Weekly e-News December 18
Hey, everyone!
Hope all this week, you’re having a holly jolly Christmas and in case you didn’t hear, Oh! By Golly, have a holy jolly Christmas… this year!
“Holly jolly”?!
Wow! Where’d that come from? Is that a Christmas song?!
Oh, yeah…I think that’s from the Rudolph we used to watch every year. I tried to show it to Desi and Quincy a week ago. After about four minutes, Q walked out of the room saying, “Booooooring!”
But the song apparently has a home in my brain somewhere, ‘cause I just quoted it without thinking about it! There’s lots of Christmas musical residue way back in our mental storage that you might not be purposely thinking about but can just happen to tumble out at this time of year…
Did you know that you might hum or whistle about Bob, the Christmas horse without even knowing it? Think about it…
“Dashing thru the snow in a one-horse open sleigh…O’er the hills we go, laughing all the way! Bells on Bob’s tail ring, making spirits bright…
So…who’s Bob? There may possibly, serendipitously be a guy named Bob riding in the sleigh but this one has a tail. With bells on it. Does Bob? The sleigh is the one-horse variety. Unless there is a Christmas squirrel in it with y’all, my vote is that the jingly tail belongs to Bob, the horse.
Actually, “Jingle Bells” doesn’t mention Christmas anywhere.
“Chestnuts roasting on an open-fire…”
Mmmmm! One of our favorite Christmas thoughts! Ever had one? Ever smelled one? In Italy, almost every chimney has a chain hanging down with a hook for the steel chestnut basket, so they can roast ‘em over it. Folks forage around in the woods, gather the “castagne” and invite everyone over for a “castagnata” (chestnut roast). My humble opinion is that the smell is pretty stinky and eating one is worse. Tastes like mushy, burnt wood. Not a fan, personally.
I like the song, tho’!
“Altho’ it’s been said many times, many ways, Merry Christmas toooo yooooouuuu!”
I love Christmas songs! As I type this, I’m listening to an album of Christmas songs in Swedish! Don’t understand a word, but it’s all about Christmas and my heart overflows! I just love Christmas and its songs! Almost all of them…
So, why don’t I like the one about the drummer boy?
I’m ashamed to admit this. I feel terrible about it. The idea is so sweet! A poor boy offering his gift…the only one he can afford to give…to the Baby Jesus. So beautiful! But for me, the song is annoying…
What is wrong with me!?
Maybe it’s that there are too many “Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum”s. It just keeps saying it. After the first one, my heart just knows I’m going to hear this a million times before the song’s done, and a kabillion times before the season’s done.
Maybe it’s because the thought of a kid banging his drum after Mary’s finally gotten the Baby to “sleep in Heavenly peace” …Ask a mom! It’s the worst idea ever! I can just hear Joseph saying, “Dude! Shut it! Out! And take that drum with you!” I’da suggested, “Kid! Write a poem to the Baby! Pick some flowers! They’re cheap! And quiet!”
But giving a gift…a gift I can afford to Jesus at Christmas is a beautiful thought! We may not have gold. I might not know where to buy myrrh or even know what frankincense is! But there are gifts we can give Him!
And you have!
At Triple C, this Christmas, (beside all those Operation Christmas Child boxes!) you’ve given 170 inmates the most amazing Christmas dinner and evening many of them have ever had in their life! You’ve given almost $1400 so that women helping women in Chicago have a new start could do it well! And you’ve given so that dozens…even hundreds!… of widows and kids in Victor’s world in India could have the only new clothes they will have this year!
In Matthew’s Gospel (the one with the Wiseman in it) Jesus says that whatever you do to “the least of these My brothers, you do for Me!”
All of the giving you did to help those who need help is in Jesus’ heart, a gift given to Him at Christmas! What could be a better Christmas than that?!
And in all the rush of the season, it’s not too late! There are still a bunch of tags left on Victor’s tree! There is still time to take a tag…or a few…and give an orphan his school clothes or a widow’s dress for the New Year! And it will be a beautiful gift to Jesus!
“Then He smiles at you!…
Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum…
Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum…
Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum…”
(Just forget the drum.)