Songs & Smells that take you back

Have you seen the movie or heard the song? The first time I had heard of this story/song was at a Christmas program at my brothers church, about 2 weeks after Julie passed. Pass the kleenex! Coming into the Christmas season this year I really dreaded hearing that song and the first time it came on was while I was at work listening to 104.9. (Recently I've been working in the stock room a lot which allows me to listen to whatever music I want or CD's I take, and has given me more hours.) The first few times I heard the song this season, it choked me up, it takes me back 5 years to that first emotional Christmas season.

We don't understand why things happen much of the time. A hymn our church back home sings is Farther Along. The chorus goes: Farther along we'll know all about it. Farther along we'll understand why. Cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine; We'll understand it all by and by.

Changing the subject, yesterday I was using some germ-x and the smell immediately took my thoughts to Thailand. I've used germ-x all year long but perhaps it's because it was nearly a year ago that we departed, that the smell took my mind on a journey. We used lots of germ-x on that trip (: Makes us thankful for the small things, like soap, washrags, hand towels etc.

Below some pictures I took: Christmas decorations still up at the airport in Hong Kong, New Years Eve Day last year. Notice the Merry Christmas banner hanging above the shop.... wonder if they really knew what that meant. We keep hearing how stores aren't allowed to use the word "Christmas", it has to be "holiday". Anyways, I took this picture because I was surprised to see this, probably just more surprised that I saw english (:

From the Grand Palace, Bangkok. Sadly, they're not worshipping Christ.