Prezzies

Well I've had a most wonderful Christmas, family and friends have been around, copious food and drink has been consumed and there have been no fights, spats or general unpleasantness that sometimes seems to follow in the wake of some family get together's I've heard of, though fortunately never witnessed.
One thing though that I did enjoy was my main present. Unlike a lot of guys I'm amazingly easy to buy for, books or technology will do (socks and undies at a pinch) and this year my good lady came up trumps with one of the new generation of Kindle's. To say I was delighted would be an understatement as I'm an avid reader of books in one form or another including online novels, articles. blogs and various other sundry written words. It's not as if I even have to shell out and buy stuff from Amazon, there are masses of DRM (Digital Rights Management) free novels out there in a format that the Kindle can read and it's not as if I'm going to stop buying books either as for as good as the Kindle is, I still love the feel of a real novel in my hands too and many novels aren't available as Kindle books (including for some reason all the Harry Potter stuff) and possibly never will be. So it's a bit of a trade off, though my quieter moments at work will no longer be free from reading material, or rather I won't have to carry my own weight in books around with me any more.
As for my good Lady, well she thinks she's doing well with a gold necklace with pink sapphire and diamond gems, I think I came out the better of the exchange.
Serious blogging will return probably on the 28th,not sure what I'll do for tomorrow, but I still have a lot of family stuff to be getting on with.

Merry Christmas

To those who chose to read the ramblings of a mad Englishman, many thanks and may your Christmas's be as wonderful as mine.

Christmas thoughts 3

I'll be away seeing my wonderful granddaughter up until Christmas Day, when I have a long journey home as I'm at work on Boxing Day.

So here are a few thoughts each day to tide you over.

For those of you who believe as I once did.

Ten Commandments for Christmas
1. Thou shalt prepare early. Don't wait until the last minute to get into the Christmas spirit.
2. Thou shalt keep Christ at the centre of Christmas. Don't allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the commercialism of the season. Resolve to read one of the Gospels during December. Mediate upon what it means that Christ came into the world.
3. Thou shalt make Christmas a family time. Do things together: Decorate the tree, play games, bake cookies, shop, write cards, have devotionals, go carolling, attend church together.
4. Thou shalt remember those who are less fortunate. Contribute significantly to an organization serving the needs of others throughout the year. Give a Christmas gift to your church.
5. Thou shalt give thyself with every gift. Put some thought into the gifts you purchase. Give a gift that represents you. If possible, make something instead of buying something.
6. Thou shalt learn to be a good receiver. Many of us have trouble receiving graciously and gracefully.
7. Thou shalt put music into Christmas. Buy several Christmas CD's and play them again and again. Attend church choir cantatas and special Christmas programs. Sing carols with loved ones.
8. Thou shalt slow down. Remember: Christmas is supposed to be a season of peace, not hypertension.
9. Thou shalt remember to worship. The church is the place you are most likely to be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas.
10. Thou shalt receive Christ into thy life. Don't just talk about the Christ of Christmas, receive him into your life as Lord and Saviour.

Christmas thoughts 2

I'll be away seeing my wonderful granddaughter up until Christmas Day, when I have a long journey home as I'm at work on Boxing Day.

So here are a few thoughts each day to tide you over.

"What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic."
-- Unknown

Christmas thoughts

I'll be away seeing my wonderful granddaughter up until Christmas Day, when I have a long journey home as I'm at work on Boxing Day.

So here are a few thoughts each day to tide you over.

"Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect."
-- Oren Arnold

Merry Christmas

To those who chose to read the ramblings of a mad Englishman, many thanks and may your Christmas's be as wonderful as mine.

Tampering with tradition

Probably a big festive non story but it did raise an eyebrow at Castle QM was this addition to the MSM's they're "banning Christmas pc gone mad" meme.

Telegraph.

God rest ye merry ladies and gentlemen... Christmas carols given PC rewrite
Much-loved Christmas carols are being rewritten to make them politically correct, it is claimed.

Verses are being changed by clergy and teachers to remove supposedly chauvinistic references to men, sons and kings, making them “gender inclusive”.

Even the word white is being censored for fear of racism accusations, while some schools and churches no longer sing about the virgin Mary.
Many parishioners feel it is unnecessary to meddle with the words of carols that have been sung for centuries without causing any offence.
In many cases the new words do not fit the tune, causing choirs to stumble over them.
People who only go to church once a year to sing carols are also left confused when they find the words they remember have been changed.
Nic Robinson, a teacher from Derbyshire, told of his “bemusement and sadness” to find at a recent carol service that many of the words of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing had been tampered with.
The original - written by Charles Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist movement – included the lines “Born that man no more may die” and “Born to raise the sons of Earth” in the third verse.
But the version printed on the service sheets at Mr Robinson’s daughter’s school had “Born that we no more may die” and “Born to raise us from the earth”.
Another line in the second verse had been changed from “Pleased as man with man to dwell” to “Pleased with us in flesh to dwell”.
Mr Robinson said: “I am sure some bishop will write now, explaining, kindly, that hymns have been evolving throughout the ages and that this one, in particular, has known many versions. May I ask the bishop not to bother, but rather to spend his time in contacting the people who have defaced my favourite carol.”

Why can't the Righteous (for this is clearly the Righteous) leave things alone? They only make themselves look stupid and they surely must know the result of tampering with tradition, then again they probably just don't care.
Now you could possibly make a case for replacing archaic terms and words, those whose meanings have changed, after all King James II called the just completed St. Paul's Cathedral amusing, awful and artificial (When he lived, those words meant that the cathedral was "pleasing, awe-inspiring and artful" respectively.) but gender stereotyping in Christmas Carols?
There are times when I'm feeling generous that I conclude that they mean well but are somewhat foolish, but those moments tend to last seconds and most of the time I believe it's a genuine wind-up to try and provoke a reaction. Still the pc brigade continue to try and get in their knocks and shape the world to their weird non-gendered, non-racist, multicultural version of hell.

Last year a Church of England vicar banned his congregation from singing O Little Town of Bethlehem because he believed the words did not reflect the plight of current occupants of Jesus’s birthplace.

Which inhabitants? Would that be the Christians who lived in Bethlehem who have been driven out in recent years by Hamas hoodlums? Or is it the same old tired anti-Israeli rant by someone who forgets Jesus was Jewish? Either way pc gone mad.

Some churches have altered the words to Once In Royal David’s City, removing a reference to children “all in white” and replacing it with “bright like stars”.

Modern versions of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen have taken out the reference to a “pure virgin bright” and inserted a line about “David’s town tonight”.

You can just imagine some twit spending their days altering carols to suit the Righteous' version of bland neutralism and for what? So people like me can poke fun at them?
No, it's to enslave us all to the notion of thought-crime, remove the words or change the meaning and you remove the context for dissent. It wont work, they can't change how people think (yet) but it never stops them trying to ruin Christmas one way or another.