"The Angel of the Lord...

 ...declared unto Mary."

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by PAM

Our (first) Christmas Angel in our secondary home is... uhm, Danish.  

Perhaps, it is more fitting to categorize this post as a 'Saturday Photo' given how the photo above is featured prominently.  I decided not to categorize this post as such since rather than the photo itself, I wish to focus more on the meaning of the photo and its relevance in the coming very important season - the Season of Advent, more popularly known as the 'Christmas Season'.  

Yes, we are now at the cusp of the 'most wonderful time of the year'.  As soon as the New Year started, we began the countdown to Christmas Day! We started saving to buy presents for our family members, friends and colleagues.  We can't wait for the day when we are given the 'season's permission' to hop from one party to another to meet and celebrate with friends and family.  Of course, there are birthdays and other celebrations in between.  But as soon as Halloween comes to pass, we dash to unearth our Christmas lights and bunch of decor, and we wait giddily for the weekend when we can coax our family members to 'deck the hall with boughs of holly' to the tune of Jose Mari Chan's undying hit song, "Christmas in our hearts" - on repeat.

At our home though, the very first Christmas reminder that we put on display is our golden Christmas Angel because, to us, Christmas begins when the "Angel of God declared unto Mary" that she was to conceive by the Holy Spirit.  And through the Virgin Mary's obedience and Love of God expressed in her words to the archangel Gabriel, "be it done to me according to your word", and through the faith, obedience and love of St. Joseph, 'the word was made flesh and  dwelt among us'.  And 'the Word' is Jesus Christ, and his birth is the great act of Love by the Father for us all.  Therefore, Jesus is the embodiment of the greatest Love of all.  And this is the Christmas Story - a story of Love.  We give homage to this Love everyday through our small deeds of love and by reciting the Angelus - our late father's favorite prayer... which became ours, too.  And this is why, we always begin the celebration of Christmas by lighting up our Christmas angel.

In our secondary home, we do not have a golden angel figure... but I found a lovely Christmas card at the Flying Tiger store located in a Mall close to our 'Home #2'.  The store carries pretty but 

Our little friends from the North Pole.

functional items made in Copenhagen, Denmark where the store originated.  Having lived in Lund, Sweden for a year, where Copenhagen was just a 15-min boat ride away, the vibrant Danish capital has become one of my favorite Scandinavian cities. And so, when I was looking for new Christmas decor, I had to check out Flying Tiger.  And, true enough, I immediately found what I was looking for - a Christmas Angel, beautifully rendered in a greeting card!

In front of the olive green card is an image of an angel clothed in a cream paper mache against white flat paper.  Its wings are made of red paper mache against flat white paper, too.  It is a beautifully artistic angel in Christmas colors of subdued tone - very Danish.  I found a nice white frame and a pretty string of lights in the same store. And so, in an instant, I found our Christmas Angel for our 'Home #2'.  As a bonus, I also found white-tailed deers in Santa hats... and, right there and then, I knew that our Christmas this year will have a touch of Scandinavia... and it's cool!

We are excited about Christmas, and we are excited about celebrating it at our 'Home #2'.  We hope for the best in this Season of God's Great Love to all of us.  Specifically, we hope for the best for our country, the Philippines... may we all conquer the towering challenges in front of us through our faith and the magical Christmas Season! 

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Image Credit:  All photos belong to me asI took all of them.

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