Merry Christmas: God Bless Us Every One!

Merry Christmas

A Christmas Eve Walk On The Wild Side

The Most Wonderful Time in 8 Years

It's last year's but still an excellent vintage.

Not A Creature Was Stirring, Not Even A Mouse

“There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.” — Erma Bombeck

Some of my most cherished memories of Christmases Past are of lying in bed too excited to sleep—listening for the sound of tiny hooves on the rooftop or that Jolly Old Elf bounding down the chimney with gifts.

Even the visit to sit on Santa’s lap when I noticed a shiny piece of scotch tape stretched across his white mustache didn’t discourage my belief in the magic and wonder of Christmas.  I never ascribed to the belief that Santa wasn’t real.  To this day I carry his magic in my heart.

I still leave cookies and a glass of milk out to warmly welcome him into my home as well as carrots for his reindeer.  It’s a chance to recreate a nostalgic visit back to my wonderful childhood Christmases.

He appears when we look for him.

The world will never be as perfect for us grown-ups as it is in the eyes of children on Christmas morning.

I know that Christmas is the time we celebrate the gift of the Christchild.  His birth is more than a symbol of a holiday.  He is our joy and our salvation. 

I wish you all the joy and happiness this season can bring.  Let us remember in our thoughts and prayers all the military service men and women deployed on foreign soil that are protecting our freedom and cannot be with their loved ones this Christmas and keep in our hearts all the families that are no longer whole because they have lost a loved one.

UPDATE:  Welcome readers of The Pirate’s Cove.  We thank the Admiral for linking to this post.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas And God Bless Us, Every One!

Gone To The Dogs

We’re Going To Start Saying “Merry Christmas” Again

In a speech at Liberty University in January of this year Donald Trump said, “If I’m president you will see ‘Merry Christmas’ in department stores, believe me.”

For far too long America has been under siege with complaints, litigation, angry protests and threats from secular liberals through the coordinated work of the scroogey American Civil Liberties Union and atheists who claimed they were just protecting the constitutional rights of non-Christians.  We are a nation which is overwhelmingly Christian.  We want to celebrate Christmas in peace without having to hide behind closed doors to do so.  We’re weary of being persecuted.

At a “Thank You” rally in West Allis, WI Tuesday night President-elect Donald Trump kept his promise to Wisconsinites to return to say “Merry Christmas”.  Behind him on stage were six beautifully decorated Christmas trees and the placard on his lectern read:  Merry Christmas USA.

During the 8-year-long presidency of The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer he has never uttered the word “Christmas”.

His final Christmas card reads: “Happy holidays.  As our family reflects on our many happy years spent in the White House, we are grateful for the friends we’ve made, the joy we’ve shared, and the gifts of kindness we’ve received. We wish you and your loved ones a joyous holiday season and a wonderful new year.”

On the front of the card, a photo—taken at a state dinner in March honoring Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau—shows him and his family sporting formalwear and wide smiles. He is just the fourth known president to ever feature a photo of himself on the White House Christmas card since the tradition began in 1927—a testament to his arrogance and narcissism.

Naturally, the Left is apoplectic over Trump telling those attending his Thank You Tour rallies that we will start saying “Merry Christmas” again.  His words are to them like nails on a chalkboard.

One disgusting website proclaimed its disgust saying the phrase “Merry Christmas” had now been officially weaponized “into the partisan slogan of a president elected on a wave of hateful rhetoric.”

One commenter wrote, “Truly, it’s what a Middle Eastern Jew who was born in a barn because no one else would take his parents in would have wanted.  One more reason not to say it.  And Trump’s election is one more reason to doubt God’s existence.”

How utterly vile.

Today, from the doctor’s office I visited to the grocery store where I shopped to the pharmacy where I picked up my meds to the restaurant I ate at with friends I said, “Merry Christmas!”  Everyone, and I do mean everyone, wished me a Merry Christmas in return.  I hope this means the war on Christmas is over.

In his most recent rally, President-elect Trump said "Merry Christmas" 3 times. We'll be providing free therapy for anyone offended by this.

— Josh Earnst (@NotJoshEarnest) December 15, 2016

Merry Christmas

Dear Hearts And Gentle People

There have been countless adaptations of the Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol, but my favorite is the animated Disney retelling of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge whose bitterness and venom kept him from knowing the true meaning of Christmas.

Through his journey of self-redemption as he’s visited by mysterious Christmas apparitions he became a good friend and a good man who honored Christmas in his heart and tried to keep it all the year.

I wish to thank Proof who began blogging here two years ago and Grunt of Monte Cristo who joined our merry band of bloggers just last month for their support.  I’d also like to thank blogger friends Woodsterman and Diogenes for their love.  

A special thanks goes to all our readers and commenters as well.  You're the reason we labor to bring you content and stand guard over liberty.  May God’s blessings shine down upon you and your family this Christmas.  May you feel joy in your homes as we celebrate the birth of our little Lord Jesus.  May His shining Star mark your way.

Time To Come Home

Heartfelt thanks to Monica Sanchez of Media Research Center for bringing a powerful message of Christmas that evokes the importance of cherishing the time we have with our loved ones during the most wonderful time of the year.

The Little Drummer Boy's Poverty (And Ours)

By Kevin Duffy

A nervous child approaches a homeless family in the hope that they will be pleased with the only thing he has to offer:  some simple music played on his little drum.

It is a strange idea that this event would be cause for celebration—we might even consider the scene to be nothing short of pathetic. In its very simplicity and humility, "Little Drummer Boy"—perhaps the most underrated of all Christmas songs—captures the essence of what is so very revolutionary and compelling about the Christian message.

We know well the setting of the manger on Christmas night—most of us can instantly and fondly picture the comforting scene of the loving family amongst the gentle animals and amazed shepherds. In fact, the scene was much harsher than that:  the family lived in poverty, they were outcasts in their own society, they feared their government and they had no shelter in which to give birth to their baby. So, in the cold of winter, found themselves in a stable.

The plain-spoken Drummer Boy calls our attention to the poverty of this situation as he addresses the infant Christ, simultaneously asking permission to play his drum and apologizing for the inadequacy of his gift.  He not only exhibits remarkable humility, but an inherent understanding of the very thing that makes this infant "King" so very different than any that had ever been imagined, and very much like all of us: "I am a poor boy too."

Even as the song brings to mind the simplicity of the scene on Christmas night, it also foreshadows much of what will happen in the brief life of the infant Jesus. That baby, whom the Drummer Boy identified with that night as another poor boy like him, would go on to address the masses in the most important speech ever given, saying among other things: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven". The mother who gave the Drummer Boy permission to play his song, the mother in whose arms the infant rested, would some thirty-three years later hold her child again, cradling the dead body of a man who had been tortured and executed in the manner of a common criminal, challenges us to imagine her clean and untouched infant again, rather than the destroyed body of the grown man.

Every bit of the Christian story, in the context of its time, was profoundly subversive. Poor boys were not to be kings. Salvation was not to be found in death. Humility was not to be celebrated. A world-devouring empire executed a minor nuisance that was meant to be the end of the matter. Christ changed everything, broke every rule, shattered every pretension.

In his own way the Drummer Boy does something similar:  he shows a different and more moving way to give of ourselves, to do what we can, without pride or worldly ambition:  "I played my drum for him, I played my best for him." His simple reward is fitting of the humble scene: "Then He smiled at me." 

So, on hearing "Little Drummer Boy" each Christmas, we should be reminded that the very birth we are celebrating is a call to poverty of the spirit. To be poor in spirit, as Christ asked of us on the Mount of Beatitudes, is to admit our weaknesses, our insecurities, our shortcomings. In recognizing these in ourselves, we are able to feel compassion when we find them in others, and we are moved to act on their behalf.

This is the best of Christmas and the Christian message: to say, in the manner of a scared young boy before the most unlikely of Kings, in the cold of an often harsh world, "I am a poor boy too."

Merry Christmas

“He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.” 

I saw this posted at And So It Goes In Shreveport and had to share it with you because it’s so dadgum cute.

This Is The Hour Of The Angels

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’”

“And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.  And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.  And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.  And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.”

The tender mood that claims us today when we are touched by old memories and the gladness of home and the simple delights of children; the angels “bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold” and the shepherds and the Christchild of the beautiful story told to us in Luke 2:8-18 somehow doesn’t seem so far away.

It was December 24, 1998 when columnist George F. Will opined about “The Happiest Holiday”.  In his piece he observed, “On Christmas Eve, at the end of the rarely stately and always arduous march that Americans make each year to the happiest holiday, it sometimes seems that they are supposed to celebrate Christmas as though they have agreed to forget what supposedly it means.”

Christmas has not lost its meaning.  Don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise.

For centuries we have taught our children about the wonder of Christmas through symbols and traditions like the fir tree, an evergreen which symbolizes the everlasting hope of mankind.

There’s the star we place atop the tree; a sign of God’s promise of a Saviour. 

We teach our children that the candle symbolizes Christ who is the light of the world and the wreath is a reminder that love never ceases because it is a perfect circle.  The holly leaf represents the crown of thorns worn by our Lord and the red holly berries represent the blood He shed at His crucifixion.

The candy canes we place in their stockings symbolize the shepherd’s hook and reminds us that we are our brother’s keeper.

The angel we hang on the branch of the tree is meant to remind us that they were the ones who heralded the news of our Saviour’s birth.

The sound of the bell teaches our children about guidance and the return of lost sheep.

The gifts that we give are a symbol of God’s indescribable gift.  This is the heart of Christmas. God loved us enough to send his only begotten Son.

Santa Claus is not the center of our celebration, he is merely the humble servant of the One that is.

Where Is He That Is Born The King Of The Jews?

Every year at this time there seems to be an augmented attack on those who welcome Christmas into their lives.

Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the “Little House” book series which chronicled a lost era of American history, said of Christmas, “Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.”

The Magi, three wisemen who followed a star to Bethlehem to worship the infant Jesus asked, “Where is He that is born the King of the Jews?”

Herod, the ruler of Judea, had been named King of the Jews by the Roman government.  Herod became outraged at the Magi’s question.  The birth of the Christchild threatened his position. Herod cunningly asked them to tell him when they had found The Child so he might also worship Him.  The Magi were warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod because of the treachery in Herod’s heart. 

Having been ignored by The Magi, Herod ordered his Roman soldiers to kill every single male child under two in his kingdom.  This atrocious act of genocide, the Massacre of the Innocents, was meant to rid the world of the Baby Jesus.

The birth of Christ is an incredible event we celebrate each year.  For centuries mankind has kept an appointment with Christmas.

Recently the King Herods, the Grinches and the Scrooges have tried to marginalize Christianity and the birth of Christ through the provocation of religious America.  The progressive secularists have adopted three strategies:  (1) create a niche for secular humanism among the unchurched; (2) mimic various aspects of evangelicalism (even as they target this movement as their main antagonist) and (3) flood the media with minority victimization and identity politics.  It’s not just the ACLU anymore; it’s also The Freedom From Religion Foundation, American Atheists, et.al.

We must not throw away our beloved traditions.  We must celebrate Christmas and freethinkers must learn to survive in a religious society.

Christmas signals to the world that God gave mankind His most glorious gift and 32 years after His birth Jesus was sacrificed upon a cross and resurrected so that we might have everlasting life.

The war on Christmas rages on, but I love a quotation that has been attributed to former President Ronald Reagan:  “Christmas can be celebrated in the school room with pine trees; tinsel and reindeers, but there must be no mention of the man whose birthday is being celebrated. One wonders how a teacher would answer if a student asked why it was called Christmas.” 

I believe Dickens had it right in A Christmas Carol.  After being visited by the specters of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future, Ebenezer Scrooge learned about the blessings of Christmas and said, “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

Where is He that is born the King of the Jews?  He is in my heart every day in every way.  With the rise of atheist groups in America, I can only hope that Scrooge’s Christmas specters visit these misguided men and women, and that they too, will unharden their hearts and join in the joy of this most holy celebration.

May we always be free to keep our appointment with Christmas.

Merry Christmas