Day 1 of Christmas Nightlight Readings: The Littlest Angel

As I begin, I think it is necessary to start simple, humble, and most importantly precious. One of my favorite stories that was read to me as a child, and read to my parents, was "The Littlest Angel" by Charles Tazewell.

Back in the era of radio entertainment, Charles Tazewell was approached to write a story and this little angel is what he produced. The story first premiered on the Christmas radio show of Manhattan at Midnight in 1939. Later this story would become a children's storybook, and even a feature film.

The story follows the Littlest Angel as he enters Heaven and of course he is not the most angelic of the heavenly host. Often running late to evening prayers, having a crocked halo, singing off-tune in the heavenly choir, and wings that were not practiced in flying, he was often seen as the least of the angels. However, it comes to pass that Jesus is born in Bethlehem, and all of Heaven shows out with gifts to the Savior. The Littlest Angel has little to give, but his single possession left under his bed back home: a box filled with treasures only a little boy treasures. Embarrassed, and thinking his gift irrelevant to the Christ child, he cries and wishes to take his gift back. God, on the other hand, sees the gift as humble and as precious as the birth of His Son. He accepts his gift and from that day till this, the star can still be seen in the sky.

First Annual 25 Days of Christmas Nightlight Readings

I thought it would be high time to start a very blogger tradition! And as we're always bombarded with Christmas movies and specials, I thought it best to go back to where our Christmas movie watching dedication came from (before Bing graced us with "White Christmas" or before the Hallmark Channel took over the made-for-TV Holiday Guide). Before television, the Winter nights were long, dark, and cold—the best way to have family time and make those Winter nights not seem so long, was to gather before the fire and listen to classic stories of cheer and goodwill.

Beginning today (I will not post on Christmas day), I will post those classic stories that we have all heard and loved, seen renditions of, or those simply lost in the hustle and bustle of Holiday's past. These are stories for all ages, which can be read alone, snuggled under your warm comforter, at the bedside of a child, or before a blazing fire for all to hear.

Enjoy! And may your hearth be graced with a Nightlight Reading or two.

Protests in the Past & Present

As we are all aware of the Occupy movement, I thought I would use this post as some seed for thought. In no way do I want this post to be a podium for my opinion or others. I just want to provoke some pondering...

My best friend and fellow blogger Golden Moments posted this link to this video:

The protests of the Great Depression are mentioned in this video. But I want to point out how different the Occupy movement is compared to the protests of the 1930s. As seen in this video are clips for these latter protests. It's a different breed. No need to say history repeats itself. America is continually revolving the Occupy demonstrations are for the most part peaceable comparatively, but from the foundation of America the right to protest and demonstrate are simply just part of our history. We may not all agree with the methods, but it is inherently part of being American.