I Hate Christmas (Presents)

Buying Christmas presents is one of my least favorite things to do, ever. I would rather clean my bathroom (which I might do tomorrow) or fold clothes or eat sauerkraut or gouge my eye out with a spoon. It's not the going to the store or the spending mother either. It's the figuring out what to buy someone that gets me. I just don't know what would be a good gift. I always have high hopes and then I get tempted to be clever and then I get tempted to be funny and then I get tempted to buy a chia pet. Here's the inner dialogue:

me: What should I get my sister for Christmas
myself: A sweater would be great!
me: I know nothing about buying clothes...even for myself, let alone someone else, let alone my sister.
myself: chia pets seem kinda cool
me: Wouldn't that be dumb?
myself: It might be clever?
me: Yeah, maybe it would be. She could water it and watch it grow and it would be nice
myself: Yeah, it'd be like a houseplant!!
me: A houseplant?
myself: It would be funny. She would laugh. It would be great.
me: Whoa...nooooo...it would be dumb
myself: Yeah, you're right
me: Let us not speak of this anymore (until next year).

I have given many horrible gifts but I have never bought anyone a chia pet (yet).

Messy Nativity

My thoughtful mother sent me a nativity scene. (My grandmother also sent a loaf of nut bread in the same box.)
I had some trouble trying to figure out where to put it up. All the surfaces in my house have junk on them. (My kitchen table has just enough room for me to eat amongst the junk mail, magazines, church newsletters, bills, and pay stubs.) I finally decided that the little counter in the middle of my apartment would be the best place. It would be prominent and there is a lamp there for illumination. This little counter also happens to have the largest concentration of junk on it. I finally just pushed the junk aside and put up the nativity.
It now looks like Jesus just came down into the middle of my mess. But if he would have waited until I sorted through and cleaned up all this junk, he would have stayed bubble wrapped in the box until the second coming. (Christmas Eve sermon? Eh?)

Endnote: Yes, there was a stapler at Jesus' birth and most definitely a roll of duct tape.

I Feel a Little Christmas

I was invited over to dinner by a family that goes to my church. I always enjoy dinners like this and tonight was no exception. It started with their son showing me his pit bike. He let me ride it. I have never ridden a motorcycle before. There was no clutch (apparently they are made like that). There was a 150cc engine. There was a wheelie. There was no intention of a wheelie. There was no injury. It was fun and I learned two things: 1)Why people like riding motorcycles and 2) Why people get so seriously injured on motorcycles.
Then he showed me their tree house. It has three levels and was actually pretty cool. My friend Brian would have liked it because it was a great tree house and a good tree to climb.
Then we had dinner, which was an excellent soup/stew called Snowy Day Cassole (or something like that).
Afterward we took a drive through Eagle Hills to look at the lights. It was cool out (54degrees) and driving past all the lights, in a car with good friends, seeing people with coats and hats on, and feeling the cool air outside and heat inside gave me the feeling of winter and Christmas for the first time this year. And then I came home to the lights on my tree.

Be a Christian, Sing a Song

Once a month, the youth guy from church takes some youth down to Biola University for their "House of Worship." The number of youth vary from 4-10 and sometimes I go along. It is a good way to get to know the youth and the adult leaders.
"House of Worship" is a concert/worship/service/program thing. When the MC was introducing the band he said, "It is easy to get distracted by all of the equipment up here, but don't focus on the equipment, focus on God." There was a lot of equipment and lights, and if the evening was suppose to be about God then it was distracting. But if it was a concert, then it was kinda neat. It had the potential to be a good show. And why can't a group of people, who are Christians, start a band and sing their songs, put on a show, entertain people and express themselves? Why does it always have to be worship? It seemed like they really just liked playing music and wanted to perform it for people, but they were trying to force it to be some kind of worship "experience." I think that if they would have just admitted that they wanted to put on a concert their music would have been better. It wouldn't have had to fit into some kind of worship mold. (Most worship music is not very creative. It all starts to sound the same to me.) They could have just been themselves. I think that it would have been more honest and, strangely enough, more pleasing to God.

The Getty

Yesterday, I made the one hour journey all the way up to the Getty Museum. It's a bit north of LA on the 405, but I left late morning and made it there in good time with reasonable traffic.
The Getty is an amazing place. It is a huge collection of artwork that is on display for free. (It does cost $10 to park there, but if you ride your bike you can park for free.) It is displayed in a magnificent modern looking complex
that sits on top of a hill looking down on the LA basin.
It houses a large collection of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts. They also have a collection of photographs. I didn't look at all of it. It was too much to see in one day. The complex itself is amazing. Even if there wasn't anything in the buildings it would have still bee worth driving up there just to see the architecture, the gardens, and the view. I highly recommend the Getty to anyone, especially if you ride your bike.

PS. I left at 2:30ish and didn't make it home until five. That's traffic.