Merry Christmas to all my Buell Brothers and sisters! May your' God never get old. And may you always be found pleasing. As this world dims may your Hope always grow brighter. I hope I always pray before you need it and the favor is always returned. May God bless every one of you and your families this year. With Love, R.D. Stockinger
Merry holidays to you all. It's already Xmas day here in the Uk, I'm one of the unlucky many that have to work over the holidays. Got to keep the wheels of industry going.......and pay the bills
Watched Love Actually with family today. My second or third favorite Christmas movie.
It's not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls off Nagatomi tower.
The Rankin Bass stop motion animated movies are big hits too.
"The Flight Before Christmas" (2008) from Finland deserves honorable mention for it's odd plot line. Prancer's illegitimate love child wants to join his absent father as one of Santa's reindeer and finds the Wolves have a plot to ruin Christmas by eating the Reindeer. ........
Merry Christmas all. Woke up to about 3 inches of fresh white stuff on the ground. Got a ham in the smoker early this morning for Christmas brunch. Forecast is for another 9 inches today. Without a doubt, a white Christmas!
Managed to track down a DVD of "It's A Wonderful Life" for my sweetie... for whatever reason none of the networks show it anymore. Used to be there were several traditional Christmas movies besides just the Grinch and all the Charlie Brown specials.
Anyhoo, she was very pleased, yay me. It IS truly a great movie. And, I'll be sporting my self-gifted Santa Sasquatch in a Bikini sweater today!!! Whomever posted that Black Rifle Coffee vid, I owe you a six-pack of good beer, or some coffee or something.
Hey we got a white Christmas too, sort of. We got 3 inches yesterday morning and it hasn't had time to get dirty - still nice and sparkly and 11 dF outside.
Good day to have working central heat.
Stay warm and enjoy your families my BadWeB brothers and sisters.
Merry Yule to all! Managed to get back to work this past Monday after 7 weeks off! Just in time for holidays. Knees is good , gut is good and finally using right hand again mostly pain free. Got together with son and fam yesterday. Getting together with daughter and fam today. That's what I enjoy most is the fam I've got. Y'all take care and anyone with the white stuff, FedEx me a couple snowballs south of Houston. I'll reply back with a bit of sand n seashells!
I'd love to see the South Park/Team America guys do a Rankin Bass parody. Puppets, of course.
I also have to give credit to Seth Green and the Robot Chicken crew for their Christmas specials, Family Guy, too.
The Simpson's rule Halloween with Linus & the Great Pumpkin.
Cold & blowing with lake effect snow bands locally. Gusts over 45 mph.
My sister wanted to see Star Wars The Last Jedi, but when they went to go they changed their minds at the end of the driveway. Snow. She decided she'd rather see #7 again first since she'd forgotten most of it.
It then became her Xmas eve present and we watched it after Love Actually. She decided the reason she'd forgotten it was it wasn't that good. No argument from me. The Star Wars fairy tales aren't my favorite though I do enjoy them. It is fun to hear the hardcore fans excuse the bad technology. ( why do Storm troopers wear armor that doesn't stop blasters? ) I did tell her #8 was better, but wouldn't spoil it.
The trend to deconstruct and ruin movies I usually ignore. Love Actually has sad bits, deliberately hilarious nudity and great acting. I've seen diatribes on how bad it is from opposite political justification. Don't care. The Wisconsin plot line makes me laugh. I cheer for the shy ones who win. The widower and son plot is a masterpiece. Even the old rock star plot is funny & touching. And..... best movie Prime Minister. ( sorry Churchill fans..... come on. Hugh Grant! )
I'm just going to enjoy the season. Hope you do too.
Consider the wonderful poetry of my favorite Christmas hymn. The depth of meaning it conveys is beautiful.
The 2nd verse and its refrain especially capture the deep profound truth and amazing grace of Christ, why we celebrate His material arrival into the world of men.
Merry Christmas everyone!
What Child is This
1. What Child is this who, laid to rest On Mary's lap is sleeping? Whom Angels greet with anthems sweet, While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the Lord, Whom shepherds guard and Angels sing; Haste, haste, to bring Him laud, The Babe, the Son of Mary.
2. Why lies He in such mean estate, Where ox and ass are feeding? Good Christians, fear, for sinners here, The silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, The cross be borne for me, for you. Hail, hail the Word made flesh, The Babe, the Son of Mary.
3. So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh, Come peasant, king to own Him; The King of kings salvation brings, Let loving hearts enthrone Him.
Raise, raise a song on high, The virgin sings her lullaby. Joy, joy for Christ is born, The Babe, the Son of Mary.
I hope everyone got an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle (with a compass in the stock and a thing that tells the time)!
why do Storm troopers wear armor that doesn't stop blasters?
The same reason why troops have worn helmets that only stop rounds from angles or intermediate calibers from a moderate distance, flack jackets that don't stop bullets, and hard armor that only protects vitals from straight angles. It's impractical to be fully armored, unless you're Captain Phasma, or something.
Santa came to see me at work last week... he actually drives a truck for me all year long before going out to deliver billions of packages in a single night.
Blake, that is my favorite hymn too... just reading the words causes a visceral reaction in me. Let's all remember the reason why we celebrate this season, and disregard those who would explain it away as a stolen pagan ritual.
Celebrate Christmas, or don't celebrate it. That be your choice, but lay aside your bias and embrace the intent behind it. Enjoy this time with family, and do a little something to touch the life of a stranger with kindness.
Christ is born. Christ has died. Christ will come again.
Let's all remember the reason why we celebrate this season, and disregard those who would explain it away as a stolen pagan ritual.
Everyone has an opinion, and their reasons. I do it for the children...as it is better to give than to receive. It is, the season for pleasin,' as they say.
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - 12:37 pm:
Stolen pagan ritual? Sure. Plenty of them. And no reason to be upset or feel false superiority. May poles. Christmas trees. Easter eggs. Krampus. The Bible doesn't forbid or demand anyone celebrate on certain days.
There are historical holidays Jesus would have celebrated with his family. Hanukkah, Passover, etc. They have dates. Christians don't usually celebrate those days or celebrate them the same. Still part of the heritage. I learned about them in Sunday school. ( & movies )
It's not a shame or a crime that Christianity absorbed local holidays from other cultures. It didn't live in a vacuum or spread into lands empty of faith.
Christmas, historically "should" be in March, as documents show the tax census that sent Joseph on an unwanted journey with a very pregnant wife in cold weather was that time. IIRC that information wouldn't be common knowledge a century later unless you were a scholar of Roman tax law. There's no place in the Bible where Jesus asked for a holiday because of his birth, is there? He didn't have that kind of ego.
So the WHEN we celebrate his birth is an artifact of local adaptation to persecution and intolerance. Roman Christians didn't burn Yule logs or have Saint Nick. Those came later. Absorbing those customs made it easier to sell the Word to folk. Simply smart marketing.
Spring festivals going back to the stone age celebrate rebirth and hope after cold and darkness threatened to end life. Easter's message of struggle and forgiveness and resurrection fits in well. ( many forget that Jesus destroyed the gates of Hell itself. Not so he could escape, but to offer a path to forgiveness and heaven to all sinners. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong. )
The message doesn't change if you wear sweaters with reindeer or camels.
These adaptations go more than one way.
Kannon, in Japan & Quan Yin in China are Kami ( spirits) that were often objects of secret worship as Mary by Christians centuries ago in those lands. The statue in the temple in town may have been made by a devout Doaist, or Shinto, or other..... the prayers go where they're sent.