The Fourth Pain of Christmas

Ok, this should actually be #1, but I was being goofy and didn't plan on carrying my goofiness on to do 12 pains, but this is probably my biggest gripe with Christmas. So.......

the fourth thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me.......

Stores & people who try to take Christ out of Christmas. I pay attention to stores who will not allow their employees to say "Merry Christmas." They get none of my Christmas shopping. It is ironic that the same holiday that gives them so much business is the same one that they won't acknowledge by what it has been called for years - Christmas.

It is my personal opinion that any store who cannot call it "Christmas" should also not have special sales at Christmas to draw more people in. They should not benefit from the holiday at all.

And along with it, I hate to see Merry Xmas. I know, I've heard that the "X" stands for Jesus, but get real...... do you think that is why people use the X? Nope. They either use it out of laziness or to avoid putting "Christ" in it. So chuck the X.

Next up, the 5th pain of Christmas!

The 12th thing I love about Christmas

Just in case I get accused of being negative with my "12 pains of Christmas", which is just done in fun, I am going to do 12 days of what I love about Christmas, and count down from 12. I covered some in another post, so ignore it. These can be something else to read if you're bored enough. :-)

So, the 12th thing I love about Christmas........

Giving. It truly is more blessed to give, than to receive. I love to get presents, but there is something satisfying about watching someone open a gift that I got them. More satisfying than getting a present myself.

In With The New........

Every year, there are new Christmas CDs, new Christmas songs, and this year is no different. Though I am next to penniless, thanks to something called Swag Bucks, I had enough credit with Amazon to get myself a new CD and some downloads. Here are some new Christmas songs that I am enjoying:

1) Redeeming Love: Ernie Haase & Signature Sound. Older song, totally awesome.

2) I Heard The Bells (see note at bottom) - Casting Crowns. Actually recorded last year, but I didn't hear it until this year. Different version, but I love it.

3) The Night Before Christmas (see note at bottom) - Brandon Heath. A fairly new CCM artist, came out with this Christmas single this year, and I love it. The words. The melody. Good song.

4) How Many Kings: Downhere. Awesome song - I really love the words.

5) Christmas Makes Me Cry: Matthew West & Mandisa - cool song, and it doesn't mean cry in the sad sense

6) Give This Christmas Away: Matthew West & Amy Grant - I guess this song is on the new Veggie Tales Christmas DVD. Neat song, good message, and Matthew & Amy sound great together.

7) Ring The Bells: Travis Cottrell & Natalie Grant - just a great song & terrific harmony.

8) Comin' Home For Christmas: Dolly Parton (single)

Now for the note at the bottom......... Amazon regularly has several free music downloads - mostly music no one sane would enjoy, but also has a handful of decent songs. Right now, they have at least 50 or more Christmas songs among the 1274 free downloads. Among them are the new Brandon Heath Christmas song, The Night Before Christmas, and I Heard The Bells by Casting Crowns - and some other Christmas song by them. As of right now, they are both on the first page of free songs that come up. So download them. If you never have downloaded Amazon songs before, you will have to download their downloader. You can set it so they automatically go to Itunes or wherever you store music. Have fun downloading and listening!

Being Thankful In All Things

Yeah, I know. Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is approaching faster than the speed of thought. But I've been thinkin' and decided to put some of my profound thinkin' on my blog.

Life has really been rough in the last several months. Worse than most people would realize. In addition to the unemployment, depression, and some other issues, I've had this niggling thought floating in the back of my head. Could I possibly be having a mid-life crisis on top of it all? I started researching it, and glory be, it looks like I most likely am. And I didn't think anything good ever happened to me!

The Bible says in everything give thanks. Sometimes that's easy. And sometimes you wonder if God really meant that. So you toss the King James Bible aside and pull out the New King James. Shucks! Says it in that too! OK, maybe the New International Version skips that. Nope. Still in there. Man! What's the sense in having different translations of the Bible if you can't find one to say what you want it to say?!

Seriously, it isn't always easy to be thankful. Oh, we tell ourselves others have it worse, and that is true. But it's still tough to truly be thankful.

I will never forget January 21, 1981. I was pulled out of my classroom at my school in New Bethlehem, PA by the principal - thought I was in trouble again - and then they pulled my sister Vicki out - I remember thinking "what did she do?!" The principal informed us that our house had burned to the ground. Everything was gone. (What a time for my parents to have just dropped their renter's insurance! - for real)

I was just a few months short of my 12th birthday, but I was old enough as we gathered around the ruins of everything we owned to be thankful - thankful that no one had been home. Sure, we lost every possession we had, but all five of us were standing there alive. Scratch that - all seven - the cats made it too.

In the Hiding Place, Cory Ten Boon tells of the horrors that her family went through, all because they helped the Jews. At one point, they were in prison where the fleas were terrible in the area they were imprisoned. On top of everything else they were going through, it just added insult to injury. When Cory's sister, Betsy suggested they thank God for the fleas, Cory was incredulous, but went along with her on it. They later found out that due to the fleas, the guards left them unmolested.

I admit most of the time I feel like Anne of Green Gables - that I'm in the "depths of despair." Not so funny when you really feel you are, yet a part of me knows there are things to be thankful for, even when everything seems to be going wrong in my life.

1) I have a roof over my head. My parents haven't thrown me out on the street. Yet.

2) I have turned frugal. I admit it, a lot of my financial issues in the past have been due to buying what I wanted, when I wanted it. When you have no job and still have bills and no income, you realize there are a lot of things you do not need.

I'm not saying this to complain, but I can't run to the bookstore and buy a book or CD that I want, or go eat out at a restaurant. But I have come to realize that this can be a good thing, and I really am thankful for learning this lesson. Will it really change me when I do have a job and money again? I really believe that it has.

3) I had an unexpected blessing. I was given $100 to go Christmas shopping with, and let me tell you, it is amazing how much you can buy with $100 when you are trying to stretch it. I'm actually proud of myself for the stack of gifts I got. Admittedly, I have won a lot of books and was able to use a few of those for gifts, but Christmas is all about giving, and I will be able to give - so I am thankful.

4) Book reviewing. Two of my friends, Judy & Steven have my undying thanks for nudging me to check into reviewing books. I have some friends who complain that my blog is too much book reviewing, and not enough "just blogging" - and here I thought no one wanted to know what I think!

But for someone who loves to read - and just plain loves books - as much as I do, to get free books to read, and all I have to do is post reviews - it's totally awesome! Something to be thankful for! Sure, I can't review every book that I want, but that also made it possible for me to have a "wish list" to give out for Christmas. And believe it or not, I have had a couple places email me out of the blue and ask me to review for them. The only thing that could be better is to get paid, but hey, I love it anyway.

5) Friends. There are a few people in my life who know the worst about me. They know where the bodies are buried. (Ok just to be safe, that is just an expression - I have never killed anyone - don't be calling the police on me now). We all need people like that. I've also made a few new friends via the internet.

If I think more, I'm sure I could find more to be thankful for, but I am waxing on too long, so I will leave it go at these five.

In everything, give thanks. Indeed.

A post script here: I just did a spell check, and other than my "thinkin'", which I did on purpose, there were no spelling errors. It's a miracle!

The Christmas Lamp by Lori Copeland

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
The Christmas Lamp
Zondervan (October 1, 2009)
by
Lori Copeland

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lori Copeland has been writing for twenty-five years and has over three million copies of her books in print. She began her writing career in 1982, writing for the secular book market. In 1995, after many years of writing, Lori sensed that God was calling her to use her gift of writing to honor Him. It was at that time that she began writing for the Christian book market.

To date, she has more than 95 books published, including Now and Always, Simple Gifts, Unwrapping Christmas, and Monday Morning Faith, which was a finalist for the 2007 Christy Awards. Lori was inducted into the Springfield Writers Hall of Fame in 2000.

Lori lives in the beautiful Ozarks with her husband Lance. They have three sons, two daughter-in-laws, and five wonderful grandchildren. Lori and Lance are very involved in their church, and active in supporting mission work in Mali, West Africa.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Christmas trees, twinkling lights, skating in the park, and holiday displays are the hallmark elements for celebrating Jesus birth for the sentimental residents of Nativity, Missouri. Will fiscal responsibility replace Christmas their traditions when times are tough? Though their priorities and methods clash, Roni Elliot and Jake Brisco want the same thing, for the town to prosper. As the two get to know each other better, each begins to gain a new perspective on what the real wealth of Nativity and the season might be.

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Christmas Lamp, go HERE

My thoughts on the book:

I have never read anything by Lori Copeland before, but enjoyed this book. Romance played a big part in it, but I do love a good Christmas book, so I did enjoy this one. Her characters seemed to want two totally different things for the town of Nativity, but in the end romance and the spirit of the season prevailed. Great story. If you enjoy Christmas books with some romance, get yourself a copy of The Christmas Lamp. You will enjoy it.

An Open Letter to a "Holiday Celebrator" - a "guest" post

Note: I did not write this post, author Mike Dellosso did on his blog "Wide-eyed fiction." He put what I feel into words, so I am putting his post here also. If you like it, you can comment here if you like, but it would be nice to click the link to his blog above and comment there. Enjoy:

Dear Holiday Celebrator,

You've made me sick of the "holidays."

No, I'm not sick of Christmas. Goodness, no. I love Christmas, the season, the day, and everything it stands for and reminds me of. What I'm sick of is "Happy Holidays," holiday trees, holiday cards, holiday cookies, holiday greetings, holiday presents, blah, blah, blah.

What's a holiday tree anyway? Can you explain that to me? "Well, it's . . . um, a Christmas tree." Oh, really? Then why not just say CHRISTMAS TREE!

Holiday cards? Don't they mostly have images of decorated trees, beautifully wrapped presents, snowy landscapes, Santa Claus, stockings, lighted homes, and such? All, traditional images of, hmmm, let's see, what's that holiday called? Oh yeah, CHRISTMAS!

Oh, and how about those holiday cookies? When's the last time anyone made pine tree-shaped cookies or reindeer-shaped cookies for Hanukkah? No, they're shapes associated with that holiday, um, you know, the one that falls on December 25th every year, you know . . . I think my calendar calls it . . . CHRISTMAS!

And what's with none of the stores mentioning Christmas? Holiday sales? "Happy Holidays" banners? When it's President's Day they're not ashamed to say it, or Independence Day or Memorial Day or Labor Day. And what do they all have in common with Christmas? They're all federal holidays.

Yes, Maybe it's slipped your mind, but we have a federal holiday called Christmas, whether you're a Christian or not, whether you're an American citizen or not, whether you recognize it or not. Look on your calendar, it's there, December 25th, the same day every year. Year after year. Kids are off school, government employees are off work, your mail won't be delivered. It's called Christmas. It's not a bad word. It's no more offensive than Labor Day or Memorial Day. It's a holiday. For some it holds special meaning, yes, because without the birth of Christ there would be no Christmas (not to mention no hope for mankind in which case not having Christmas to celebrate would be the least of our worries).

But the reality of it is, whether you see it as a holy day reminding of us that moment in time when God wrapped himself in flesh and humbled himself, becoming a helpless infant in our cursed world or whether you see it as just another holiday that you get off work and spend the day with family, it's called Christmas. Say it with me, "Christmas." You said it a million times when you were a kid and nobody got offended, our government didn't collapse, there was no widespread revolt. So what's changed? The day, the reason for the day, or you?

Sincerely . . . and merry Christmas,

A Christmas Celebrator

The Third Pain of Christmas

On with my "series". The third thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me.....

Christmas CDs that don't measure up to the song you heard from it.
Ever happen to you? You hear a really good Christmas song, so you go buy the CD, and that is the only good song on it? Happens with all music too.

I have learned my lesson, and the modern day wonder of previewing music on the Internet helps, but here are a few of my bad experiences:

Wendy & Carly Wilson: I don't think you should lie to your kids and tell them Santa is real, and I have issues with Santa, but I absolutely love "Hey Santa!" by Wendy & Carly Simon. Love it! They are the daughters of Brian Wilson, one of the Beach Boys. I bought the CD, and it had one really good song on it. "Hey Santa!" The rest of the CD was mediocre. Really mediocre.

Brenda Lee: I know, my church doesn't believe in dancing or rock music, but you can't beat Brenda Lee singing "Rocking Around The Christmas Tree." One of my favorite secular Christmas songs. I bought her Christmas CD once also. A very BIG mistake. It was horrid. Especially the song about sleeping with a spoon under your pillow - dumb!

Willie Nelson: He wrote "Pretty Paper" and does ok on it. Unfortunately, he doesn't do ok on anything else he sings, including the rest of the songs on his Christmas CD. Double yuk. And he needs a haircut too!

Sandi Patty: i have her first Christmas CD, The Gift Goes On. Great CD. I actually didn't hear a song from her "Yuletide Joy" CD before I bought it, but wished I had. Thumbs down, especially on "Jingle Bells." I still shudder at the thought of it.

Mariah Carey: Don't look so shocked. I love her "All I Want for Christmas Is You." Great song. I heard it a lot on the radio, so I bought her CD. Very big mistake. What a horrid CD! And the more I know of her, the more I think I wouldn't like anything else she sings.

I am sure there have been more, but those stick in my mind. How about you? Ever by a Christmas CD for a song you heard, and detested the rest of the CD? Chime in!