Christmas Headlines

Celebrating the day before December 1 never hurt anybody!!!!!

Christmastime is here                                            When Christmas comes to town

O come, Emmanuel                                                It's the Most Wonderful time of the Year

Deck the Halls                                                        Mary did you know?

Trim up the tree with Christmas stuff                     Come All Ye Faithful

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

                                                                              Up on the Housetop 

O Christmas tree, O Tannebaum                           I heard the bells on Christmas Day;

And Jingle Bells                                                    'Joy to the World!'

Upon a Midnight Clear                                         'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen'

Dashing through the snow                                    

In a one-horse open sleigh                                   Hark! The Herald Angels sing

                                                                             O little town of Bethlehem

O Holy Night                                                       We Three kings of Orient

Down Santa Claus lane                                        "This, this, is Christ the King!"

The Little Drummer Boy

And Frosty the Snowman hurrying on his way      Infant so tender and mild

                                                                               Away in a manger

Good Tidings to you and your kin                         You will get a sentimental feeling when you hear

Tidings of comfort and joy                                    Christ the Savior is born...

The Holly and the Ivy                                           Christ the Savior is Born!


Dreaming of a White Christmas

A Winter Wonderland

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

Sleigh bells jingling, ring-ting-tingling too

Night Light ~ A Post to All Veterans

         Rachel's eyes snapped open.

          It was dark.

          Across from her eyes, her clock read 2:47 a.m., but that was irrelevant. Her room wasn't dark at 2:47, or at 3:47 or even 4:47 in the morning. Not for a minute in the night was her bedroom considered dark. Shadowy sure, but dark, NO!

          Rachel threw back her sheets and hit the floor in her bare feet. How is this even happening?

          Her pulse had jumpstarted now, propelling her through the upstairs hall and to the top of the stairs. Its mounting beat had her narrowly missing the thumping tail of Everett. At her rush, the brown and white spaniel's nails scrambled up, following Rachel down to the pantry off of the laundry room. Rachel didn't bother to look for the stool that her stout form needed. She jumped up, felt the box on the top shelf and grabbed it up. Obeying gravity however, the box slipped and hit the ground. Everett rushed in and sniffed it out, but Rachel shoved him off of it. She had the bow ripped open by the time she had the front door agape.

          The chilly March night reminded her of her short sleeves and her near slip reminded her of the dew-glazed lawn. But Rachel was too determined for that. She already had the 1800-watt bulb out as she wrestled between the bushes. There were five of them that circled the proud, silver flagpole that erected out of the middle.

          I'll get it back on! Rachel streamlined through her brain, fumbling her fingers over the bulb. I'll get it back on, I'll get it...

          The hexagon of shrubs sat back some ten feet from the curb and was a connector between the homes of the Travolskys and the Cleveens. It had been long before Rachel was even born. Mr. Cleveen- or P.B.- and Grandpa had both served through Vietnam and Korea. Not together, but this knowledge had been enough to seal their friendship when the Travolskys had moved in in 1986. Grandma and Bunny- or Mrs. Cleveen- had bought the flagpole together; the flag too, for their husbands. It had flapped proudly for them everyday since.

          It continued even now. Rachel could hear its coaxing waves overlapping with the wind. But there was no light for her to see it with. And she couldn't get the burned out bulb to uncork from the frame!

           "Useless piece of..." Rachel trailed the sentence off, digging her knees into the mulch, resolved in her seating until she had replaced the bulb. Somehow, it had burned out. That was unacceptable! The flag was to always be lighted, always above the ground...

          "Everett, get!" Rachel pushed the canine back. She ignored his whimper; she'd apologize later.

          "Need help?"

          Rachel's arms freaked, dropping the bulb that had finally come undone. She looked up to see Uncle Corbin peeking down at her over the tops of the bushes. He was an uncle in the sense that he and Rachel's dad had grown up almost joined at the hip.

          "I got it." Rachel insisted.

          "I know." Uncle Corbin nodded. Then he squirmed through his family's half of the shrubs, bent down, and held the lamp head steady for her. This gave Rachel a second of pause before slipping the new bulb in, screwing it tight. At her final turn, light beamed her and Uncle Corbin in the face. Rachel felt its heat at once and fell back. And allowed herself to breath.

          "This couldn't wait until morning?" Uncle Corbin muttered.

          "No." Rachel told him, watching him from where he watched her on his hunches. He glanced away to view up, up, up the pole. They listened to the flag together, and Rachel knew where their thoughts were. Over the Midwest farmlands and into the Middle East sand dunes... where Dad and Aunt Michelle were. Rachel had familiarized herself with lots of pictures- some from Dad, others from the Internet. One word associated them all- chalky. She often wondered what the air would taste like there. Her dad was breathing it right now; so she and Grandma, Grandpa and the Cleveens could breath in their own air.

          They'll see the light. Rachel reasoned, wrapping an arm around Everett's soft neck. Dad'll see it. And as soon as he can, he'll come home.

'Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.'

~President Harry S. Truman~ 

THE END

Reader's Rage!

Ever read The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin?

I read it about four months ago in preparation for the movie that came out in October starring Kate Winslet and Ibris Elba. My motivation? Kate Winslet's a great actress and Ibris Elba's a great actor on top of being drooling good looking!

The book blew me away! Man and woman are stranded in the High Uintas Moutnains of Utah in the dead of winter, with the night stars being closer then any sign of civilization. The cold of their surroundings and their isolation creeps from the pages and up your arms as you read, giving you goosebumps even in the swelter of late July.

The book takes a deeper meaning then the snow they're in, when 'the' unspoken topic inevitably comes up. Man and woman are attracted to each other; do they follow their feelings, even while man is married and woman is engaged?

Charles Martin takes a few chapters to build this point up, but the tension has been in the reader's mind for a lot longer then that. And when he finally does, it's a refreshing POV. Without spoiling the ending, the main characters DO NOT compromise their relationship.

THIS is the whole point of the title, the novel, the author's message. I loved every chapter and was satisfied with what I read... proven farther by my purchase of a copy! My anticipation of the movie grew...

...for about a week. Not that I doubted Winslet and Elba's ability to act, but I doubted the integrity of Hollywood (gee, I wonder why). So, after the movie was released, I went on to PluggedIn, a movie review site. And what I'd feared was true.

The main characters have sex in the movie!!!

Now, imagine the mushroom cloud of a nuclear blast erupting out of the top of my head as I read this. Are you kidding me, Hollywood!?!?! That was the whole point of the book, of the characters, OF THE TITLE!!! IT'S IN THE TITLE!!!! Too many reporter flashbulbs make you blind!!

When I hear Hollywood's doing a book to movie adaptation, I know that a big reason is that they're looking for their next cash cow. But I also like to think that the screenwriters, directors, actors, SOMEBODY is making the adaptation because they appreciated the effort of the author to put their story out there. Well, taking away the entire message of it doesn't seem like the best way to show one's appreciation!

It took a few hours for the mushroom cloud to dissipate. But it's still going to gall me whenever I think about Charles Martin's really good book getting a poor movie rewrite like that.

Bottom line, those bookmarks in Barnes & Noble are right; Don't Judge a Book By Its Movie.

Because It's November!

Because it's November, we get to start imagining all the savory food that enters our mouths between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Because of November, we start dwelling on the magnificent gift God was preparing to send into the world, even while knowing how it would end 33 years later.

Because in November, our calendars enter a certain time warp where the days blaze by, yet the hours stretch over blustery breezes and subtle snowfalls. Where our minds pause a few more times, our bodies enjoy the cushions of a couch, and our hands reach out to our loved ones in just a few more ways then they did in October.

This is the anticipation that accompanies me on this first gray and glorious day of November! What is yours? 

'I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people'

Ephesians 1:18 NIV