Have you ever wondered what the worlds smallest Christmas Card looks like? Well its 200 micro-meters wide by 290 micro-meters tall, and has a nice little Christmas tree on it. For our mystery question today we asked who made it? Mary of Mount Vernon called in and correctly told us it was Glasgow University, and she won a 5$ gift certificate to Troyer’s of Apple Valley.
The following is from Bill Crowder’s ‘Our Daily Bread’ devotional I shared on the air this week:
“The Little Drummer Boy” is a popular Christmas song written in 1941. It was originally known as “Carol of the Drum” and is based on a traditional Czech carol. Although there isn’t any reference to a drummer boy in the Christmas story in Matthew 1–2 and Luke 2, the point of the carol goes straight to the heart of the meaning of worship. The carol describes how a boy is summoned by the Magi to the scene of Christ’s birth. Unlike the wise men, however, the drummer has no gift—so he gives what he has. He plays his drum, saying, “I played my best for Him.”
This echoes the worship Jesus described when He told of the widow and her two coins: “ ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on’ ” (Luke 21:3-4).
All the drummer boy had was his drum and all the poor widow had were her two coins, but the God they worshiped was worthy of their all. He is worthy of our all as well, having given His all for us.
-Joe
The last two days, we’ve shared a couple of ‘Words of the Day’ that we seem to only hear this time of year…
Bauble: this word sounds like BOBBLE but refers to a common type of decoration or ornament. Originally, baubles were decorations at the end of batons carried by court jesters.
Mistletoe: this is a plant or herb that is hung from a doorway or ceiling that encourages a kiss. Why? The History Channel explains in an article posted in 2013: click here to read it
One of my favorite passages from the Christmas story in the gospels is the section of Luke 1 commonly referred to as “Mary’s Song.”
Mary’s obedient, humble response to the news that she had earned the Lord’s favor and would carry the Christ child is an incredible passage to read each year:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
Thanks for listening!
-Joe
Those boughs of holly…be careful with them!
Today on WHO KNEW we talked about different berries and their role at Christmas. Many people decorate with fake holly because the berries are poisonous and can make people and pets sick.
The acai berry (pronounced uh-SAI) is from Brazil and other parts of Central and South America and tends to be popular around New Year’s because it can promote weight loss and has numerous antioxidants. WebMD has a great summary here.
The cranberry is native to the Eastern US and Canada and is one of the few fruits or berries grown while submerged in water. Yea, like on those Ocean Spray ads with the cranberry bogs. It’s usually not eaten raw because it’s so tart, but adds a sharp flavor to many dishes at holiday time.
Our word of the day was RASPBERRY – an edible soft fruit related to the blackberry, consisting of a cluster of reddish-pink drupelets (those are the round things; about 100 per each average 4 gram raspberry).
Congratulations to Logan and Neveah – our winners in the WNZR Christmas Gift Exchange! Thanks for listening!
-Joe and Jess
Today was Praise Thursday and we had our monthly spotlight on Operation Christmas Child.
We shared a story from Livia, a girl you received an Operation Christmas Child box that significantly impacted her life. You can read the whole thing here.
We encourage you to take advantage of the back to school sales, as well as the tax-free weekend that starts tomorrow, to stock up on things you can put in shoe boxes OCC in a couple of months. You can find more information on Operation Christmas Child over here.
Our Word of the Day was lampoon, a noun that means satire directed at an individual. You can read more on that here.
And don’t forget to click here to make sure you are up to date on all the places we will be On The Road with Big Blue the next few weeks.
Have a great rest of your week!
-Jess
Don’t let the title of this post freak you out!
Since our Big Blue Crew is gearing up to go on the road this weekend to Christmas In July, the annual food drive to benefit Interchurch Social Services, I decided that I would do this week’s Who Knew Wednesday all about Christmas!
For information on Christmas in July, you can click here.
First, I shared some fun facts about Christmas trees, which you can find here and here.
I also shared some information on Christmas shopping. You can check out the infographic on that over here.
You can find the Top 10 American Christmas Traditions list that I shared by clicking here.
The fun facts I shared about Christmas cards is here.
And, my favorite list, the Top 50 Christmas Toys of the Last 100 Years, which shows the most popular Christmas toys by decade, is over here.
Our word of the day was nabob, a noun meaning a person of great wealth or importance. You can read more about that here.
Have an awesome Wednesday evening!
-Jess
Driving Notes 
