The Evening Rambler for the last day of November 2013

I'm making this up as I go along, so I don't know what direction it will take.  Welcome to live blogging!

We had a good Thanksgiving, my family went to my mother-in-law's and we had a good visit.  Traditional food was the order of the day, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, cole slaw, rolls, cranberry sauce, celery stuffed with creamed cheese, and of course pies.  Two choices this year, pumpkin and chocolate.  As I do every year, I asked for a small slice of both since I couldn't decide.  And that's not a lie, I didn't want to pass one of them up.  One of these years I might just choose one, and everyone will look at me funny and ask if I feel all right.

There's an old saying, "You can't have your cake and eat it too".  No cake though, as I mentioned Thanksgiving was a day for pie.  The early results are in, and it seems like the old saying applies to pie as well.

So I've been trying to come up with more stories.  A few days ago, I thought of a dialogue that could happen between just some average guy, and an alien.  It went on for a while, and I thought it was pretty clever.  At the last, the alien starts to walk off (presumably to his spaceship), and said, "You won't see me again".

It had possibilities, and now I sure wish I could recall their conversation.  I have got to start carrying a notepad at all times and write this stuff down while it's fresh.

It was a nice fall day today.  The fall season ran kind of late here, but by now all the colors are over and most of the leaves are down.  Except for the big pin oak tree in my front yard.  It will release leaves a few batches at a time, and it's liable to still have some old leaves to drop through the winter and maybe as late as the first of spring.  It does that most every year.  What are you gonna do?

Tomorrow December begins, and it seems like a clean break between Thanksgiving and the Advent / Christmas season this year.  For me, anyway.  I know shopping and running around will happen, but I'm not in a panic about that.  We have our tree up and the lights put on; the boxes of ornaments have been brought up from the archives.  We're poised to begin.

Christmas Eve 2010

These may not be scripture verses that you usually associate with Advent or Christmas, but they've been on my mind a lot lately.

Mt. 9:11-13

v 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
v 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
v 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus didn’t come only for those who appear righteous, but as we sing in the hymn Amazing Grace, He “saved a wretch like me”.

That gives me hope. Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving -> Advent -> Christmas

Seems like it’s been difficult to sit and write lately, and I’m not sure why. It is a busy time of year, but I’m not as busy as a lot of people I know. Maybe I’m not satisfied with what I have in mind before I get to the keyboard and I hope to come up with something better, so I tend to put it off.

It’s best then, to sit down and just begin. In fact, I’m toying with the idea of starting the year with a post a day, no matter how slight. Well, more on that if it happens. Stay tuned!

So to catch up, we had a small, quiet Thanksgiving, just the five of us with daughter number two home from college. My son ushered for the Thanksgiving service, then we returned home to a good early afternoon dinner and family time. We had turkey and other traditional side dishes – cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and the like; all on the good dishes. But we didn’t knock ourselves out over-preparing each and every possible thing, the goal being to keep the stress to a minimum. I had the good sense to not interfere with the cooking, and after dinner I did dishes. The rest of the afternoon and evening we relaxed. When it got dark, I turned on our outdoor Christmas lights, and after a while turned on the TV to watch the ceremonial lighting of the Plaza lights. I suppose you could ask for more, but I’m not sure why.

I had been keeping my eyes and ears open for comments on thankfulness. I got an email from a friend, somewhat of a lengthy but good list. Here’s a few that resonated with me:

“I am thankful…

…for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

…for all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that we have freedom of speech.

…for the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.”

And I especially took note of this one:

“I am thankful…

…for the lady behind me in church that sings off key because it means that I can hear.

And I appreciated what Cousin Mike had to write on his blog about Giving Thanks, and…well, click here, the whole thing’s worth reading.

Now, on to the first Sunday in Advent, November 29. When I saw the Advent wreath, I made a point of saying to my kids, “Happy New Year”, being as that day marks the beginning of the Church year. The thanksgiving theme was repeated in the first two verses of our Epistle Reading for the day (1 Thessalonians 3:9-13):

“ 9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God,
10 as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?”

That stuck with me the whole service.

Advent is a special time of preparing our hearts as we approach the celebration of the birth of Christ, a time that will reward us if we’re not in such a rush that we ignore it entirely.

A friend of mine has blogged a series of 13 posts on his journey from his early memories of Christmas as a boy, to his current celebration of a scaled-down, Christ centered Christmas. Most of his entries are short, and if you click here, you’ll go to his last post where you can link to each of the previous 12 posts. His Advent comments start with his seventh post, but I found it worthwhile to read them all in order starting with the first; perhaps you will too. I couldn’t have put it better.

I got out our Advent wreath and candles late, the second week of Advent. Hopefully next year I’ll be organized from the first, well, it’s a work in progress. I do enjoy lighting the candles and having a devotion…there have been years where I’ve skipped that entirely, I’m sorry to admit.

And as for the Christmas decorations, I guess I decorate more than some and less than others. I do get a great joy out of decorating, especially putting up the lights. For what it’s worth, I guess my personal rule of thumb going into this season is:

1. Keep the faith – don’t neglect gathering as believers.
2. Decorate as much as you enjoy, but if you start to stress out, stop. It’s good as it is.
3. Shop early, not the last few days…definitely not Christmas Eve.
4. Keep the Christmas meal simple, sandwiches, finger food and snacks, a few simple desserts. Don’t make it a lot of work (unless your family has a tradition of a big gathering and feast that you all enjoy – your mileage may vary, as they say).
5. Relax, enjoy, make memories, and take photos to look at later, if you wish.

Well, I’m in more of a writing mood now, so it’s likely I’ll post again before Christmas (though probably on other topics). But in case I forget, I’ll say it now. I hope and pray you all have a blessed, fun, stress-free and safe Christmas season.