Your branches green delight us!

They're green when summer days are bright.
They're green when winter snow is white.
O Tannenbaum (English Translation)

Friend sent me one more Christmas tree:

Now that's delightful.

Tannenbaum

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Wie treu sind deine Blätter.
Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit,
Nein, auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
Wie treu sind deine Blätter.
Ernst Anschütz

I haven't posted for awhile, but in the spirit of the season, here are a few Christmas trees:

Longwood Gardens (one of many)

Grandma and Grandpa's

Ours (two views)

The Christmas ball tree that Sharon loves

'Tis the season

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
Colossians 2:16

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time once again for "The War on Christmas," when the evil secularists seek to destroy Christmas by using any other word to refer to the events that occur between Thanksgiving and New Years Day. The most sinister example is the term "holiday." To suggest that any other celebration occurs in the month of December is to spit in the face of Christians everywhere. Luckliy there is no shortage of right-wing pundits and nut-job letter writers to expose this evil.

A letter on page A10 of the Saturday, November 24 edition of The Times of Trenton is a perfect example. Titled "'Christmas' ought to right a bell," the letter decries the Salvation Army succumbing to the "scourge of political correctness with this year's 'Sharing is Caring' holiday campaign." At issue is a picture on page A3 of the Thanksgiving Day edition. The author's complaint? It's not Santa ringing the bell, but an "everyday person" wearing a red apron. Titled "A familiar red kettle," this picture "shows what is an insult to all of us who continue to believe in the true meaning of the Christmas season."

I wish you could see this picture. It's a picture of a Salvation Army worker in the red apron next to the kettle. Above the kettle is a sign that says "Sharing is Caring." It bears the Salvation Army logo, and says at the bottom, "Need Knows no Season." Oh yeah, almost forgot this. Right across the top is says, "God Bless You." Sadly, this just isn't enough for our letter writer. He goes on to say that he will not be donating to the Red Kettle Campaign this year. Instead he'll donate his time to "those charitable causes that continue to celebrate the true meaning of the Christmas season."

His complaint is so absurd, I don't know where to begin. He said standing in a mall all day collecting money for the needy does not celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. He's withholding his money because of no Santa Suit and a sign reading "God Bless You" not "Merry Christmas." I suspect he's been itching to find something, anything, to write a "war on Christmas" letter about, and this was the best he could do.

I think he needs to think long and hard about what the true meaning of Christmas is. Maybe he should watch A Charlie Brown Christmas when Linus explains the true meaning of Christmas:

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

All people. How 'bout that.

Happy Thanksgiving

They who give have all things; they who withhold have nothing.
Hindu proverb

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know we did.

I didn't get to post anything earlier about the The Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton. My fourth grade religious education class joined the class from the late service to deliver enough groceries to fill four wagons and two minivans that were collected that morning. They did an awesome job sorting and stocking, and it was great to see them work so well and so hard.

Thanksgiving is a big week for the Crisis Ministry, but they need food all year round!