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Huber

Funeral Home & Cremation Services

952-474-9595

Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinic.

Occupational Therapy. Speech Therapy.

952-443-9888

Victoria’s Corner Bar. Nightly Specials and Menus. 952-443-9944

Buying or Selling Victoria?

Call Nan Emmer. 612-702-2020

Weinzierl

Jewelers

8 First Street in Waconia. 952-442-2885

Preschool and Childcare in Victoria.

Call 952-443-2121.

MVT Excavating

No job is too small. 952-446-9341

The Key

The Key to advertisers

in the Victoria Gazette.

Located at www.VictoriaGazette.com.

Last month in the last paragraph of this column, I wrote: “Right after this edition of the newspaper is printed and mailed, another family adventure is anticipated. Our son Nick and his wife Jen -- and all of us -- are praying and hoping for a safe and healthy delivery of their first child, a little baby girl whom they’ve already named Sophia. I’ll probably have details for you in the next issue of the Gazette.”

O come, little children, O come one and all,

To Bethlehem haste to the manger so small.

That November 2008 issue of the Gazette was printed and mailed on Wednesday, October 29th. Sophia was born on Thursday, October 30th. In this season of Thanksgiving, which seems always the season of my life, I say thank you, God, for beautiful Sophia. Many details and dozens of photos are online at www.VictoriaGazette.com. Click on Sue’s Album and scroll to the bottom.

Angels from the realms of glory,

Wing your flight o’er all the earth;

You who sang creation’s story

Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Whenever I call Nick now, I naturally ask about his baby daughter. Nick’s reply remains the same: “She’s perfect.” In addition to the ten little fingers and ten little toes, her eyes and nose and ears are also perfect. Her skin is soft and flawless. Her hair is dark and thick with a perfectly symmetrical widows’ peak crowning her perfect little face.

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask you to stay

Close by me forever and love me, I pray.

Since my Christmas tree is already up and decorated and I’ve been listening to my favorite Christmas music, I find myself singing about another Baby and comparing circumstances. Baby Sophia was born not in a manger but in a very modern hospital under the watchful care of doctors and with every advantage should there be a crisis of any sort.

Away in a manger, no crib for His bed,

The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.

The stars in the heavens looked down where He lay,

The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

I’ve already held Sophia for hours and memorized her features and wrapped her in my arms. There’s nothing like holding a baby in your arms, especially if that baby belongs to you or your children. I vividly recall that when Nick was an infant, I’d hold him and rock him in the middle of the night, long after he had fallen asleep after one of his feedings. I was astutely aware that those precious days were fleeting. What a marvelous gift to relive those hours as I’m holding his infant daughter.

They looked up and saw a star

Shining in the east beyond them afar,

And to the earth it gave great light,

And so it continued both day and night.

Without much forethought, and in less than a few days, I planned a baby shower for Sophia that would serve double duty as a going away party for my parents before they left for their winter home in Texas. All of my brothers and sisters came and so did many of their children and children’s children. The four generations filled my house with gifts and food.

We three kings of Orient are

Bearing gifts, we traveled afar.

Field and fountain, moor and mountain,

Following yonder star.

Sophia sleeps like an angel, peacefully, quietly, softly, and stirs a little bit about every three hours which lets her parents know she’s ready for some nourishment. Most of the time her eyes are closed, especially if she’s near a window or a bright light in the room. Is the little honey child dreaming? Does her developing mind see more than her developing eyesight?

O little town of Bethlehem,

How still we see Thee lie;

Above Thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by.

So I listen to my Christmas music way in advance of Christmas and I enjoy the lights and decorations in our home and in the cities and the malls. Soon it will be in our churches. Christmas touches my heart and makes it very tender, and so does Baby Sophia.