We are well into the clambering season of Christmas movie argumentation. There are ten or so Christmas movies the children believe must already be foundational pillars of their nostalgic Christmas merrymaking (and boy, the nostalgia of late childhood is deep and broad and wide), and not that much time to see them all, mostly because I, the parent, do not want to. I want to go to bed already and not stay up a second longer. What? Watch Elf again?... Read more
Kelly is still enjoying her Advent rest but I’m still not holy enough to quit blogging, so maybe I will give myself a little break and only go up to five today instead of seven. A quick turn through the news, perhaps, with some twinkle lights thrown in. One Dr. Sproul died yesterday, as most everyone knows by now, and I’m rather hoping that Matt will do me up a lovely reflection–it was a Sproul radio sermon that finally pried... Read more
Well, look at this. I trotted off to church last night for choir practice–three of my offspring are in the front row of the choir and are desperately trying to get ready for Lessons and Carols in a week–and there in the office was a big box and inside was this cunning Teasmade. I mean, what a delight! What a gift! (Literally) What an extraordinary device! What you do is, you plug it in, uncork the little stopper at the... Read more
Ah, well. My cry was heard! Here is the 2017 Haters Guide to the William Sonoma Catalogue (profane language alert). And the snow is really coming down now. And we decorated the wretched tree. So I guess Advent is over or something and now it’s Christmas. Oh well. I like things to be orderly, a la Cold Comfort Farm. First one thing and then another thing. Advent all the way up to Christmas Eve and only then the holly jolly... Read more
We are poor in spirit. Whatever we manage to do with the stuff of the earth–to make and fashion and compile and aggregate and optimize and accumulate–we are poor. Read more
Ha ha. Not really. We spend the whole time talking about how weird and broken human sexuality is both inside and outside of the church and how it would be so great if people could know Jesus and how terrible it is that if you sin your whole memory has to be erased from human history. Plus a super special mention of the Snowpocalypse and an argument about Advent versus Christmas. As usual, I can’t imagine that you would want... Read more
Due to the miraculous wonder of Amazon, and her silent, insouciant scroll and Buy Now feature, my bedroom is piled high with boxes. At first I tried to consolidate them. I laboriously beat my way into each one, wrenching it open, removing its contents, turning over each item in my hand to see if it sparked joy (it didn’t) and shoving them one by one into the gigantic box that Amazon thought fit to encase some tiny, whimsical, flimsy children’s... Read more
Kelly is taking a much deserved Advent break from Quick Takes and so I thought I would offer up Anne’s Definitive Christmas Present Guide for 2017. I don’t like to use the word ‘gift’ in case you are tempted to turn it into a verb, and anyway, the word ‘present’ seems like it has more punning opportunities. But first, before we get started, I was on the Ride Home with John and Kathy last night–which I always find a complete... Read more
But one cannot escape the ubiquitous photographs of the disreputable harasser in the daily perusal of who sinned today. The puffy and grotesque mug of Harvey Weinstein is there for me to contemplate almost every morning, lately joined by Matt Lauer's pinched, angular, entitled expression. As for Roy Moore, I always click swiftly away. Their pictures are everywhere. Their names clang around as I suck down my morning oolong. Read more
Ok ok. I get it, it’s Advent. I know it’s been Advent for several days. There’s no need to look at me like that. Its just that it almost doesn’t seem worth it to take the wretched candles all the way out of the box for a mear-smear three short weeks. Because that’s what it is this year. Three weeks of advent. Did you know that Christmas is on a Monday this year? Which means that the last Sunday of... Read more
Preventing Grace
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