Christmas

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 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.'"-- Luke 2:8-11.

What exactly is Christmas? We all agree that it is the celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, but how did it become a day of gift giving and secular celebration? Quite simply, it's a tradition of the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia. Saturnalia, the feast of the Roman god of the harvest, was held late every year after the harvest. It was a way to thank Saturn for the past growing season and the tradition included exchanging gifts, feasts, and slaves becoming master for a day (this is still carried on in places, except employees take their bosses' places).

There is some postulation that the Christians needed to equate their holy days with Roman festivals so that Christianity would have a degre of familiarity to the Romans. Since Saturnalia was the biggest holiday of the year, it seemed logical to equate it with Christendom's biggest event (the birth of Jesus of Nazareth).

So... when you hear someone complain that Christmas is too much about gift giving and not about celebrating the birth of Jesus, you can now remind them that if they really want to celebrate Jesus' birth, they should hold a ritual of worship on his true birthday... September 7.

Merry Christmas!

The Post Office

This Christmas, when you are enjoying the company of family and friends and the warmth and joy of the holiday season, take a moment to keep a good thought for the men and women of the United States Postal Service. I worked for that organization for 15 years. I can tell you first hand that the employees of this agency have been working tirelessly since the day after Thanksgiving, ensuring that your cards and packages are delivered safely and accurately.

The tough thing is that they won't get the time we all get to enjoy the day. They will be in on Christmas night "cleaning up" after a month of working 12 hours a day. Most of them won't take a real rest until after New Year's.

They make a fairly substantial sacrifice, spending little time with their families so that the mail will go through and packages will be where they're supposed to be by Christmas Eve.

To all my former coworkers... it was a privilege working with you for all those years. Thank You.

Avatar

OK... I am oficially ticked of at the LBGT community for protesting Avatar because the writers did not include a character representative of the LBGT community. Before I move forward, I want to point out that I had an uncle and a cousin who were both gay. Sadly, they both have passed on to the next phase of existence and are no longer with us in body. I believe they are with us in spirit though and I also think that if they could be heard today, they would tell the protesters to consider the level of hypocrisy in which they are engaged.

FORTUNATELY... the LBGT community is almost universal in its condemnation of what appears to be a small minority of unfocused zealots who obviously don't have a lot on their plates right now.

If you're a member of that community, take the advice of a recent law school graduate: protest something that actually matters. Don't waste energy speaking out against a science fiction movie that is set on a fictitious planet with fictitious aliens.

Winter

Today was the first major snow fall of the winter. I was in the area that got hit the hardest. I actually ventured out in the weather. I have a 2005 Jeep Liberty Renegade and it did a good job chewing up the snow. I never owned a 4X4 until 2006 when I bought this one. It was a leftover so I practically stole it. And it was in fact a great deal!

I love the fact that I can go anywhere in all weather and it tore through unplowed streets this morning like it was the middle of summer. The side street next to my building wasn't plowed and it is a fairly steep incline. I put the Jeep in 4LO and used 2d gear and climbed the hill with ease.

I now am a committed SUV owner and I am hoping Jeep will have quality products out there in 2011 when I trade in. I want to trade up to the Grand Cherokee next. I can't imagine that it wouldn't be as tough as my current Jeep, in spite of the fact that mine has the rare "Renegade" package with skid plates and rock rails, and heavy duty transfer case.

I used to hate big snow storms. Now I look forward to them!

Tiger Woods

"Celebrity cheats on Spouse! Details to Follow!"

The obvious question is "Why is this news?" I'm going on my cynical kick for a minute but unfortunately in America, married people cheat on each other more regularly now than ever before. Let's consider the following: Las Vegas is the city that promises to keep your secrets. They market themselves with a wink that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." I got a pretty good idea that they aren't talking about losing money.

And now for a fee, the good folks at Ashley Madison will help you find an "affair to remember." In other words, if you're unhappily married but you don't got the guts to either work things out with your spouse or take it like an adult and get divorced, Ashley Madison will try to help you find an outlet for your primal urges.

So why then are we looking at Tiger Woods with such chagrin? First off, we accept the fact that people cheat and we generally shrug our shoulders and say "it happens." The fact is there are now hundreds of ways for married or committed people to cheat. Are we really shocked that Tiger Woods is after all as weak as the "regular person" who cheats? Or is it that we look at Tiger as if he's supposed to be a cut above everyone else based on his athletic ability? Lest we forget that alot of great figures in history had problems staying faithful.

I'm not defending what Tiger did. Not for a minute. The sad fact is that two more children will now grow up with divorced parents, and that is never a good thing. He shouldn't have married and brought two children into the world. He presumably knew he had a problem being monogamous, and that alone should have been enough reason for him to stay single.

But I also caution those of you who would condemn Tiger so quickly while at the same time not considering the damage that every day folks do when engaging in similar conduct.