"Down From His Glory"

The designing of my Christmas card is a challenge every year. After it is finished and at the printers, I say to myself: NEXT year, I'm going to get this finished in October! But I never ever START working on it until the week of Thanksgiving--so you see how that doesn't work out very well.

I am thankful, though, for the process of making this card each year. Actually, it has become my Christmas. You see, I am an artist ... and I have ideas and visions and desires for what I want this card to look like and to communicate ... but I am a moody artist (at best). Anyway, here it is:

I LOVE the Christmas carols, old ones and new ones alike. "Down from His Glory" is not a traditional Christmas carol by any means. I have a file folder with lyrics from dozens of carols. I had included this one in my file a few years ago because the lyrics are SO perfectly the Gospel ... they just say everything. But since the song itself isn't really recognized as a "carol" (and the tune is sung to "O Solo Meo" ... not my favorite music by far), I had rather cast it aside as a card possibility.

Last April, the first weekend actually, we had quite a bunch of snow fall. I was on my way to work in the early morning, and driving down the little road that leads outside my house to Cannonsburg Road, I looked to the right and saw this scene ... the sun was on its way up for the day ... the snow was glistening, and the beauty of it just took my breath away. I am SO glad I had my camera, because I stopped the car, pulled over, stepped out, and snapped this picture. When I uploaded it later that day to my computer, I KNEW I would use it on this year's Christmas card. The lyrics to "Down From His Glory" matched this little scene so well, I decided to use it, traditional Christmas carol or NOT!

I did alter this photo on my Photoscape program and I loved the result. Two of the four pictures on the card are altered, the darker two are NOT edited, other than to clarify color. I mailed out nearly 70 of these cards to friends and family this year, as well as some of my neighbors. The only phrase I did not use from the song was this: "Born in a manger, to His own a stranger--a man of sorrow, tears and agony." Even though those are perfect Christmas lyrics, there is only so much room on a Christmas card and I wanted to be sure to include the verse: "What condescension, bringing us redemption ... " because that is the GOSPEL ... it IS Christmas! I hope and pray this card was a blessing to those who received it.

PS  The card was printed on bright white linen card stock and I was very happy with the result ... moody artist that I am!