Happy Holidays?

I wrote this post "Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays ?"  2 years ago. 

Unfortunately Christians are still rabid and calling for boycotts.  So here's the re-run, I think it bears repeating : )

A Christmas Letter from Jesus

Yikes, another month has passed me by and my blog remains neglected. I always have so many things swirling in my head that I want to write about, but this time management thing throws me for a loop. Minutes and hours tick by so fast, days turn into weeks. Blah, blah, blah, excuse, excuse, excuse.

So anyway, there is a post going around on the web, I don't know who wrote it, but it has been sent to me by different people, and I like what it says. So I am stealing it and posting it here.

Letter from Jesus about Christmas

It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival. Although I do appreciate being remembered anytime.

How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santa's and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish. I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 - 8.

If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.

3. Instead of writing the President complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.

4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.

6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.

7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families.

8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary--especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.

9. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.

10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest.

Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember :

I LOVE YOU,
JESUS

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

I hate to even start blogging about Christmas topics when Thanksgiving hasn't even arrived yet, but if you watch TV or get mass emails, than you know that CHRISTMAS IS ALREADY HERE!

I have already begun to receive the mass emails regarding "Keeping Christ in Christmas". Now when I was a more rabid Christian, I forwarded those emails with abandon myself. We must make sure the world knows that Christmas is only about Christ, mustn't we? I must make sure I push my views on the rest of the world, mustn't I?

I have really mellowed about a lot of things in recent years. On things like "Keeping Christ in Christmas" I'd just follow the crowd, and wouldn't really even think about what I was doing or saying. I've begun to be more aware of what I believe, say and do lately, and I try am trying to live that out. So with that said:

What the hell is wrong with saying Happy Holidays? The word Holiday is just a mutated version of the term Holy Days. In a search of Holy days for all religions in the month of December here is what I found:

December 6

Saint Nicholas Day (Christian)

December 8

Bodhi Day (Buddhism)
Celebrates the date when Prince Gautama sat under the Bodhi tree, vowing to remain there until he attained supreme enlightenment

Immaculate Conception of Mary (Catholic Christian)
Honors the belief that Mary, mother of Jesus, was preserved from original sin all of her life

December 12

Hanukkah begins (Jewish) *
Festival of lights and re dedication; continues through December 19

December 18

Al-Hijra (Islam)
The first day of the Muslim year; commemorates the migration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina

December 21

Yule (Pagan)
Winter Solstice; celebration of the rebirth of the sun

December 24

Christmas Eve (Christian)
A celebration the night before the commemoration of the birth of Jesus

December 25

Christmas (Christian)
Celebrates the birth of Jesus

Feast of the Nativity (Orthodox Christian)
Celebrates the birth of Jesus

December 26

Kwanzaa begins (African American)
Seven day celebration of family, heritage and harvest, ends January 1

Saint Stephen's Day (Catholic Christian)
Commemorates Saint Stephens the first Christian martyr

December 27

Holy Family (Catholic Christian)
Celebration of the family of Jesus

December 28

Holy Innocents (Anglican Christian)
Commemorates the slaughter of male infants in Bethlehem during Herod the Greats attempt to kill the infant Jesus

December 31

New Year's Eve

Wow, lookie, it isn't only Christians celebrating HOLY days in the month of December. There might be Jews out buying presents for Hanukkah, or even a Wiccan buying someone a Solstice present. (Do Wiccans give presents for the Solstice?) Regardless, Christians just do not have the lock on buying in December. People of all creeds are out and about doing their thing and maybe they don't want to hear "Merry Christmas" every single time they check out in a store. I don't think I'd be too happy if I had to hear "Happy Ramadan" every time I went out, in whatever month Ramadan is celebrated. (I'm not ignorant, the month changes every year!) I also wouldn't want to be assaulted with Happy Hanukkah, because I'M NOT JEWISH!

When did Christians go from being loving and caring and spreading THE GOOD NEWS to bullies? Isn't it bullying when we threaten to boycott stores for not saying Merry Christmas? Stores don't only sell to Christians, yet Christians seem to think they should. Also, really, how many of the people out buying presents and celebrating Christmas are even Christians, by Christian standards anyway? I know a lot of Atheists and agnostics and non practicing Christians who celebrate Christmas. They celebrate for Santa Claus and gift giving. Do Christians really think that causing a ruckus and spreading toxic emails makes those who barely nod in Christ's direction on Christmas feel closer to him? Or make them want to go to church? No, it makes them want to get farther away from those who call themselves "Christians", because they don't see the love, or the caring, or the spreading of the good news, they see bullies promoting their agenda. Christ didn't call us to go into the world and demand that shop clerks wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Christ didn't even command us to celebrate Christmas. Christians co-opted a pagan holiday (the solstice) and Christianized it. Most Historians don't even think Christ was born in December.

Now after saying all that, I have to say, I love Christmas. I love everything about it. The songs, the food, the music, the fact that most people seem to be friendlier and kinder during December than most other months. The fact that we celebrate the birth of our Savior. There IS a special feeling in the air during Christmas. So why don't those of us who consider ourselves Christians spread that joy around and stop focusing on the negative. Wish people Merry Christmas and if they wish you a Happy Holidays they are still giving you a greeting, a wish for a Happy Holy Day, which Christians consider Christmas to be. Maybe if we stop being so negative, and nit picking everything the world does, and allow others to live the lives they have chosen to live, and go about living the life Christ asked us to, maybe then others will begin to actually see the Christ in us and then the Christ in Christmas. And it wouldn't be because it was shoved down their throat. It might just be because they saw something, something in us that they wanted a piece of. The joy and love.

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.

~O Holy Night~

Merry Christmas Everyone

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

~ Dr. Seuss~

Christmas 1973

In 1973 I was 5 years old. We lived in New York City, in an apartment in a neighborhood on the far upper west side of Manhattan. I did a google search of where I used to live.....wow that was weird. I lived at 119 Payson Ave., Ny, Ny. The building looks exactly the same as I remember it. You can also do a pan of the street, and across the street from our apartment was a park.......it looks exactly the same. I was 8 when we moved, I can't believe everything looks the same as it did 32 years ago. What a jog down memory lane.

Now that I am done being sidetracked, let me regale you with what Christmas was like at the Cox's apartment in the early seventies.

My parents, even though they were parents, still liked to party. And for some reason, most of their friends didn't have kids. So most Christmas's were geared toward the adults than the kids. Oh we still had fun, but probably not the same kind of fun as most kids.

In 1973 I was 5, my brother was 9 and my sister was 10. I am pretty sure they didn't believe in Santa anymore, but they went along with it for my sake.

So the evening of Christmas Eve would start with family and friends coming to our house. I remember my grandmother and Harry (her live in boyfriend, only grandfather on my moms side that I really remember) would be there. Also my Aunt Marge and Uncle Ron (friends of my parents, not real aunt and uncles because both my parents were only children). I'm sure my dad's parents were there, they lived in the apartment building right next door to us, but they weren't as social as the rest, so it's a vague memory. I remember the loud people, the partiers the most.

So we would have an apartment full of people. And our apartment wasn't that big, so as a five year old it may have seemed like more than were actually there. But between my own family of five two sets of grandparents and Aunt Marge and Uncle Ron, that was plenty.

Since my mom and dad were partying, the last thing they wanted to do was get up at the crack of dawn to open presents. So the kids went to bed around 9 or 10 while the adults kept the celebration going. Before going to bed we would leave Santa a shot of whiskey, yes whiskey, it's cold flying around the world all night. If you aren't Irish, you might not understand. And then we'd be off to bed. After my parents knew we were good and asleep, they would bring out our gifts. Sometimes starting to put things together just then as well. When they had everything out and put together (and I heard in later years that the "putting together" part often took a whole lot longer than my dad thought it would) my parents would come and wake us up yelling "Santa's been here, come open your presents." Now this was usually around midnight or later depending on how much trouble toy assembly had been.

I remember this year particularly because I heard Santa's sleigh and that is what woke me up. It's kind of hard to explain, but the way our apartment was configured, the kitchen window was just an angle away from the bedroom I shared with my sister. Not right next to our window, but just across the way at an angle (clear as mud I'm sure). We used to string a clothes line from our bedroom to the kitchen to hang clothes to dry. Anyway, that year I was awoken to the sound of Santa's sleigh bells outside my window. I was told years later that it was my grandmother (moms mom) and she had hung herself out the kitchen window ringing bells so I would hear the bells outside of mine. (We lived on the second floor). It's a happy memory that I am glad I have.

So anyway, while we were happy Santa had been there, WE WERE TIRED! We had just fallen asleep. The adults were mostly happily inebriated at this point, so they were all quite jolly. We would open our presents, entertaining the adults, get a few minutes to play with a few things, then back to bed with you, playtime tomorrow.

Does anyone else think this is bizarre? It was the norm for us, at least for a few more years. During the summer of 1975, a mean girl I knew told me that that Santa was lie. I asked my mom and she confirmed it. I think she was happy about it because we no longer had to play the going to bed charade. We just started opening our presents before we went to bed on Christmas Eve.

We continued to have Open Houses on Christmas Eve. In 1976 we moved to Illinois. That year we had our first Christmas in a new house, in a new state. Grandparents flew in to be with us. As we all made new friends, more and more people got to experience a Cox Christmas Eve. Some of my friends still talk about coming to our house Christmas Eve. The food and booze were always flowing. My parents were perfect hosts. It really is one of the highlights of my childhood memories. A lot of things were not good about my childhood, but almost every Christmas was. I miss that my children will never experience what we had when all of my family could be together. We weren't the perfect family by any means, but there were times when we did have a lot of fun.

When Time who steals our years away

Shall steal our pleasures too,

The mem’ry of the past will stay,

And half our joys renew.

~Thomas Moore~

Thankfulness Thursday

It's been a while since I've posted a thankfulness Thursday.

Right now I am extremely thankful for a home and heat. It's been snowy and cold lately and I am so thankful for my cozy home and it's working heater. I am also thankful that I have a nice warm hubby who I can snuggle up with at night : )

I am thankful that this is the Christmas season, and that it seems to bring out the best in most people. Spirits seem generally high when I'm out and about, and that's a good thing.

I am thankful God sent his son, to be born of Mary, and that even though it might not be his actual birthday that we celebrate, that we get to put aside a day and remember what's been done for us.

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,

The gladness of Christmas give you hope,

The warmth of Christmas grant you love.

~Author Unknown~

Which Christmas Character Are You?

Seems I am old lady like : )

Which Christmas Character Are You? Mrs. Claus That's right — your unwavering support, hospitality, and comforting touch have landed you the important role of Mrs. Claus. You know how to take good cheer and deliver it wherever you go, spreading warmth even on the coldest winter days.

Want to know what character you are?