"Too Late to Save Christmas..."

A lovely snow in our front yard...

"Too late to save Christmas." Quite possibly the most disturbing quote I have heard this Christmas season. I read the quote as a part of a Friday headline on MSN. It was in reference of course to the fact that the last minute weekend shoppers would not spend enough money to “save Christmas.” But, it was really upsetting to learn that Christmas needed saving!

A lovely sunset color in our backyard...

Last weekend on CBS Sunday Morning, Ben Stein provided a lovely editorial noting: “That nowhere in the Bible is the word shopping mentioned.” After being bombarded with last minute ads, and high-pressure advertising, it was a refreshing view. After all, would we enjoy the Christmas season if we never received a gift? Never gave a gift? Would we still appreciate the birth of Christ and what He brought to the world? Of course we would. It might actually be in clearer focus to us. Now, I am not advocating the end of gift giving. Not at all. In our house, there has been plenty of gift giving, mostly little things that we, or our loved ones need. The gifts are an expression of love and kindness. Sorry, but no 5 carat diamonds or 50,000 dollar cars under our tree! I even found joy and laughter in the lump of coal that I received as a White Elephant!

See! A Cyclist's Dream! I got carbon for Christmas!

Every year, I watch for Christmas to arrive. It rarely comes where I expect it. It arrives in some form of love expressed; love accepted; grace expressed, grace accepted; The love of family in our house, the love of family far away; The joy that we have health and home. One only has to read the adventures of a fellow cyclist; The Seattle Randonnuer whose house was flooded a month ago to truly appreciate all that we have. This fellow cyclist has found out in a thousand ways, that the world is actually NOT filled with angry and selfish people, and now, so have I.

Santa DOES exist..

Back to the search: This year’s search for Christmas was no different. I was working a graveyard shift the other night, and I came across a cartoon that another controller had (against facility policy) stuck to the wall. It was a wonderful expression of everything I am writing about today. Now, I am sure there is some sort of copyright law about publishing this cartoon on my blog, but I will take the risk. I really tried to find a way to make a link from the author’s website, but I failed in my efforts. For me, the cartoon crystallized what is important in our country, in our communities, and in our families. Please enjoy it here:

To all of you who take the time to read along with my cycling and editorial adventures on these pages, I wish you a very Merry Christmas.
Jim