Thursday, December 25, 2014

For Unto Us...

...A Child Is Born...

Merry Christmas, 2014.  As Linus quoted from Luke chapter 2 in A Charlie Brown Christmas:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And that's what Christmas is all about...

Quiet morning here so far...I'm up before everyone else as usual, enjoying the solitude of the early morning darkness...
...also enjoyed a Christmas cigar...remarkably similar to the Christmas Eve cigar I enjoyed yesterday, and the Two Days Before Christmas cigar I enjoyed the day before that...gotta love Arturo Fuente Short Stories.

In a few hours we'll exchange gifts, make Christmas brunch, and in general relax on this holy day.

It is in fact a wet Christmas...no rain changing to snow flurries, just cloudy and starting to get a little breezy...still very mild.  Strange weather this year...snowiest November on record, followed by a mild December without any measurable snowfall at all so far, and only a week left in the year.

Big changes ahead in 2015, and for the first time in quite a few years, I'm actually getting excited about what's ahead at work.

But for now, my thoughts are centered on the birth of our Savior from whom comes the gift of eternal life.

Merry Christmas, mcm fans...

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

I'm Dreaming...

...of a Wet Christmas...
...which is apparently what we're having this year.  Oh well, statistically here in the lower peninsula we only have white Christmases 6 out of every 10 years...not sure how many of the 4 out of 10 "non-white" Christmases are actually wet, but this is one sure is...at least right now on Christmas Eve.  It is possible some of this rain will turn into flurries later on, so we'll see.  From a meteorological standpoint, it doesn't count as officially "white" until there's an inch of snowfall...not likely this year.

So I think we're as ready as we're going to be for the big day.  Seems like Christmas is a distant pinpoint on the horizon for 11 months out of the year, then it's a speeding stealth bomber that races upon us before we know it.  This year was worse than most due to the insanity at work from Thanksgiving until early this week, and now, suddenly, here we are.

Tonight we will at least play, if not actually watch, Scrooge...
...as well as "It's A Wonderful Life"...
...and finally, "The Bishop's Wife"...one of the best movies I've ever seen:
...a fabulous movie from the 1940's.


Merry Christmas Eve, mcm fans...