A Little Christmas Spirit

Merry Christmas!  One of my very favorite times of the year.

To celebrate a little together, simply click on a few of the clips below and smile.

Trans Siberian Orchestra (and Children Singing)

Good Ol’ Tony Bennett

This one is over 3 hours of songs!!!

Namaste,

Scott

Christmas Time is Here! What’s so Great about That?

Well, in a few short hours, it will be Christmas Eve.  For those of you from another planet, that means in a little over 24 hours, it will be Christmas.  I would be terribly remiss if I didn’t make a Christmas Post.  Now seemed like a good time.  I will make a post on Christmas Day, but it will be something short and light.  It will be easier for you to deal with, I promise.

However, for this one, I wanted to have everyone thinking about the same thing I am:  the Greatness of Christmas.  I will try to stay away from the organized religious parts of Christmas here.  What I want to discuss is what is truly so great about this one day?  Why does nearly the entire world, at least, get happier on this day?  Did you think about that?  From my understanding, Christmas should only be recognized by the members of the Christian faith.  That would make it around 33% of the world, I think.  Most people of this old planet are not Christians by faith.  Buddhism, Islam, and a lot of smaller religions make up the majority of this world’s faith.  Why should it reach around the globe to people everywhere?  I, of course, have some thoughts.

Number one:  Perhaps, I am wrong here.  Perhaps, most of the world ignored Christmas.  I wouldn’t truly know as I have always been here.  But, what I am drawing from is that even if it is not celebrated, most of the world knows what Christmas is.  They know about Santa and Rudolph and, probably, Charlie Brown.  They know about gift-giving and about holiday cheer and, probably, mistletoe.  This is, most likely, more true now as the computer and Internet (both American inventions and heavily promoted here) spread the word about Christmas to all parts of the globe.  Wiki and You Tube do their bit, too, and offer up tons of information on every aspect of the time.  So, I doubt that I am wrong.

Number two:  People like to be happy.  Oh, I know, there are those few who just can’t seem to be that way, no matter what.  The dictators, the malcontents, the teenagers who follow Phish and acid rock (well, probably not all of those either) are among the ones who just seem to growl at the world.  So, leaving those out, most people enjoy smiling and having a reason to smile.  Christmas is always presented as that.  I have never seen anything to do with actual Christmas that is foreboding and dark and dangerous (well, there was that Dean Koontz novel, but, well, we won’t go there.).

Number three:  People enjoy giving and getting gifts.  Now, this goes back to number two, but it is fun to to both.  Spending money that you don’t have may not be so great, but the giving and getting parts, now, those are fun!  I am finding as I get older, that giving is really more fun than getting.  I never thought I would ever say that, but it’s true.  People smile (see number two above) when they get a gift that they were hoping for, or one they didn’t think of.  So, that is what was wrong with my idea once to just add up how much you would spend on each person, then add and subtract those with everyone and just give people the difference.  No fun!  Yeah, it’s true!  Quicker, but no fun.

Number four:  Finishing this up so you can get back to whatever you do for fun on Christmas Eve, I will just say: food.  That’s right, food.  Even for a diabetic like me, food is still there and sharing a meal with loved ones just makes people happy.  On Christmas Eve, my sister and her daughter go to my Dad and Mom’s and create a “themed” evening, including dinner, games, and prizes.  Then we have our Christmas exchange with whoever we drew on Thanksgiving.  It’s a fun night and I enjoy browsing the pictures over time.

So, summing up:  happy people, receiving and giving gifts, and food.  Wow, you put all that together and then add in that Christmas magic by thinking about the truth behind the holiday.  You don’t have to follow the faith to see the basics:  God gave us a wonderful gift in someone who could help us understand Him and get closer to Him.  This day marks His birth.  Even if you don’t actually believe in Christ, it is still a wonderful idea to get closer to God and to ask questions and listen to different ideas about it all.  I have no problem in believing in Jesus.  I grew up with that idea and those stories from the Bible.  Plus, it really helps that I believe God can do anything He decides to, so sending us someone who is very much a part of God and who can help us to understand the way we should, basically, live our lives (in love and helping others and being close to God) is not a big stretch for me.  I think people argue too much instead of just enjoying the idea.  Don’t be so picky.  Just live and love and smile.  God enjoys that from us and it should help us be closer to Him.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Scott (oh yes, Namaste)

A New Start

I think that I need to begin again with this blog by letting everyone know what has happened since the blog stopped almost 2 years ago.

I had a stroke in May of 2010. I nearly died, in fact, I may have for a moment or two. During that time and the recovery afterward (which is still going on), I discovered that my faith in God had increased and things were much more clear. I have come to fully believe that “everything works out in the end. If it hasn’t worked out, it isn’t the end.” The first part is a Bible verse; the second is my own understanding of how it all works. That being said, I managed to return to my love of teaching at the New Castle Alternative School in August of 2011, only to have to stop last Friday (February 10, 2012) due to health problems. I am now on disability and supplementing it (trying to) through my life-long love of being a published author. I am now 3 days into my newest journey and have submitted 2 stories with a 3rd one in progress.
I would love to hear your stories; stories that let me know where you are on your journey. Make no mistake: I fully believe God controls it all; I think He just changes how He does it all the time by allowing us to make choices. That is what we do, make choices, all the time. There are reasons and He steps in constantly to help us and all around us reach our collective goals, spiritually, and, I think, other goals, by offering us opportunities and using both our acceptances and rejections to show all another, more beautiful way.
Love you all,
Scott