During Advent, we all excitedly look towards celebrating Jesus’s birth. However, suddenly it is December 26 and the world resets to its ordinary preoccupations. That’s what is wonderful about observing the Twelve Days of Christmas: it helps us keep reflecting on God’s grace and the miracle of Christmas after the busyness of Christmas Day is past. Tim Butler has prepared a free devotional booklet for these next twelve days.
The Zippy Crew takes you over the river and through the woods with a review of a fantastic new Nat “King” Cole Christmas album, sharing of Christmas memories and reflections on the upcoming 12 Days of Christmas. Also, Special Guest Jim Krenning joins us for a preview of an adventure through the Psalms in the New Year.
So. We’re three days from Christmas. These last couple of years the holiday, like everything else, has gotten a bit deflated as two presidents and a lot of medical bureaucrats, liking the feel of unexpected power, have succumbed to the irresistible compulsion to do something, whether it was advisable or not. The effects were troubling to some people more than they were to me, because for a number of years now I’ve enjoyed low-key Christmas celebrations.
The boys are back and this time they are joined by special guest Deborah Allinder Lee for an action packed episode exploring creativity, liturgy and Advent. Also on this podcasting excursion: the official Zippy review of Taylor Swift’s newly released album, “Red (Taylor’s Version).”
George McEvoy always had the best stories. He was a reporter at the old Fort Lauderdale News the same time I was. Though while most us thought of ourselves as young reporters on our way up, George already had enjoyed (mostly) a rich and colorful career. He’d been a police reporter at the New York Daily Mirror alongside the likes of Walter Winchell and his circle had included Damon Runyon. When The Mirror closed down, George moved to Phoenix, where he was a reporter, of course, and where he met his wife, Ruthie. After a while, Fort Lauderdale became his home.
Nice notes having arrived about my reminiscence last week, I thought I’d continue with some family traditions that were once common but that seem now to have all but disappeared, and some community ones which in many places have suffered the same fate.
Do people still have warm, memorable Christmas traditions? I wonder. We used to. Here’s part of my family’s, when my family lived on our little farm in Missouri at a time that doesn’t seem as long ago as it was.
The boys spend some time on this Thanksgiving Week on thankfulness, Christmas music, Christmas shopping and God’s gift of salvation for all of us. Tim and Jason also turn back to the subject of Spiritual Abuse, looking at a breaking story about “Peacemaker” Christian conciliation.
A couple of holiday commercials released this week pull all the right levers to make them tear-worthy and, really, almost mini-Christmas specials. If you are looking for a short break from the hustle and bustle this weekend, check out these two instant classics from Comcast and Apple.