Ultimate Christmas Decoration!

This was a real Christmas decoration, but the home owner had to take it down due to traffic safety. Too many people were trying to stop and help, "the dummy!"

Spurgeon on Christmas

"Now a happy Christmas to you all; and it will be a happy Christmas if you have God with you. I shall say nothing to day against festivities on this great birthday of Christ. We will to-morrow think of Christ's birthday; we shall be obliged to do it, I am sure, however sturdily we may hold to our rough Puritanism. And so, 'let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavend bread of sincerity and truth.' Do not feast as if you wished to keep the festival of Bacchus; do not live to-morrow as if you adored some heathen divinity. Feast, Christians, feast; you have a right to feast. Go to the house of feasting to-morrow, celebrate your Saviour's birth; do not be ashamed to be glad; you have a right to be happy. Solomon says, "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment."

"Religion never was designed
To make your pleasures less."

Recollect that your Master ate butter and honey. Go your way, rejoice tomorrow, but in your feasting, think of the Man in Bethlehem; let him have a place in your hearts, give him the glory, think of the virgin who conceived him, but think most of all of the Man born, the Child given. I finish by again saying, ---

"A HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL"

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A Big Bite of Beef at Christmastime

When I was 14 years old we had a big Christmas dinner at my home. My mom and dad invited several family and friends to our small apartment. We did not have an official dining room. There was a tiny table in the kitchen. It was packed with scrumptious food, and there was barely room to sit. My brother and I inhabited the low rung on the food chain, so we ate on the floor in the hallway beside the kitchen. [side note: I used to keep a stocking cap permanently attached to my head in those days. Keep this in mind for the upcoming scene.] We had many good things to eat: Dressing, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie and a suculent roast and many other tasty morsels.

Gifts were opened that morning, people came to visit. Little time had been left to eat, so when dinnertime rolled around, my brother and I were quite hungry. We sat on the floor and stuffed our faces!

About halfway into the first plate of food, I took an exceptionally big bite of beef. I gave the lucious lump of meat a few quick chews and swallowed. Unfortunately, the hunk of meat got stuck just as it started to go down. I found this quite curious and decided to tell my brother about it. In a nano-second, I experienced the awkward sensation of not being able to speak! I learned something very valuable and I am not sure the thought had ever crossed my mind before: A person needs air not only to breathe but also to talk! And I was unable to because of that big bite of beef stuck in my wind pipe!

Panic soon had me in its snare and I stood up from the floor with stocking cap still on my head. My brother saw fear in my eyes and followed me into the kitchen.

The guests were talking and eating and having an all around festive time when I walked in. Their faces turned to me with jovial anticipation. I had a wild look on my face and my mouth was moving up and down, but no words came out.

My brother soon appeared behind me and with a mighty blow, lowered a clinched fist down onto my back. This caused the big bite of beef to eject from my mouth onto the middle of the table where it landed with something like a ker-splat. This all happened so quickly that folks were still removing forks from their mouth when it struck. I'm not sure if they were more surprised at my choking or the fact that a person could actually swallow something so large!

The sound of that meat smacking the table was music to my ears and the feel of air rushing into my lungs was exhilerating!

Since then, I have chewed my food with a little more caution, especially when I eat roast beef!

A Merry Christmas Season to You

"A merry Christmas, Bob!" said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. "A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit."--Scrooge (from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)