Sunday, December 21, 2008

Christmas 2008

You know the old exchange?

Are you working hard?

No, I'm hardly working.

Well, I usually fall into the former category, but his week it will be the latter.

I have a few things I have to do (and don't mind doing), but for the most part I am going to try spend time with my family.

I will probably do a few posts here, but I am not even sure about that.

13 comments:

Allen said...

What's your week going to be like?

Allen said...

This is a funny article by Dave Berry about how men (don't) wrap Christmas gifts. Here is an excerpt:

This is the time of year when we think back to the very first Christmas, when the three Wise Men -- Gaspar, Balthasar and Herb -- went to see the baby Jesus, and, according to the Book of Matthew, ``presented unto Him gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.''

These are simple words, but if we analyze them carefully, we discover an important, yet often-overlooked, theological fact: There is no mention of wrapping paper. If there had been wrapping paper, Matthew would have said so: ``And lo, the gifts WERE inside 600 square cubits of paper.

``And the paper WAS festooned with pictures of Frosty the Snowman.

``And Joseph WAS going to throweth it away, but Mary saideth unto him, she saideth, `Holdeth it! That is nice paper! Saveth it for next year!'

``And Joseph DID rolleth his eyeballs.

``And the baby Jesus WAS more interested in the paper than, for example, the frankincense.''

But these words do not appear in the Bible, which means that the very first Christmas gifts were NOT wrapped. This is because the people giving those gifts had two important characteristics:

1. They were wise.

2. They were men.

Allen said...

If you want a good historical view on several things you can read:

That Most Familiar Story
How certain details of the nativity became tradition

Anonymous said...

The real question is what are deep fried green beans that the Sprint Station was "pushing" last week?

Anonymous said...

While i have not eaten the fried green beans the gas station is advertising, i have had fried green beans before. not my favorite but not bad either. worth a try (not sure a gas station is where i would get them though)
kind of funny if you think about it. we now fry; turkey, pickles, green beans, corn, snickers, oreos, twinkies, etc. hmmm
RR

Allen said...

Deep fried green beans.

Offered in a gas station (named Sprint).

I just don't know.

Allen said...

I have been told that ANYTHING deep fried is good. This is probably not true.

Do you ever watch that show on the Travel Channel, Bizare Foods with Andrew Zimmerman? Wow, he eats some really strange things. I think he would probably welcome a lot of those being deep fried.

Allen said...

I think the deepest question of all is:

Why do people eat food served in a gas station?

RR hints at this question.

I must confess though that I have had a few ice cream cones from the deep fried green bean station.

Does this make me a bad person?

Anonymous said...

When I was a kid, living in Solsberry, you could get a gasoline sandwich at Yoho's store. He would pump your gas, and then make you a bologna sandwich without ever washing his hands. There was no running water in the building.
Pat Arthur

Allen said...

Thanks, Pat, for that wonderful pre-lunch thought.

Anonymous said...

Really it wasn't such a bad thing. We got all that dirt and germs that gave us immunities. I've read that some people keep their kids so clean that they end up having allergies.

And hey it gives you points with the grandchildren, they love to come to grandmas and get really dirty!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Annette

Allen said...

You're probably right Annette. I think there is something negative about being "too clean."

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Allen said...

Started reading The Blue Parakeet - Rethinking How You Read the Bible.

It's showing quite a lot of promise so far. It's easy to read and makes good sense.