end 2007 with a laugh

Hope you all had a good 2007. If you didn't, at least it's over.

May the Lord bless you and keep you in 2008.

If you need a good laugh to end this year, or one to start the next year, go here.

You're always gonna get it

where does "World" go to get pregnant?

India.

the Beast's Christmas

Santa gave her a dress, a cute little leopard print with a fuschia flower. She was, like, so excited.

the Brownie sisters

One of the great pleasures of the holiday season is getting together with family, particularly those that don't live close and aren't seen very often. This past week, I was able to spend time with both sisters. The younger sister* lives in nearby West Chester, Ohio, only a two hour drive from my house in Indianapolis. She's only 15 minutes from downtown Cincinnati, so I've dubbed her Cincy Sister. The older sister isn't as close - over ten years ago, she left the sunny skies of Ohio for the grey life of Panama City, Florida. Quite obviously, she's PC Sister.


One night last week, we fed on pasta and sourdough bread at one of Dayton's most famous downtown establishments, Spaghetti Warehouse. We sat at a large table in the back of the restaurant, where we could be as noisy as we wanted.


Here the sisters are, in all their glory. Cincy's on the left, and PC on the right.





* I designate them with the "older" and "younger" titles to set them apart. They are both older than me, the "younger" one by twelve years.

Thanks, but...

I believe Christianity is strong enough not to need the support of Congress.

The great debate - Is America a Christian nation?

• On Faith
• Freedom from Religion Foundation
• Catholic Education Resource Center
• Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Joel Osteen, Stuart Smalley, and those "The Secret" people

They all say pretty much the same thing.



(HT: BHT & A&O)

Merry Belated Christmas 2007

Hope yours was a good one. Mine was spent with family, half of whom I only see on rare occasions because of where we live (Indiana and Florida, two states that aren't exactly close to each other). We stayed with my parents, which meant no wireless capabilities. I didn't have a car to drive anywhere for some WiFi, and I didn't want to beg anyone to take me.

There were 28 people at my parent's house. 28! That has to be a record for the number of people able to fit into a 8X10 room. Well, my parents' house isn't exactly that small, but it sure felt like it. With wrapping paper and bows flying everywhere, it was utter chaos.

If you want to see some photos of my Christmas, go here to Salty Dog's place. I'm on the right side of this photo, between my mother in the turquoise sweater and my nephew with the hat.

10 Tidbits, Jolly Old Elf Edition

01. A Visit from St. Nicholas, more commonly known as Twas the Night Before Christmas, was first published anonymously in 1823. This poem and Thomas Nast's illustrations are largely responsible for how we envision Santa Claus today.

02. Yes, Virginia, there really was a St. Nicholas. Find out more about him here.

03. Santa Land purports to be the "first Christmas site on the Internet," founded in 1991.

04. Rudolph, who replaced Comet as Santa's favorite reindeer after a particularly nasty snowstorm, was created for a department store.

05. A good place to learn all about Santa's dwelling place is here.

06. There are many things in this world that are perfectly fine on their own but achieve legendary status when paired with something else. Among these things are chips & salsa, chocolate & peanut butter, and Santa & Coke.

07. Who's your favorite cinematic Santa Claus? He's been played by such actors as Edmund Gwenn, Tim Allen, Ed Asner, Tom Hanks, former wrestler Bill Goldberg, and most recently, Paul Giamatti.

08. Did Santa and the misses retire to Rancho Peñasquitos?

09. NORAD will track Santa tonight.

10. Although The Wife balks at the idea, I plan to take The Sweet One and The Cute One to this place, located in Santa Claus, Indiana.

Dayton on Wikipedia

I thought I knew a lot about my hometown city of Dayton, Ohio, but as I perused through Wikipedia, I discovered a number of things I didn't previously know.

• Jonathan Dayton, for whom the city is named, never set foot in Dayton.
• There is a city named Dayton in 23 states, but mine is the most well-known. I also have family in the Dayton of Tennessee, home of a famous trial.
• I knew C.J. Cregg hailed from Dayton and even traveled to the city to meet with her father and speak at her old high school (West Dayton High, which BTW doesn't exist in RL), but I didn't realize the Incredible Hulk came from the Gem City as well.
• Who knew there was such a musical genre as Christian metalcore? Dayton claims one band of this genre - The Devil Wears Prada.
• Dayton has more patents per capita than any other American city.
• This is something I already knew but have to mention because she played on the Dayton Lady Hoopstars team with my neice Jessica - Tamika Williams Raymond is from Dayton.

we got dates

Kim Frabricius, in a sermon about remembering one of Christianity's most significant dates in history, mentions memorable recent dates like 9/11/01 and 8/31/97 (the day Princess Diana died). I'm surpised he didn't bring up two dates that stand out for me as ones to remember: 3/30/81 (the Reagan assassination attempt) and 1/28/96 (the space shuttle Challenger disaster).

"A 13 shot venti soy hazelnut vanilla cinnamon white mocha with extra white mocha and caramel."

What is it? Only the most expensive drink at a Manhattan Starbucks.

I thought $5 was pretty costly...

(HT: Metafilter)

winter solstice

It's tonight, the longest night of the year.

"it’s the best description I have yet read of a huge economic problem that we know how to solve"

David Leonhardt of NYT named his pick for the top economics book. It's about everyone's favorite topic: healthcare.

10 Tidbits, Special Christmas Edition

1. Twenty-five Christmas movies we love. (HT: The Anchoress)

2. The Barna Group conducted a poll which revealed 75% of Americans believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. The poll doesn't reveal how many of those same Americans actually live as if it is true.

3. Brent thinks everybody loves Santa Jesus.

4. Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, says that there were no three kings that came to the inn in Bethlehem. Oops! Ben Witherington says there was no inn in Bethlehem.

5. Should the Advent move to November?

6. Have you been to one of these? The top ten holiday light shows.

7. Have you visited Frankenmuth, Michigan? It's the home of Bronner's, reportedly the world's largest Christmas store. They've got a spot on their site where you can put up on a map pictures of your decorated home. Of course, some people don't know how to decorate well.

8. Timmy Brister points to a non-Christmas song that is actually about the first time the God-Man came to eath - and the second.

9. You can read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol online.

10. For The Wife:

Mormon questions

FoxNews recently submitted 21 questions about the Mormon faith to officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Rob Bowman and James White examined the answers.

You can read the Book of Mormon online.

the neighbors' Christmas lights, 13

Time's Person of the Year

It's Vladmir Putin. We were all the person of the year last year, so I guess he's technically a repeat. If you had ran Russia, you would have been picked again, too.

...and I thought the Democrats in Congress were [against] the Iraq War...

The Senate, by a 70-25 vote, approved $70 billion for use in Iraq and Afghanistan, "without restrictions that Democrats had insisted on for weeks."

Twenty-one Democrats and Connecticut independent Joe Lieberman — who stood with Republicans at a post-vote news conference — voted with every Republican but Gordon Smith of Oregon to approve the Iraq funding.

Democrats again failed to win votes to force removal of U.S. troops or set a nonbinding target to remove most troops by the end of next year.

the neighbors' Christmas lights, 12

The inflatable Santas and snowpeople have been quite popular this year.