52 thoughts on “Rants and Raves 12-1-12”

  3. 😦 They are winning the war. We still say Christmas Tree vice Holiday tree in Hendersonville. But even the pastor said “holiday shopping”. I don’t think he was thinking about the significance of that.


    Christian apologist Dr. Alex McFarland says atheists are systematically waging war against all Judeo-Christian religious belief in America.

    The latest battle was waged in Alsip, Illinois, by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which successfully fought to have a Christmas cross removed from the town’s water tower.

    McFarland, who is an author and director for Christian worldview and apologetics at North Greenville University in Greenville, South Carolina, maintains local leaders often exhibit ignorance of the law.

    “We need some local leaders who not only understand our history and our protocol but have the backbone to say Okay, go ahead. We’ve recorded your complaint, but we will not abridge the rights of citizens simply because an atheist is offended,” he asserts.

    In the commercials, they all say “holiday gifts”.
    The Overton Window at work.

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  5. 😦 Chas’s posts. But we must remember that our battle is not against the atheist, but the evil spirit (i.e. Satan) whom the atheist represents.

    🙂 Our God is on our side, regardless of the atheists in the world.

    🙂 Going to see new granddaughter today!

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  6. 🙂 I can’t think of a thing to rant about!

    I continue to love my job. Cal has a vision of where he wants to take the business and I can “see” it too. I know I want to be part of it.

    🙂 I work for a man who used to be a large scale farmer in a small town. He explained to me how his decision to raise cotton turned a dollar over 5 times to the people in the town from the people who drove the combines and bailers to the truck drivers, to the gin workers, etc, but his decision to grow soybeans only turned the dollar 3 times with harvest and hauling–my numbers may be off. He is very aware of this now in making decisions for the team and who is on it and such. With 12 of us working with/for him he is very aware that 12 households depend on the decisions he makes. Not a bad way for a “boss” to think.

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  8. That’s why I have been shopping lately at the local Christian bookstore. We have a large donation to spend on children’s books for our church library. I could have ordered everything on line and probably saved money. Instead, I’ve been shopping locally, and soon will take a list of books for her to order in for me. (I am using the 25% off coupons)

    This helps the bookstore, obviously, but also the authors. Ultimately it could help everyone if the kids find truth in the church library and repeat the cycle.

    At least that’s my hope.

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  10. “Shopping locally” is a great idea. I only wish there were somewhere in this little town to shop. Gotta drive 10 miles to the next town for groceries and a few other things. Otherwise, 20 to 30 miles for major shopping, depending on whether we want to cross into Illinois.

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  11. 🙂 Finally finished painting the Kid’s room. It was the only room not damaged by the tornado and the only not painted by the insurance company. Now the whole house has been painted in the last year or so.

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  12. 🙂 Got the outdoor lights and decorations up this morning. Can’t tell how it’ll look until dark, though. Those tiny LED lights really don’t show in the daytime, I can’t even tell if they’re working. But I’m sure they are, I think I had the same problem last year — then when it got dark and I turned them on, they really **popped** and I was surprised at how bright they were.

    🙂 😦 Had fun at the craft fair yesterday, but broke one of the best gifts (a handmade pottery wall sconce that holds a small battery candle) as soon as I got it home. I’ve emailed the artists (who are in Big Bear, not far from me but not a short trip either, and up in the mountains) to see about ordering another and maybe getting it shipped. Sigh.

    🙂 Annie Oakley the cat is pretty miserable with her cone, but I trusted her too much in the beginning and she managed yesterday to remove the nice healing scab that was forming on her abscess. It was oozing again when I got home last night, back where we started.

    So on with the cone collar. She walks backwards a lot and sometimes does this awesome Ray Charles kind of move, waving her head back and forth as she’s walking in reverse. The dogs are utterly fascinated.

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  13. 🙂 Found hiking socks made in the USA for my brother
    🙂 Won a paper white Kindle in an author’s blog contest
    🙂 Son turned in his draft of his senior project (37 pages)
    🙂 Better movies are out than at other times
    🙂 AJ gets to have a vacation
    🙂 God is in control even when it seems like no one knows what they are doing in Washington, DC

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  16. I wouldn’t label this as part of the “War on Christmas,” but near the end of October I noticed that the Hallmark Channel was starting to show Christmas movies on Nov 1. I thought that was a little early, so I set my DVR to autorecord “Christmas,” “Holiday,” and “Santa,” on any station. I decided not to include “Jesus” because that would pick up all the regular Christian programming.

    Excluding shows that were not coded as movies [like the Grinch], there were 126 programs [plus repeats]. Although there were a few that could be said to have a “spiritual” background, not one actually had anything to with Jesus Christ.

    I shall continue through December. [No, I’m not watching more than a few old favorites]

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  17. Kay, it’s struck me in recent years (especially this year) that Christmas is the new season for a plethora of sentimental romance movies set during the holidays.

    Some of them are sweet and fun, not complaining altogether. But virtually all of the new ones (made-for-TV types) are in the romance genre.

    Nothing like “It’s a Wonderful Life” or some of the other classics that included more serious themes amid the entertainment.

    Although there was a Lifetime movie a few years ago that wasn’t bad — “Comfort and Joy.” Again, basically a romantic theme, but it was fun and, while largely fluff, it also offered up some messages that at least danced around the real meaning of the holiday. But ultimately only danced. 😦

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  20. Even in the “Christmas” romance movies, the couple usually seems to need to have sex without marriage. The one based on the March sisters was a great disappointment. I can imagine Louisa Alcott rolling in her grave. It is sad to think this is what young people think romance really is about.

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  21. Donna – Comfort & Joy is one of my favorites, I’ve always liked Nancy McKeon.

    I also enjoy “The Christmas Child,” which centers on a young man’s [William R. Moses] quest to find his birth parents, and a church with a carved wooden Nativity scene that is missing the heart carving that was originally in the Baby Jesus. Stephen Curtis Chapman plays the pastor of the church. If you’d like to see it, Lifetime Movie Channel [not the regular Lifetime] is showing it next Thursday, Dec 6, at 3 PM.

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  22. Kathaleena: I tried to watch the one about the March sisters, but found the male characters especially unlikeable, so gave up on it. Besides, that house with the tall pillars didn’t look anything thing like the Alcott’s “Orchard House” Wikipedia has a picture of the restored house and one of what it looked like in 1941. Nice background on it, too.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchard_House

    And for the record, the only good film version of “Little Women” is the 1949 one that starred June Allyson as Jo and Peter [sigh] Lawford as Laurie.

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  24. Comfort and Joy are angels in Debbie Macomber’s Christmas novels, so you must be watching the movie made from them. She’s having a series made, too, starting next year so if you like her stuff, more’s coming.

    😦 Rant: HP computer’s power supply was burned up in a power outage Monday night (while the Dell beside it had no problems?), so as I tried to write my Christmas letter, I had access to NO photos.

    🙂 I hadn’t deleted anything off my camera or I-touch in three months, so along with Facebook’s photos, I finished the letter.

    Feeling self-righteous. Is that a rant or a rave? 🙂

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  25. No, Michelle, this movie is about a high-powered woman executive who has an accident on Christmas Eve and regains consciousness to discover it’s 10 years later, she’s married, and has 2 children. She remembers nothing about it. It’s just a nice story about her growth as a person.

    I haven’t read any of Debbie Macomber’s books, but I did see a couple of TV movies with Doris Roberts playing her Mrs. Miracle character among the 126 I mentioned above 🙂 The angels weren’t in those 2 movies, though. I saw ads for the series, which I’ve forgotten the name of, that say it begins in January.

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  30. 🙂 Finished all the Christmas cards that need to be mailed out!

    😦 Still need to do the ones for our local friends and co-workers

    🙂 Watching ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’

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  31. We got a Georgia fan to put on an Alabama jersey after the game. Everyone took photos. It was fun. I almost won the pool. I got 10 out of 20 questions right but 11 out of 20 won.

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  32. 🙂 Had a good day celebrating my hubby’s birthday.

    🙂 His birthday gifts were off his birthday-and-Christmas list, with no suprisses (though I’ll have one or two for his Christmas), but I made him shortbread cookies also, and he wasn’t expecting that.

    😦 Neither of us got much sleep at all last night (I got about three hours, including the “go back to bed at 7:00 and try again” hour).

    🙂 I got one decent work project this week and am bidding on one that would be very good. So work continues steady enough for a nice “second income” without being too much.

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  33. 😦 Christmas lights wouldn’t go on tonight.

    😦 On further inspection with a flashlight, it appears I missed plugging it into the overhead porch light adapter all the way — one prong wound up outside the adapter. What a dufus I am. Sheesh.

    Oh well. I’ll deal with it in the morning with some daylight. At least it’s an easy fix.

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  37. I had a great time singing in a Messiah concert this evening. The first half of the concert was the local symphony orchestra (part of which also played Messiah with us the second half), which was also great.

    Regarding “holiday shopping” – I have no problem with calling it that, since most of the shopping has very little to do with the birth of Jesus.

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  39. Thanks, A. J., for setting up this site. I’m really not proud of my comment that was the 10,000th. I really should not have made any political comments since the election. I will try to do better.

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  41. 🙂 10,000+ and counting. Yay. Grab your morning coffee — Here’s to AJ and us.

    🙂 Got the outside lights plugged in properly this morning — and they work. I’ll have to check them out tonight to see what needs tweaking.

    🙂 Advent begins today.

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  42. 😦 The trumped up “War on Christmas” meme. No one’s getting thrown in jail for saying “Merry Christmas!” BUT, you do realize, there are other holidays that are celebrated at this time of year – Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, New Year’s, St. Nicholas Day, Epiphany, etc, etc. And you DO realize that not everyone is Chrsitian.

    Do you NOT want those who believe differently than we do to have a happy holiday, which they are celebrating? Do you want them to acknowledge Christmas, but we should not acknowledge and wish them well for their holiday – which, after all, comes from the word Holy Day ?

    Honestly, can we not take a simple greeting, that wishes us happiness, and a peaceful season whether we and the greeter share the same beliefs or not? Do we have to pretend there is a constant “war”, that we are always, somehow, even in slight ways, being “victimized” or “persecuted” because someone wishes us happiness?

    So Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa!

    Or if you would some prefer HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

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  43. Yes, but the store should give credit where credit is due. I don’t see the stores getting into the black selling Hannukah gifts and Kwanza is just made up. You might as well Festavest on the same level as Christmas. (Not sure how to spell Festavest the Holiday made by the character in Seinfeld)

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  44. Yes, but the stores should give credit where credit is due. I don’t see the stores getting into the black selling Hannukah gifts and Kwanza is just made up. You might as well put Festavest on the same level as Christmas. (Not sure how to spell Festavest the Holiday made by the character in Seinfeld)

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  45. Michelle,

    In your defense I kinda had a ready made audience here. Were it not for World and all of you coming along, I’d probably have very few. And the content at your site is much more in depth and has actual quality writing. Unlike you, I’m a total amateur. All of you make this place as good as it is, it’s not me at all.

    I’m sorry if it sounded like I was bragging, that wasn’t my intent. I was just excited about it, that’s all.

    I love you folks and what we have here. I’m just happy to be a part of it.

    🙂

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  48. And for the record, I unabashedly say “Merry Christmas”, and prefer to send out Christmas cards, rather than generic holiday cards, since this is what I believe. I am wishing my fellow men peace and good will because of what I have been given and believe. I will listen to The Messiah rather than “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” any day of the week. (Actually, I find the latter, despite it’s mention of Christmas FAR more offensive than being wished a Happy Holiday)

    I won’t be offended if a store clerk at Target who is Jewish chooses to wish each customer a “Happy Hanukkah”, or if the greeter at WalMart who is black gives me Kwanzaa greetings, because those holidays are what motivate their feelings of peace and good will at this time of year, and the desire to share those feelings.

    Nor will I take offense at a sincere Happy Holidays.

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  49. I wouldn’t be offended at being wished a Happy Hanukkah and I would wish someone a Happy Hanukkah if I knew they were Jewish but all this Happy Holidays in name of Hanukkah is like us going into a Jewish neighborhood and demanding everyone wish us a Happy Columbus day during Yom Kippur.

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  50. Christmas OTOH is the second most important day to Christians and the first most important in most of Western culture, especially American Culture. It makes no sense that the culture of the majority must be eliminated to avoid offending the minority?

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  51. 😦 Taking offense at minor things like what one says this time of year. Come on, people, get some thick skin. If someone wishes you “Happy Holidays” and you like Christmas, then reply with a “Merry Christmas to you!” If you are an atheist and don’t like Christmas, then return with a hearty, “Happy Holidays!” The idea of a greeting is kindness, not something meant to offend. Besides, as kbells says, Christmas is second to Easter for Christians. It is so unimportant in Scripture, that only two of the Gospel writers even mention Jesus’s birth, and none of the other books of the Bible say anything about anyone celebrating it in the early church. So enjoy the season as you see fit and don’t let someone else’s differing beliefs get on your way.

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