Any unexpected December illness in our household growing up was referred to as reindeer flu… and I’ve got it. Complete physical meltdown over the past 72 hours. Fever, chills, explosive expulsions out every orifice, aches, pains, moaning, cough, congestion… you name it, I got it. Now I am sitting in […]
We all know Christmas is more about giving than receiving, yet the most significant Christmases of all for me are those where through giving I received more than I can describe or explain. There is a magical truth in the simple fact that there is no truly unselfish gift. People […]
I noted with some fascination the annual terrorizing of little children by a loud, aggressive man in a red and white suit. (yes, I mean Santa Claus) This wonderful, jolly, happy icon of Christmas is supposedly the sweetest mythical human being on the face of the planet, yet many children are […]
I have been following this year’s edition of the so-called “war on Christmas” with a mix of amusement and incredulity. Apart from Fox news and a few conservative-fundamentalist TV stations, I’m not hearing too much about it, but what I do hear and see boggles the imagination. My favorite this […]
Each year, early in December, my thoughts return to my hometown and to some of the significant memories of my young life. One signficant memory concerns one of those eccentric, colorful characters that seem to populate every small midwestern town. These people become accepted fixtures, even though they behave in […]
Advent season — the four weeks preceding Christmas — is the launch of the Christian year. It is a significant time of preparation and anticipation. It frames the coming of the Messiah and reminds us how desperately God’s chosen people sought a savior. Everyone knows that, right? Well, not the […]
What, precisely, are we looking forward to? We live in a culture of immediate gratification, and we already know how the story turns out. We’ve been here dozens of times before — after all, it happens every year. We have managed to layer cultural crust over the sacred celebration to […]
Four items hit in rapid succession that make me wonder what in the world is happening to Christmas? #1 — I listened to a “secularist” on one of the news channels rant against having to “be forced” to celebrate Christmas. He is heading a group calling for the absolute eradication […]
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