons minced garlic

½ cup almond meal

1-1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

 3 teaspoons sea salt

2 teaspoons cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare a baking sheet with cooking spray.  Drizzle Olive Oil on the thinly sliced yellow onions.  Sprinkle them with one teaspoon of sea salt.  Mix until onions are coated well with oil and salt.  Spread onions evenly on the baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes until the onions are brown and crispy.    Put one teaspoon of sea salt into a pot of water and bring it to a boil.  While the water is waiting to boil sautee the garlic and mushrooms and pieces of bacon together, stirring over medium high heat on the oven in a skillet.  Remove ends of the green beans and break into halves and drop into the pot of boiling salty water.  Boil the beans for five minutes then remove and place into a bowl.  When the mushrooms, bacon and garlic are golden remove them also and place in another bowl.  With skillet empty and now heated to medium low, add one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and then one cup of almond milk.  Add half of almond meal and whisk all together until it disolves, then repeat adding other half of almond milk and almond meal, whisking all the time over a medium simmer.  Add 2 teaspoons of sea salt and two teaspoons of cracked black pepper and keep whisking until the mix becomes the texture of heavy cream.  Reduce the heat and stir in bacon and mushroom mix.  Add green beans and stir all together.  Pour all into a medium sized casserole dish.  Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Remove foil and sprinkle onions on top.  Place back in oven and bake for five more minutes uncovered.  Enjoy this healthy, natural side dish with no guilt!  

I’ll save the best for last with this yummy dessert I’ll serve with coffee.

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE WITH BLUEBERRY TOPPING

Ingredients:

FOR THE CRUST:

2 cups crushed graham crackers

1 cup slivered almonds

½ cup white sugar

¼ cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons caramel topping

FOR THE FILLING:

1 pound white chocolate, chopped

4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

¾ cup white sugar

4 eggs beaten

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

FOR THE TOPPING:

½ cup white sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

¼ cup water

1 pint fresh blueberries

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions:

Make the Crust:  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Make the crust in a food processor or with a hand-held mixer.  Blend together the graham cracker crumbs, almonds and sugar until the almonds are ground fine.  Pour in the melted butter and caramel while processing until mix is combined.  Press the mixture into the bottom and half-way up the sides of a 10 inch spring-form pan.

Make the filling:  In a metal bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the white chocolate, stirring until smooth.  Remove from heat and set aside.  In a large bowl beat the cream cheese and ¾ cups sugar until smooth.  Beat in the eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time.  Beat in the flour and the vanilla and blend in the melted white chocolate slowly, beating until the filling is well combined.  Pour filling into crust.  Bake in the middle of preheated oven for one hour then turn off the heat and crack the oven door open just one inch, letting the cheesecake cool in the oven to room temperature.  The secret to keeping the cheesecake from cracking on top is to do this, and let it sit for several hours before moving it.  Cover loosely and refrigerate overnight before removing from pan.

Make the topping in a saucepan.  Combine ½ cup sugar and cornstarch.  Stir in water and blueberries.  Bring to a boil then simmer for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.  Press through a fine sieve.  Stir in lemon juice.  Allow to cool and store in a glass jar until you use over cheesecake.      

Well, we usually enjoy a meal similar to this one and then move to the living room to open our gifts under the Christmas tree.  After we have had our festive fun we all go back to the kitchen for coffee and more desserts. It has become my custom to give away an AnnaLee Elf, so we will draw for that.

Before long it will be time for one two-year-old little girl to get to bed in time for Santa to come at her house; and the house will begin to empty out.  It is always so strangely quiet when everyone leaves!

We will have a brief pause and then it will be Christmas Day!  

Time to light that tall candle in the center of the Advent Wreath that stands for Christ.  Time to remember that God sent us a precious Savior!

Most likely we will attend a church service on Christmas Day.  Some years we like to be lazy on Christmas Day and stay home.  Anyone who wants to come by is always welcomed.  Sometimes we get a call from a little one saying she wants us to come see what was under her tree on Christmas morning, and we scurry around and head right over to share her excitement.  Some Christmas Days are spent at my Mom's house visiting.  You never know - and we like it to be mostly unplanned!  

  

At the end of the day – it is worth every minute of the preparation.  If any of this helped you with your own Christmas planning; I’m glad.  

Each celebration is a bit different and each family has their own favorite things and traditions, but it is fun to share our ideas and recipes and notes.  I would love to hear about some of your traditions and holiday routines.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

May God's greatest blessings be yours in this joyful season!

SEASONS – SCRIPTURE AND MEDITATION FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Let us consider the Holy Scriptures:

Micah 5:2-5a
5:2 But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.

5:3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel.

5:4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth;
5:5 and he shall be the one of peace.

Luke 1:46b-55
1:46b "My soul magnifies the Lord,
1:47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
1:48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

1:49 For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

1:50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

1:51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

1:52  He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;

1:53  He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.

1:54  He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy.

1:55  According to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

As we light the fourth candle we begin to think of the future and the things to come.  We are looking for our Messiah, and the prophet Micah predicted that he would arrive.  

Are you looking for the One of Peace?  

Can you imagine what that will bring about?

It happened then as He came to us in the form of a child, and it will happen again as He comes to us in the form or a mighty King!

For many, these things came right before their eyes and they did not even notice.  They had not been looking or seeking, and they could not see the miracle!

Let us be like the shepherds and angels and wise men who knew and understood and saw what was happening with wide-open eyes giving glory to God as each moment passed by and each miracle of God appeared on the earth!  

Let us forget our fears and take hope in what this means for our future.  

For one to say they have lost hope is for one to say they do not believe in Messiah!  

We must NEVER lose hope!  

Hope will not come in the form of human governments; but it will come from a heavenly place in the form of a Mighty Messiah, with a government that is higher and above all that man could ever think, dream or do.

Let us not look to the world around us but to heaven above us.  

Let the hopeless human voices drown in the distance and listen carefully for the angel's songs.  

He is coming!

Let us try to reach the sad and hurting world around us by displaying the joy of heaven to them in the specially wrapped package of friendship and love.  

If anything can bring hope to the hopeless it is for those who have been saved by love to show that same love.  

In this season of hopefulness let us share our hope by loving one another.  

Let us take the attitude of Mary as she sang her song to God in thankfulness and gratitude.  

Have you found the joy that comes from the hope?
It is there and you MUST find it!

Mary knew joy and she lived it out every second of her life.  

She found a way when there seemed to be no way to give glory to God and to be content to fulfill His destiny for her life.  

Joy is knowing a plan of God is being fulfilled!  

The greatest joy comes from realizing YOU are living right in the midst of it!  

Every single second of time holds it's own wonder.  

God is not wasteful.  He created every moment for a purpose.  You are a part of that purpose, just as Mary was.  

There is a high and holy reason for each moment that you take air into your lungs.  You must find that reason and let it happen!
  
Open your eyes and discover this miracle!

Mary did not consider her lowly state in the eyes of men, she looked at the miracle from God that she was allowed to participate in.  Let us do the same on this fourth Sunday.  Let us all be like Mary and humbly offer ourselves to the fulfillment of God's plan.

Let the fourth candle ignite a spark in our hearts that grows into a flame that brings hope and love to all the earth; the pure hope and love that rains down from heaven when God's people do God's perfect will.

Let us boldly proclaim the glad tidings throughout he land that a Savior is coming and all hope is not lost!

For this O God we are eternally grateful and we offer up our thanks and praise!

   

PEN ART - THE LAUGHTER THAT BROUGHT US CHRISTMAS

PONDERING THE STORIES WITHIN THE STORIES
(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Don't worry - I'm still on track with these weekly lessons of COME AS A CHILD, and they will always continue to be published on THURSDAYS as usual; but today I'm posting an extra lesson for the week.  It is a lesson that we studied when we were walking through the book of Genesis.  I'm posting it today simply because I consider this particular lesson to be a great Christmas Story; and it is that time of the year!  

This is my Christmas present to you my faithful readers!  Enjoy!

A SURPRISING CHRISTMAS STORY:
(THE STORIES HIDING WITHIN THE STORIES)

Wow!  We have seen so much happen in the stories of Abraham and Sarah’s life! 

Their story is really amazing, but I’ve been a bit distracted as I've been writing about them during The Christmas Season.  My thoughts are so focused on the stories of THIS season instead of their story.  

Because my mind has been totally focused on Christmas I thought it was going to be hard to write the next lesson about Abraham and Sarah.  My mind and heart were not in their time zone.  What could two people living way before the birth of Christ have to do with Christmas?  

When I began to study the lesson, I was pleasantly surprised; and you might just experience this same epiphany yourself!   Keep reading.......

Just in time for Christmas God has really opened my eyes a bit wider.  He has begun to show me just how much Abraham and Sarah’s lives and their stories (especially during the time of the Theophany of the Lord that happened in the groves at Mamre) intersect and bring forth pictures of a prophetic visitation that would forever have a future impact on all of the world concerning the gift of a Messiah.  

Now that's a Christmas message for sure!

I had never actually related to this aspect of the story before.  In past reviews I had kept my thoughts strictly focused on the facts; remembering that there was an announcement involving the birth of Isaac and that Sarah had laughed at that announcement.  Those two things are very important; but there is SO MUCH more to see.  

As it turns out, this angelic visitation to Abraham and Sarah by three heavenly visitors was actually all about the salvation of mankind!  Is this mentioned in the story?  No.  Is it an obvious fact?  Yes, but only when you start to compare the details.

It amazed me when I realized that elements of this simple little story we all have heard so often were actually the telling of the very beginning of the story that we all long to hear every year at Christmastime.   Until today I had simply not made all the connections. 

This day of the Theophany, the day that Abraham was visited by some heavenly visitors to announce the coming birth of Isaac, happened long before the birth of Christ.  Yet it is astounding for me to discover that this particular day was actually the day that God chose to begin to lay the foundation for the Messianic story!  

Have you ever noticed how God never blurts out the truth?  

Sometimes He lets us discover things gradually and on our own.  It is much more of an adventure that way.  What a surprise to find out that this Theophany that happened with Abraham outside his tents was the beginning of the time that God chose to set everything in motion that would (over years of time) bring us Messiah!  

How unexpected to find that everything that happened here with Abraham and Sarah was a marker of The Divine pointing us toward the coming of Christ.  

I have always heard that you can see the story of the salvation of Christ in EVERY old testament story.  This revelation proved true once more.  I will never hear this story the same again.

This Christmas Season, as I put up my Jesse Tree, I wondered to myself, “Why have I not seen these things before?”  

Perhaps I wasn’t waiting correctly.  

Maybe I had not been focusing on God with a whole heart.  Maybe I had to understand the main story to get to the truth of the story within the story.

Maybe....maybe....maybe.  

So, let me start at the very beginning of the first story…..……We begin with the fact that Abraham, the man who was told by God that his descendents would one day be as many as the stars of the heavens, was only so far the father of the child of an Egyptian handmaiden!  

At this point in our story Abraham has become very humble.  He has repented of some sins of the past and turned his entire focus back to God after wondering away for a short time.  In that time Abraham had heard from God, who advised him to be circumcised along with all of his household.  Abraham had also been given a change of names, and had gone back to the tent of Sarah (who also had a new name) to wait to hear more from God. So these things took place right after Abraham had changed some of his own selfish ways through repentance, had been marked as a child of God and had been given a new name by God.   

Abraham's sins had been about moving ahead of God's plan for his life with his own plans instead of God's plan.  It was a terrible mistake!  He had repented and made a concerted effort to change his ways.  His moving back to the tent of Sarah emphasized that he had seen and understood that he was to focus solely on the pruposes that God had blessed him with and nothing else.  He was to let God make the circumstances instead of moving ahead of God.  Sarah and Abraham had taken matters into their own hands and made a mess instead of bringing about God's will.  This had caused detours in their lives that they might not have had to face had they consulted God first.  It wasn't the first time either.  Abraham finally realized his error and he turned to God and cried out that he would be willing to change.  Abraham submitted himself completely to God's soverign authority.  He did this with his whole heart.    

Finally!  

Abraham had learned to wait on God and he was on the right track and things suddenly began to happen!  

That very thought was the subject on my mind and in my heart as I was going through Advent this year.  I was pondering how to wait on God.  

Waiting isn’t always easy and Abraham had learned the hard way that it never pays to jump ahead or try to change the circumstances of God’s destiny for your life.   He must have really pondered that statement from God when God had told him: “as many as the stars from heaven.”  Over and over Abraham must have considered what that REALLY meant to him NOW. 

During this Advent season I too have caught myself waiting and thinking about the stars from heaven, just like Abraham.  I’ve especially been thinking about one special star; that brilliant star that stood shining out over Bethlehem which had led the wise men to Christ. 

God always seems to show wise men the way!  

God often uses light to show people who He is.  

I have been thinking about light a lot too, especially the miracle of the light of Hanukkah, and how that story points to Christ as The Light of The World.

What a coincidence; in this story about Abraham and Sarah, Abraham too is being visited by three wise men!

They APPEARED to be men anyway.  

Abraham looked up from the doorway of his tent where he sat under the Terrebinth trees and he saw three men approaching.  

Immediately he knew; just like the other wise men in the story that came later, that He was encountering The Presence of The Lord!  

Abraham jumped up and ran out to meet them.  

He bowed low to the ground to honor them.  

He offered them gifts of hospitality.

Hmmmmmm…….this all sounds so familiar!  The wise men visiting Jesus also came with special gifts.  

The shepherds and the angels offered their hospitality.  

These stories have many parallels!  

We hear of the stories of the wise men and the shepherds and the angels at Christmas and we learn to welcome Christ.  We can also learn how to welcome Him from this story of Our Father Abraham.  

When was the last time you knew you were in the Presence of God?   

Did you look up and see Him and run to meet Him?  

Did you bow low to honor Him?  

Abraham had been humbled!  He had learned the proper way to honor God.  We must follow and do the same in our own lives. 

Abraham brought fresh, clean water to wash their feet.  He offered them rest in the shade under the big old trees of Mamre.  He gave them his choice seats at his own table.  He told Sarah to quickly bake them three cakes of bread and to use three measures of their finest flour.  He ran to where his finest, most tender, young calves were kept and he prepared meat for them himself instead of commanding a servant to do this.  He and Sarah did all of the work for these three special guest.  They did not delegate it to their servants, although Abraham had a house full of trusted servants, and Sarah had Hagar and many others to command to help if she needed.  They wanted to prepare this feast personally.  It was their gift of hospitality.  They wanted to be personally involved in this service.

Abraham  brought milk and curds and placed them on the table before his guests.    He served them the huge helpings of hot, freshly baked bread and very tasty meat portions, cooked just the right way.  

This would have been similar in nature to the feast you might serve to your family as you celebrate Christmas Day.  It was no ordinary feast!  It was a very special time of fellowship.

It was the best and the most well prepared food that Abraham had to offer. 

As his guest ate and rested and relaxed, Abraham waited nearby under the shade of the old tree.  He desired to be close by so he could be available to tend to their every need should something arise that needed attention.  

Have you ever spent time waiting near a tree in order to serve some very special guest?

 Need I remind you?  That is exactly what most of us do on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!  We welcome our family in to sit under our tree and we serve them from the best that we have to offer.

Little did Abraham know that this waiting he was participating in was the very first step in the plan to bring about a bloodline of mankind from which a Savior would be born.  Abraham was simply acting in faith, giving the best he had for the God that he loved.  He knew nothing of the holy mission of these heavenly men yet.  Still we see that Abraham stayed close, under the tree, in order to make sure they had everything they needed or desired. He was simply honored to have heavenly guests in his presence and abiding at his home.  For Abraham, this would have been enough, even without all the blessings to come.  He considered it a pleasure and a privilege to serve such a Holy God. 

Do you have a heart like Abraham?  

Are you welcoming the three special guests (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) into your home during this special season?

It is easy to see that all of the things Abraham offered to his guest in this story are so symbolic of God’s relationship with His Church.  

The milk and the meat are so indicative of The Word of God.  

The three loaves of bread made from three measures of fine flour bring to mind the parable that Jesus told in Matthew Chapter 13 where a woman hid leaven in three measures of meal.  The scripture reads “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used making bread.”   Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.  This makes us think of the apostles and prophets preaching and teaching the gospel story that is just coming to life right here at the table of Abraham as he serves bread to his special guests from heaven.  

We realize that this very humble beginning  of the gospel story (like the leaven hidden in the dough) will begin to grow and spread throughout the whole earth bringing salvation to all of mankind.  You see; the stories all started right back there in the tents of Abraham and Sarah.  That is how they first went out into the world.  They proclaimed the coming of Messiah even before there WAS Messiah.  They lived and breathed the definition of true faith.  They knew and believed the message about Emmanuel even BEFORE He came to be One of us!  You could truly say that Abraham and Sarah were the very first disciples of Jesus.
 

There is one slight difference in this story though, the dough that Abraham had Sarah prepare was not leavened.  Sarah wasn't expecting these guests and she did not have time to let the dough rise in order to get it to the table of her guests for their special meal.  It was unleavened bread that she served, and that unleavened bread represented the purity of the gospel and the truth of salvation.  It stood for the very humble beginnings of God's Kingdom on this earth, the word of God that came to humble men, those who were not proud or puffed up with the superficial ways of the world.  

This feast of Abraham and Sarah was a foretaste of what God would later give to the descendants of Abraham in the wilderness.  Abraham's descendants would later come to share in this feast of unleavened bread that would be called Manna, or The Bread from Heaven.  

This heavenly bread was the same as the unleavened bread that would be given by Christ to his disciples at The Lord’s Supper at the Passover meal just before He died for our sins on a cross.

It was the same as the bread that the Israelites ate as they crossed the wilderness in flight from Pharaoh because they did not have time for their dough to rise.  In order to fulfil their destiny the Israelites had to act in haste; and it was the same with Sarah.

Do we ever act in haste when we know we have a mission from God?  

Do we hurry to fulfill our calling to the things that are holy and true?

Sarah and Abraham did.  They received their guests with the hospitality that comes from a heart full and overflowing with love.  

Do you ever think about this when your special guests are arriving at Christmas time?  Can you show them the heart of Abraham in your own home?

This unleavened bread served by Abraham and Sarah stood for all the Passovers of all times, throughout the history of the story of God and mankind.  It was the foretelling symbolism of many, many miracles of God that were to come.

This hardly even noticed unleavened bread was so very significant to the beginning foundations of the gospel as it was being laid down in honor and respect for the guests from Heaven there at the table of Abraham. 

So we see that Abraham, after he had become humble and allowed God to circumcise his heart was approached by The Lord and angels and that they walked right up to his door.  It reminds us of a scripture passage found in Revelation 3:20 where God says:  “Behold I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with Me. “  

This time of fellowship, of a man having a meal with God, is a picture of The Lord as He uses the gifts and talents of human beings in His kingdom.  Any time we are able to partake of a meal with God we are given the gift of entering into fellowship with The Heart of Christ. 

So we see The Lord came to Abraham in answer to the promise of God, to start the process of fulfilling His desire to be what He was always meant to be – A Savior!  The Savior seeking to save that which had been lost had come to begin to give and show compassion to all human needs. 

Miracle of miracles, He allows Abraham to minister to Him, and we know that Abraham by the witness of his actions, had at least a glimpse of how HUGE this was.  Just as Christ allowed Abraham to serve him in this story; He also allows us to do the same.  His very words when hearing Abraham's greeting were “Do as you say.” 

These mysterious guests were The Lord and two angels.  They had no real need for food, or rest, or refreshing, but they said to Abraham “Do as you say.”  They welcomed his service to them. 

Do those words sound even faintly familiar as we go through this Christmas season and ponder all the miracles that happened to The Holy Family at the birth of Christ?  

These words have the same ring, the same tone, the same likeness of the answer that Mary gave to Gabriel as he greeted her with the glad tidings that she would carry The Son of God in her womb.  Her words were “Let it be done unto me as you have said.”   With these much the same words Mary, like Abraham, came to know the destiny that God had planned for her life.  She joyfully accepted it and allowed God to use her as a servant to His will. 

How could a man like Abraham have possibly known the wonder of all of this?  

How can we as mere human beings even begin to conceive all that is hidden in this Theophany?  

You can read it a million times and see something new every time.  And it was just the beginning of so many, many wonderful miracles that God would do. 

So the guest enjoyed their meal.  They ate and did not ask for more.  Then one of them looked up and inquired about Sarah.  

“Where is she?”

Abraham told them she was inside the tent.  Then the greatest words ever came from the guest from Heaven:  “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.”

Once again this beautiful story of Abraham parallels the wonderful story of the birth of Christ.  Abraham was told by an angel that Sarah would have a son.  It seems a heavenly pattern that when a woman is married and a miracle is about to happen, her husband will be spoken to first by an angel and she will learn the news from him after the angel delivers it.  This was the case with Zachariah and Elizabeth.  They too, like Abraham and Sarah were old and past the age of bearing children when the angel came to the temple and told Zechariah he would have a son.  In the case of Mary, she was just engaged to Joseph, not yet officially married and not living with him yet when she received the glad tidings; even though in the Hebrew way of thinking when a girl accepts engagement, she is considered at that point to be legally married. 

In this incident from the stories of Abraham, Sarah was more like Zachariah than Mary.  She was hiding behind the tent and listening to the conversations.  When she heard what the angel said she laughed out loud; thinking that she and Abraham were much too old to be bearing children.

That laughter of Sarah was the laughter that eventually brought the miracle of Christmas to us!  

Just like the story of Zechariah that would happen later, the angel confronted Sarah with her lack of respect.  She lied and said she did not laugh.  She did this out of fear.  The angel corrected her statement and repeated the fact that she DID laugh.  She was not punished as Zechariah would be later, perhaps because she had regretted the laughing and had showed a holy fear for the one bearing the announcement.  

Mary, however; many years later was the one who responded so well with the most pleasing answer of all:  “Let it be done to me as you have said.”

And all of these women from each of the stories went on to fulfill their destiny determined by God; to give birth and bring salvation to the world.  

Sarah by giving birth to Isaac brought the beginning of The Nation of Israel from which would come John the Baptist, who would herald the coming of Messiah, and then; Mary would give birth to Jesus – the greatest gift ever given to all of mankind.

Consider the fact that each of these births were a miracle of God!

In each situation the birth of a child seemed totally impossible, but with God all things are possible.

And this Theophany which took place so many years ago at the tents of Abraham around his table and under the tree at Mamre was just the beginning of God’s pouring out His heart to save mankind. 

May we be ever grateful for this miracle!  May we never forget how God brought about a son who would bring about a nation who would bring about The Messiah!   

As we approach the wonder of Christmas let us remember ALL of the stories and all the stories within the stories.  

Let us consider with wonder just how many years of miracles God granted to us in bringing the Child of God to earth!  

Let us ponder how important the faith of one man and one woman played into this story, and let us go carefully about God's business in fulfilling our own destiny in His Kingdom.  Each man and each woman will have their own special part to play.  We are all a part of HIS story!

Let us all be humble servants of the LORD, welcoming Him joyfully into our hearts and our homes with the same great hospitality and honor that Abraham showed to his heavenly visitors on that great day so long ago.

May your heart be filled with the stories and joy of Christmas this season!

For unto us a child is born!