Christmas in the Air

This makes me laugh every time. Many thanks to Doug Savage for sharing his humor with us and allowing me to pass it along to you.

No Internet + No Phone + Waiting at Home All Day for AT&T =

a) Getting a lot of Christmas gifts wrapped.

b) Accidentally recording 50 minutes of Leaf By Niggle (for myself because you can't find it on audio) because I thought the AT&T tech was just stepping out for a few minutes so I thought I'd read until she got back.

c) No blogging.

d) All of the above. CORRECT ANSWER

I have to give the AT&T technician credit though. She just didn't give up. She kept trying and trying and finally figured out our problem, even though she showed up at 9:00 and wasn't done until after 3:00. I was really impressed.

Following the Cowboys

I like what Stephen Tobolowsky tweeted after the Cowboys' game.

Following the Cowboys is like dating an alcoholic.

Precisely. I had the same lack of expectations, the raised hopes that things would be better, the disbelief at the disintegration which was so familiar to watch, the anger at letting myself get sucked in.

So why do I keep dating them? Aaargh!

I had lunch today with a longtime Cowboys fan who pointed out that if Jerry Jones had a General Manager who hadn't turned up with a playoff team in 17 years ... he'd have fired them long ago.

When I think of the string of coaches who have come and gone in that time, I think of the Cowboys' General Manager and wish someone would fire him for the team's good. Are your ears burning ... again ... Jerry?

Well Said: The Ghost of Christmas Lost

Tis the time of year to celebrate Santa being allowed back in Texas schools. Or to read about schools who insist on having no religious songs in Christmas - excuse me - holiday pageants. Or even, as Tom pointed out the other day, to watch Lexus ads which tell us "winter is the season to buy a new car." (Winter is the season? Really? Are they going to run these in February? Now they can't even say "holiday?" Brother, did we laugh.)

All this made me think fondly back to actor Stephen Tobolowsky's Christmas Reflection, part of which I share with you here.

A few years ago I was driving the carpool to school. It was the day of the Christmas program. I told the kids I was eager to come to the show. I asked what Christmas songs they were singing. There was a lengthy pause followed by the innocent reply, “We’re not singing any Christmas songs. Our teacher says that they are too religious. We are only singing songs about the Winter solstice.

It was one of those moments I wished I carried small caliber weapons. I took a breath and said, “Who is your teacher?”

Alex answered back, “Mr. Webster.”

I said, ”Alex, you know Mr. Webster probably doesn’t know this, but the Winter solstice is religious too. It celebrates Paganism. So if he really wants to cut out religion he should just stick to Beatles songs.”

Alex was silent. He recognized the signs of an adult quietly flipping out while driving. I was too angry. I couldn’t stop. I calmly said, “Alex. I have a question for you to ask Mr. Webster. Tell him that Mr. Tobolowsky wanted to know many songs Johann Sebastian Bach wrote in honor of the Winter solstice? How many paintings of Michelangelo were inspired by the solstice? In fact I would like Mr. Webster to cite one reference to the solstice in the works of Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Jane Austen. Just one.”

The decision to remove Christmas songs from a children’s Christmas show was the definition small-minded. I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was the kind of choice you expect from an expensive private school in Los Angeles.

I dropped the kids off. They ran inside for another date with meaninglessness.

As anyone knows who listens to The Tobolowsky Files, Stephen Tobolowsky is too good a story teller to leave us with just that ending. Go read the whole thing at his blog.

My Interview at Catholic Mom

Sarah Reinhard interviewed me as part of the Catholic Blogger series at Catholic Mom.

Sarah did a very flattering intro and I am always extremely honored that Happy Catholic was an inspiration for her to begin blogging. She's such a dynamo of blogging and book writing that if it wasn't me, it would have been another Catholic blogger who inspired her. But I'm glad it was me. Especially since we are now friends. And that's even better than her blogging and writing.

To be honest, I did this interview some time ago and had forgotten all about it.

So I was interested to read my own answers. And, hey, I held my own interest! (Which says something either about my short memory or my self interest or ... maybe, just maybe ... it means the interview was ok).

Check it out and see for yourself.

In which we meet the Perrybingles ...

... Boxer, a poor toymaker, a crabby toymaker, an unusual parcel and ... the cricket. Chirp the First for your listening pleasure at Forgotten Classics podcast.

Come Tell Me How You Live - Agatha Christie

I wrote this little review a while back but since I'm rereading it and just recommended it to someone, I thought I'd better share again. It is also unexpectedly funny. I laugh out loud and read bits of it to my husband.

Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie Mallowan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This engaging memoir covers Agatha Christie's time on archaeological digs with her husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. Having just read They Came to Baghdad, I was struck by how many of the heroine's realizations of what archaeology teaches us were already familiar because they were Christie's own. Her love of the ordinary people and their lives comes through strong and clear. This is a wonderful look at the Middle East in a time gone by from a unique perspective. I can't recommend this highly enough.

Do You Use Wikipedia?

Do you use Wikipedia? Heaven only knows I do. They're fundraising right now. In fact, that was when I realized just how often I casually drop by to get basic tidbits of information. I kept having to ignore their plea for $3.00.

$3.00.

I dropped in a donation that included both Tom and me.

Here's how they put it.

Wikipedia is the #5 site on the web and serves 500 million different people every month – with billions of page views.

Commerce is fine. Advertising is not evil. But it doesn't belong here. Not in Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think, to learn, to share our knowledge with others.

When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising banners, but I decided to do something different. We’ve worked hard over the years to keep it lean and tight. We fulfill our mission efficiently.

If everyone reading this donated, our fundraiser would be done within an hour. But not everyone can or will donate. And that's fine. Each year just enough people decide to give.

This year, please consider making a donation of $5, $20, $50 or whatever you can to protect and sustain Wikipedia.

Thanks,

Jimmy Wales

Wikipedia Founder

If you use Wikipedia, and I bet you do, then swing by and drop them a few bucks. It's so much cheaper than that encyclopedia I used to long for!

Rejoice!

A striking feature of the angel's greeting is that he does not address Mary with the usual Hebrew salutation shalom--peace be with you--but with the Greek greeting formula chaire, which we might well translate with the word "Hail," as in the Church's Marian prayer, pieced together from the words of the annunciation narrative (cf. Lk 1:28, 42). Yet at this point it is only right to draw out the true meaning of the word chaire: rejoice! This exclamation from the angel--we could say--marks the true beginning of the New Testament.

Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI),
Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives

I am reading this, extremely slowly, during Advent. This fell upon me this morning.

It connected me immediately with something I'd read last night in Pope Francis's apostolic letter Evangelii Gaudium, which I am also reading extremely slowly.

There are Christians whose lives seem like Lent without Easter.

Was the Holy Father intending to riff on C.S. Lewis? I automatically thought:

When it's always winter but never Christmas.

This famous quote from C.S. Lewis's classic The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe has been singing through my mind ever since. Singing because that line is used by Reliant K in an original song on their Christmas album, which is a favorite of mine.

It all meshed together this morning with thoughts of the Catholics Come Home campaign. Our parish is giving us fliers, handouts, and CDs every Advent Sunday to help invite people to return to church. Spreading the good news or evangelization is also the point of Pope Francis's letter.

We become fully human when we become more than human, when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain the fullest truth of our being. Here we find the source and inspiration of all our efforts at evangelization. For if we have received the love which restores meaning to our lives, how can we fail to share that love with others?

I always have trouble thinking of "evangelizing" in the standard understanding of the term. I know that "Christ died for you" meant absolutely nothing to me before I met Him personally. The "what if" scenario fills me with dread, "So you're in an elevator with one other person who notices you wearing a cross and asks why you are a Christian. You've got 2 minutes. What do you say?"

What do you say indeed?

Since my own conversion was largely internal and very private I really have a hard time knowing how one would "sum up." And yet, I'd hate to have that one shot and not be able to add my mite to what God is telling that person.

Musing on all the above, C.S. Lewis's own conversion came to mind. He was highly influenced by the stories of George MacDonald and G. K. Chesterton. Then there was an all night discussion about the meaning of Myth with J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson. Through and under it all wound the idea of myth, of story, of True Story.

It occurred to me that story is my answer, whether it makes sense to anyone else or not. It's as if your favorite story, the best story you ever read, the story you wanted to be a part of, came true.

All the hope, the meaning, the magic of living inside a story where the good guys win, where the ugly duckling turns into a swan, where our best hopes and dreams come alive ... it's true. It's real. Your life is full of meaning and love no matter what your circumstances or trials because even the best stories have times of great trial for the heroes.

And I rejoice.

Worth a Thousand Words: Benedict Cumberbatch Reads

Benedict Cumberbatch Reads
via Awesome People Reading

It's not just the man. Or the bookshelf. It's the garb that pulls it together somehow.

Hard Magic by Larry Correia

Hard Magic by Larry Correia

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jake Sullivan is a war hero, a private eye — and an ex-con. He’s free because he has a magical talent that the Feds need to apprehend criminals with their own magical abilities. ... Jake finds that not only have the Feds been lying to him, but there is a secret war being waged by opposing forces of magic-users. Worse still, he had attracted the attention of one side’s ruthless leaders — who are of the opinion that Jake is far too dangerous to be permitted to live.

This looked like something of a Harry Dresden copycat and I'm also rather tired of novels that insert magic into our world to create an alternate history. Then Jeff Miller gave it five stars and I had to rethink my position. My Audible monthly credit became available and I saw Bronson Pinchot narrates it ... and I was lost. No one narrates like he does.

All descriptions I've seen don't describe my favorite character, Faye, a teenage Okie whose irregular upbringing combines a good Catholic upbringing with puckish unpredictability. The Catholic element is quite light but Faye's story is equal in interest and weight to Jake's.

I was fascinated by the book's complexity, especially as compared to the first Harry Dresden or Joe Ledger novels. This one doesn't spoon feed you but gets the story rolling while providing information for you to pick up on the interesting magical attributes which some people have, how they can be used, and how this affects the struggle between good and evil. The story also examines the origins of the magic which suddenly began appearing in people in the late 1800s. This provides an unexpected story layer which I found interesting and welcome. Certainly it is a part of what made me interested in the trilogy beyond the first book.

In the midst of the action-packed finale, I suddenly saw all the pieces fit into place, just as the author intended. I was also interested to have some of the characters gain a depth I didn't expect which switched my perspective, all in aid of the puzzle pieces fitting neatly. That was nicely done by author Larry Correia.

Hard Magic is more of a guilty pleasure than anything else but it is a roller coaster ride I'm happy I took.

I'm about as smart as Jake Sullivan but, like everyone else, not nearly as clever as Faye (who is a character to fall in love with, especially as narrated here). I can see I'm going to have to read the next book in the series. Dammit. Because I didn't want another trilogy to invest my time in. But I'll be spending an Audible credit on the next book.

Note: I'd have given it another star but the long battle in the middle of the book really slowed things down and made my interest sag.

In which we sample some hors d'oeuvres from a tasty platter of American food writing.

Something tasty for your weekend listening from Forgotten Classics, a sampler of pieces from American Food Writing, edited by Molly O'Neill.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful ...

The view from our front yard

As I mentioned in yesterday's ratting story, we have gone from the 80s to below freezing in two days.

It is beautiful as you can see from the photo Tom snapped this morning.

To watch the news you'd think we had 6 feet of snow or something. The newscasters gravely say, "Now to Bob out in Plano, where a carport collapsed."

Then Bob shows us the collapsed carport on top of the car inside.

Oh the humanity!

It does shut the city down because we just aren't prepared for this sort of weather ... unlike when I moved here 30 years ago and it was very common. But the crazy way the news shows it makes it seem worse.

To be fair, I'm doing everything with the expectation that the power will go out at any time because the lines are covered with ice and we've been hearing transformers blow occasionally. So in my own way, I'm just as "emergency" oriented.

Kaylee, of ratting story fame, feels it is much too cold for a little lady to venture outside as we discovered when we looked behind the couch this morning. (She did have the decorum to hide the evidence. She's not a savage, people.)

Mountain men that we are, we closed the dog door and went outside in robes and slippers to encourage the dogs to romp playfully. And, as we hoped, nature took its course. Good girl!

Tom's going to work but I'm staying home and baking some Christmas cookies for the freezer! YAY!

10 Books That Have Stayed With You Meme

This began on Facebook, but I know of no reason why we shouldn't bring it into the blogging world which is where all the really good booktalk happens. (Ok, Goodreads excepted, but that is where I have made many good book talkin' pals.)

I knew this would come my way as soon as I saw Jeff Miller did it. Turns out Will Duquette laid it on me. Turns out the first two books on his list are the first I thought of also. Here goes ...

Rules: list 10 books that have stayed with you. Don't take more than a few minutes; don't think too hard. They don't have to be great works, just the ones that have touched you. Here's mine, in no particular order :

1. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
3. The Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold
4. Death Comes as the End - Agatha Christie
5. The Franchise Affair - Josephine Tey
6. Little Dorrit - Charles Dickens
7. Only You Can Save Mankind - Terry Pratchett
8. While We Still Live - Helen MacInnes
9. The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom
10. One Door Away From Heaven - Dean Koontz

I'm supposed to tag 10 people and I did tag a few on Facebook, but I'm just going to leave it up to whoever wants to join in, whether blogging, on Facebook, or just in the comments box here.

It's Lovely Ratting Weather Outside

Yesterday it was in the 80s.

This morning it was in the 30s and falling.

Normal weather jumps for this time of year in North Texas.

Tom came back where I was reading while feeding the dogs. As usual Kaylee bolted her portion while Wash leisurely munched while taking occasional looks out the window.

I said, "Hey, we forgot to leave the dog door open last night."

"Did Kaylee go out this morning?" he asked.

"Right after breakfast and then she bolted back in, all frisky."

"Ahhh." And he grinned.

I looked at Kaylee, standing there near me. I didn't have my glasses on but she was looking at Tom, wagging her tail, and she seemed to have ... were those branches poking out of her mouth? Dear Lord, those were feet. And there was a tail draping luxuriously past them.

"A rat!"

"That's right," Tom said in soothing, cheerful tones. "And Kaylee's going out, aren't you girl? C'mon out!"

She'd dashed to the bathroom to show him which is quite sweet, actually. She loves Tom as her Alpha while still battling a general fear of men from her rescue dog days.

In a feat of calm I probably couldn't have matched, he coaxed her out and closed the dog door. He then got her to drop the rat. She, understandably, was loathe to leave her treasure out there for anyone to grab when her back was turned. She'd shown us her rats and squirrels before only to have them scooped up. This was staying firmly in her mouth.

Eventually, though, she relaxed. And Tom gave her a nice second breakfast as a reward. Hobbits aren't the only ones who love second breakfasts.

He then went out with the shovel, confirming her worst suspicions that he'd just wanted that tasty morsel for himself.

Notes on Mark: The Millstone

MARK 9:41-42
Think of just how small the kindness is that Jesus is talking about here. And if you want to know how seriously he takes leading people astray, just see what Barclay has to say about the size of that millstone!

Any kindness shown, any help given, to the people of Christ will not lose its reward. The reason for helping is that the person in need belongs to Jesus. Every man in need has a claim upon us because he is dear to Christ. Had Jesus still been here in the flesh he would have helped that man in the most practical way and the duty of help has devolved on us. It is to be noted how simple the help is. The gift is a cup of cold water. We are not asked to do great things for others, things beyond our power. We are asked to give the simple things that any man can give...

But the converse is also true. To help is to win the eternal reward. To cause a weaker brother to stumble is to win the eternal punishment. The passage is deliberately stern. The mill-stone that is mentioned is a great millstone. There were two kinds of mills in Palestine. There was the hand-mill that the women used in the house. And there was the mill whose stone was so great that it took an ass to turn it.

The mill-stone here is literally an ass's mill-stone. To be cast into the sea with that attached was certainly to have no hope of return. This was in fact a punishment and a means of execution both in Rome and Palestine...

The Gospel of Mark
(The Daily Bible Series, rev. ed.)

Well Said: Catholic Readers

From my quote journal.

Catholic readers are forever being scandalized by novels that they don't have the fundamental equipment to read in the first place, and often these are worlds that are permeated with a Christian spirit. It is when an individual's faith is weak, not when it is strong, that he will be afraid of an honest fictional representation of life.
Flannery O'Connor

Needless to say, I completely agree. Not that I myself am always strong enough or fully equipped to understand the sorts of novels of which she speaks. Heck, they don't even have to be that hard for some people to quail. Look at the fuss over the Harry Potter series. But I try. Not being afraid is the key. And that's a start.

Notes on Mark: He That is Not Against Us is For Us

MARK 9:38-40
Isn't that so often the way? If someone isn't doing something just the way that we would then it isn't right, not valid, has to be changed or stopped. I wish I could say that I was immune to this but I'm probably one of the worst about wanting things done "just so" in accordance with my ideas of perfection. Here, Jesus reminds us that our way is not the only way.

Our Lord warns the Apostles, and through them all Christians, against exclusivism in the apostolate -- the notion that "good is not good unless I am the one who does it." We must assimilate this teaching of Christ's: good is good, even if it is not I who do it.

Navarre Bible: St. Mark

Noah - the movie

You know, it's been a good long time since I've seen an old school Bible movie. This looks as if it might just fill the bill. Crossing my fingers for this one!

Advent

Interior Of The Mezquita Cathedral Virgin Mary Icon

Everybody knows, even those of us who have lived most unadventurously, what it is to plod on for miles, it seems, eagerly straining your eyes toward the lights that, somehow, mean home. How difficult it is, when you are doing that to judge distances! In pitch darkness, it might be a couple of miles to your destination, it might be a few hundred yards. So it was, I think, with the Hebrew prophets, as they looked forward to the redemption of their people. They could not have told you, within a hundred years, within five hundred years, when it was the deliverance would come. They only knew that, some time, the stock of David would burgeon anew; some time, a key would be found to fit the door of their prison house; some time, the light that only shows, now, like a will-o'-the-wisp on the horizon would broaden out, at last into the perfect day.

This attitude of expectation is one which the Church wants to encourage in us, her children, permanently. She sees it as an essential part of our Christian drill that we should still be looking forward; getting on for two thousand years, now, since the first Christmas Day came and went, and we must still be looking forward. So she encourages us, during advent, t take the shepherd-folk for our guides, and imagine ourselves traveling with them at dead of night, straining our eyes towards that chink of light which streams out, we know, from the cave at Bethlehem.

R.A. Knox, Sermon on Advent 1947
quoted in In Conversation with God, Vol. 1, Francis Fernandez

With Advent the liturgical year begins in the Western churches. Before Christmas we spend time in contemplation and preparation for the coming of Christ on three levels: as memorial of his incarnation as the babe in Bethlehem, to his coming with grace in our souls, and in looking forward to when he comes as the Judge at the end of time.

Those who celebrate Advent do so with various private devotions during this time. Some read a specific book to think about, some go to regular adoration, some try to avoid excessive focus on Christmas preparations, and such things.

Me? I'm trying to figure it out. And maybe that's ok too ... just to have a mindfulness of the season and to be listening more and thinking more ... and praying more ... as we look and wait and try to figure it out.