Ha pp y B ir th da y

December 12 2006 - Business Meeting and Holiday Get-together

January 23 2007 - Business Meeting

February 27, 2007 - Joint Meeting with Minneapolis

March 27, 2007 - Program Meeting

April 24, 2007 - Business Meeting

May 22, 2007 - Business Meeting

Members are to call Dorothy if they are unable to attend the December meeting, which will be at Dorothy's home. She will need an exact count since the meal will be catered in. She will need to know by Tuesday, December 5^th for the December 12^th meeting date.

If you do not call, it will be assumed that you are attending and you will be billed for that meeting. If you are unable to attend due to last minute circumstances, you will be billed for that meeting.

I found this article on the Internet and thought it was worth sharing.
The Meaning of Christmas by Sonia Choquette:

If in spite of ambivalent feelings you keep on celebrating the Christmas holiday, it could be because of its hidden meaning.

There is a lot of controversy and confusion in people's minds over Christmas and its meaning both in our personal lives and in the world. Some people feel it is an exclusively Christian holiday, holding no special meaning for them. Others believe it is nothing more than a feeding frenzy for the free market and an excuse to get people to open their wallets at every turn. Others take the viewpoint that it is a holy day that is cheapened and diminished by all the garish festivities.

Yet few, if any, when really pressed, are willing to give up the Christmas holiday, in spite of their ambivalent feelings. The reason for this is because of the real meaning behind the Christmas season. A meaning that we all somehow psychically feel even though our own intellect doesn't fully comprehend what all the fuss is about.

That hidden meaning is that Christmas is the festival of the human heart. It is a time of year when all the universe conspires to raise the vibratory level of consciousness on earth to one of peace and love toward ourselves and one another. This season resonates to the sweet, childlike innocence that resides in all of us. A time when the heavenly forces inspire us to shift our focus away from fear and toward one of joy, and healing.

The Christmas festival emphasizes this shift in two ways; one is the rebirth of the soul and the second is the return of the light to earth. Even before the rebirth of Christ which centers around our modern day Christmas festival, as far back as recorded history, in fact, these two themes of rebirth and light have emerged again and again during this time of year.

It is as if Divine Consciousness moves forward year after year, during the darkest season, to bring us back to light.

Yet even knowing the true meaning of the Christmas season is not enough to convince some people of its importance. "Peace! Goodwill! Humbug!" they cry just as Scrooge did in the famous Dickens fable. "These are nice ideas but no more than a fantasy. I feel no peace. No goodwill!"

Yet there is a way to feel this vibratory shift. There is a way in which your own heart can experience the love and light pouring into the earth's vibration from Divine Source. That way is to participate in the rituals of the season. No matter who you are, your heart cannot resist the beauty of an ornamented Christmas tree or the glow of a mysterious menorah. Cynicism gives way to the celebration when carefully preparing holiday sweets or stringing colorful lights around the entrance to your home. Any heart warms to a rousing rendition of "Joy to The World" or the sensuous smell of roasting chestnuts on a crisp winter's eve.

Sadness leaves when carefully choosing gifts to delight and surprise those you love. The heart feels rich and fulfilled as you wrap them in gay paper and bows. For just a while, through partaking of the whim and richness of the season, life takes on an extraordinary hue, one of sweetness and safety. Something psychic and healing happens to our hearts as we enjoy the layer upon layer of these sensual seasonal delights. These rituals open the heart chakra and allow us to feel and express the innocence and beauty of being a child of the universe.

Each occasion we create to feel the vibrations of Christmas helps raise the consciousness of the planet and return it to balance. For every person creating joy, there is one less person in pain. These are the ways to experience the vibrational shift toward light that occurs during this season. But there is one more thing you can do to amplify this experience a thousandfold.

That is to enter the season of Christmas with the intention of being a personal messenger of light and love, and celebrate in the name of service to Divine Consciousness. Nothing transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary more directly than the intention to do what ever you are doing with the desire to serve Higher Power.

When we celebrate the season with such an intention and desire, we not only experience Christmas . . . we actually become Christmas: an agent of rebirth of the soul and the bringer of light.

Therefore, the best gift you can give to yourself and the world during this holiday season is a cup of spiced cider, a delicious Christmas cookie, a round of jingle bells, and the gift of self love. So be it.

Sonia Choquette is the author of The Psychic Pathway: A Workbook to Reawaken the Voice of Your Soul and Your Heart's Desire: Instructions for Creating the Life You Really Want.

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. The answer was also found on the Internet (where else?) and for those of you who were also desperately seeking the meaning of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" - here it is!

What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. It was illegal to be Catholic until Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England in 1829. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

Since the song sounded like rhyming nonsense, young Catholics could sing the song without fear of imprisonment. The authorities would not know that it was a religious song.

The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge because she would feign injury to decoy a predator away from her nestlings. She was even willing to die for them. The tree is the symbol of the fall of the human race through the sin of Adam and Eve. It is also the symbol of its redemption by Jesus Christ on the tree of the Cross.

Two turtle doves were the Old and NewTestaments.

Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The "five golden rings" represents the first five books of the Bible, also called the Jewish Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit- wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.

The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount.

Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit - Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So the next time you hear "the Twelve Days of Christmas" consider how this otherwise non-religious sounding song had its origins in keeping alive the teaching of the Catholic faith.

POINSETTIA SALES Shirley updated us at the November meeting. We have sold approximately 180 plants this year. Last year we sold about twice that many. It is not too late to get your order in. Linder's is out of the pink doubles and triples at this time, but the red and white poinsettias are still available.

Romelle and I attended the Minneapolis Zonta's annual fund raising event on Sunday, November 19th. They had a large selection of silent auction items and had entertainment by Twin Cities Blues and Jazz singer, Patty Peterson. We hope that their event was a whopping financial success!

If you have anything that you would like included in the newsletter, please let Peggy know. I know we would all be glad to hear what is going on with you!

See you all Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at Dorothy's!