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Showing posts with the label Christmas

Festivus for the rest of us and all those other holidays

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I doesn't seem much like Christmas. Winter Solstice has come and gone and still we've had no frost. Our high temperature today is predicted to be 80 degrees F. but will probably go higher. The high for Christmas Day is projected to be 82. Santa is going to be very uncomfortable in that red wool suit with the fur trim. He might want to wear a Speedo instead. Whether or not the weather seems appropriate, however, the winter holidays relentlessly continue their march through our calendar. Today, Festivus; tomorrrow, Christmas Eve; then Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, New Year's Eve and Day... Blogging will be sporadic for the next several days as I celebrate with my family. Whatever holidays you celebrate at this time of year, my wish for you is that they be filled with peace and joy. As for my house, just now it looks a little like this:

That Christmas spirit

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This time of year in the northern hemisphere is especially difficult for the poor, the homeless, the sick. Many religious traditions take note of this by making special appeals at this time to their adherents to provide assistance to those in need. It is a time when people of conscience must be particularly aware of those who are less fortunate than they and wish to reach out to them and help them. Having been raised in the Christian tradition, I always associate this desire to help with Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats as related in the Book of Matthew in the New Testament. The relevant section of the parable from the New International Version of the Bible begins with Matthew 25:34. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.   35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stra...