Christmas Stitches and Christmas Wishes

Here we find ourselves at Christmas Eve morning. The days of anticipation and preparation are nearly complete. Before the day is over, we will take part in our church's candlelight service and enjoy our annual family Christmas Eve dinner of Manhattan clam chowder. (Watch for the clam chowder recipe early next December.)

This short post shares this year's additions to the garland I have on my bannister. Over the years, I've accumulated more ornaments than can reasonably fit on our Christmas tree. I've elected to use my garland as a place to display my cross-stitched ornaments, most of which feature designs from Shepherd's Bush. 

Here are a few "up close" looks at some of the ornaments on the garland.

This year's additions include one original Shepherd's Bush design and one from With Thy Needle & Thread. I now have a total of 21 stitched ornaments on the garland. Here is another look at the two new additions:

With that, I will bring this post to a close and wish you a very merry Christmas and extend my best wishes for a happy 2024. I will leave you with the apostle Paul's perspective in his letter to the Galatians. Just as we are now experiencing the culmination of our preparations for Christmas 2023, move than 2000 years ago, the entire world experienced the culmination of the promise first made in the Garden of Eden with the birth of Jesus.

When the fulness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters. Galatians 4:4-5 (NASB)