"It's a Christmas Miracle!"

This photo from the post about my mother's nativity scene seemed like the best one to use today.

And I'll keep this post short.

I've had wildly fluctuating blood pressure for decades for some known and also unknown reasons.

This typically prompts great anxiety whenever I walk into a room with a blood pressure cuff.

So you can imagine the anxiety when I am actually getting my blood pressure taken.

A couple of weeks ago, I visited my primary for a follow-up on one day and a follow-up with my endocrinologist on the next day.

Both times, to my wonderment and delight, the readings were extremely normal.

My endocrinologist was equally delighted and exclaimed, "It's a Christmas miracle!"

At first glance, such sentiments seem silly and trite.

But they really are not, if you think about it.

My family is still on a several-year chaotic stretch of one emergency after another. We have a lot of turbulence in the background we cannot control, and that turbulence is teaching us (very slowly) how to walk more deeply in faith.

Whether or not you consider the first Christmas story to be fact or fiction, the details are the same.

During an especially volatile time in the world, a savior was born in the midst of it, very quietly, very humbly, and without much fanfare or notice from most people.

If your life today is smooth and without struggles, rejoice! That is a huge blessing indeed. Revel in that while you can.

If your life today is difficult and challenging, also rejoice!

For tucked away in all of that turmoil are little miracles just waiting for you to see them, recognize them, and embrace them.

That is the Christmas miracle waiting for you. 

My Mother's Nativity Set

The best nativity set in the entire world (for me) is the one my mother bought in the 1950s.

She was still single at the time (she married my father on September 3, 1960) and working at Continental Insurance.

She always placed this nativity set underneath the artificial tree in the finished basement of our home: 2108 Belmont Avenue in Joliet. A smaller, sleeker, three-piece scene sat below the real tree in the living.

My sister and I would come home from school and listen to our parents' Christmas records, which were stacked on the turntable of the console, which included two upright speakers.

We would lean our ears against the speakers for better sound quality, our way of enjoying headphones before we actually owned any.

Sometimes we played with the figures, too, the reason why they are chipped.

My mother said that Joseph was actually a shepherd because the set she bought was missing the Joseph figure.

I don't know if she bought the Christmas tree in the back at the same time or she added it later. 

I do remember the paper folded angels (with tabs and instructions for folding) were always part of the scene.

At some point, she added the Styrofoam snowman and stapled glitter star either my sister or I made, mostly likely when we attended the former St. Bernard Catholic School in Joliet.

When my sister gave me the set earlier this month, it was still packed in the nearly seventy-year-old gift box with what has to be the original bag of straw, judging from the disintegration of the bag.

The old can of snow was gone. But the snow you see sprayed on the cardboard stable is the snow from my childhood.

This nativity scene, as well as this beautiful piece of the first Christmas by Perry Como, are forever linked in my mind. 

You can listen to it now as you scroll through the photos.

Christ is Born! Let is Glorify Him!

A Surprise Gift From Christopher

A couple of weeks ago my oldest son Christopher, who now stands at 6'10" and turns 39 today at 1:28 p.m., stopped at the house with a package.

I interviewing someone over the phone, so Rebekah answered the knock at the door. Inside was this little book.

I had sent Christopher the link over the holidays when I'd found a copy on eBay, thinking he might like one of his own, to read to his children or as a keepsake for himself. I had no idea he'd buy it for me.

I'm not certain what happened to my version. It may have been lost when we lost our house in Channahon. Or it may still be packed up in one of the boxes of items we wound up keeping.

But at any rate, the book Christopher bought was a book from my childhood, embellished with crayon scribbbles I don't recall making.

Its copyright is 1951, ten years before I was born, so I'm not certain how my parents acquired the book or how it came to me.

It wasn't one of my favorite books as a child. But it was a perfect book for me to read to Christopher during Advent of 1983, when he was just a year and a half old.

It introduced Christopher to the nativity story but also to the music of writing. The opening lines read:

Gray donkey stook very still.

One long gray ear was up.

One long gray ear was done.

It wasn't long before Christopher could recite some of these lines while I was reading them.

Here are some of the book's interior images. Take special note of the last one.

http://themarlowebookshelf.blogspot.com/2012/12/jesus-little-new-baby.html

Because I should also mention that when I was introducing Christopher to the nativity story, I was also expecting Sarah.

So I was introducing Christopher not just to the baby who was the savior of the world, but that God was blessing our own family with a baby and that he was to become a big brother.

After Sarah was born, and during the times I held her, Chirstopher would tell me I was "holding my precious baby in my arms."

I am certainly no "Blessed Mother."

But I am certainly a "blessed mother."

Story Round-Up: Features in The Herald-News, Dec. 4 through Dec. Dec. 9

Here's an awesome thing: I made deadlines for the week by yesterday. That's always my goal, so I can spend Fridays with interviews and making briefs, but lately the goal has eluded me. Happy Friday!

Here's another awesome thing: Up until this week, my blog post with the most views was a link to a nineteenth century vampire story, The Vampire, by Jan Neruda. One of my story roundups has surpassed it,with 1244 views as of this morning. I'm not sure why this post received so many views, but here's the link: http://bryonyseries.blogspot.com/2016/11/story-round-up-features-in-herald-news_25.html.

The proof copy for Cornell Dyer and the Missing Tombstone arrived yesterday with random formatting errors and one cover error. So one of my projects for this weekend (among my weekend editor duties and working on Before the Blood) is to read through the book and note them.

Onto the real work:

First, the non-bylined work: the health, faith, and arts and entertainment calendars. Three of them can be found at the link below. http://www.theherald-news.com/lifestyle/ Gotta Do It, runs each Sunday and often stays on the home page throughout the week.

Feature briefs for Tuesday (health), Thursday (faith), Friday (Arts and Entertainment), and Sunday (People) are also edited (texted and photos) by the lady of this blog, but only the stories have bylines.

I also have a list of Santa Sightings in the Joliet area at https://goo.gl/Hq06Hr.

Also, a few weeks ago, The Herald-News began a weekly Mystery Diner feature, a goal of mine that was finally approved. I'll catch up on the links this Monday and begin posting these with the regular roundup.

Another option: I do post the briefs and calendars on Twitter during the week, so you're welcome to follow me at @Denise_Unland61. And of course, I post curated content relating to the BryonySeries at @BryonySeries.

FYI: videos have not been attaching to stories, although they do run for a time on the home page. If you'd like to watch a video, and it's not showing up for you, message me, and I'll manually attach it.

Thank you for reading The Herald-News.


Channahon couple decorates for cancer research (VIDEO EXTRA)
Kris and Kristen Koppers light up their homes and the lives of others

“Last year, we gave out jingle bells from his sleigh,” Kristen said. “This year, we’re not sure what we’re doing, but we will have hot chocolate again.”

http://www.theherald-news.com/2016/11/29/channahon-couple-decorates-for-cancer-research/awdvbrn/

An Extraordinary Life: Single mother of four inspired new hot dog venue in Joliet

Jeff Reid recently opened Jerrie’s Dogs & Fries in memory of his mother

Of course, the signature hot dog is the Jerrie dog, prepared the way Jerrie liked her hot dog – topped with mustard, tomato, relish, pickle, cucumber, sport peppers and celery salt.

http://www.theherald-news.com/2016/11/29/an-extraordinary-life-single-mother-of-four-inspired-new-hot-dog-venue-in-joliet/ajbjivg/?page=2

Pets of the Week: Dec. 5

The Herald-News presents this week's Pets of the Week. Click on the caption of each photo to find out about that pet, including where he or she can be adopted.

http://www.theherald-news.com/2016/11/27/pets-of-the-week-dec-5/a1q0zf0/

New Lenox church offers a drive-thru Living Nativity

United Methodist Church offers dramatic retelling of Jesus’ birth

“One of the nice things about this event is it’s calm,” Beth Darin, co-coordinator, said. “You drive through and listen to the story in this beautiful setting. It tells the story on a non-intrusive level and you get to enjoy it that way. ... You take away from it what you need to take away.”

http://www.theherald-news.com/2016/12/03/new-lenox-church-offers-a-drive-thru-living-nativity/aw7m2gx/

Lincoln-Way Area Chorale performs at Carnegie Hall

Jackie Pletsch, a soprano, said the experience “took her breath away.”

“I started to cry and then thought, ‘I can’t cry. I have to sing,’ ” Pletsch said.

http://www.theherald-news.com/2016/12/07/lincoln-way-area-chorale-performs-at-carnegie-hall/auvpo13/