On the 5th day of Christmas...Five Gold(en) Rings

But first - have you entered the giveaway drawings?  I changed a few settings so it should be easier to comment (some of you had told me this was a problem!)  Read to the bottom to see all the ways to enter and win!

On the 1st day...A Partridge in a Pear Tree & Vintage Apron Gievaway

On the 2nd day...Two Turtle Doves
On the 3rd day...Three French Hens & French Hens Hat and Tags Giveaway
On the 4th day...Four Calling Birds

"On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

five gold rings,

four calling birds,

three french hens,

two turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree."

Simply Stacked Golden Brass Rings - Set of 5, $18.00 by Muffin Top Designs

5 golden rings necklace, $98 by Crystal Beach Handmade Vintage Inspired Jewelry

Whether you sing "go-old" or "golden" you know this is everyone's favorite verse!  Now we're talking!  Up 'til now, the gifts have been edible.  Don't get me wrong, I like to eat, but I like gold even better!  In the French version we'd still be eating (is anyone suprised?) with a gift of 5 legs of mutton!
Of course in the much more practical (and funny) "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas" version we'd all be getting 5 flannel shirts.  Speaking of flannel - I found these cute flannel pillowcases for free:

FREE With Purchase Over 25 Dollars, by Sweet Gracie

Many have said that the entire song is a way to teach the basic tenets of Christian faith.  In this account, the 5th day represents the first Five Books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch: 1) Genesis, 2) Exodus, 3) Leviticus, 4) Numbers, and 5) Deuteronomy, which gives the history of humanity's sinful failure and God's response of grace in the creation of a people to be a light to the world.

Torah Necklace - Sterling Silver and Mystic Topaz, $22.50 by Silver Dot Jewelry

I am pleased to introduce to you our guest blogger, Patti Williams.  Patti is a talented artist I met while I was an event planner.  I used her in several weddings to make beautiful personalized aisle runners

This pic is from her Running Down The Aisle website,
I was so excited to see one of "my" weddings pictured! 
(I did the planning and flowers/decor for this one.)

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I had intended to write about the true meaning of Christ's birth. We get so caught up in the buying of presents, making it all magical for our children, keeping "Santa" alive thus keeping them excited and bringing a little excitement back into our own lives perhaps. We decorate, we bake, we get in the "festive mood" preparing for a huge celebration on the 25th for a lengthy time period, some starting as early as September!

"Adobe Fortress" by Patti Williams (sold) makes me think of what Bethlehem might have been like!

We all live in a very different world from the time that Jesus was born. We have been blessed with extraordinary knowledge that has blossomed into unimaginable production of wondrous accomplishments. We have so many gadgets that we don't even know about just to make our life easier, entertain us, and even harm us... we can choose whatever we desire.

When Jesus Christ came to this earth as a human, he knew exactly how his life and death would be. Everything, from the moment he was born, had a reoccurring theme: LOVE and FORGIVENESS, IN THE SAME WAY YOU JUDGE OTHERS, YOU WILL BE JUDGED. 

He preached, he taught, he lead by example. He walked this earth for years just to talk, love and reach to everyone he could and he taught many things, but the meaning behind each and every one of them was LOVE. In fact he said that everything hinged on LOVE. It is easy to love your family, friends and people that are loving to you, but the challenge is to love EVERYONE without thinking about who or what they are, what they've done, or what they believe.

"Love" from one of Patti's hand painted custom aisle runners

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TO ENTER:

• Post a comment (1 per day – so after you check out the next day’s blog, visit each day to enter again – just like the song builds every day, so do your chances!)
• If you haven't already, post the button (then a comment letting me know)
• Blog, Tweet and/or Facebook about this giveaway with the link (then a comment letting me know)
• Follow me (then a comment letting me know)
• BONUS entry! Visit one (or both!) of Patti's sites Artquest or Running Down the Asile and look around, then leave me a comment letting me know your favorite thing! 

The fine print:

• You must leave a SEPARATE comment for each entry – this is the only way to keep it fair and straight (and keep me from having to kill a tree printing them out and cutting them apart!)
• All giveaways will be held on December 13th
• A random number generator will be used to determine the winner(s)
• If your e-mail address is not publicly listed on your profile, please include it with your comment(s)
• We reserve the right to re-draw if the first winner does not respond within 48 hours (please don’t let this happen – that would just be sad!