Christian fantasy literature, and commentary on assorted subjects
Requested by Phoebe, The First Noel–and I thought Bing Crosby would be just the ticket.
Let’s keep the hymns coming, everybody. Tomorrow’s the last day of the contest! Which does not mean we have to stop posting Christmas music. Hey, I’ve been known to post it in August…
I have just finished decorating our Christmas tree, and a fair piece of the living room, too. Even when we set up the tree in its stand the day before, it’s still a two-hour job. My father used to do it all on Christmas Eve, start to finish, after us kids were sent to bed. We’d come down exceedingly early on Christmas morning, and there would be the fully-decorated tree standing in the living room, with wrapped presents under it.
It’s such a big job because we have so many ornaments, all if them family heirlooms going back many years. I know the story behind each and every one of them. The important thing is to remember the loved ones who gave them to us, because they’ve all passed on by now, not many of us left. Because Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, we know we can trust God’s promises: we know we will all be reunited in His kingdom, and enjoy eternal life.
We wanted to take a picture of our tree and post it here, but haven’t yet discovered how to do it. Patty thought she knew, but wasn’t able to pull it off. Well, we may yet find out: I’m not about to take the tree down just after I put it up.
Next stop: our traditional Christmas Eve dinner–roast duck.
Now’s your chance to avoid being swept up in the latest board game craze, Profumo–the game that permanently changes you into a member of another species.
For those who get turned into cats, I suppose it’s not so bad. But there have been many complaints about people being turned into much less desirable species–bedbugs, flatworms, crabgrass, etc. No one is quite sure how Profumo works, or even how to play: it seems the rules were written by a person who was quite mad at the time. All we know is that it has been shown to be very dangerous to spend more than 20 minutes or so trying to play it.
Sponsored by the Democrat National Committee, manufactured by Cthulhu Brothers Inc., Profumo costs $12,385 per copy and is available at most disreputable stores–the kind of store you may be able to enter easily enough, but coming out again is problematic.
And now it’s time for me to enjoy a cigar before I begin the epic work of trimming our Christmas tree.
I’m hoping no one gives me a copy of Profumo as a present. A man in Lima, Ohio, was transformed into a yak just by unwrapping the game.
We pray Phoebe is feeling better today. This is for her, Robert Shaw fan that she is–Good King Wenceslas, by the Robert Shaw Chorale.
Dec. 26 is St. Stephen’s Day, Phoebe’s birthday–and the anniversary of our first date, Patty and me: Dec. 26, 1976.
She has cancelled tomorrow’s doctor’s appointment, preferring to be home with our tree to sitting around in the waiting room.
The books that publicists invite me to review! But they’ll have to go a long, long way to match this one for taking on the appearance of a satire. I mean, really–someone actually wrote this thing on purpose?
https://leeduigon.com/2016/01/05/review-this-you-gotta-be-kiddin/
A sardonic little devil sitting on my shoulder whispers into my ear, “Hey, Lee, you missed a great opportunity here! Is it too late to go back and get a copy of this classic?”
Good grief.
Here’s another one we almost missed–but not quite! The Wexford Carol goes all the way back to 12th-century Ireland, hence the bagpipes in the background. This beautiful version is performed by Alison Krauss and the legendary Yo-Yo Ma on cello.
Hey, everybody, it’s Christmas Eve! Let’s finish our Carol Contest with a flash! Tomorrow’s Christmas, and we want to make the earth and the sky shiver with Christmas music.
For Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
This little melody is Tiny Tim’s theme in Scrooge, the 1951 Christmas classic starring Alistair Sim (which we watched yesterday). The toys in the shop window are all genuine antiques–although I think the big guffawing mechanical doll might have freaked me out when I was little. Anyhow, this tune has been part of our Christmas here for over 40 years, and I’d like to share it with you today.
Here are our friends Joshua and Jeremy playing “El Condor Pasa,” once upon a time (before they were born!) a major Simon & Garfunkel hit. Guys–next time, sing it, too. –LD
Come on, now, this is just ridiculous! How do cats do it? Most of the dogs in these video clips are several times larger than the cats who dominate them with a look. What are they afraid of? A tap on the butt as they pass?
Really, cats do have a lot of things figured out…
I don’t know why these baby goats are wearing pajamas. My friend who has raised baby goats never put them in pajamas. Maybe it was just before bedtime when this video was filmed.
How tiny are these little characters? You’ll see for yourself when they meet a cat.
Boy, do they have fun! If you don’t know what joy is, never mind the dictionary–just watch these guys for a few minutes.