y favorite music is Christmas music. And my favorite Christmas album of all time is the Carpenter’s “Christmas Portrait.” But every Christmas I get a twinge of sadness when I hear Karen’s beautiful voice and remember that she is no longer with us.
I’m sure she’s singing away with the angel choirs in heaven today.
hat do you get when you put Jimmy Fallon (& company) and Mariah Carey in a room full of kindergarten music instruments? I guess you get this fun video of All I Want For Christmas (Is You)!
hen I was in high school I played trumpet in the high school orchestra. My music teacher and orchestra conductor was Mrs. Rodgers, an outstanding cellist and composer/arranger. The Rodgers were a delightful family of four, having two daughters. Their daughter Lori has become something of a sensation as an incredible violinist.
Any of you who have ever tried playing the violin probably know what a difficult instrument it is. And once the budding violinist gets past the screeching sounds typical of newbies, there is still so far to go. Very few ever make it to the point where they can move people emotionally, but no class of instruments can move the emotions like strings. My favorite is cello... oh, how I love cello! But the violin comes in a close second. And Lori is a master.
And... a very cool sidenote... her husband is an outstanding photographer. Photography and music... how could a couple like that go wrong?
Here is my friend from days long ago playing the opening to a Singing Trees Christmas presentation. O, Holy Night... Lori Jean Smith:
And, some pictures Tim Smith has taken during Lori’s concerts (and other stuff):
have been hesitant to get into the weeds of the culture wars. But each Christmas I see new reasons to defend the traditional celebration of Christmas and point out the hypocrisy and falsehood in the liberal attack on Christianity at Christmastime.
Many people on the so-called “political right,” such as Sarah Palin and Bill O’Reilly, have pointed out evidence of the “war on Christmas.” Then comes the response from the defenders of all things evil, the American left, by such notables as Jon Stewart, to say that there is no such war on Christmas. In stereotypical liberal form, these folks mock the conservative side and destroy staw men, but they give no evidence, no rebuttal, no proof of their statements—only mockery and bluster.
And while there has not been an organized battle plan to attack Christmas, the powers of political correctness have been leveraged heavily to dissuade the public from mentioning Christmas at all. This is clearly displayed in our general society, as evidenced by this legitimately cute video from Disney’s Victoria Justice and Max Schneider. Give a listen to Holiday Medley:
I’m sure you heard the lyric change from Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays. And maybe that’s okay because, as we are perpetually reminded by the liberals, many different holidays are celebrated at this time. After all, there’s Hanukkah, Kwaanza, Ramadan, Winter Solstice, World AIDS Day, Boxing Day, New Years Eve, and even Festivus (for the rest of us). So to honor all of those multi-cultural holidays that occur the same month as Christmas we are advised to say happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas.
But if we are actually talking only about Christmas, we should say Merry Christmas, shouldn’t we? And if we don’t say that, isn’t that evidence that there is an actual “war on Christmas” and we are falling victim to that war?
So let’s consider this Holiday Medley. Here are the songs in the medley:
With one exception, Baby, It’s Cold Outside, every single song in that list is a Christmas song, not a generic holiday song. And Baby, It’s Cold Outside has been a traditional Christmas favorite for many generations. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that this song is not a popular one during December in Africa, Saudi Arabia, Israel, or Turkey. So, if it is not, it is a Christmas song as well. And yet, at the end of the medley, these two young singers changed the words, “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays.”
I like this video. And I understand what pushed these two young people into this mold. It is, without a doubt, the war on Christmas.
hristmas is almost here. And it is my favorite time of year. I confess to listening to Christmas music all year long.
And now that Christmas is just about three weeks away, it’s time to open up the shutters and let the music ring out to the rest of the world. It’s Christmastime! And Christianity has one glaring difference from all other religions—our God came to dwell among us. And he came to do that so that he could die for us because without the death of Jesus, we could not have a relationship with God. And this is what Christmas is all about.
O come! O come, Emmanuel... God, with us.
London-born John Mason Neale (1818–1866) was a scholar, hymn writer and co-founder of the Society of Saint Margaret, an order within the Anglican Church dedicated to nursing the sick.
Throughout his dedicated Christian life, John was both revered and persecuted for his desire to bring a unity of ideas between the Catholic Church and the Church of England. He was best known for his hymn writing, and his translations of existing hymns from Latin, Greek, Syrian and Russian, into English.
Neale’s original hymns include Good King Wenceslas and Good Christian Men Rejoice. Among his translated hymns is the beautiful O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, which he adapted from a Latin text. The haunting melody of this song still hints of its Gregorian chant origin.
recently discovered Lifehack, a web site with a wealth of unique, creative, and diverse how-to articles. I have added this web site to my iPad Flipboard magazine and check the new articles at least two to three times a week. As I write this post, Lifehack has these articles (among others) listed on its main page:
I have bookmarked www.lifehack.org and loaded it into my iPad’s digital magazine. But I found the following article a couple days ago and thought I should share it.
There are a lot of discussions going around about what actually makes people happy. In fact, in the last two decades, an entirely new field has been created around this question. We refer to this new area of psychology as “Positive Psychology.”
While the scientific world is discovering the many different factors which go into determining how happy a person will be, throughout history we have been told by the greatest philosophers and religious leaders what to avoid in order to be happy. I’ve compiled what I consider the deadliest attacks on our happiness. These “sins” are so deadly that we often don’t notice we are falling into their trap until we wake up one day and wonder why we are glaring at ourselves in the mirror.
“Comparison is the death of joy.”
Thank you, Mark Twain, for starting our list today.
He’s absolutely right. Whenever you begin to size yourself based on what you see others achieving, you have no choice but to feel unhappy. Either you will feel guilty because you see those less fortunate struggling while you live in relative comfort, or you will feel inadequate because others seem to be better off than you are. It’s kind of a lose/lose scenario.
Instead, focus on making yourself a little better every day.
“Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.”
—Nicolas de Chamfort
This brilliant French playwright knew a truth which eludes many to this day: acting will always make you happier than speaking.
Although it is a great idea to talk about your passions and dreams, if all you are doing is talking, you will find yourself depressed in a very short time. In fact, you will begin to feel like a fraud. You will start to question if you will ever achieve these dreams you speak about, and slowly you will stop speaking about them.
The best way to cure this is to start working on your dreams, while you talk about them. I like to say something to the effect of “I’m building up my readership to become an international best-seller. Right now I’m spending some time building up a loyal fan base on Twitter.” Do you see what I did there? I made a large statement about my end goal, as well as what my current action step is. I may not be able to claim to be a best-seller yet, but I can start to build a fan base on Twitter. By following up my words with actions, I’ll avoid feeling like a fraud.
“A complainer is like a Death Eater because there’s a suction of negative energy.”
—Barbara Corcoran
Who doesn’t love a good Harry Potter reference? All fictional character allusions aside, you would be much better off taking this wisdom to heart.
Negative people are a drain on you. It’s impossible to become immune to someone complaining in your presence—even when you diligently ignore them, simply being in the same room with someone spouting negatives will affect your mood. The only way to really combat negative people is to avoid them. It is nearly impossible to cheer a negative person up, and even if you succeed for the moment, the chances are high your former sour-puss friend will go back to his/her old ways in short order. The best you can do is go on about your business and stay around positive people.
“The bad news is that only the bad people reach the news, because they are noisier.”
—Javier Bardem
When was the last time you finished watching the news and felt good about the world? I don’t believe this has ever happened to me.
In 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey points out that the majority of successful people spend very little time watching the news. The primary reason behind this is that we really can do nothing about what we are watching, which leads us to feelings of helplessness and negativity. By focusing so much on problems in other parts of the world, we forget how much good we can do in our local communities.
Instead of worrying what is happening on Capitol Hill, why not focus on what you can do in your neighborhood? Are there local kids you can mentor? Can you deliver meals to the elderly? Perhaps you can organize a neighborhood beautification project, which will help everyone around you. By focusing on what you can influence locally, you will create a much greater impact on the world than by simply watching the world news and then talking to your friends about how bad things are. Plus, you’ll be much happier.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
—Jesus (Matthew 7:3)
Regardless of your religious beliefs, there’s no denying the wisdom of Jesus.
Have you ever thought about how much better your life would be if your spouse/coworker/child would just fix themselves(or let you fix them)? You’re not alone. As we can see, this phenomenon has existed for at least 2,000 years, and for much longer, I would wager.
It’s so easy to look at someone else and see exactly what they are doing wrong; the difficult thing is to look at ourselves and see how we can improve instead. As I draw closer to the date of my own wedding, I find myself repeating a simple prayer: “God, please help me be the husband I tell her I am.” I know I don’t always live up to my own expectations of others, but the best place to work is myself.
Instead of thinking about how others can improve, ferret out your own shortcomings and go to work on them. Trust me, you have plenty of work on yourself to keep you too busy to correct others.
“Joy has nothing to do with material things, or with man’s outward circumstance…A man living in the lap of luxury can be wretched, and a man in the depths of poverty can overflow with joy.”
—William Barclay
Many people walk around saying things like “I will be happy when I get my house paid off” “I’ll be happy when we are finally married” or sometimes “I’ll be happy when we’re finally divorced.” That last one stings a little, but I have had clients tell me that.
You may have the idea that once you accomplish a goal, you will be happy. I’m sorry to tell you, this will never be the case. Whenever you set out to achieve something and base your happiness on that achievement, you have set yourself up for disappointment.
History is full of people who scrambled madly for money, power, fame, or any other accolade or possession we can think of, only to finally achieve their goal and discover a deep sense of disappointment. The wisest people realize that happiness is only achieved during our journey, not at the end.
Discover what makes you happy on a daily basis and create goals that line up with those activities. If your greatest happiness comes from teaching and working with children, setting a goal to be CEO of your company doesn’t really line up. You might eventually make CEO, but you won’t feel happy about it; a better goal would be to create a lifestyle business which allows you to teach and work with children as often as you like. Maybe you will make less money, but trading money for true happiness is always a good trade.
“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.”
—Cynthia Ozick
This last sin is probably the most commonly committed. Regardless of what your situation is right now, there are things you should be grateful for.
Do you have someone who loves you? When was the last time you told them how much you appreciate their love? Do you have a job and receive an income? When was the last time you thanked your boss or company president for providing you this opportunity?
Let’s say you are completely alone, broke, and in poor health; you can still read the words written in this post. Have you thought about how lucky you are someone took the time to teach you how to read, and now you have the opportunity to learn and better yourself because of that gift? Forgetting to stop and say thank you for the blessings you receive keeps you from receiving more blessings. Worse, the blessing you do receive won’t be recognized because you have learned to focus on what you lack, instead of what you have.
Take a small notepad with you throughout the day and write down any little thing you can think of to be grateful for. I promise you, within 24 hours, you will feel happier than you have in years.
Avoid these sins like the plague, and you will be well on your way to a very happy life.
My new Camaro is freezing out in the driveway with about two inches of snow on top right now. So I thought I’d post a picture from when it was a bit warmer out. I’m not sure why the cat liked the car so much.
Our current house was built in 1940 and has wonderful charm and a great view of Skyline Drive and the Shenandoah Mountains.
But, like all residential rental units, this house is the product of the owner’s decisions.
Without going into too much detail, I’ll just give a small snapshot of rental life... a snapshot covering this past week—beginning the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and running through today, one week after Thanksgiving.
Tuesday evening, after commuting home, I picked up my son from the restaurant where my wife works and then drove home. As we walked through the door we both smelled propane. Our furnace runs on propane and the only time you can actually smell the gas is when the tank runs so low that the pilot light goes out. So I knew we had no heat and that due to the Thanksgiving holiday we would not be getting a propane delivery until the following Monday. And we were, at that moment, getting the first snowflakes of the season. Fortunately, we have a few space heaters.
Wednesday morning I noticed that the water temperature in the shower was not quite as hot as usual. I thought, “It must be very cold out to cool our indoor water this much.” When my wife took her shower, the water was actually not warm at all. And by early afternoon, it was ice cold.
My wife checked the breaker and found it tripped, but could not reengage it. So I went down to the cellar to take a look. I was able to reengage the breaker and the water warmed up a slight bit... but then began cooling again. By Wednesday evening it was clear that we have no hot water, even when the breaker was engaged.
Due to the holiday, we struggled through the next few days, but reported the problem with the water heater first thing Monday morning. Without going into great detail about the next few days, it is now 2:00 pm on Thursday and we finally have a new water heater that is, hopefully, in the process of heating the water right now. Our neighbors will be very pleased to find out that we are, once again, able to take showers.
Old houses, rental units, contractors... It’s a wonderful life!
It’s been a long time since I posted anything to this blog. I should probably get back to it. So... I’ll begin by changing the header.
I took this photo at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. I loved this girl’s shirt with the camera and the Smile on it, so I asked her to pose for me. She very cheerfully struck a pose and I took the picture. But... it was too closeup to allow the for the blog header cropping to show her face and the t-shirt. So... here’s the full picture:
