This Year's Christmas Message.

The rush of Christmas traffic blurs
The days that we prepare
To celebrate the birthday of
A babe so sweet and fair.

In all the rush did we neglect
A place for Christ to stay--
A tiny manger in our hearts
Where He may spend each day?

For once within, His presence grows;
The love that will unfold
Will be enough to reach and warm
A world confused and cold.
            ---Debra Crevelli

The Madonna in Art by Estelle Hurll (1897)
The powerpoint of the images are on the video found below.

Links to pdf images of paintings mentioned in the book can be found by clicking on the madonna_illustrations.docx  link above.

Gloria in D Major by Vivaldi

Oh, let me enfold thee, my baby, tonight;
While legions are singing in joyous delight.
A new star has risen to hail thee divine,
For you are a king, but tonight you are mine.
       --Bertha Anderson Kleinman

Youtube of Mary's Lullaby 

The Story-Life of Washington compiled by Wayne Whipple (1911)

Other book suggestions on Washington

Washington at Valley Forge

With his lean, ragged levies, undismayed,
    He crouched among the vigilant hills; a show
    To the disdainful, heaven-blinded foe.
Unlauded, unsupported, disobeyed,
Thwarted, maligned, conspired against, betrayed--
     Yet nothing could unheart him.  Wouldst thou know
     His secret? There, in that thicket of snow,
Washington knelt before his God and prayed.

--R.G. Sutherland

The First Christmas from Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace

Ben-Hur (the movie)

Although little kids won't follow the story line, my parents took me when I was a little girl and the images made such a lasting impression on me.  It's rated G.

Lew Wallace's home and museum, including his 'pleasure-house for the soul'

My Gift     by Christina G. Rossetti

What can I give Him
Poor as I am,
If were a shepherd,
I would give Him a lamb.
I I were a wise man,
I would do my part.
But what can I give Him?
I will give Him my heart.

Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin

Ambleside notes on studying Plutarch

Why Study Plutarch? by George Grant

G3 online library

S9 Stories from History with Greek stories

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

(From Psalm of Life by Longfellow)

We Must Open Our Eyes
by Jenny Phillips

What Music Can Do For You
by Harriet Seymour (1920)

We do not need more intellectual power, we need more moral power.
We do not need more knowledge, we need more character.
We do not need more government, we need more religion.
We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen.
It is on that side of life that it is desirable to put the emphasis at the present time.
If that side be strengthened, the other side will take care of itself.
It is that side which is the foundation of all else.  If the foundation be firm, the superstructure will stand.
            --Calvin Coolidge