Comfort and Joy Comes Later
Doug Wilson explains that a little, tiny, soft baby was born to deliver to a hard gospel:
“Walmart is a Holy Land”
A beautiful story of one family that decided give away blessings to strangers at Walmart for Christmas. Go on. Read it and have yourself a good cry. We bought several Walmart gift cards with funds we would have used to buy our gifts for one another and our kids. Then our daughter and daughter-in-law (who…
Get Your Lies Ready for Next Year
Now that we’re past Christmas and you don’t really have to worry about it for another year, let’s take a minute to dispassionately review the pros and cons of telling your kids that there’s a Santa Claus. I covered a lot of them last year in the post “To Santa or Not to Santa.” Check…
Merry Christmas, Everybody!
Hope you’re having as much fun as the guy in the background.
To Santa or Not To Santa
The most contentious dividing line of the Christmas season — the one between people who want their kids to believe in Santa and people who don’t — runs right through the middle of my house. My wife is a big supporter of Santa and elves on the shelves and the whole holly jolly menagerie. I love…
Allison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma? Yes, Please.
My favorite bluegrass fiddler and my favorite Chinese cellist whose name sounds like Rocky Balboa calling his mother team up to get you in the Christmas spirit: (Via Justin Taylor)
The Guide to Gradual Holiday Hermitism
We’re well into December, and the world is covered in those telltale signs of the approaching Christmas season: snow, Christmas decorations, and roiling, teaming masses of people. People everywhere — shopping, eating, pageant-attending, and generally gumming up the works everywhere you go. Every Christmas it seems like the population of the earth temporarily shoots up, and there…
A Christian Perspective on Black Friday
[Happy Thanksgiving! In honor of the really important events this weekend (by which I mean the sales), here’s the annual repost of my thoughts on Black Friday. – j] I used to say that Christmas was a month-long holiday that started the day after Thanksgiving and ended on New Year’s Day. Now, it’s a two-month-long…
The (Long Form) Meaning of Christmas
Walter Russell Mead is doing an extended and interesting disquisition on the meaning of Christmas. And I don’t just mean “Baby Jesus!” I mean all the beliefs and all the promises that are wrapped up in, and extend outward from, the birth of baby Jesus. Here are some links: The Meaning of Christmas Meaning in…
Merry Christmas
The Best Christmas Songs
Since I did a post on the worst Christmas songs, and I don’t want to be all about the worst stuff, I thought I’d go ahead and offer up some of my choices for the best. So, here are some songs you might actually want to listen to and enjoy. After assembling the list, I…
The Worst Christmas Songs
Shannen Coffin kicks off a compelling debate for this time of year: What are the worst Christmas songs? I don’t disagree with any of his choices, but there are a couple I endorse with an added level of enthusiasm: “Last Christmas” by Wham! (exclamation point included at no extra charge), and the mother of all…
Being a Good Gift Receiver
Great point from Jen at Conversion Diary: One of the things I’ve realized this year is that I need to practice a different kind of generosity at Christmas: being generous in receiving gifts. I’m a big believer in not having too much “stuff” junking up our living space — and, frankly, the fight against clutter…
Your Christmas Song of the Day
Someone needs to take up a collection for these guys to buy some more pianos, so that don’t always have to share the same one. Via Steve Laube:
Zero-Budget Christmas Addendum
If you read my book Zero-Budget Christmas, you know that it’s possible to cram $29.95 worth of literary joy into a 99-cent book. You know that one of the key components of our zero-budget strategy was to sell a bunch of stuff that we already had and use the proceeds to finance our Christmas shopping….
Your Christmas Song of the Day
Courtesy of Creative Minority Report, a capella wonders Pentatonix doing “Little Drummer Boy.” And, lo, it was good.
A Christian Perspective on Black Friday
[Happy Thanksgiving! In honor of the really important events this weekend (by which I mean the sales), here’s the annual repost of my thoughts on Black Friday. – j] I used to say that Christmas was a month-long holiday that started the day after Thanksgiving and ended on New Year’s Day. Now, it’s a two-month-long…
Katy Perry’s Theology
And while we’re listening to Vince Vaughn talk about politics, why not look at Katy Perry’s thoughts on religion? At BiblicalWoman.com (Yeah, I read it. What about it?) Candi Finch looks at the beliefs of the California Girl as expressed in a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly. She looks at this quote in particular: My upbringing…
A Kick Ass "Carol of the Bells"
It’s the only way to describe it. From the University of Mobile Christmas Spectacular: (Via Justin Taylor)
Redeeming Santa
As a Christian, what do you tell your kids about Santa Claus? My wife and I are kind of at odds about this one, so I wanted to post this article from Mark Driscoll to show that he is completely and totally on my side! Influential pastor validation, baby! So, as the parents of five…