Unholy Day!

This clipping from CNN tells the sad tale of priests who forgot the Christmas message at, of all places, the traditional site of Jesus' birth.

My Kind of Christmas Service!

This looks like a worship service I'd enjoy any day of the year. Per the good vicar's recommendation, I'd wear a hard hat. I'd take an extra large first-basemen's glove too.

Merry Christmas!

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Is Christmas Over Yet?

I hate to say this, but the Christmas season feels interminably long and ill-willed this year. Every night, Bill O'Reilly pollutes the airwaves with his noxious, illogical rants about his imaginary War on Christmas. Bill apparently believes that every American should celebrate Christmas the good old-fashioned traditional American Christian way, regardless of whether they are actually Christians. At the very least, they should pleasantly greet everyone they meet with the correct greeting, "Merry Christmas," rather than the less specific term that covers all bases and offends none (except for Religious Right wackos like Bill), "Happy Holidays."

Well, in the true spirit of O'Reilly, ten thugs attacked four Jewish men on a New York City subway last week. Their offense: they responded, "Happy Hanukkah," when other riders wished them a "Merry Christmas." The Jewish men were defended by, the mother of all ironies, a Muslim college student. I ask you, who acted more like Jesus Christ in this situation? Which Christmas spirit would you rather be surrounded by, Bill O'Reilly's, the subway thugs, or the Muslim guy who was more of a good Samaritan than any of the alleged Christians on that train?

And then there's an endless stream of controversies over nativity displays on government property. At least one of these conflicts gets national media coverage every single day, without fail. You can set your watch by it. Since the USA is a nation founded on the principle of freedom of religion (and is not a "Christian nation" as the right-wingnuts would like us to believe), non-Christian groups are also exercising their rights to erect public displays that honor their beliefs and dignitaries. Needless to say, any displays of the non-Christian variety are being vociferously opposed by good Christians.

And then there were the Naughty and Nice lists that rated stores according to whether they advertised for the Christmas season or just for holidays in general. Call me odd, but I think the money and time squandered compiling and publicizing those lists would have been better spent doing something else like, oh, I dunno, maybe feeding and sheltering the homeless, stuff like that.

Every year without fail, Christians yell loudly about how the true meaning of the season gets lost in a sea of commercialism. And they have a point. Christmas should not be about how much money people spend or whether they got the gifts they really wanted. It should be about bringing people closer together and closer to their God. Unfortunately, such features are not prominent this Christmas season. Christians ought to think long and hard about the part they've played in making this a season of misery and strife rather than love and joy. I'm certain of one thing: an awful lot of the stuff that is being done in Jesus' name is bringing shame rather than honor to him. And Christians have only themselves to blame for that.

Lady Book Notes: Book Review: Distant Peaks

I just finished another book review. This one's been awhile in the making. I guess I've been too busy lately to sit down and write much.

Lady Book Notes: Book Review: Distant Peaks

Miscellanea

I don't have much to say, really, just that things have been as busy as usual around here. We got our Christmas decorations up the weekend before Thanksgiving, which was a nice change from our typical frenetic flurry to get at least a tree up just before Christmas Eve (because we need somewhere to put the presents). We've finished most of our shopping too, but I still have to find something for Dave.

Jonathan is still dating Maggie. He will probably visit her church with her a few times in the next couple of months. They go out several nights a week. Since he gets home long after I've gone to bed, I rarely see him. I think he's clean-shaven this week.

Joshua heads to San Antonio this weekend for the Crossmen Banquet and a rehearsal weekend. He will get his leather Crossmen jacket this weekend. Then he'll have to get his show patches sewn onto it. I told him I'll help him find a seamstress, since there is no way he wants me, his jacket and a threaded needle to be in the same room together.

(If you think I'm exaggerating, ask Mom what happened during her recent visit. Joshua came home from school one day with his tuxedo pants, which needed hemming. Mom said she'd do it, then asked me where my sewing kit was. I looked around for awhile, then realized the kit was in the camper! She scrounged up a needle and thread from somewhere and did the job. I brought the kit home from the camper about two weeks later. Needless to say, my adventures with needles and thread are very infrequent.)

Dave had his office Christmas party last week. They do theirs during the day, so it's basically limited to the staff. My company party will take place this coming Tuesday evening. We're allowed to bring one guest, but Dave refuses to go with me! I really could care less about going, but I'll do my duty. I'll have a good time, but I don't get excited about having dinner with 300 people. I hope the entertainment is good. A couple of years ago they had a guy playing his musical glasses and telling really lame jokes. Yaaawwwwwnnnn.

Dave will be taking photos at the corps Christmas party this Sunday. He's trying to persuade me to take my camera too, but I'm resisting. If he won't endure my office party with me, then I won't share the burden of the corps photo thing. So there. Actually, I really need the luxury, for just one week, of having absolutely no duties. You know, just to sit back and enjoy things. What a novel idea.

I will be spending much of the weekend burning photo DVDs to sell at next week's school band concert. I've got 27 orders, plus we need to burn freebies for the teachers and have a few extras on hand for walk-up sales. Dave will be taking photos during the concert and I will be in the lobby selling the disks. The sportswear, Christmas ornament, and snack sales people will be there with me.

Let's see, what else is happening ... Oh yeah, Dave and I went to the monthly band boosters meeting last night. It was short and uneventful. Except for the part where I was delegated to organize a silent auction for the upcoming Capitol Steps show in January. Capitol Steps is a local comedy group, somewhat along the lines of the Royal Canadian Air Farce (I still miss those guys). The band is hosting a show at the school as a fund-raiser. I just remembered that I have to order our tickets today. Dave thought I was doing it, I thought he was doing it, so, thus far, nobody has done it.

I'm also chair of the Activities Committee for the Oakton High School All-Night Graduation party in June. The ANG chair and I met for dinner last week, following which I came home with a full tummy and a box full of notebooks, catalogs, etc. I need to sift through that stuff in the next couple of weeks and reserve some vendors. Fun, fun, fun. Too much fun.

I think that's all the miscellanea I have to share at this time. You can wake up now.

Tri-M

Modern Music Masters

As of last night, Joshua is a proud member of this music honors society for high school students.

Sixteen students and their parents, grandparents and friends gathered in the Oakton High School lecture hall for an evening of music and fellowship. The program began with a recital of solo and ensemble selections performed by all of the inductees. The audience was treated to a feast of woodwind, brass, vocal, piano and harp solos and a brass quintet. The recital was followed by the induction of these students into Tri-M, and the induction was followed by a reception.

Tri-M membership requirements include musical achievement, scholastic achievement, demonstration of good character and assumption of leadership responsibilities. Over the past several years, Joshua and the other inductees have blossomed in all of these areas. I looked proudly upon sixteen teenagers who are good citizens of their school and community. I was pleased for them and I was impressed, yet again, by their displays of musical talent. More importantly, I was impressed, yet again, by their humility and grace. It's a privilege to know these students and their parents, and it was a privilege to celebrate with them and share their joy last night.

Congratulations to all of the new Modern Music Masters.

Cool Stuff About Infant Cognition

Last week we saw my 5-month old grand-niece. She's just getting to that stage where she watches and interacts with people a lot. She loved being around 15 other people, especially the 5-year-old and the 7-year-old. She watched everything we did, gurgled at us, twisted her head and body around to see what was going on - she was just a whole lot of fun. Perhaps it was that recent exposure to a baby that made me follow this link to a cool study (from Queen's University, for all you proud Canucks) about infant cognition. Basically, by the time they are one year old, babies can "predict" the outcome of certain behaviors. For example, if a one-year-old sees her father pick up a coffee cup, her eyes will shift and focus on his mouth before the cup gets there. She knows that picking up the cup usually means drinking and predictively focuses where she thinks the next action will occur. At six months of age, the baby's eyes follow the cup to the mouth. So, this predictive ability develops somewhere between 6-12 months. It's an important step in developing social skills, since people do a lot of unconscious "predicting" about the intentions behind visual cues and take action to respond appropriately. Pretty interesting stuff.