Merry Happy Holiday of your choosing. Or not

I grew up in a religious tradition that didn't believe in Christmas. Oh don't get me wrong, my family and I exchanged gifts every year, we even put up a tree when I was a small child (at my mother's insistence, but even that didn't last too long), but it was made quite clear from early on that we were in no way celebrating Jesus' birth. You see that would be wrong.

Wrong, you ask? Why would celebrating the birth of Christ be wrong?

Well, the religious group I was reared in believed since Christ never explicitly asked us celebrate his birth as a religious holiday, if you chose to do so you would be participating in "unauthorized worship" of God; And we all remember what happened to Nadab and Abihu when they offered unauthorized fire (worship) to God, right?
What Christ DID ask us to remember, they argued, was his death and resurrection, and the way to do that was through Communion, not some trite holiday that Christ never even instituted. Combine all of that with the pagan origins of Christmas* and the Jeremiah 10:2-4 passage that obviously condemned Christmas trees, and what you had was an airtight case against Christmas.

So instead of saying "Merry Christmas", I was taught to say "Happy Holidays", not to give credence to any other religious celebration mind you, but to declare that we were not celebrating Christmas.

When searching for wrapping paper, we had to be sure to not pick anything that was overtly religious, and you didn't dare buy anything with a Santa Claus on it. Oh, and by the way, we weren't buying Christmas presents, we were buy presents for the holidays.

But there was a problem.

I LOVED CHRISTMAS. I still do.

Christmas trees whether big or small, ornate or simple, I adore them.
Nothing thrills me more than to hear a beautiful choir or soloist sing Silent Night, Joy to the World, or Oh Holy Night.
Christmas Lights: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THEM. I used to beg my parents to take the long way home so that I could ooh and ahh at all of the elaborate decorations.
And even though my church never had a Candlelight Christmas Eve service, when I had the chance to watch them on TV, I thought they were absolutely beautiful.
Of course as a child I enjoyed waking up to presents, but honestly that was just the icing on an already delicious cake.

Over the years I began to notice a shift during the Christmas season. To be fair, I can't say that there was a definite change of mindset, it may be that I simply became more aware of what was going on, but people seemed to focus a little less on the birth of Christ (for those that celebrated it religiously), and more on presents. Instead of candlelight services being shown on television, there seemed to be more and more commercials advertising some super sale of the week.

And then the biggie:

People began to say "Happy Holidays", in an attempt to acknowledge other religious holidays *GASP*

It was official. The war had begun.

Nowadays it's commonplace to hear that we Christians should be on a mission to "take back Christmas". That instead of saying "Happy Holidays" to the sales clerk, you should look him or her square in the eye and say "Merry Christmas. Jesus loves you". And I have read many a blog post, email, leaflet, you name it, reminding me that "Jesus is the reason for the season."


Can I tell you a something? It's just between us right?


I really don't think Jesus gives a rat's you-know-what about whether we choose to celebrate his birth on December 25th.


There, I said it.


As much as I love Christmas and decided as an adult to take time to reflect on Jesus' birth, life, and death, I don't think he cares one way or another.
And while I may have issues with many aspects of my religious upbringing, it's true: Jesus never told us that we needed to celebrate his birth, so if you choose not to do so, I think that's perfectly acceptable.

What I DO believe matters each day of the year, not just during the holiday season, is that we all strive to be joyful, compassionate, and loving people.

So it is with that spirit that I say to anyone reading this

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

*note: If you have never heard of the pagan origins of Christmas and are interested, feel free to google that phrase for details. To be frank, I'm just not interested in linking to it.

Because sometimes I just need to shut up

If you are reading this, it probably means you subscribe to this blog in a reader -and if you haven't, you really should. I mean really, why torture yourself? Can't you see that I'm a bit of a flake that posts sporadically :)

Anyway, I just wanted to drop a line to say "Hey, I'm still here."

No need to worry, I haven't been attending any of my infamous parties, but sometimes life gets busy, and the unexpected happens, so while I've had tons of things running through my head, sometimes the best thing for me to do is to simply shut up. So that's what I've done. But don't fret, I imagine I'll be back soon to overthink and overanalyze this thing that we call life.

Bits and Pieces

1. A few people have asked where Ian's Halloween pics are this year, but we don't have any. My Grandmother's funeral actually fell on Halloween, and after travel, the funeral, lunch, and spending time with immediate and extended family, we were too tired to do the trick or treating thing. We went back to my parent's house to hand out candy to the kids in their neighborhood. Initially I was feeling pretty guilty about not getting Ian dressed up, but that guilt pretty much disappeared when I realized how much fun he was having handing out candy and playing with the kids that came to my parent's door. The blogger Momma in me almost whipped out the camera to take pictures, but I made a conscious decision not to. I think sometimes in an effort to document what's going on, I actually miss the opportunity to experience what is going on, so I decided not to take any pictures and just be. Hopefully, that makes sense.

2. In an effort to become an even bigger narcissist I joined facebook, and now my worlds are colliding. You do remember that Seinfeld episode, right? If not, let George Costanza refresh your memory.
I have friends from high school, college, the church I grew up in as a kid, and the church I attend now all "gathered" in the same "location". It's enough to give me a headache.
Oh, and what's the deal with people I don't know sending me a friend request just because we have mutual friends? Dude! I don't know you. Why do we need to be virtual friends? I don't get it. And even more importantly, what happens if someone remembers you and sends you a friend request, but you don't really remember them. What do you do then? Ugh, it's too much pressure. This can't be good for my health.


3. Last week (or the week before, I can't quite remember) I was in the kitchen and Ian was in the living room. The TV was playing a recording of a NBA basketball game. After a minute or two of watching the game, Ian picked up the remote, brought it to me so I could change the channel, and when I inquired about what he wanted to watch, he said "Football". I could hear Dan's smile all the way in the other room.

Remembering my Grandma

Some people have their wedding rehearsal dinners at big fancy restaurants. Dan and I had ours at my Grandma's house.

Lots of people have their child's first birthday celebration in their own home. Ian had (one of) his at my Grandma's house.

Christmas, Easter, New Years, Fish Frys, Barbecues, do you know where the family gathered? Yep, at Grandma's house.

And now, so suddenly, so unexpectedly, my Grandma is no longer at Grandma's house.

Instead, she is in a house far more grand, far more precious, and far more permanent than her earthly home.

Instead of being at Grandma's house, she is now in the Father's house, and that simple thought can make me smile even when I find myself misty-eyed.

She was one of a kind, was deeply loved, and will be greatly missed

Let the 15 minutes begin

Yesterday was the annual NICU Reunion at the hospital where Ian was born. While we were enjoying the festivities, we were interviewed by the local news. You can check it out here:

Video Link


P.S. Sorry for the external link. I didn't see the code on their site to embed the video on the page and I didn't feel like trying to figure it out.

Road Trip Pics

The week before last we took a week off from work, loaded up the kid and went out on the road for a vacation. We didn't venture outside of Texas, but we had a good time. Here are a few of my favorite pics (click to enlarge).


Dan and Ian on the beach in Galveston



Ian hiding from us outside The Aquarium restaurant in Kemah.
I can't look at this picture without laughing



Eating ice cream at the Blue Bell plant in Brenham


Funny story: We were visiting some friends in Houston when a very tired Ian decided he needed a nap. After a few minutes of effort, he pulled a cushion off of their couch, placed it on the floor, and passed out.



You see that face? That is Ian's irritated face.
He was having quite the time chasing his new found friends around the park in Georgetown. So when his pesky Momma finally caught up with him and asked him to pose for a picture, he was not happy :)

Why didn't I try this sooner?

I had a definite "Duh!" moment today.

I was preparing dinner (meatloaf was on the menu tonight) with my assistant chef, when I realized I hadn't grabbed the breadcrumbs from the pantry. As I turned to walk into the pantry, I glanced at the counter and saw an almost empty bread bag on the counter. There were two end pieces left in the bag.

I'll admit it. I'm a discriminating bread eater. As a general rule I don't eat the ends of bread. On occasion I'll eat an open faced sandwich using the end, but it's very rare. There you have it. Sometimes the truth is ugly.

Anyway, probably inspired by some show on the food network in my subconscious, I decided to use the leftover ends to make breadcrumbs.
I grabbed my cheap Hamilton Beach food chopper, tore the bread into pieces, put the lid on, and turned it on high for, oh I don't know, 30 seconds or so. And then an amazing thing happened.

Right before my very eyes I had breadcrumbs.

Whole wheat breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumbs that probably cost all of .25 cents

So can anyone tell me why I've been spending 3 bucks a pop on store bought breadcrumbs? Anyone? No I didn't think so.

Oh, and you know what else I did? I added some Italian seasoning, a pinch of sea salt, and voilà, seasoned breadcrumbs.

It's the little things in life I tell ya. The little things