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  My blog was filled up. I'm too lazy to clean it out. So I started a new one. |
| This week, we go back to normal, if not already. The decorations will come down. Ordinary music and chores. Back to work or housework, back to laundry, cleaning floors, cleaning toilets, maintaining the car. The parties, the concerts, the special events are pretty much over. Life goes on as before. The shepherds had that experience the first Christmas. They were startled out of the ordinary by scary magnificence of heavenly beings. They didn't understand what they heard, but decided to check it out. When they found the baby as told, they marveled and felt joy, but they still didn't know the whole story. They didn't know how it fit in with the prophecies, or how it would turn out. They were excited and didn't keep it a secret, but they did go back to work. Maybe they were changed forever, maybe it wore off. We have the advantage of knowing the significance of the details. But are we changed by it? Are we more giving all year or only in season? How does having Christmas every year really affect us, other than give us an excuse to party, to have a big meal, and lavish gifts on our friends and loved ones? I heard someone today talk about everyone being in a bathroom every day. Most bathrooms, even in stores and work places, have mirrors. If every time we looked in the mirror, we told ourselves "I am wonderfully made" like the psalmist said, would we be nicer people to be around. Would we be more positive and encouraging to others if we tell ourselves, "God loves me and cares for me" every time we look in a mirror? Celebrating Christmas is a reminder that the God of all creation became one of us to communicate his love to us. Maybe that conversation with the mirror would remind us of that all year long. Christmas would be a quiet part of the ordinary on a daily basis. |
| Oh my, oh my. Can it be that another year has flown by? The last three months have been a blur, but they say that's a sign of old age. Time is relative. The longer you've been watching time go by, the faster it seems to go. My grandmother never had that experience. The days always seemed long to her. It was hours or days since she last saw someone. Then you'd listen to her talk and realize she'd had half a dozen visitors that day. Come to think of it, she never complained of anyone staying too long. I don't have that experience . . . yet. So I've been toying with resolutions, which I usually try to avoid. But I know I want some changes. I've been thinking about them for some time. The ones that cost money will stay on hold. However, I got an ad in the mail today. The good gym has just opened a new branch 24/7 near my subdivision. I know I need to get some direction from a trainer, and they do have a trial period. Maybe, I could try two months, and I could see if it's worth the ongoing monthly fee, or whether I've learned enough to do it on my own. I know I need to up my game without straining a muscle or having a stroke trying. Inside out of the rain and snow would be nice, too. I'm thinking. . . . So, I guess I'll make a list of things and see how they look. I might end up throwing it away. I'm going to concentrate on daily behavior and not results. Like forget "lose ten pounds". Instead, exercise 10 minutes more every day, and no eating in front of the TV or computer video. Go to bed 15 minutes earlier, that kind of thing. Write for X number of minutes a day, or read a certain amount of time. I can always adjust my list, if I keep it, and decide some things were too easy or too hard. Maybe I need to set aside certain days, like every Thursday is research day. Or pay bills on Friday. That might keep me organized and help me meet my weekly goals. Resolutions will be broken, no matter what the intention. But we can get back on track or throw them out. But throwing them out should be intentional, and not just forgetfulness. I'm going to dabble with them. |
| Solicitations are up in December. I hate answering the phone. My favorite TV channels with the long commercials, not my favorite part, are big on sad children ads. The animal ads run all year, as do the St. Jude's, but they increase the number just before Thanksgiving, through New Years. They usually feature the girl who looks like a boy talking about the "adorable blanket" for your sizable donation. Shriner's starts showing up, along with the hare lip organization that use to feature in the back of every magazine. Wounded Warrior advertises all year long. There's a couple of local theaters that I like to support in a small way, but they don't make a big to do this month. The Municipal Band is pushing because they have a matching donor who has issued a challenge. They need to get as much as possible very soon to get the largest match possible. I know a lot of people do wait until late in the year to make their contributions for tax reasons, or when they balance their budgets. My dad and I give to the local food bank several times a year. We give memorials to Wounded Warriors or the closest Habitat for Humanity when someone passes away. I give to my church regularly which supports the local women's shelters and will occasionally do meals at the men's shelter. They also participate in the food bank and other local projects like water in the summer for the homeless or gloves and hats in the winter for kids and adults. We also do projects in nearby housing projects and nursing homes, as well as some foreign and emergency projects. These are ongoing, which makes sense. Dad likes to give to the Heart Association since Mom died of a heart attack. I've made it my policy not to buy or donate over the phone. I've had my credit card number stolen once. I've also found you never get rid of the solicitors once you give. Every ten to 30 days, they're on the phone again. I recognize their voices. I've asked to be taken off the lists more than once, so I think that's why they call back so soon. The cancer society and its divisions are the worst for frequent calling, always pretending to be your best friend. I have limited resources and can't supply all the requests, no matter how much they plead, as though their requests to "Please, don't hang up" will make me give more. I'm really tired of the commercials. I don't watch certain channels now just to avoid the extended ads--they're longer than name brand products. Someone has to pay for extra time and the repetitions. The cost of the ad itself is taken out of your charitable donation. Today the Shriner's ran an ad showing deformed children, and kids with artificial limbs. I burst out crying. I then turned the TV off once I could breathe again. These commercials need to have warnings. I was only halfway looking at the screen, so it caught me by surprise. I'm not an irresponsible person. Most of us aren't. But the guilt they want to lay on the average viewer is too much. The need may be real, but in most cases only a small percentage of your donation goes to the actual need. Hopefully, the begging will be reduced soon. |
| I really need to start typing my blog elsewhere and copy here. It's one o'clock in the morning and a technical error just wiped out everything I had written. The Day After Christmas is one of the laziest days I've had in ages. Sure, I did two loads of laundry, swept floors, fed the stray cat, heated leftovers for dinner, and did the dishes. But I had no errands, no wrapping or baking, no guests. I read whenever I had free time. I think I took a twenty minute nap. It was wonderful. It got me to thinking about how much better the book is than the movie, usually. The movie is someone's interpretation of the book, and usually omits certain things. Like Unbroken omits the last half of the book, the part that gives the title. When I read the book, my imagination takes over, and so much more is clear. The movie, A Walk To Remember was a disappointment after reading the book, which was terrific. I saw Watership Down first, then read the book, and the book was still better. Rarely, the movie or movie scenes are better. I read The Fixer by Malamud, and it seemed muddy to me. The movie explained a lot more to me. There were a few scenes from Women in Love that were better than the book, like the bull fighting scene (I was both a Glenda Jackson fan and an Alan Bates fan). I was young when I read and saw those. Maybe that affected my judgment. We've all read A Christmas Carol. There are dozens of versions in movies, including fluffy ones with current TV stars, even women as "Ebbie". This year I watched one with Patrick Stewart, always good, the George C Scott one, and a British one from 1935 which had very different interpretations. And there's Scrooge and Scrooged, as variations. All of them are quite good, but none take the place of the book. So, I promise to be as lazy as I can for the rest of the week, although I can't avoid errands and appointments all together. |
| The dishwasher has run two loads. The floors are swept, and the wrapping paper is balled up in trash bags. The Christmas lights are on a timer which will soon turn off. TV has only old movies or rerun sitcoms. I've been too tired to read. All the company left a few hours ago. Phew! The weeks of anticipation, of trying to choose the perfect gift, of planning the menu and the timing of dishes in the oven. All the little decorative touches which took trial and error and no one noticed. And then it's over so fast. I had to keep slowing the kids down, so we could observe who was getting what. One family opted for passing out scratch off lottery tickets instead of shopping and wrapping. I think we had 3 one dollar winners in the group. $65 on lottery tickets for $3 winnings. We did have a few minutes of fun, scratching off with the kids. Since Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday, I spent a lot of time in church, which forces you to sit still and listen to music and relax. I went into Christmas fairly stress free. My only stress came from the cranky 89 year old, and he only has outbursts of crankiness. It's not constant. Now it's over, he'll be laid back until the next holiday or medical procedure. It's time to relax, clean up in general, and delve into unfinished projects. It's also a time to reflect and evaluate. The anticipation is over. The holiday flew by. How can I live with the joy and good will of Christmas all year long? |
| I heard a different twist on Christmas today. When the angel told Mary what she was going to go through, an unwed mother in a very strict culture, she didn't object or argue. She said, "Yes". he went on to compare Mr. Rogers, who was in seminary, planning to be a preacher. He got hooked on some TV, watching some terrible shows. He concluded that he could do it better. So he was ordained, not to become a regular church minister, but to pursue children's television. He said "Yes" and influenced generations of children. I started thinking about that response. A few like Isaiah said yes right away. A lot argued like Gideon, Moses, Aaron. Jonah said "No!" And we know what happened to him. Whatever our calling, our age or circumstances, may we all be brave enough to say "Yes" and pursue that calling. Mary was just a young teenager. But wherever we are in life, as long as we draw breath, it's not too late. We can find new opportunities. We can start a new path or renew the old one. Say "Yes". |
| Every home has its own special food or memories of food at Christmas. For us, it's oyster stew for breakfast. Some people have seafood. Or they repeat the Thanksgiving meal. Beef is a big seller according to local butchers. Other things vary according to trends and people. Even within my own family, "traditions" have changed a little. When my mother was alive, she always fixed potato salad for special occasions. She had gotten many compliments on it, so it was her signature dish. I got tired of it, and reached a point where it didn't seem fancy enough for our increasingly large meals. As the family increased to include grandchildren, then the spouses of grandchildren, and their guests, we began having a buffet. Now we've lost my mother. my brother, and my niece's husband. Because of the small children, they don't invite non-family like they once did. I haven't either in years. The kids are all picky eaters. So we could downsize. I would love less cooking and pan washing. But my dad is almost 90, and he's got to have a long list of things. He gets very upset when I try to narrow down the list. He gets kind of hyper, too. He's usually mellow, but getting ready for a holiday, he stresses out the way my mother used to do. I've been ready to walk out a few times in the last few days, but I digress. I made shaped sugar cookies for the first time in years. I had forgotten how time consuming and expensive cookie making can be. Dad might eat them all before any guests get here! I also made pumpkin bread and banana bread, which takes me back to my pre-marriage days, when I had time and energy to do all those things and didn't need sleep. Eggs are boiled and peeled, but not deviled until tomorrow. We went through a phase when my oldest brother was still alive of making appetizers. Everyone brought an appetizer home to our parents. You could fill up on stuffed mushrooms, wrapped olives, cheese dips, and so forth, before even saying the blessing. That phase is over. Once in a while, one of the adults will bring whatever he or she happens to have, but nothing you can count on. We try to be sure peanut butter or goldfish are in the house for the picky eating kids. Dad obsesses over seafood salad and insists on making it himself. He doesn't follow Mom's recipe. He puts so many onions and celery in it, that I can't eat it. You can barely find the whitefish, crab or shrimp. It's chock full of Old Bay, but he plans to sprinkle dill weed on it before serving. I think that's one flavor too many, but it's his salad. When we were kids, Mom always fixed a fresh coconut cake for Christmas. She'd drill a hole in the fresh coconut and drain the milk first. Then she would crack it in pieces and let us help carve out the coconut from the shell. She'd grate it. When the cake was done, she poured the coconut milk on it slowly before adding a cooked frosting. Then the fresh coconut would go on. And we always had some cookies for Santa that somehow survived all the kids and my father. Then there were fruitcakes. She'd start early in the fall. The nuts had to be cracked and picked. Almonds had to be blanched. You bought the candied fruit whole and chopped it up. There were dates and two kinds of raisins. It took a long time to prepare the fruit and nuts which were soaked in a huge bowl overnight with apricot nectar. (I still have that bowl which no one is allowed to touch.)My job, I hated, was to prepare the paper linings. You took brown paper bags, cut the paper to fit the sides in flat sheets, the middle tube, and circles to fit the bottom. Our pans were two piece pans, so the cake was easily removed from the pan. It took two layers of brown paper, and one layer of wax paper. The brown paper had to be greased with Crisco. This made my skin crawl. The feel of the grease on the course brown paper was creepy. But Mom insisted that I do the whole job by myself and get it perfect. When the center section with the middle tube was ready, I had to insert it into the pan. Having the fruit mixture and the pans ready was one day's work. The next day, she mixed the cake batter with a zillion spices. She would stir in the fruit and nuts, then empty into the pans early in the day. It took hours to bake. That's why so much paper was needed--to keep the cakes from burning. When done, only my mother could remove them from the oven. They were way too heavy to let a kid try to move them hot. The center tube came out, and the cake cooled still on that middle section. They were yummy when we were finally allowed to sample them. That could be weeks away. She would pour on just a little bourbon (we kids could never taste it). It would be wrapped in foil and placed in a tin box to keep. When it was finally cut, it was sliced so thinly. But it was delicious. The cakes were so expensive and timely, that we made them last a long time. We'd still be using the same one in March. It was a special treat to get a slice. We loved biting into the fruit. The cake had a good flavor, if you picked the fruit out of it. Some pretty green and red cherries were always cooked on top with some pecan halves in a decorative array. Mom's cakes were very popular. Some folks we knew in New York would call her early and ask her to reserve one for them. She made loaves rather than the round tube for outsiders. They were a little easier to paper; they still took a long time to bake. A loaf cake weighed over six pounds. But they got less popular in the general public. Commercial fruitcakes helped give them a bad name. There were more jokes about fruitcakes than there were actual cakes. So it became difficult to find the fruit. What you see in the produce section today is not what my mother used to buy. Country stores were the last to sell it by the pound, like a deli. By then Mom was back at work full time. Although she was willing to try despite her schedule, the ingredients just weren't available at an affordable price. There are some other special memories of Christmas food and drinks. I love hot apple cider. A local nursery served it while you shopped, and the whole store smelled of spices while gentle Christmas music played. I had a friend, actually a couple, who made glug. They're the only ones who ever made it in my circle; they liked to drink. (They threw great St. Patty's parities.) A guy my dad worked with was alone every Christmas morning. His wife was an RN, so he would drive her into work, then stop off at our house for breakfast. He would bring us coconut macaroons. Somehow I fixed it in my childish head that they were a Christmas treat. When his wife retired, we stopped getting them, but I still have the memory. What foods trigger Christmas memories for you? |
| What is this season without music? Every year we play our favorites, so they become familiar to us. Then it just doesn't seem like Christmas if we don't hear certain songs. I grew up listening to Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, and Burl Ives at Christmas, so it doesn't seem right without them. Throw in some Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis, Vince Giraldi, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and it's almost complete. Of course, I've added more through the years. I always have to stop and listen to Fogelberg's "Same Old Lang Syne". I sing along with Elvis and Jimmy Buffet. I love listening to "Let It Be Christmas" by Alan Jackson. My almost five year old nephew and 9 year old great niece sing "Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart". They know all the words. I can hum along. We all sing "I Want A Hippopotamus". The kids will have their own songs, the ones on the radio now, like Taylor Swift. Then there are carols. Carols are religious only. Every artist may end up covering these eventually. These are not "anthems" that you hear in church. "Deck the Halls" technically is not a carol. It's just a familiar song. Not all the songs or carols we hear are strictly Biblical. "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" is only symbolic, since we don't know the time of day or night, or whether the sky was clear. The star was visible to the Eastern countries, not necessarily in Bethlehem, so it may have been overcast. The second verse is very much like Longfellow's "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" in sentiment. Both address how the world has changed and not changed at the same time since the Nativity. We're making merry and talking about peace, while war and injustice still continue. Both writers discover that we have hope and at least peace in our own hearts. I haven't heard "Felice Navidad", or the donkey song from Sicily this year. I haven't heard Eartha Kitt's version of "Santa Baby", which is the best in my book. So what are your favorite Christmas songs or carols? What just makes the season for you? |
| Yes, I know the Hallmark Channel, the Hallmark Movie Channel, and a few others start running Christmas movies, mostly romances, made especially for TV, before Thanksgiving. Some of them are quite good, if you really want to watch TV and hate everything else on the 100 plus channels you have. After a few, I find I have trouble keeping them straight, and don't want to watch them over again. The titles are similar. The actors are on contract and appear in multiple movies. There are a lot of good ones, or good movies with Christmas settings but not so "good" stories. Bad Santa is one such movie, not to be viewed by children, yet I'm crazy about it. Maybe it's Billy Bob Thornton's charm coming through this creepy character. Maybe it's because he is rehabilitated, and the kid gets a happy ending. It makes you have hope despite the sordid details. However, it's hardly ever shown near Christmas, which is probably a good thing. It's A Wonderful Life in black and white is my favorite. It's film noir and it makes the mind soar with possibilities for one's own life. And everyone knows the line about when a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. Some people would vote for Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation, Others would pick the first Home Alone. A local radio station did a call-in to see what listeners chose. This is a slow process so there aren't that many answers, but they include The Sound of Music, Die Hard, A Christmas Story, and A White Christmas. I think the DJ had already mentioned Elf, one of the top sellers, and Miracle on 34th Street. I was surprised no one mentioned Love Actually, which has been shown locally in our historic theater at Christmas last year to a sold out audience. Others would include The Santa Claus and The Santa Claus 2, both starring Tim Allen, Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby, Scrooged with Bill Murray, and Scrooge, the musical starring Albert Finney. It looks like Christmas with the Kranks is becoming a classic. I'm glad I read the book first by John Gresham, Skipping Christmas, on which the film is based. Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis were cute, but nothing like what I had imagined. Prancer, with Sam Elliot, who makes my heart beat faster, is pretty good. No one mentioned Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, starring John Candy and Steve Martin. That's definitely a Christmas based story. I like A Christmas Story because it is told from a child's point of view in retrospect, and it stars Darin McGaven, whom I have adored since I was a child watching River Boat. I also like Christmas in Connecticut, in black and white with Barbara Stanwyck, not the newer versions. The movie that introduced the Walton's was an excellent Christmas movie. I saw a good one the other night for the first time, Deck The Halls. It starred Matthew Broderick and Danny Devito, and was one of those movies that plays up the catharsis. Just when you're laughing your head off at the antics of these two men, someone draws you in with serious dialog and your eyes swell up with tears. The woman playing Broderick's wife got the best lines, which include something like this: Life is made up of the little chocolate milk and French fry moments. (loose quote) So what is you favorite Christmas movie? It doesn't have to be a Christmas story, just have a Christmas setting, like Die Hard. I've even compared several versions of A Christmas Carol--one with George C Scott, one with Patrick Stewart, and a 1935 British version with Sim Sinclair. The story is always the same, of course, but there are interesting differences in interpretation. We all visualize something different when we read. I'd love to hear about ones you've seen. |
| According to the Bible, the answers: 1/ We don't know. She might have walked the whole way. She may have ridden someone's cart part of the way. It just doesn't say. They were poor. It's not important. They got to Bethlehem from Nazareth somehow. 2/ We don't know. It doesn't say. There was more than one, and not likely a whole convention. We generally think of 3 because three kinds of gifts are mentioned. Some traditions say four. Some say as many as twelve. The Bible does not say or give any names or mention servants or other people traveling with them. It's likely they had a servant or two. 3/ It does not say the angels sang. It says the first angel spoke. then there was a host of angels saying 'Glory...' In fact, Billy Graham, in his book on angels, says that the angels never sing in all of the Bible. It's something we humans like to think of, but there is no indication of angels singing. 4/ No animals are mentioned. We assume that a stable would have a donkey, maybe a cow if the innkeeper owned one. It doesn't say what the shepherds did with their sheep, so there may not have been any sheep with them. It's unlikely any camels were there. We just don't know. A manger is a feeding trough (from the French word for eat. 5/ False.According to the Bible, the angels left before the shepherds decided to go look for the things they were told. So the angles were not at the stable. According to the Bible, the magi didn't show up child was a little older, in a house. Historians think it may have been during his stay in Egypt, which is the result of a warning to Joseph. By the time Herod realized the wise men had not come back to him, almost two years had passed. So the baby was probably over a year old. We can't be for sure. 6/ No. Only the Magi saw the star which moved (the earth moved in its path0 as they traveled. The shepherds found the baby by following the instructions of the angels, and looking for the "signs". 7/ We don't know. It's likely, but there is no mention of camels in the Bible. Secular historians have not determined this either. 8/ We don't know. There is no mention of heat or cold, or season. Popular tradition favors winter.The winter date was chosen to divert people away from pagan holidays to turn to this celebration instead. 9/ We don't know. There is no mention in the Bible. Scholars think she may have been about 13 to 15, the normal age for marriage. She did not have an education or unusual experience working with children. It does turn out that she had good instincts and occasional good insight. 10/ We don't know. Chances are a lot of people were traveling for the same reason. The inns were full. They probably caught up with other groups of travelers on the road. Nativity scenes are not exactly correct. The stable itself might have been a cave rather than a wooden structure. The star was not noteworthy to anyone but the Magi who studied the stars every day. But we don't have a problem with it. It was an extraordinary event. The god of all creation chose to become one of the created, not as a full grown man, but as an innocent baby at the mercy of first-time parents. People were in awe and came to worship, from the lowly to the mighty. Mary marveled at all that happened and treasured it in her heart all her life. We set up our Nativity scenes as symbols only, and we marvel. We can put them all there at once and celebrate like those early worshipers that the God of Love came to earth. |
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