December Daily - December 3

This is the December 3 assignment from the Holidays in Hand class I took from Jessica Sprague.

This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays! ~ D.M. Dellinger

Write: What does the word "joy" mean to you? Does it play a part at the holidays?

Of course, I went to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary for the definition of joy and found this:

Main Entry: ¹joy
Pronunciation: \ˈjȯi\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French joie, from Latin gaudia, plural of gaudium, from gaudēre to rejoice; probably akin to Greek gēthein to rejoice

Date: 13th century

1 a : the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : delight b : the expression or exhibition of such emotion : gaiety
2 : a state of happiness or felicity : bliss
3 : a source or cause of delight

— joy·less \-ləs\ adjective

— joy·less·ly adverb

— joy·less·ness noun

For me, though, joy has nothing to do with well-being, success or good fortune. Joy is not circumstantial. Happiness is, but joy? Joy is heart-based. You know, "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart" Everything in my life can be falling apart, but I can still be joyful. Joy is totally a "God-thing" and has nothing to do with me - other than making sure my heart is right (man, the first three journaling prompts have been about the heart...think I need to learn something here???)

As far as "joy" at the holidays - one of my favorite Christmas hymns is "Joy to the World" and I've searched out ornaments that say "joy" on them or have words to the hymn. I love the word, I love the peace and contentment that come from knowing true joy.

Our photo today is to take a photo of something that represents the idea of "joy" - I will be taking a photo of my children playing with their Little People Nativity.

Our "do" today we are going to learn a Christmas hymn and sing it throughout the holiday season (refer to this post about why). Appropriately enough, I chose "Joy to the World". We have had fun learning to sing it at lunch!

Our "make" is to continue working on Christmas Cards. Not only do I have to do Elizabeth's with her, but I have to work on our Christmas letter that will go out with our cards, too!

The "remember" prompt for today: Think back to a time of holiday joy in your life. Where were you? Who was there? Specifically "holiday" related - um, happiness - It was 1999, I think. I made almost all of my Christmas gifts. I did hot mocha mix and homemade biscotti for many of the friends and family on our list. I hand-stamped and colored our Christmas cards. In many ways, it was one of the most difficult years of my life - and the holidays always brought my pain to the surface because there's nothing like the holidays to make you remember you don't have children - but that year at Christmas, I loved playing the part of "Martha Stewart." I loved baking, I loved the stamping and coloring, I loved the "creating" I did that year (stuff that I still love to do, I'm just in a season of life where I don't have a lot of time to do it).