That’s Elbert With An E

Random thoughts from this Christmas.

From Kavips’ site, I made several comments about Christmas that might be worth repeating here:

I for one have been discouraged by the lack of Christmas spirit in retail outlets in western Sussex. I said “merry Christmas” to a clerk at Family Dollar Christmas Eve, and he looked at me like I was some kind of freak. My daughter worked at Food Lion Christmas Eve and wished all the customers in her line a merry Christmas (the company didn’t forbid her to do so). She said there were many who looked at her like she was some kind of freak.

I don’t know what bug was up their butts. Maybe it was the long lines, but I almost don’t care. It’s Christmas. Smile and try to be happy.

We’ve had years when it was tough to buy gifts and years when they were plenty, but we’ve always had that Christmas spirit. Music fills the house and car (George Winston’s December is playing quietly as I type). We always have Christmas Eve dinner at my grandmother’s where we normally open gifts. This year my oldest son bought gifts (he has a job, praise God). Hardly able to wait, he had his siblings and mother open their gifts (I refused, it didn’t seem right to open them early). Even though my two oldest didn’t get to go to my grandmother’s due to work they still seemed to enjoy the evening. I’m looking forward to the morning when they get up and open gifts.

Music has always been a part of the Christmas experience. It’s hard or impossible to remove it. Some of my favorites include the aforementioned George Winston, Elvis’ Christmas Album (the material he recorded in the 1950’s is my favorite, including the gospel songs), The Singing Dogs, The Chipmunks, and Bing Crosby. Jars of Clay’s original recording of “Drummer Boy” is firmly part of the holiday as well as hearing their Coca-cola Christmas commercial and “Rudolph”. And what is Christmas without Stryper’s “Winter Wonderland”?? I love hearing Relient K’s “The 12 Days of Christmas”: What’s a partridge? What’s a pear tree? I don’t know so please don’t ask me. But I can bet those are terrible gifts to get. And at least once a year, you’ve got to hear Bob & Doug Mckenzie’s “12 Days of Christmas”: and a beer… in a tree (no, I don’t drink, c’mon it’s funny).

My grandmother has said “this year would be the last year we do the Christmas Eve dinner” for about 10 years. I stopped believing her.

No we don’t believe in Santa anymore, but we still enjoy things related to the holiday. And even though our kids are well into their teens/early adulthood, we still make a cake for Jesus on Christmas and tell him “happy birthday”. It’s a fun tradition we’ve have for years and a small reminder of what got this holiday started.

For a period of time, we didn’t do Santa Claus with the kids because I let some scrooges convince me that any God-fearing Christian won’t do that in their home. After I read what Jack Hayford wrote on the topic, I got over it and we did Santa again as well as instructing our kids on the reason we have the holiday. Part of that involved the “Jesus cake”.

“Jesus cake” was a way we remembered the birth of the Christ child. We’d bring out the cake and sing happy birthday to Jesus. It’s not eaten first thing in the morning because unlike in Bill Cosby’s home, we haven’t done cake for breakfast. It is always yellow cake with chocolate icing because it’s my wife’s favorite. We don’t know if it’s Jesus’ favorite because we can’t find a Scripture on that. At my brother’s house last night, my brother wondered if Strawberry cake might be the Lord’s favorite. We would have been displeasing to Him all these years. And it was also speculated if the the Lord might be displeased because we never gave Him a piece. Right then, I’m sure the Lord had a good laugh at our goofiness.

Getting back to the stuff I started at the top, here’s some ways you can spread some Christmas spirit around to your community. Smile. Stop and let people leave the store without getting clobbered by your car. Put your shopping cart in the cart corral or push it back inside. Give drivers the right of way even when it’s yours to take. Put money in the kettle for the Salvation Army (in Laurel do it for the Good Samaritan). Yeah, the kettles are gone, just remember to do it next year. Go the extra mile for people. I had that happen to me this year twice. In both cases, the people said to me, “I’m treating you the way I’d want to be treated.” These are small suggestions but it’s a start.

Merry Christmas to you all!!

My wife and I attended the Laurel High School Christmas Winter Concert tonight. We have a child in the band and a child in the chorus so we got to take in the whole high school musical experience (not the movie, and I’m not sorry). I thought the band and chorus did a great job, as always.

Brian Cass conducts while the students hang on every bit of his direction.

Penny Denney plays the piano and Artez West turns the pages while the students sing on. Out of the site of my camera phone was Mike Williams on the drum kit.

On a personal note, it was a pleasure to see Mike Williams again. I think the only time I see him anymore is at these events. That being said, my daughter put him up to something that I said I did not want to hear. It’s my birthday, and tonight my friend greeted me with a phrase that I detest/despise, “Lordy, lordy, look who’s forty”. My daughter put him up to it.

I love my daughter, and he’s still my friend.

Hope you enjoy this.

One of my favorite groups is Jars of Clay. Earlier this year I was very excited to learn that a Christmas album would be released this year. You can listen to their album Christmas Songs in it’s entirety online. That’s very cool for me because more than likely I will not be getting this one until next year due to the lack of cash. “Love Came Down At Christmas” is growing on me, but I’m hooked on their version of “Wonderful Christmastime”. It will probably never show up on a album, but I love this recording I have of them telling the story of Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer to the music of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.

In addition, Relient K has a Christmas album out this year, Let It Snow… Let It Reindeer. This is a collection of new songs and songs from Deck The Halls, Bruise Your Hand, the bonus disk they released a couple of years ago. This new album gives a nod to their punk-pop roots while reminding their listeners that they are more than just that. If you liked Five Score And Seven Years, you’ll enjoy this. I have found streaming versions of Sleigh Ride online, and I just can’t play it enough.

Mindy Smith has a Christmas album out now, but I’ve not had a chance to listen to it yet.

These are the ones that stand out to me. What are you listening to?

Sorry for the lateness of this post. Blogs are supposed to be able to get it to you before anyone else. I’ve been tired and busy and well, that’s enough excuses. I got some pictures from the parade on December 7. We were at the beginning of the parade route in front of the middle school. I’m not very good at taking pictures, so please don’t boo & throw tomatoes at your monitor. Many floats, trucks, emergency vehicles, and civic groups.

My camera batteries died near the end of the event, at least that’s my story. There were new batteries in there but the camera didn’t want to operate. Slightly frustrated? Yep.

There was a couple of disappointments with the parade besides my camera dying on me. There were many vehicles that were not decked out for the holiday. Yes, there were many without any indicator of the Christmas holiday. It would have been nice to see more floats, but floats take time, money, and creative energy that just isn’t always freely available. It would also be nice to see more marching bands. The towns surrounding Laurel usually have more than just the town’s bands marching in their respective parades. There is one remaining gripe, and it centers around a float. The float appeared to be recycled from the Independence Day parade, adding a Christmas tree to reflect the season. My gripe is maybe more of a critique of the float. I need to take this up in another post. And I will.

All this said, I like our parades and look forward to them every year. Can’t wait until July!!

More pictures are loaded at a photoalbum on Photobucket.

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Taken from the NIV Bible, Matthew 1:18-25.

The Corn Beltway Boys have the inside track on Santa Claus becoming a free agent after the Christmas 2007 season. Looks like Christmas will never be the same. What will the children do? What will Coca-Cola do? Christmas parades? Ho Ho No??