talking to animals on Christmas Eve

It's becoming a bit of a Christmas Eve tradition to share this reflection from Nancy Janisch of Conversation in Faith, a heartfelt and hopeful complement for 'the night before' ...

When you were young, did anyone ever tell you that animals can talk at midnight on Christmas?  I don’t remember who told me, but I do remember looking expectantly at our family Dachshund for several years on Christmas Eve.  For the record, he never said anything.  At least not in a human language.

Click to read more ...

the friendly beasts

I was vacuuming one of the children's rooms at church last weekend and noticed on one of the tables a copy of The Animals' Christmas Eve, a Little Golden Book which charmingly weaves together the stories of modern-day farm animals with those who surrounded Jesus at His birth:

In the barn on Christmas Eve,
After all the people leave,
The animals, in voices low,
Remember Christmas long ago ...

Written by Gale Wiersum, The Animals' Christmas Eve was originally published in 1977 (Western Publishing, see cover).  The original illustrations, though a bit dated and occasionally somewhat Anglo-Saxon, are quaintly attractive and remind me of Sunday School illustrations of a generation or two back.  An updated version of the book was released a few years ago, with more contemporary illustrations as you can see here. 

Click to read more ...

let heaven and nature sing

Thank you to pastor Chuck Summers of Seeing Creation for allowing us to share this meaningful Advent reflection accompanied beautifully by some of Chuck's photography ...

It’s the third Sunday in Advent and since the theme for this Sunday is joy we sang “Joy to the World!” at church this morning.  This has to be one of the most familiar and popular of all Christmas hymns.  I have enjoyed singing this song since my childhood.  Even as a kid I particularly liked the part that says, “let heaven and nature sing.”  What I didn’t realize back then is that the idea of heaven and nature singing comes straight out of the Bible.

Click to read more ...

just one dog

This one's a bona fide tearjerker, but in the best possible sense.  "Just One Dog" is a short video from Camp Cocker Rescue, artfully produced and set to moving music, including a beautiful rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."  I'm grateful to Denise LaChance for sharing.

It tells tells the story of Stanley, a shelter pit bull with mange and an eye infection, who had just about given up, and was just about out of time.  He was rescued at the eleventh hour by a sudden collaboration of good samaritans one year ago, on Christmas Eve ...

Click to read more ...

Immanuel, God with us

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."  And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.  (Luke 2:15-16, ESV)

Click to read more ...

christmas in Yellowstone

With "Christmas in Yellowstone" airing again tomorrow, Sunday evening on PBS, I thought I'd re-share this review.  The episode is well worth watching this season, for many reasons ...

PBS Nature had another mesmerizing episode over the weeked, "Christmas in Yellowstone."  It features the wildlife of the park as they try to survive the harsh winter, and you feel yourself growing attached to the fate of different creatures such as the isolated red fox and wounded otter.  Breathtaking landscapes are also a draw, as is the thread of human connection to Yellowstone woven throughout.  Here are a couple of previews:

Click to read more ...

twas the day after Christmas

Updated on December 29, 2009 by Ben DeVries

I lived in Holland as a teenager and went back several times for the holidays while my parents were missionaries there.  They celebrate the second day of Christmas there, similar to Boxing Day in Britain.  But as a homegrown American, it always felt like Christmas officially came to an end when the clock struck 12:00 am on the 26th.  In fact, I've always tended to get a little depressed the day after Christmas, with all the festivity and buildup of the season coming to a somewhat abrupt and anticlimactic close (until New Year's Eve at least, but that wasn't quite the same). 

So, in the spirit of stemming the post-holiday blues a bit, I thought I'd pass along some day-after-Christmas humor from Lolcats and Loldogs, both of which have many more hysterical holiday captions:

Click to read more ...

thanks for your patience

I just wanted to post a brief note to say I'm very sorry for the long layoff with respect to blogging.  Thank you to everyone who stuck with it despite, I truly appreciate your patience and support.  I hope to have a more full update and other material within a few days, and a very merry new year to you in the meantime ...