As the Bush presidency winds down its last days, a news item stood out for me this week. It was that President Bush has personally written to the families of every fallen military man and woman since the beginning of the war. In addition, he's met personally with over 900 families of those killed or wounded, facing anger, hatred, and emotional upheaval head on. Often, his wife Laura was there with him.
Ever wonder what it was like for Mary that first Christmas? That's the idea behind a story we did a couple of years ago.
For your information, IPray TV plans to provided online live streaming video from the "little town" of Bethlehem this Christmas.
I went to school in a Methodist college in Northeastern PA. There were many wonderful Jewish friends in our dorms who generously shared their Hannukah gifts of Challah bread. For me, Challah unites traditions of Judaism and Christianity around the Christmas season. As to Jesus the Christ being their Messiah, we agreed to disagree. I continue to pray for them these 30 years later.
One of my favorite things about Christmas time is hearing new takes on classic songs.
But along polished, department-store background songs, I love hearing artists who restore a sense of reverence to Christmas. One singer (who many of my co-workers now know I’m a big fan of thanks to my own Christmas playlists) is Sufjan Stevens. Years before he became an indie-folk darling, Stevens would record his own collection of Christmas songs and give them out as gifts to friends and family. Since then, he’s released the songs as a collection of Christmas albums.
I've made these cookies every Christmas for 40 years. I don't make them during the rest of the year because I find them just too irresistable.
While this West African nation doesn't usually get a lot of press, Guinea seems to be sweeping the headlines this morning. Not necessarily on TV in the States, but the web is buzzing with reports about a possible coup d'etat.
(Over my vacation, I'm breaking into the China Connection archive to bring back some of my more popular and seasonally-appropriate blogs. This one initially ran Dec. 11, 2007, but I've tweaked it a bit. Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year'!)
All you folks who really thought Barack Obama was really going to use the Koran for his swearing in, umm, think again. Yes, I'm not kidding. There were people out there who actually thought this. Oh, brother. That's another story.
Here's some additional information for viewers and readers. Enjoy, merry Christmas!