"I bear the Proofreading Marks I wrote in life …"
Originally shared by +Jeff Stoner:
Just for you, +Karen Conlin.
Your Christmas Grammar Lesson for Today
Category: Holidays
The "Twelve Days of Christmas," Straight No Chaser
Many thanks to +The Bruce, Mile High for reminding me of this faboo a cappella caroling session.
Have a good meal before you go Christmas shopping
My wife +Margie Kleerup and I have learned that, when out running weekend errands (including any sort of shopping), we really need to make sure we grab some lunch, lest we unknowingly get all peevish and ill-tempered (simultaneously, which never ends well).
But there's another important factor to consider: it seems that hunger not only makes you want food, it makes you want in general, desiring pretty much anything you can grab or purchase.
Interesting stuff.
Hunger Makes You Crave More Than Food
The desire goes beyond what can be eaten, a study suggests
What Would Jesus Brand?
The Starbucks Paper Cup Kerfuffle is silly not just because the idea that "white, green, and red without any words or symbols in it clearly doesn't mean Christmas, but if there were snowflakes and sleighs it would be fine, but without them it's a slap in the face to all Christians" is so ludicrously zany …
… but because that idea is actually kind of un-Christian.
At church on Sunday, the Gospel reading was Mark 12:38-44, which reads, in part:
'Teaching in the temple, Jesus said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."'
Jesus has a number of messages in the Gospels, but one that keeps cropping up is disdain, if not condemnation, for outward piety, for wearing the trappings of spiritual fervor, especially while not actually caring for those in need.
Would Jesus really get ticked off at a "Christmas cup" that didn't have secular symbols of Christmas on it? Or would He get more ticked off at people who felt smugly religious by walking around with coffee in paper cups that have snow men on them, thereby proving they are good Christians both for doing so and because they've compelled some sort of overt acknowledgement of the celebration birth of Christ?
I mean, really: did Jesus instruct all of His apostles to celebrate His birthday every year as proof of their devotion and cultural hegemony? Did He condemn those people who didn't do so to be no true followers of His Father? Did He claim that businesses who didn't wish their customers a "Happy Jesus' Birthday" were opposed to Him and should be sent off to the Lake of Fire?
In fact, who does get mentioned as being sent off to the Lake of Fire in the Gospels? (HInt: it has nothing to do with coffee cups.)
Anyway, get back to me on those Biblical citations. I'll be here waiting, and having a Pumpkin Spice Latte in a red, green, and white (but clearly not, therefore, "Christmassy") cup.
(No, I actually won't, because Starbucks is ghastly expensive except as an occasional treat. But you get the idea.)
This might just get me shopping at Nordstrom
Because snowflakes and trees are what Christmas is REALLY all about
So I just visited a Starbucks and got a drink in one of their new Horrifyingly and Contemptuously Non-Christmassy Cups. And you know what?
The Oprah Cinnamon Chai Latte is really pretty blah.
But aside from that … well, egads and gadzooks, to think that Starbuck would dare to dis Jesus by not having snowflakes (a symbol specifically prophesied by Isaiah as a harbinger of the Messiah, I think) on their holiday season paper goods … how blasphemous and Scrooge-like can you get?
Ditto for a shopping mall opting for a "glacier" scene by their Santa Claus booth, rather than a sacred Jesus Tree, as first set up by the Archangel Gabriel in the Gospel of John to give shade to the infant Christ. The horror!
(Dear Right Wing Noise Machine: When Starbucks actually starts printing"Jesus is a myth – Hail Satan!" on their cups, you can get back to me with your "War on Christmas" malarkey. Ditto when those shopping malls put up big signs saying "No gift wrap for sale. No presents may be purchased for Christmas here, because we don't believe in it." Until then, keep your sense of entitlement in your pants where it belongs.)
Fox Host: “The War On Christmas [Is] Off To An Early Start” On Starbucks’ Coffee Cups
Oh, it's that time of year again
… when morning and evening feel wrong. Thanks a lot, #DaylightSavingsTime !
Originally shared by +annie bodnar:
Thanks +pamela brockman
Way down yonder in the Pumpkin Patch
One silver lining to unemployment is the opportunity to do some volunteer work. In today's case, I'm manning the annual pumpkin patch at our church (Good Shepherd Episcopal, 8545 E Dry Creek, Centennial, CO). All proceeds go organizations helping the homeless and hungry in the Denver metro area.
If you're in the area, come on down!
When your daughter starts posting her own Fathers Day stuff
Kinda gets you right there. Even if it's from Fairy Tail … (Ducks.)
Thanks, Kitten. I, in turn, like to think of myself as Kosh-pretending-to-be-Sheridan's-Dad to you … only less tragic, of course.
Originally shared by +Kay Hill:
Happy Father's Day! Especially to my own patient father who tolerates watching Fairy Tail with me.
I am being plied with bacon for Fathers Day
I am being plied with bacon for Fathers Day I have a good family. #bacon
Belated birthday party for Kay
The Reason for the Season
Happy Mother's Day, Mom!
Since we were just talking about Google on the phone, this seems appropriate …
Originally shared by +Google:
Happy Mother’s Day from every cub, chick, pup, joey and kid! #GoogleDoodle
Floralia — I think I like this holiday
At least the costuming. I mean, I'd be happy to wear a tunic …
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floralia)
Originally shared by +Paul Duggan:
Today is the first day of Floralia
So who the heck was St. Patrick, anyway?
And now you'll know.
Originally shared by +Today I Found Out:
#SaintPatrick died on this day, 461. Here's the real story of the man behind the holiday.
This Day in History: March 17th- From Slave to Saint, The Story of Patrick
This Day In History: March 17, 461 After St. Patrick’s death on March 17, 461, his story was largely forgotten. It took centuries for him to attain mythological status, and even at that, the St. Patrick that is revered today bears little resemblance to the man who actually existed. To begin with, St. Patrick wasn’t [&hellip
Fifty Years of "Holly, Jolly Christmas"
And all the rest of the Rudolph bits and bobs, Burl Ives and Yukon Cornelius and Obsessively Conformist Dad.
Wow.
Passage: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
The longest-running Christmas TV special of all is marking its 50th year on air
Go Jira on the Mountain …!
Bestest giant monster Christmas Tree ever.
Originally shared by +Scott Randel:
O come, all ye kaiju, joyful and…
Classic: No Christmas Tree Will Live Up to the Godzilla in a Tokyo Mall
Cheezburger.com – Crafted from the finest Internets.
Ornamentally, my dear Watson!
This is one of my favorite Christmas ornaments we have, purely for sentimental reasons. I gave it to +Margie Kleerup while we were dating, the first of a many more over the years.
It's kind of a cheap thing, not like some of the pretty glass ones I've bought over the years, but it's got a lot of history and I still feel like a Beast to her Belle.
Annnnnnd ..
Annnnnnd .. there’s the first presumably-cat-related Christmas ornament loss of the year.
Thank you, Veterans
Not everyone who joins the armed forces does so out of a wellspring of altruistic patriotism. But all who do are, in fact, putting themselves in harm's way and into the service of the nation, one way or the other. So I thank you all for that, on this Veterans Day.
(Below is the USS Toledo, a heavy cruiser, CA-133, where my dad served in the late 1950s after graduating Stanford in the Navy ROTC program. Thanks, Dad.)
