Day 15 – More Free Memberships …
Good morning!
We’re glad you’re joining us again!
Congrats to today’s winners! We loved seeing all the photos and reading through the comments you posted yesterday. You know how much we enjoy getting to know a bit more about you all, and seeing some faces to go with your names was great.
Today, we are giving away three free 2-month-long MLT Club memberships. The winners will be able to add those free months to their own account or gift it to someone else (we’ll be in touch about that via email).
Day 15 – Two Free Months at the MLT Club (3 Winners)
The free Membership months can be added to the winners’ accounts or sent to someone of their choice as a gift.
How to enter:
Comment: Have you ever experienced a Christmas miracle?
Prize:
A Free 2-Month-Long Membership (3 Winners)
We’re looking forward to reading your replies, as always!
Mona & Lisa
Yesterday was a busy day, so I missed the cutoff, but I still want to share my Christmas miracle experience. While it was not on Christmas day, it was right before Three Kings Day, or “Reyes” as we call it in Spanish, which still falls within the 12 days of Christmas, so it qualifies.
A few years back my mother planned to visit us for the first time in our new home in North Carolina. I have to mention that my relationship with my mother has not been particularly smooth over the years. The biggest point of contention, shared with all my siblings, is how she particularly treats our partners. For that reason, ever since I started dating, I’ve particularly avoided having my partner and my mum in the same room. In general terms, she usually treats family harshly, outsiders with unabated splendidness, and reserves the stereotypical mother-in-law behavior for the partners of her children.
The plan was to pick her up from the airport about 10 am after a supposedly short flight from Florida. The weather was particularly mild that year so far, with nothing troubling in the forecast. I think weather people make up stuff when they get it horribly wrong. After announcing a clear winter day, we had a massive blizzard out of nowhere. Instead of clear skies and roads, we had several feet of snow. They called it a “bomb-cyclone,” which I had never heard of till then. My mother spent all day bouncing around the airport before she was able to get a flight out (she was 74 at the time), but that was just the beginning. For the first and only time since, we were completely snowed in and could not leave the house to go to the airport. Here in North Carolina, it’s not just the snow that’s particularly dangerous, it’s the black ice on the roads that makes it almost impossible to drive. So, it’s almost nighttime by now, and my attempt to head to the airport fails miserably and I’m back at home, stuck, with my mum landing soon after travelling all day. The situation is looking particularly bad.
Here comes the first miracle.
I call a dear friend of ours who has a farm and a heavy duty 4-wheel drive truck and ask him if he’d consider driving 2 and a half hours in these particularly miserable conditions to pick up my mother from the airport and bring her to my place, before returning to the comfort of his roaring fireplace. I could not see how he’d be particularly interested in doing so. Alas, he was on the way to the airport in his blessed truck to pick up a relative arriving at about the same time as my mum! A miracle, indeed.
Now for the second miracle, the big one.
Given how my mother always treated my partners, I didn’t want to have my wife, Lisa, suffer backhanded compliments or daggers delivered with a Cheshire Cat smile in her own home. So, we said a prayer asking for my mum to have a joyful experience without burdens or troublesome behaviors while in our home. I had many outings planned to show her around and also to minimize situations that might turn uncomfortable. Now all of that was out the window; all plans were scrapped as we were stuck at home, with not even the possibility of a grocery run, for the remainder of her visit.
Down the frozen driveway comes the truck (an oversized old farm pickup truck with big wheels), bags in the back covered with snow, and as it effortlessly comes to a stop, the door opens to reveal my mum sitting in the middle of the couch style front seat and copious laughter. This is after about 14 hours of travelling for a 74-year-old. It was perfectly reasonable to expect a Grinch, instead it was the cheer of Whoville. My friend declines the invitation to stay and takes off. As my mum enters our home, she comments on what a beautiful place we have and genuinely and wholeheartedly thanks Lisa for inviting her over. My jaw hit the floor. Nothing like that in my 50 years, nor in the lives of my siblings, had EVER happened.
For the remainder of her visit, confined at home by the way, she was genuinely kind and caring to Lisa and myself and didn’t even think a snide remark. She was the model guest for the entire visit. My siblings had trouble believing this story, until they personally heard her complimenting Lisa. They asked for the recipe, but there’s no recipes for miracles.
My mum has been nothing but loving and kind to Lisa and me ever since.
Here’s a picture of my mum enjoying a walk during that visit. Certainly, it was a particularly memorable visit.
Yes about 15 years ago my Dad had cancer and they only gave him about a 25 percent chance to live. But after a long year of treatment just about this time of year the doctors said he was cancer free. He is 92 now and I am lucky to be able to spend Christmas with him.
When I was a child, my parents and I were travelling back from visiting my grandparents at Christmas. We were on a very quiet road in mid-Wales, and it was dark and snowing. My Dad stopped the car for a while and, when he tried to move off again, found that the back wheels were stuck in the snow. There were no phone boxes around, and no mobile phones in those days. to call for help. Also, we couldn’t keep the engine running so as to keep the heater on, so we began to resign ourselves to a very cold night in the car.
After a while, a man came along with his dog. He was carrying a rabbit which he had shot (the man, not the dog!), and was taking home to cook and eat. He said he would go on to his house and get a shovel to dig us out. He did this, and we naturally gave him a lift (with dog and rabbit) back to his house. There was a light inside as we watched him go in.
Months later, in good weather and daylight, we were on that road again. We remembered the incident in the snow, an decided to look for the house again. When we found it, we saw that it was derelict, and had obviously not been occupied for many years …
So, were we helped by a ghostly man and dog? Was this our Christmas miracle?!
I cannot remember any personal experience which might be considered a Christmas miracle – perhaps there is one waiting in the future?
Hello Mona & Lisa!
I might not have understood that.
But every Christmas is a miracle and I believe I will see Christmas miracle.
I was just thinking that it was Christmas Eve 2019 and we were in Wellington, New Zealand at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa when I first heard “Good Morning Starshine” as performed by The MonaLisa Twins. That was a kind of miracle.
There’s no particular event that I would label a miracle that happened around Christmas time that comes to mind for me. The only events that I would label as miracles in my life has been the birth of my 3 children. After losing our 1st child to a miscarriage we learned early in our marriage when starting our family, how many things can go wrong when it comes to bringing new life into the world. So for me the safe birth of my kids are my miracles in life. God has blessed us with 3 very healthy kids and also 3 healthy grandchildren. They are all the miracles I need in my life.
If you pull my name, pick someone else, but I wanted to let you know I’m enjoying this! Wowcool
God only knows.
Our Christmas miracle was in 1974. My seven months pregnant wife and I were at hospital with a little one that wanted to meet the world two months early. We spent the 24th and 25th there while doctors tried unsuccessfully to stop her premature labor. We thought for sure that our child wouldn’t survive, as after days of labor my wife was exhausted, and doctors changed from attempting to stop labor to accelerating it to save them both. The two of them struggled all through Christmas night. When the struggle was over, we had a battered and bruised 3-pound, 10-ounce son. It was several months before we could bring Benjamin home, but it was a miracle just the same.
I DID have a Christmas miracle once!
Back in 2018 (a particularly bleak Christmas for us), I was preparing our evening meal
The star of the show was a box of Kraft Dinner.
As I was preparing our feast, I sighed and proceeded to “press here to open”
It was a Christmas miracle!
The box actually opened with the press of my thumb!
I knew no one would believe, but I took a picture
Miracles do happen!
There is the yearly miracle of the Christ child being born that we celebrate, but I’ll never forget my first son being born just before Christmas after we’d tried unsuccessfully for many years to have a baby.
The closest thing to a Christmas miracle I recall was about 10 years ago when I was still working as a long haul trucker. There were many years when I was out on the road over Christmas, a thousand miles away and not able to get home at all. It was December 23 that year and snowing hard as I was going east through Wyoming. I got as far as Rawlins where I was supposed to hook up with another driver and swap loads. This would allow me to turn around the next day and head back west towards Idaho, and with any luck, I would be home Christmas day.
Well, just as I pulled into the truck stop where the other driver was waiting I got word that the state police had closed the entire interstate due to the snow. It was just after dark, about 10 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was brisk. As I unhooked my trailer and started to drive across the parking lot to hook up the new trailer both rear axles on my tractor completely froze up, literally. The moisture from the snow that had melted from using my brakes earlier had now frozen all 4 rear rear wheels to the brake drums like glue.
There were no mechanics working at the truck stop and no way to call for help from somewhere else due to the road being closed. I was sitting there wondering what to do when I saw a young driver get out of his truck and walk over to me. I rolled down the window and he said “Looks like your wheels froze up. I used to be a mechanic, I’d be glad to help you out.” So, without asking for anything in return, he went back to his truck and got some tools and a propane torch, crawled under me and in about 30 minutes I was unstuck. I hooked up to the new trailer and told him to meet me inside cause I was gonna buy him diner. It turned out that he was trying to get home to South Dakota to be with his wife and kids for Christmas. He didn’t want to accept it but I insisted he take what cash I had to repay him for his kindness. The next day the state police opened the road up again and we both headed home for Christmas.
To me, every Christmas is a miracle, as this is the time, when our Savior was born.
I love the peace and joy that is at Christmas – and that in itself, is a miracle every year.
https://i.imgur.com/nAKimPV.jpg
Can’t say that I’ve personally had a Christmas miracle, other than the miracle that is the reason for the season. Too often we overlook the importance of what Christmas means and get caught up in the trappings. I find myself in that category a lot as of late.
I do believe in miracles , never witnessed a Christmas miracle,not that I recall. I did win a picture of the ladies from their advent calendar today . I’ll call that a miracle with a bit of luck. Thank you
We are so glad you like the cup. I don’t recall any specific Christmas miracles, but after a few near death experiences in our lives we consider every day we wake up together a miracle.
Merry Christmas from the Catskills!
See ya In a while crocodile,
Marlo & JP
I was on the road one Christmas morning going from my home to a Christmas party that I really didn’t want to participate in. I had stopped for a cup of coffee and on this cold dreary morning I looked at the car next to me. With a little wave and toothy smile the cutest little girl mouthed Merry Christmas to me. That small expression changed my whole attitude and truly made my Christmas that year.
What a sweet story! It is amazing how such a simple act from a stranger can make such a difference in our lives.
Well, another miracle of sorts comes to mind for me …surviving the Great Ice Storm of 1990 !? .. or it was around thereabouts, my city, parts of Quebec, eastern USA all were affected by it and ourselves only lost power for a few hrs , while many, including a cousin of mine in the area, who’s a farmer, went a few wks without power and having to use a backup generator , though he did lose some cows , etc sadly .
I remember that well! My in-laws lived in Montreal and were without power for days. Fortunately for them, they had a wood burning fireplace and used that to cook and stay warm.
I have not been lucky enough to witness one
It’s a miracle I survived the 70’s. Back then, seat belts weren’t used very often (if ever). We have a large family (I’m the oldest of 7) and the nine of us crammed into a small Datsun B-210 and drove in a storm to a Chinese restaurant for our Christmas Eve dinner. We had kids on the floor and a few in the hatch back. I’m sure we looked like the clowns getting out of a car circus act.
On a more serious note, our mother showed us the true meaning of Christmas by giving. She would always find a family who couldn’t afford very much and provide Christmas gifts for all of the kids. We also knew some lonely elderly people. We would do the 12 days of Christmas and leave gifts on their porch every day.
https://topworldauto.com/thumb/160×90/photos/Datsun/d6/97/14992_datsun-b210-flickr-photo-sharing.jpg
I don’t have any that I can remember but I believe miracles happen to us every day, we just don’t see, feel or hear them!!!! May miracles happen in all our lives this Christmas season!!! God Bless everyone and may the music spirits or angels have Mona and Lisa singing, playing and putting out a video!!!! A prayer that I think all of us want!!!, or would it be a Miracle?
When I was in college I had started coming home less and less especially after I had met a girl I was in love with. I had driven a long distance to visit her on Christmas Eve and got back to school late that night. On Christmas morning I decided to get up and drive 3 hours to see my Mom. She was shocked that I came home to see her and some family. She said it was a miracle to her that I showed up to see her and that it was the best Christmas gift I could have ever given her.
Not that I know of….
Sort of a “miracle”: I spent a Christmas in Lubeck in the 1990s with a friend. We went to church Christmas Eve, and I realized since the church was hundreds of years old it did not
have heating. Everyone was there in large overcoats. But it was wonderful, and the night was cold and crisp. My friend was a nurse, and she had the night off.
William Hauslein
I’m not sure that this counts as a miracle. I grew up in Clarion, Pennsylvania, about 80 miles north of Pittsburgh. I moved to Detroit, Michigan, not too long before Christmas to take a job. As it turned out, I wasn’t going to be able to go home for Christmas., but I had everyone come to my small apartment to celebrate Christmas, instead. Despite the tight quarters, we all had a good time.
I can’t think of any particular “Christmas miracles”, but on Christmas day I look back on the past year. Then think of so many miracles that have happened over the past year and just really feel blessed and loved by God.
The miracle of life happened on Xmas many years ago when we stayed on a farm – guesthouse . One of the cows gave birth to a little calf and we got to witness it . Didn’t think of bringing Mirre or gold though ????????
I can’t remember any miracles or anything unusual.Maybe just your long Christmas video last year.Yes, it was really close to a miracle.
Hello M & L. This is my second contribution for today.
Your question for today has provoked two things.
Firstly some of the miracles mentioned relate to elderly parents surviving illness or families getting back together. I was not part of this and joined in the parents conversations as my mother has Alzheimer’s (something I know you have experienced with your grandmother) and it has been very helpful in assisting us let out the angst and pain incurred by those of us still experiencing it. Hopefully, I will observe a miracle over Christmas when I see my mother and she will recognise or at the very least respond to me. Here’s hoping.
Secondly can we make a special request please. At least four of us would like you to sing/play Stille Nacht during your online performance on 23rd December. Any chance?
Make that at least five. One of my favorite Christmas songs, and it’s origin is Austrian: “composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria”
It doesn’t even need to be “professional “. You can do it off the cuff with minimal or no instruments. Just to hear your voices in your native language would be wonderful.
Add my vote! And I’m praying for your Christmas miracle, Philip.
Thank you Jeanette, just a smile from her would make my Christmas.
I do hope that you receive that miracle! Maybe if you sing one of her favourite songs to her? I’ve seen that work many times.
Thank you for the suggestion Jeanette. Her favourite song is Bohemian Rhapsody (as per the theme here on MLT a few days ago) so I think that I need to come up with an alternative a little bit more appropriate and less difficult! I’ll give it a go but with my singing skills(?) I may get a reaction, not necessarily a positive one though.
Oh my, that is a challenge! Maybe play a recording? Or sing her favourite Christmas carol?
Ah that is a far more realistic idea. Silent Night is one of her favourites, so hopefully M & L will grant us our wish and perform it on 23rd Dec and I’ll be able to sing(ish) along to that!
I got nuthin. Lots of miracles, but nothing to do with Christmas.
I’m hoping for a Christmas miracle this year I have a dear sister very poorly in hospital praying that she gets better soon, and can come home before Christmas Day.
I’ll pray for that miracle too.
Thank you Roger for your kind words
We’re all praying for you, so that this will happen.
Thank you Phillip for your kindness
No miracles for me. I’m looking on that as a good thing, I haven’t been in a situation where I’ve needed a Christmas miracle (touch wood!).
Yes, I have 🙂 I proposed to my wife in 1989 at Christmas time and she said yes 🙂
Probably only has a child I remember a big fat white Christmas.
Oh, by the way, there isn’t one thing wrong with how you or your hair looked in the “Blackbird” intro. I absolutely adore watching Lisa whack Mona for saying “stay tuned”, and then Mona adding “????” to Lisa’s “see ya later”, making Lisa giggle! Priceless!
No miracles, but I’ve always felt that I have an angel on my shoulder since I was a kid. I fell off a tree rope swing onto broken bamboo but was only sliced along my ribs. I got hit with by two speeding 200 pound rocks on a steep mountainside, but was able to hike out, bloody but ok. I was at the shipping station on my way to Vietnam when someone halted all troop shipments. And many more … All those close calls I’ve had and only a few minor scars to show for them.
None of these happened at Christmas, which for our family has always been a special time, and still is!
Are you sure that you are not actually a cat?!
I have had that thought before Phillip! Perhaps I was a cat in a previous life.
I believe in miracles, but haven’t had a Christmas miracle yet. Ill keep hoping and praying for one.
I particularly like this video particularly the part where Lisa can’t say particularly particularly well ????????
No real Christmas miracle but our Christmas day is always full of fun and family. Last year with lockdown we couldn’t have that but my amazing wife Julie cooked a superb Christmas dinner as always and I drove around to those family members on their own delivering Christmas Dinner to them all ????
A part of my family lived in South Africa for a while and one year they came to visit us for Christmas. In the Berlin area, we pretty much never have a white Christmas. But in that year, it started snowing on Christmas Eve. My little cousin was very impressed and back home in South Africa he told his friends that our grandma could make snow. 🙂
I don’t remember any Christmas miracles.
I’ve alluded to this instance before, but I think it qualifies as a Christmas miracle: I played the MLT Christmas CD while we unwrapped presents last Christmas, and we all joined you as you sang “Silent Night”. It was the first year in recent memory that we didn’t sing it at the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church, due to covid. The miraculous part, besides the warm fuzzies we all got from it, was that the song began just as we had unwrapped the last present. How’s that for Divine timing? ????
Not really but in the Yuletide on 4th of January around 22.00 – back in 1982 – I was called to the hospital because my wife had given birth to our second daughter. I had a taxi to the hospital – but after that time no one could could drive on the roads because of ice stroke. So when I should back home I had to walk and that was dangerous 3 step ahead and 2 backwards trying to keep in balance, so that walk took me about 2 hours for a distance of 4 km – sort of a miracle – at least I was lucky not breaking anything. Thanks for the win of a picture of my favorite twins 😉
When I was 5 I remember being very upset because we had no snow on the ground and I was worried that Santa could not get to me with his sleigh without snow. My parents tried to tell me he would just put wheels on instead. The miracle for me was that it snowed Christmas eve night so in the morning when I awoke and saw the snow I knew that Santa had made it
Hmm! I can’t recall any Christmas miracles. I do remember my dad burning all of our Christmas toys the morning after though.
Ouch! I’m sure there must be a story behind that occurance but I won’t pry.
I felt that the live-stream last year was something of a miracle for a new club member dealing with covid lockdown. I am looking forward to another miracle this year.
Ladies happy 27 &1/2 tomorrow. Cheers
I think that miracles are all around us – we just don’t always see them or recognize them. I can think of an early memory that certainly seemed to be a miracle to little me! When I was 7, our family moved to a new town, far from where we used to live, so that my father could start a new job. We were quite poor and because of the expense of moving, my parents told us that they wouldn’t be able to help Santa our this year and not to expect any presents. I took their obvious concern to heart and secretly coerced my brothers into emptying their piggy banks along with me. I remember constructing a mini Christmas tree out of sticks of wood and hammering them together in a secret location. When it was finished, we wrapped up all of our coins individually and put them under our little tree which we hid under a blanket. On Christmas morning we unveiled it as a gift for my parents to help them out. They were clearly touched. And imagine our surprise to find gifts for each of us under the Christmas tree despite our parents’ warning! It truly seemed like a Christmas miracle to us!
Nothing I can recall.
For the Christmas miracle, I heard that hairdressers light a candle, hoping that Lisa doesn’t come to get hair dyed.
I let you imagine … Apparently it works
I would have to say mine was 21 years ago. Me and my soon-to-be wife had to go on an emergency business trip to San Francisco around Christmas time to save a project from missing its deadline. We were just beginning to fall in love yet neither of us had “made a move” yet. However, as we walked the streets of San Francisco one evening we held hands and had our first kiss. The night was topped off by being serenaded by 3 Japanese Elvis impersonators singing Christmas carols. We were married less than 2 years later and will be celebrating our 20th Anniversary in May 2023.
A specific Christmas miracle? Not that I recall. But, just being a witness to life and nature is enough of a miracle for me.
One year we had gathered for the holidays with both sets of grandparents when the worst ice storm in the state’s history blew through. We lived out in the woods and were completely cut off with no electricity for a week. We had to heat the food in a woodburning fireplace and really bundle up for the cold. We all survived, didn’t kill each other after a week of close confinement, and had some memorable stories. Maybe not a true miracle but miraculous.
I guess you have to use a very loose interpretation of the word “miracle” but one year I was watching it snowing sometime in mid to late December and it was pitch black outside when I saw two green eyes watching me from the darkness outside. A jet black kitten was just hanging around so, long story short, I put a box with some food out and over several days I saw it was being used and eaten so eventually I guess you could say I adopted the cat. I have no idea where it came from except it was a Christmas cat and then I had it for many years til it died of old age.
It’s not really a Christmas miracle, but the one time that I really felt the spirit of Christmas was when I was at the Stille Nacht Kapelle in Salzburg during Christmas Eve for a memorial mass and Silent Night was sung in all these different languages. It was a very moving experience.
I would love to hear our Favorite Twins sing Stille Nacht !!!
Oh yes I agree. Shall we set it as a challenge for them to sing it on 23rd December!
Absolutely yes and maybe Leise rieselt der Schnee too. I think that’s how you spell it. My Danish is better than my German. Although I’ve been told Danish is like drunk German.
Hello Kirsten,
„Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht“ and „Leise rieselt der Schnee“ (very good) are both beautiful and traditional songs. I also wish Mona & Lisa would sing it.
PS: I haven’t tried it yet, but I think I need to drink a lot until I sound Danish.
I grew up speaking Danish and Norwegian and learned English too obviously, but someone once said to me it was easier to learn Danish if you knew German first. Maybe the languages are close enough that if we all went to a pub we could understand each other.
Thank you for your answer. Dutch and German, for example, are very similar. There I have a real chance to understand something. Unfortunately, I don’t understand Danish and Scandinavian languages. But I agree with you: the languages are similar. May I ask in which country you live? Kirsten is also a common name in Germany and I think it’s great that you speak Danish and Norwegian. Do you also understand Swedish?
I spend half my time in Copenhagen, Denmark and half my time in America. I also have family in Tromso, Norway. I can understand a little bit of Swedish. My dad’s mother was from Sweden and his father was from Norway and they each spoke their own language around the home so what ended up happening is around that side of the family we spoke sort of a Norwegian Swedish mix.
The problem with Scandinavian languages, Danish and Norwegian in particular, is that we don’t pronounce the entire word and we breathe through the language a lot too so we don’t stop for a breath. It’s like one big run on sentence and you can’t really tell where one word ends and the next one begins.
Kirsten thank you very much for the insight into your life. I always find it very interesting to see how many different cultures and countries come together here in the forum. Ultimately, we are all united by the love of music. A beautiful thought.
Kristen,
So true, i sing at our church and when we sing Silent Night it really captures the spirit.
When I was little it always put me to sleep especially during midnight mass, but when I was a little bit older and learned the story behind the song I just became fascinated with it.
I will try and keep this short. Many years ago money was really tight for me. I was working for a man who was very stingy with Christmas bonuses. We had a good year but alas, he did not hand out bonuses again that year. I was quite despondent over it. A week later I had reconnected with my sister who I had not talked to for over 20 years. While at their house for a party my brother-in-law asked me to come to the kitchen. In the kitchen he handed me an envelope with $500 in it that he saved for me from a small sweepstakes ticket he had won years earlier. He knew nothing of my plight with the nonexistent bonus. With that money I was able to buy my wife and kids presents for Christmas. Miracles do happen. Christmas can be magical. God hears your prayers.
Thank you for this topic in your Advent Calendar ❤️
No Christmas miracles for me, but there was that one year where I tried like hell to get Rudolph to fly! ????
This is just a joke miracle, but…
I was raised Catholic, and we were required to attend church on Christmas. My mother always insisted on going to the daybreak service, so I never got to enjoy the simple pleasure of getting out of bed and running downstairs to feast on all the presents. No, we were hustled out a side door and had to spend 20 minutes on utterly deserted roads, looking enviously into the windows of houses where kids were no doubt having the time of their lives. Then church, and then 20 more minutes of envy before finally arriving at the big payoff.
One year the temperature on Christmas Eve dropped to around ten degrees Fahrenheit (minus 12 Celsius). The following morning we piled into the station wagon, shivering in the darkness, and you guessed it: the engine wouldn’t turn over! So we went back into the house, and for the only time in my childhood I experienced Christmas morning as it’s depicted in Hallmark Channel movies everywhere.
A very nice Christmas story David and thanks for the conversion to Celsius.
David
We are Catholic too and for years it was Midnight Mass and that mass held so much meaning and now since the 2000 many churches go with 10 pm mass, so I really miss midnight mass.
Nothing comes to mind
I (like most men) are procrastinators when it comes to Christmas shopping. One year I went out to start my shopping with 3 days left before Christmas. While out shopping I had a “kidney stone” attack & had to go to the hospital. Unfortunately I had to spend the next 4 days in the hospital. I’m sure if you do the math you’ll now realize my situation. When I got out of the hospital I had to go back out to the mall & finish my Christmas shopping and then wrap all the presents. Although I was late in giving out my presents that year it taught me to try & be a little better organized when it comes to Christmas shopping. Now I usually have my shopping done & presents wrapped by the 2nd week of December. I guess I might consider that lesson to be a sort of small miracle in the lessons of life
Does cooking Steak on the grill for Christmas count as a miracle? Seriously, it’s normally like 30 (-1C) here for Christmas. That year it was like 70! (21C). No? It was REALLY good.
Can’t recall any miracles on Christmas day itself but I always have a happy memory of hearing Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmas time on the radio (must have been about 1979) in a dark room only lit by the fairy lights on the Christmas tree whilst watching people walking on the snow outside on the street. A memory that has stayed with me all these years. My brother and his wife had twins (boy and girl) almost at Christmas time (31st Dec) so that is a mini-miracle as well (but not so fun having a birthday too near Christmas for getting presents!!)
It is not the things themselves that give us pleasure, but the idea of the things.
(very loosely based on Epiktet a Greek philosopher)
And it is an everyday miracle, not only at Christmas, how we humans always manage to give meaning to our lives and convey a feeling of love, security and confidence to the people who are close to us.
No Christmas miracles come to mind
No Christmas miracles to report.
Ummmm…
Okay, I guess this counts. Many years ago when our son was I think about 4 years old we were opening our presents on Christmas morning, and one of his had a note from Santa on it. We asked him if he knew what it said and I was all set to read it to him, and instead he read it to me. He’d been reading individual words for a while by then but we’d had no idea he could read a whole note until that Christmas. Best gift that year!
I can’t remember a Christmas miracle happening to my family, but in a similar vain to your story, I used to own a small Newsagents shop in the little seaside town I live in. I used to open for a few hours on Christmas morning till midday for anyone that needed essentials they had forgotten. I had locked up and gone around my friends for Christmas lunch, when I got a phone call from one of my regular customers, he had brought his children loads of battery operated toys, but had forgotten to buy any batteries, so obviously he had a room full upset children that couldn’t play with their new toys, and worst of all a very angry wife ???? so I told him to meet me back at the shop and I opened back up so he could get all the batteries he needed. So also saved there being a Christmas divorce ????
There are times when going out of your way to help others are so special.
We had a similar experience to Jung Roe in 2019. About 4 days before Christmas, my Dad had a stroke and was hospitalized. He was 94 at the time. The doctors were not sure that he would make it, but in a couple days, he was move to a care facility, where we celebrated a very special Christmas. It truly was a miracle he survived and, when he left the facility, they said, due to his hard work, he was stronger than when he went in. After leaving, he went back to living with my sister and her husband, and can still get around, including up and down the stairs, all by himself. Not bad for 96 years old!
Because of his age and the risk of Covid, we aren’t having our usual family get-together, but will be having a Zoom Christmas. We haven’t been able to all get together since 2019, when we met in his care facility room. Fortunately, he’s doing relatively well, and we will get to see him in person on Christmas Eve/Christmas day, when he stays with us while my sister and brother-in-law are out of town, but the rest of the family unfortunately will have to wait until next year. We’re all hoping and praying he’ll be around next year and we can get together as a family again.
Another truly special story. So many of us on here have parents that we can only see infrequently (at best) due to covid. Another factor that pulls us together as it is a feeling that is hard to express but that we all know about.
Hi Ron, that is a beautiful Christmas miracle indeed. Thanks for sharing that. Wish you and your father and family much peace, love, and joy this Christmas and the new year.
Best Wishes Ron, thanks for sharing
Just love these daily video’s Mona and Lisa and congratulations to the winners! So cool! Mine goes back to 1979, that was the year me and Nancy got married and that Christmas brought my family back together. My uncle and pap did not talk for 7 years and because of our wedding it brought the family somewhat back together but Christmas in 1979 was so special, it brought us all back together and the following year 1980 my mom passed before Christmas and it dawned on us that 1979 was meant for us to all be together one last time and as I write this I am teary eyed, so i will stop before I can’t stop.
Bill and Maddie Isenberg
Hi Bill. That was a beautiful miracle indeed. That is the miracle of Christmas, those priceless forever fond memories with our loved ones it leaves with us. I fondly remember putting up the Christmas lights around the house and yard with my mom every year. It was something we always did together, unraveling all the twisted string of lights, and being proud of what we created together. Makes me teary eyed thinking of that. Sending you warmest Christmas greetings. God bless.
Thanks Jung, and thanks for sharing about your mom and you! Those times are priceless my friend. God bless you and your family during this wonderful time of the year as the Mona Lisa Twins sing!!
Hi Mona and Lisa, that scene on the hill filming for your video looks just exhilarating, and it just wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t freezing cold making your video scene eh! ????
Thanks for the shout out and sharing my family picture in the video this morning.
My Christmas miracle would be seeing my dad survive covid last year November and being able to celebrate his birthday this past November. Got a call suddenly from the care center asking us all to come down that evening as our dad suddenly lost consciousness after supper and his oxygen levels dropped dangerously low and they didn’t expect he would survive the night. He pulled through the next morning. My prayers and Christmas wish last Christmas and throughout the year was to be able to celebrate another birthday with him. Last month, November 17th, we celebrated his 94th birthday all together as a family. This past Sunday I visited my dad and he was in the TV room enjoying watching an episode of Mr Bean! Every time I visit him these days, with all the uncertainty around covid, and given his age and what he endured last year, feels like a miracle. Great question ladies for todays Advent, thanks!
See you in a while crocodile! ????????????❤
Lovely story Jung. Due to covid I’ve only managed to see my mother once this year. She has Alzheimer’s and has just been moved into the high dependency unit so things are taking their course. I’m hoping to see her just after Christmas but she won’t know who I am and may not say anything but it is something that I need to do.
Philip – hang in there and know that in her heart, she will always love you. My Mom died in 2014 from cancer, but she also had Alzheimer’s and could barely communicate. The day before she died, we all got together with the pastor from her church. I was sitting next to her and she took my hand and squeezed it, smiling at me. I know in my heart she knew who I was and wanted me to know she loved me.
Ron. Thanks for sharing that. I remember the last time I saw my mom, despite her Alzheimers, I remember she looked up at me in a way like I hadn’t noticed in years. I didn’t know it at the time but I know now she was saying goodbye and I love you always.
Thank you Ron. The last time that I saw her holding her hand was the only way of communicating with her. Occasionally she would look up at me and her vivid grey-green eyes just looked so questioning. Her eyes are about he only things that are recognisable about her and, in a way, a bit disconcerting as the major part of her discipline over us as children was a glare of disapproval. One of those stopped us in our tracks!
So lovely that you had such a positive last meeting with your mother, must be wonderful memory for you.
Hi Philip. Thanks. Sending thoughts and prayers for your mom and wish for miracles. I think your mom will feel your presence when you see her Philip. As horrible as this disease is, I don’t believe it has the power to rob her from feeling your love!
Thank you Jung. There is a bottomless pit of love for her. Regards and every good wish to your family as well.
God bless you and your family this Christmas season.
Thanks Walter. Much love and peace to you and your family this Christmas and the new year.
That is a miracle Jung ????
Hi Jacki. I remember last Advent one of the tasks was to craft a Christmas card for someone. Being able to make one for my dad was indeed a Christmas miracle that I felt so happy to deliver to my dad. I just remembered that. Wishing you a most wonderful and happy Christmas, and all the very best in the new year Jacki! ⛄????✨????
I had an amazing Christmas miracle happen when I was a teenager in the mid 1970s. I had been looking for work at that time and had little spare money for Christmas so felt a bit down. I set off from my home to visit a friend and I remember there was snow on the roads. The snow was starting to fall heavily in the early evening, reflected in the orange street lamps. As I walked on, I kicked at the snow every so often.
Then, as I kicked the snow up, I saw something underneath it, a red orange colour. It was a crisp £10 note -quite a lot of money back then! Out of all of the road, I had kicked up the very spot of snow where the money was hidden from view! I picked it up and as nobody was around anywhere, I decided to keep it, as to leave it there would have destroyed it under the wet snow.
Obviously, someone had dropped it earlier…but if so, why was it not wet and damaged? It looked like it had just been placed there.
I tend to think the Christmas Angels were watching over me and wanted to help my situation a little. I had a great Christmas after all, being able to afford presents and a couple of drinks with my mates. That’s my Christmas miracle.
BTW Mona & Lisa, that looks an awful lot like Ilkley Moor where you are filming?
I actually can’t think of anything for this comment…sorry girls. Have a lovely day though ????
Last year I was on site away from home in the week before Christmas. The client was saying that we would all be working over Christmas to get a cargo vessel mobilised to ensure it sailed before the new year. But with great team effort and a few ‘Christmas miracles’ that ensured things arrived and went into place ahead of schedule, our team managed to return to our families a few days before Christmas. 🙂
Just shows what can be achieved when everyone is working towards the same goal!
Growing up I always wished it would snow on Christmas day. I finally had a White Christmas about 5 years ago. It was so pristine that I did not walk in it and enjoyed the view.
Oh yes Brian I love looking out at a new flat unblemished fall of snow. Why so so many people enjoy ruining the beauty.
Ja, de winkelmanager was aardig, maar je onderschat je natuurlijke charme.
Many (many) years ago I was a server at our local church. One Christmas, when I was about 14, the vicar wanted a dramatic light display with the church lights for part of the service at midnight mass. The person who was going to do it was ill (sad over Christmas) and I was asked to do it at the last minute.
There were 16 switches, each for an area of the church, and various combinations needed to be turned on or off at various stages of the service to give the desired effects. I had to read, learn and understand the instructions in about 20 mins. The miracle was that it went perfectly especially considering that the box of switches was 1930s (or earlier) vintage making it difficult to work 4 or so at once as was required (John Guille, the vicar, thought very expansively) whilst also listening to the service and coming in on cue. So well did it go that I got the job for the next 10 years until I left home to work many miles away.
The best bit was that hardly any of the congregation knew who was responsible as I crept through to the vestry surreptitiously and the light show seemed a bit of a miracle to them.
Hoi Philip, ik begrijp de inhoud van de tekst niet, maar zo’n 12 mijl bij mij vandaan praten de mensen allemaal zo.
Hello Jurgen. Google translator may have made my phrase into something ridiculous but what I tried to say is, ‘yes, the store manager was kind, but you underestimate your natural charm’.
It may be another case of how we brits infer things within the statement and that it doesn’t work in other languages. What I am alluding to by the use of the word ‘charm’ is that two attractive young women (albeit just teenagers) asking him politely, enthusiastically and probably sweetly was something that tugged at the manager’s heart. It is not suggesting anything untoward, as some could take it, just making the best of all facets available to them. My niece is a master of it!
Hello Ladies!
I guess the only Christmas Miracle I can recall was about the Christmas of 2010.
Until then there had Not Been any measurable Smow Fall in Atlanta on Christmas Day.
I had been wanting to Play in the Snow with Maria on Christmas Day. Well this particular day it snowed and them some. We ended up with about 8″ of snow in a 4-5 hour period of time. It wasn’t called for in the forecast.
Maria and I rushed out and built a Snowman and went sledding..threw some snowballs and had a grand time.
The only time in history that Atlanta had a White Christmas.
In many ways a Christmas Miracle .
Thanks for bringing back that memory.
All the best team MLT
Rick
I can’t remember a true miracle that has happened to me but each year I live to see another Christmas healthy and happy could be considered a miracle!
Unfortunately I cannot think of anything that I could put down as a Christmas Miracle 🙁
The strangest Christmas was the Christmas before Desert Storm started. It was the Desert Shield phase of the campaign. On that day I remember we had a holiday meal at the mess tent sort of special. We did get some gifts from family and strangers. Kind of pot luck with the strangers. Of course the lower enlisted men got first pick. Being a NCO we put them ahead of ourselves daily. Plus I have never gotten so close to a priest before. When our regimental priest came for Mass I always enjoyed helping and participating in the Mass. Guess that was truly a miracle. Having Mass in Saudi Arabia in the middle of the desert. Peace everyone. STAY GROOVY! ❤????
Thanks for your service Ken. Its much appreciated!!
For you that don’t know, when Ken Said NCO, it refers to Non Commissioned Officer.
This is a great story. Thank you for sharing and for your service.
The christmas miracle I experienced was when my grandfather came home from hospital for the day
It must be a great memory for you.
Nothing is more important in our lives than celebrating Christ’s birth! I do remember another (much smaller) miracle on Christmas morning though. Our family opened up gifts before going to Mass one Christmas morning. I had gotten a box of chocolate covered cherries for my wife, which was a favorite treat for her. When we got home after Mass we found the box of chocolate covered cherries empty and our very guilty-looking Beagle puppy with lots of chocolate around her mouth. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs so we spent the rest of Christmas Day with our puppy at an animal hospital. That Christmas we celebrated both the miracle of Christ’s birth and the miracle of our puppy surviving after eating a box of chocolate covered cherries!
I sneak peaked my Christmas presents one year and didn’t get caught.
….it was a miracle I didn’t get caught.
????????????????????????
You naughty boy!
LOL.
MLT Club: Home of the original 6-finger lightning.
And also, congrats to the 2 winners today from the draw ????
Hi, well, I can think of two sort of miracles of Xmas…. one being , my niece was born near Xmas, a few days before, youknow with first borns of the due date , if they’ll arrive early/on time / late …. now tge second one that comes to mind is more sad in nature but as a family, we’re grateful…. it was Dad’s last ever Xmas and it was out at my oldest brother’s place, and he was on oxygen tank at this point , and I took a photo of him surrounded by his grandchildren, not knowing that he would pass in January , a few wks later , on my actual birthday, and am happy he had got to enjoy his last ever Xmas with family a despite his declining health, and for taking that photo with him and his grandchildren ????
Knowing that he was given so much joy in the condition that he was in must be a great feeling and memory for you. It is strange that often the best memories can be because of the sadness that followed a bit later.
Thankyou Philip ☮
Every Christmas we celebrate the miracle of Christs birth.