Close your eyes

Now open them. Turn down the lights in the room, close the blinds, and leave one light on about 10 feet from you. Stare at that light for about ten minutes or so. Breathe slowly and deaply, relaxing your sholders and neck. Sit comfortably and switch off the light. Close your eyes, lean back, and hear these words: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us." Do you hear it? Do you hear it?

South Dakota Christmas

Mr. Joseph Bottum sure has a way with words. A bit melancholic, but beautiful. What's your early memory of Christmas? I remember the world being cold and staying up late with mama after papa had gone over to church to get ready for the service. Church wasn't but 500 yards from our front door, but each step was cold and dangerous, with black ice covering the ground. Church would be exciting, but mostly long -- we would run home and put out cookies and milk and try to sleep but sleep wouldn't come. In the morning, I would be up first and wake everyone else and we would open our stockings. Papa would go back to church to do the morning service, and mama would make breakfast with Em's and my help. We'd eat (scrambled eggs, little smokies, and home-made sticky buns -- the same thing every year, even now) and then open presents one by one, taking time to enjoy what was given and what was received. We'd eat Christmas dinner, go for a walk -- sometimes a drive to see the lights -- and rest.

Christmas Meme

1. Hot Chocolate or apple cider? Whiskey! 2. Turkey or Ham? Whiskey! 3. Do you get a fake or a real Christmas tree? A whiskey tree! 4. Decorations on the outside of your house? Whiskey bottles! 5. Do you prefer a white Christmas? Amber! 6. Do you enjoy singing Christmas carols? Drinking carols! 7. Favorite Christmas carol? Whiskey, you're the devil! 8. How do you feel about Christmas movies? Not enough drinking! 9. Favorite Christmas movie? Whiskey on 34th St! 10. Stockings before or after presents? With whiskey! 11. Do you open a present or presents on Christmas Eve, or wait until Christmas day? We drink whiskey! 12. Go to someone else's house? The distilery! 13. Do you read the Nativity Story? If so when? Yes 14. Do you go to Mass on Christmas Eve, at midnight, or Christmas morning? Yes 15. What is your favorite holiday smell? Whiskey!

The Chesterton Game

There's this fun game at the American Chesterton Society Blog, which is basically a meme. Here it goes. 1. When did you first read a Chesterton book, story, or poem, and which was it? When I was little, my mom had some Fr. Brown stories on tape, and I can remember as a little child listening to them. As I recall, I found them a bit morbid and strange. 2. What was the most recent of GKC's writings you read? I started reading the volume of his essays in the Saturday Evening Post. The last thing I finished I think was The Man Who Was Thursday, which is also morbid, and excellent. 3. Which is your favorite book, poem - or quote? Definitely The Everlasting Man. It is without question Chesterton's finest work. 4. Which would you recommend to a beginner? I would recomend Orthodoxy. Chesterton is a bit all over the place, and it helps, I think, to get a sense of the center before you're thrown into orbit. 5. What is the most unusual fact or quirky detail you know about G.K.Chesterton? Well, I guess the fact that he was parted from his sanity for a time. It makes his discussion of sanity quite compelling, for sure.