Carpentry

Michael has recently gotten into wood working. He made some nice Christmas gifts with his new found carpentry skills. I think the photo below shows he doesn't have a full grasp of carpentry yet. "Carp-in-tree".

Drowning in debt?

I couldn't help but think of my recently college graduated son when I saw this. Sad, but true.

Leave 'em up?

Maybe I should just leave my Christmas lights up all year long. Stores put out their Christmas stuff right after Halloween. Why not just leave everything up year round?

Much needed break

I have posted many times on this blog the secret to a long and happy marriage. The secret is dating your spouse. You date BEFORE you get married, and you should continue dating AFTER you get married. The next few days we intend to take a much needed break. Tami and I are headed out of town for a couple of days. We aren't going anywhere extravagant, just a simple little getaway after the craziness of hosting about a million Christmas parties.

The blog will NOT be shut down while I'm gone. I will have my computer with me and I will probably make a few short posts. I'm sure you understand if I'm out of town with my wife, I won't be spending a lot of time typing my highly anticipated daily thoughts, but I may find a few moments to jot something down.

Soli Deo Gloria

Under where?

I just had to post this because Michael got underwear for Christmas (and pants and socks too).He used to get action figures and video games. My how things change!

Turn out the lights

I truly love decorating my house for Christmas. I especially enjoy putting up the exterior lights. It is such a kick to adorn the the house with thousands of lights and then stand back and admire the handiwork. On the other hand, I totally loathe the thought of taking the lights down and storing them away for another year. This is the task facing me at the moment. I'm not sure when the lights will come down, but I know I need to do it soon. Turn out the lights, the Christmas party's over!

After Christmas

At some point I will make a deep, meaningful, heartfelt post about this past Christmas season. There is so much that happened (all of it good). But today is not that day. Instead I will keep it light today. In the graphic below I am somewhere between 3 and 4. In fact, I'm probably closer to 4 than I'd like to admit.

It ain't over

Our time of hosting Christmas gatherings has finally come to an end. We are tired, but it was well worth it and we wouldn't have had it any other way. This doesn't mean EVERYTHING is finished though. We get to watch our grandchildren today and also spend the night with them. This will allow their parents to take some much needed time away with each other. Keeping the grandchildren is an exhausting thing, but I wouldn't miss it for all the tea in China. Pete Rose once said, "I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball". I feel the same way about watching my grandchildren. No matter how busy I have been and no matter how tired I am, I am going to babysit those grand babies tonight. At least they have some new Christmas toys that we can play with together. I can't wait to see them :-)

How Does A Homeless Man Spend $100?

I don't really have words for what's in this video. Basically a young guy gives a homeless man $100. He then follows and records him to see what he does with the money (liquor, drugs etc...). What follows is truly heart warming. We think we know people, but we can be so wrong. Watch and see.

Rejuvenation

A while back I spoke on this blog about peaks and valleys. How sometimes just like life, this blog goes through its ups and downs. At the time of that post, the blog was going through a bit of a valley. However, I also promised to rejuvenate the blog over my Christmas break. I have made a real effort to keep my word on that and I hope it is reflected in my posts the last few weeks. I have truly tried to make this a space worth visiting each day and not just the aimless ramblings of a simple school teacher who loves his family. And even more than that, above all else, I want this blog to glorify God. I pray every keystroke will honor Him in some way.

Thank you again, loyal readers. I appreciate you checking this blog on a regular basis. I made a promise when I first started this crazy blog. That promise was that I would keep writing as long as people are interested in reading. So After three and a half years, it seems that is exactly what we are doing.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Hitting Reset

It has been one whale of a week! We've been here, there and everywhere. Today we hosted Tami's side of the family for Christmas and although it was a lot of work, it was also a lot of fun. Tomorrow we are hosting another big shindig. I know that might sound like a lot, but it's not. I am looking at the situation like hitting the reset button. We have plenty of food left over. There are plenty of drinks too. Napkins, plates and utensils are ready to go as well. All we really have to do is mop the kitchen floor, clean the bathroom again, vacuum the carpet and we'll be ready to go. Presto! Hit reset and we are in business. Two big parties in a row? No sweat! Bring it on!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas loyal blog readers. Enjoy your time with friends and family today.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Christmas Eve

On this blessed night, long ago, a tiny child was born of a virgin in a lowly stall. God in the form of man sent to save the world from its sin. Alleluia!

Enjoy your Christmas Eve.

Christmas Shopping part 2

A few days ago I mentioned my surprisingly fun Christmas shopping trip with Tami. One thing I failed to mention about that day was my astonishment at how nice, polite and cheerful all the people were. We've all heard the horror stories about crowded stores full of grumpy and sometimes ruthless Christmas shoppers. People pushing, shoving, and snapping at each other. Everybody we encountered on our shopping trip was very pleasant. We had some light-hearted, fun conversations with people as we stood in line and we didn't see one hint of anything other than courteousness and respect. The Christmas spirit was definitely in full swing and I admit it was completely unexpected.

Don't get me wrong though. I am still anti-shopping. The whole concept of fighting crowds to buy stuff nobody really needs still bothers me. I continue to be disturbed by the loss of focus of what Christmas is really about. But I also understand gift giving has its place in American Christmas tradition. I am not against gifts. My children and grandchildren will be getting plenty of presents on Christmas and I am totally okay with that. I just want to make sure Christmas is celebrated for the right reason in the Meyer house and doesn't become only about presents.

As always... Soli' Deo Gloria!

Christmas Eve Eve

This is the day before Christmas Eve. I guess you could call this Christmas Eve Eve. In honor of the impending holiday, I offer you this Christmas humor. I call it humor, but it's sad at the same time. it's a shame what Christmas has become.

It's all good

A few days ago I made a post about having two weeks off, but being so busy that it hardly felt like it. Admittedly I was feeling a bit sorry for myself. POOR ME! Yesterday at church I was snapped back into reality. Who am I to whine? What better gift do I have to give this Christmas season other than my time? During His time on earth, Jesus always made himself available and never complained. Not once in the Bible did Jesus ever tell someone he didn't have time for them. And believe me, everybody wanted a piece of Jesus. He would be on his way to heal a sick person and he would be stopped along the way to minister to others. Not once did Jesus slough them off and tell them to wait. He always had time for people. On the other hand, there are documented times when Jesus asked for others to do something for Him and they failed. Remember when Jesus asked a few of His disciples to pray with Him the night before His crucifixion? Remember what happened? They fell asleep. These are reminders that I have no cause to complain about my time. The busy-ness of the Christmas season beckons and I intend to answer that call. I will be spending time with the people I love most and I will not regret one minute of it. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future to have time to myself. For now, my family, friends, and church family are asking for my time and I am going to give it to them with a glad and willing heart. I will not go grudgingly into this glorious season of celebration.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel

Clarification

I need to clarify something from one of my previous posts. My son is NOT working at Chick-fil-a while he looks for a job as a police officer. When he wore the cow costume he was simply helping a friend who really does work there. He only wore the costume for an hour. He did it for the free chicken sandwiches. So.... no, my son does not have a future in the fast food industry. Sorry for the confusion.

Christmas Shopping

I'm sure the readers of this blog know me well. And if you know me well, you know I'd rather take a beating than go shopping... EVER! That especially goes for Christmas shopping. Fighting crowds to buy stuff nobody needs is not my idea of a good time. However, after church today Tami and I took off for the mall to do some shopping. Hmmm... the Sunday before Christmas at the mall. What could possibly go wrong? The answer is... nothing. Much to my surprise Tami and I shopped well into the evening and had a wonderful time together. We bought some Christmas gifts and just wandered around looking at the sights. We just enjoyed each other's company to the fullest. I wouldn't say I enjoyed the shopping per se', but if I had to spend a full Sunday shopping, there's only one person I could do it with. It was a great day and I never thought I'd say that about a full day of shopping.

Merry Christmas!

Two weeks

When is two weeks not really two weeks? I'll tell you... when you are so busy on a two week Christmas break that it doesn't seem like you've had two weeks off at all. Confused? What I'm saying is, I have a two week vacation ahead of me and I am going to be so incredibly busy that it won't quite seem like it. Don't get me wrong. The busy-ness of the Christmas season is a lot of fun, but it's also good to have a little time to myself. Far be it for me to complain about having two weeks off. I'm truly grateful for the opportunity to recharge my batteries. I just wish I didn't have to run around like a chicken with my head cut off to do it.

Sitting here thinking

I'm sitting here at my desk at school. Things are very quiet. There are no students in session today. It's what we call a teacher work day. Some schools call it a record keeping day. Whatever label you put on it, it's a day when we teachers get to catch up on work. My report cards are finished and submitted. My classroom has been cleaned and organized. My lessons for January are planned and ready to go. All paperwork is caught up. It's all over but the shouting. Now I sit and watch as the clock ticks toward a much-needed two week vacation.

As I look around my empty classroom today, several thoughts cross my mind. I'm thankful and truly blessed to have this job. I can't believe I have been doing this for 25 years. I think of the little running joke we have around here on these peaceful and quiet teacher work days. It basically goes like this: "This would be a great place to work if it weren't for all these kids!". I think about all the people I work with. They've always been like my second family. How many workplaces can say that? We've always said we're more like family than colleagues. I think of the many people whom I've worked with and have either retired, moved on or passed away. People in my life always ask me why I don't seek a teaching job in a more affluent district. The answer is easy. I never have and never will consider working anyplace else. This place is home to me (at least as much as a workplace can be home).

I think of my students right now. I think of the circumstances they may be facing during the Christmas season. It's easy to forget these kids when I'm nestled in my warm, comfortable home with family around me. We have plenty to eat and more love than we know what to do with. My students may be facing hunger, neglect, cold, untreated sickness, domestic violence and abuse, alcohol or drug abusing parents, incarcerated parents and a multitude of other things I can't even think of because they are so foreign to me. Who knows what Christmas will be like for these kids.

I think once again of a tiny babe sent to earth to be born in a lowly stall. A spotless lamb sent to save a sinful man like me.

Merry Christmas, friends and family. Thank you for reading the ramblings of a painfully simple guy like me.

Soli' Deo Gloria!
(To God alone be the glory!)

Eat mor chikin!

My son, Michael, recently graduated from NKU with a degree in criminal justice. He is currently on the hunt for a job as a police officer or corrections officer. So far, he has had no success in finding employment. In the meantime, this is what he is doing with his education. He is working for Chick-fil-a as their "cow". As if the costume isn't funny enough, here's the kicker... he is not being paid in money, he receives 25 free chicken sandwiches for walking around in a cow costume for a few hours. I only have one thing to say about this. Eat mor chikin!

Here's my recently college graduated son. MOO!

Crunch Time

This is it. Crunch time. Where the rubber meets the road. The last two days of school before a two week Christmas break. Like sharks in a feeding frenzy, these kids can smell blood. They are so ready to be done with me. These next two days I will do anything to keep these kids in check (up to and including standing on my head). As always, we will survive, but it will be a tough road getting there.

Actually I don't blame the kids. I love Christmas too and I am just as excited as they are. They are excited about getting presents and I am excited about spending time with my family and seeing my grandchildren. I really do love the Christmas season. I enjoy decorating the house. I love the parties and gatherings. I am particularly fond of all the food this time of year. But most of all I want to remember why we are doing this. To celebrate the birth of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. God coming to earth in the form of man. A Great King born in a lowly manger. The spotless lamb born of the most humble beginnings.

One more week until the blessed day!

Silly Songs

I admit it. Teachers are a STRANGE bunch. We do lots of things to relieve stress and bring humor to our otherwise stressful jobs. One of those things is to write silly songs about our bosses and perform them at special functions. One such function is our upcoming staff Christmas breakfast. This breakfast is held every year on the last day before Christmas break. The staff enjoys a nice meal prepared and provided by our administrators, then we make merry for a little while before going to work on our last day. Some of this making merry involves singing the aforementioned silly songs about our bosses. Needless to say everybody is always loose and in a good mood on this day. With a two week vacation on the horizon, spirits are high and people are ready for a funny little ditty.

A good teacher friend of mine, Mrs. Tuell usually writes the songs and she and I perform them for the staff. The songs are often written to the tune of well known songs. These songs usually have funny lyrics and involve inside jokes. The staff loves them. Most of the time the jokes are about teaching or education in general, but sometimes they get downright personal (in a good-natured way, of course). Below is a sample of one of this year's songs. It's a song about my boss, Mr. Conners. Incidentally, I wrote THIS one. Yes, I know it's bad, but it's fun nevertheless. Like I said, some of the lyrics are inside jokes and it won't be nearly as humorous to you. But you'll get the idea...

To the tune of, "Grandma got run over by a reindeer".

Mr. Conners got run over by a reindeer

CHORUS
Mr. Conners got run over by a reindeer
Walking home from our school Christmas Eve
You can say there’s no such thing as Santa,
But as for we and Ms. Clemons, we believe

He’d been drinking too much Diet Coke
And we begged him not to go
But he grabbed a bag of M&M’s
And stumbled across the bridge into the snow

When they found him Christmas morning
He was beat up it was said
There were hoof prints on his hiney
And reindeer droppings on his head

CHORUS

Now we’re all so proud of Ms. Clemons
She’s been taking this so well
See her there watching the Bengals
Drinking juice and waving her orange towel

It’s not Christmas without Conners
All the staff is dressed in black
And we just can’t help but wonder
Should we drink his Coke or take it back?

CHORUS

Now his family is in mourning
And his boys are quite morose
They’ll have to sell his Honda
And all his Tiger gear and purple clothes

We’ve warned all his friends and neighbors
Better watch out for those deer
They trampled Mr. Conners
And stole his candy and his beer

CHORUS

Peaks and valleys

This blog is a lot like life. It goes through its peaks and valleys. Its ups and downs. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's hard.

When it comes to writing, sometimes I get in a real groove and the words just pour forth onto the page. Other times it's a true struggle to get anything down. Let's face it... it's kind of tough to post something every day (and sometimes twice a day). At least something of quality that is worth your time to read. I try to keep the topics fresh, but sometimes I know I take a topic and beat it into the ground.

Life has been very busy for me lately and it is directly reflected in my blog. When I don't have time to devote to the blog, my posts are shorter and less thought out. I'm sorry, folks. Some of you visit daily and have come to expect a certain level of writing and I just haven't been up to snuff lately. It is my sincere hope to bring the blog back to the quality you all have grown accustomed to. I have some extended time off for Christmas and I plan to post some good stuff. Be patient with me. I'm going through a valley right now, but I will be climbing another peak soon.

Survival Skills

It's that time again. The week before Christmas break in an elementary school. This week will be a whole lot less about learning and a whole lot more about surviving the week. Needless to say the kids are very excited about Christmas and having a few weeks off school. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit excited about some time off myself. However, there is a lot of work to do before I get to that point. In times like this, teachers have to reach into their bag of tricks in order to get through the week. The key is to keep the kids busy, try to keep them learning and not allow them to kill one another. If we make it through the week and no blood has been drawn, then we'll call it a success.

Snowman

Last year I turned the refrigerator at home and at school into a snowman. I did the same this year. I will not post a photo because you saw what it looked like in this space last year. I don't want this blog to become a place where the same posts get recycled every year. I will make some exceptions to this thinking though. Complaining about winter for example. I will never get tired of that. My blog, my rules. I won't spend any time today whining about the cold weather or the gray dreariness that has plagued the Cincinnati area for the last few weeks. The truth is, I am pretty tired from hosting the Meyer family Christmas party last night. Some days the blog suffers because I'm just plain tuckered out. Today is one of those days. Sorry, loyal blog readers. Maybe I'll post something tonight or perhaps I'll do better tomorrow. Thanks for understanding. Even Babe Ruth struck out sometimes. In the meantime here is some snowman humor.

And here we go!

Tonight is the first of several Christmas parties we will be hosting at our house. The Meyer side of the family will be Ho Ho Ho'ing and Fa La La'ing well into the night. We might even have a snack or two (or a hundred). I can't wait to see the grandchildren when they see the ornaments and lights. I love the wonder of Christmas for the kids. It's just magical for them. And I won't lie... It's pretty magical for this Goppa too :-)

An apple (or two or three) a day

Think about a teacher's desk. What is the one thing you think of that may be sitting on a teacher's desk? What iconic image comes to mind? If you said an apple, you get a gold star next to your name. It seems a teacher always has an apple on his/her desk (this was especially the case in the old days). This year I have several students who bring me an apple every day. For a while I would eat them as the students brought them, but I soon tired of eating two or three apples every morning. Since that time I have been tossing the excess apples in my drawer. Look below to see how they've piled up. Lord knows I've tried to eat them all, but the apples just keep coming and coming.

Chaplain

Do you remember Father Mulcahy on M*A*S*H? He was the chaplain for the fictional 4077th mobile army surgical hospital in Korea. Do you remember his role? He was to offer spiritual guidance and in some cases, last rites to soldiers. That's what a chaplain does, right? Police departments have chaplains, hospitals have chaplains, nursing homes have chaplains, some larger fire departments have chaplains and branches of the military have chaplains. Knowing the very definition of a chaplain caused me to do a double take on the following news story. Somebody in the army is ticked off because the chaplain was promoting Christianity. Uh... what's a chaplain supposed to do if not promote Christianity? Get a load of this! Unbelievable!

An Army chaplain was punished for discussing matters of faith and quoting from the Bible during a suicide prevention training session with the 5th Ranger Training Battalion -- leading to outrage from religious liberty groups and a Georgia congressman.

Chaplain Joseph Lawhorn was issued a Letter of Concern that accused him of advocating for Christianity and “using Christian scripture and solutions” during a Nov. 20th training session held at the University of North Georgia.
“You provided a two-sided handout that listed Army resources on one side and a biblical approach to handling depression on the other side,” Col. David Fivecoat, the commander of the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade at Ft. Benning, Georgia, wrote in the letter to the chaplain. “This made it impossible for those in attendance to receive the resource information without also receiving the biblical information.”

Ummm...okay...whatever.

Notice the cross hanging prominently around his neck? Well, that's because he is a CHAPLAIN! Holy Guacamole!

Watch out, Clark!

Clark W. Griswold, eat your heart out!

I should have known I could never be happy with such a pathetic little light display. After spending $100 and adding 2000 twinkling lights to the several thousand I already had, the house is now lighting up the entire neighborhood. I doubt you could see it from outer space, but I'll bet you could see it from a 747 at 30,000 feet.

Christmas spirit is running rampant in the Meyer house. The glorious celebration of our Savior's birth is only a few weeks away. Feliz Navidad. Joyeaux Noel. Merry Christmas!

Ho Ho Whoa!

Ho Ho Whoa! Who is that behind the beard? Yes, it's me as Santa Claus (or maybe it would be more appropriate to say "Satan Claus"). This was about 5 years ago. Not one of my proudest moments. Merry Christmas, I guess.

Let there be light (sort of)

I'm not really sure what happened to my exterior Christmas lights, but when I took them out of storage this year, most of them didn't work. I stored them just as carefully as I always have, but for some reason many of the strands went kaput. I tried repairing them, but had very little success. I salvaged a few strands and put up a meager display. I know it's not a competition, but I don't want people to think Charlie Brown lives here either. My house will not be mistaken for the Griswold house from The Christmas Vacation movie, but we Meyers have no reason to be ashamed of our humble Christmas light display. No Scrooges live in this house! Let there be light... sort of.

Bravo! Bravo!

East Central High School wrapped up their production of "A Christmas Carol" today. I would call the whole show a rousing success. As expected, Abby did an outstanding job as the Ghost of Christmas Present.

Thank you to all friends and family who attended the show. I know it means a lot to Abby and it certainly means a lot to me.

Merry Christmas!

Mind your own business

Mind your own business. That's what I call good advice.

Christmas Humor

You all know how seriously I take Christmas. Celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior is a BIG DEAL! However, I also believe our God has a sense of humor. He'd have to... have you looked around lately? There CAN be a funny side to Christmas (I know you've seen "A Christmas Story"). I will periodically post humorous things on the blog... Look below for an example of something that caused me to chuckle (even if it is sad, but true).

God bless us

This is a big weekend for the Meyer family. Abby will be portraying the Ghost of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens' timeless classic, "A Christmas Carol". We are all very excited about the big show. There are also lots of friends and family coming to the big event. This is Abby's senior year and she only has a few more shows before she goes off to college. Break a leg, Abby and oh yeah, God bless us, every one!

War on Christmas Part 2

The following is a message from political speech writer, actor and game show host, Ben Stein. Please note that Ben Stein is Jewish and this his view on Christmas. He also addresses God (or lack thereof) in the United States. Admittedly this is a bit long, but I think it's worth the time it takes to read it.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crib, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her: "How could God let something like this happen?" (regarding Hurricane Katrina). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said: "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said okay. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said okay.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with, "we reap what we sow."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards,

Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein"

The War on Christmas

The war on Christmas has been raging for quite a few years now. When I hear phrases like "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings" they get nothing but an eye roll from me. Merry Christmas, people! Yes, the name of Christ is in Christmas. That's the WHOLE idea! Christmas celebrates the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Do you want to know how ridiculous the war on Christmas has become? Check out the excerpt below from a recent news story:


Over the years I’ve covered my fair share of anti-Christmas schoolhouse shenanigans. There was the dimwit who confiscated a child’s candy canes and the dunderheads who banned the colors red and green. And how can we forget about the simpletons who outlawed classroom poinsettias or the Junior League communists who rewrote the lyrics to "Silent Night"?

But those are junior varsity skirmishes compared to what happened at Butler Elementary School – where the PTA canceled a field trip to see “The Nutcracker” because there was a Christmas tree on the stage.
Well, smoke some holly and call me jolly! Heaven help the unfortunate children who gaze upon a tree decorated with ornaments and sparkly lights and tinsel.

According to the reporting of WHDH, the issue came to a boiling point during a recent PTA meeting. Parents who supported the ballet were accused of being discriminatory. And to make matters worse, the PTA secretly canceled the trip. Once the parents learned the trip had been canceled – they raised a ruckus and faster than you could say “Sugar Plum Fairy” – the PTA reversed its decision.

For the record - there are no reported instances of a child spontaneously converting to the Christian faith while attending a performance of “The Nutcracker.”
I commend the PTA for coming to their senses and I raise a cup of egg nog in their honor. I may need a double.

*********************************************************************************

See what I mean? For the love of Rudolph! Has the world lost its mind? Sheesh!

Merry Christmas, my friends!

Priorities!

Here's the problem, Folks! America has its priorities screwed up. In the graphic below, two mainstays of American culture are nearly ignored nowadays. Voting and being involved in your child's education barely receive a sniff of attention from the typical American. However, Black Friday shopping and getting the newest iPhone can cause a mob scene. There is certainly something wrong with this picture. Would you not agree?

I'm amazed!

It never ceases to amaze me how time flies! Today is December 1st and I have no idea where this year has gone. The fact that Christmas is a little over three weeks away boggles my mind. December will be a whirlwind month. With all the busy-ness of the holidays, I know 2015 will come and I will wonder where in the world December went.

I am very excited about Christmas this year. The Meyer home will be party central this yuletide season. Including Thanksgiving, we are hosting four large holiday gatherings within a 4 week period. Wow! That's a lot of company! It sure will be incentive to keep a clean house!

Christmas? BRING IT ON!

Grown Up!

Look how grown up all these kids have gotten. This is the crew of young adults at our house on Thanksgiving. I'm just sad that my niece Mary wasn't able to be in the photo.

Call me Forrest

Forrest Gump once said, "Stupid is as stupid does". He also said, "I am not a smart man, Jen-nay".

You can call me Forrest Gump today because I am not a smart man. Today I "TRIED" to put up the family Christmas tree. Keep in mind I have been putting up the same Christmas tree for more than 15 years. I should be able to do this in my sleep, right? Wrong.

I spent more than an hour trying to get the upright piece to stand firmly in the base. In the past this step has taken mere moments. This year I wrestled with it, struggled with it and fought with it. I could not get the stupid thing to hold. I finally got it into a precarious position, but I thought it would be "good enough". I put all the branches on and had just begun to put the lights on when the inevitable happened... the tree fell over! I called for assistance and Tami came to the rescue. I stood the tree up, held it in position as she laid on her belly and attempted to secure the upright piece. As she was struggling with it, I looked across the room and saw the problem. The silver ring that secured the whole tree stand had been idiotically forgotten by yours truly... Forrest Gump. I let out a yell that scared Tami. The moment I saw it, I knew where I had gone terribly wrong.

It was easy after that. I lifted the tree out of the stand. Tami put the locking ring in place and I put the tree back into the stand which was now assembled properly. What should have taken an hour took more than 3. On top of that, half of my lights were not working. After a trip to the store, the lights were twinkling on the tree. This usually simple job, turned into a real ordeal. But in the end, the tree is up and ready to greet holiday revelers when they enter the Meyer home.

Here is a photo of the culprit. Imagine trying to assemble the tree without the silver ring on top. No wonder this was such a debacle.

I am NOT a smart man.

The Mannings

If you're not a football fan, you won't get the joke below. However, if you ARE a football fan, you may find the cartoon somewhat humorous.

The Manning family is NFL royalty. Dad, Archie, was a professional quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. His sons, Eli and Peyton are both Super Bowl winning quarterbacks. The joke here is that Eli has been having a down year and has thrown a lot of interceptions. Peyton recently became the all-time leader in touchdown passes.

Christmas season is here!

Thanksgiving is behind us and now it's directly into... Christmas!

Today the christmas decorations will be pulled out of storage and the tree will go up in the next few days. I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I'm not ready.

Speaking of Christmas, I am already saddened at what it has become. Tami and I just finished watching some videos of Black Friday shoppers. The mob scenes were unbelievable. There were fights, stampedes and people getting arrested. All this in the name of saving a few bucks on a flatscreen TV. The behavior of the American public is an embarrassment. We should be ashamed as a nation. With this greedy behavior, it's no wonder the rest of the world hates us.

This Christmas season I will not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. The birth of my Savior. God incarnate who came to earth to save the soul of a sinner like me.

We have a winner!

The smoked turkey lived up to the hype. It was out of this world! Tami and I have already decided this will be a Thanksgiving tradition. In fact, Pit to Plate smokes turkeys all year long and we may get smoked turkeys for other occasions too. Yeah, it was THAT good.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Mr. Obvious- The Turkey

I don't condone listening to the Bob and Tom Radio show. Most of their material is pure trash. Many years go I listened to it every morning, but I realized it was negatively affecting my brain. I haven't listened to the show in over 5 years. However, every now then they produce something clean enough and funny enough that makes it blog-worthy. This audio clip is an example of that. Listen and enjoy this Thanksgiving gem.

Happy Thanksgiving - Turkey Drop

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Second only to Christmas as the best holiday of the year. Of course no Thanksgiving would be complete without this classic clip from WKRP in Cincinnati. This is quite possibly the funniest clip in the history of TV. If not, it is by far the funniest Thanksgiving TV clip of all time. ENJOY!

Yum!

I picked up the smoked turkey today. It smells heavenly! I can't wait to dig into that bird.

Apparently we're late to the party on this smoked turkey thing. When I picked it up, the clerk retrieved my ticket from a box that easily had 300 other tickets in it. I thought this would be a well kept secret, but the number of tickets in that box told me otherwise. I have a feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

I did learn one thing. You must completely thaw and clean out your turkey before dropping it off at the smokehouse. Thankfully we followed the rules, but judging by the number of signs hanging in the restaurant, other people have dropped off frozen turkeys. That practice is severely frowned upon. Here is a picture of our bird before we dropped him off. He looks ready for action!

Thanksgiving Eve

Today is Thanksgiving Eve. In my much younger days I used to go out for a good time on one of the biggest party nights of the year. That was a lifetime ago! How how things change! Today I will be cleaning the house and performing household tasks in preparation for our big day hosting the whole family for Thanksgiving dinner. It's all part of growing up I guess. In a few hours I will head out to pick up our smoked turkey. It's going to be a great holiday! I can't wait!

And for what it's worth... I will not be doing any shopping in the next few days. Black Friday has given way to some retailers being open on Thanksgiving. I think this is so shameful. Nothing is sacred anymore. I am waiting for stores to be open on Christmas day next. So sad!

More Thanksgiving Fun

The Thanksgiving fun continues...

Turkey Day?

This morning I heard a radio host refer to Thursday's holiday as "Turkey Day". I'm not such a prude that I have a real problem with this moniker. I'm okay with a playful name for a holiday as long as the real name and meaning behind the holiday are not lost. Thanksgiving is exactly what it is labeled. A day of giving thanks. More specifically it's a day to thank God for his provision and blessing throughout the year. I enjoy the humorous side of Thanksgiving too. That's why Thanksgiving being called Turkey Day doesn't bother me that much. Enjoy the holiday, everybody!

Smoking a Turkey

I posted a few days ago about the turkey I "shot" in the frozen foods aisle. Once I got the big gobbler home, Tami decided we needed to do something special with it. Last night at church, our friend David Claire gave us just the idea we were looking for. He said his family takes their turkey to "Pit to Plate BBQ" every year. This barbecue restaurant in Mt. Healthy smokes your turkey for the reasonable price of $1 per pound. You know that heavenly, smoky flavor I'm talking about, right? Just think of the pulled pork, chicken or brisket at any southern bbq joint and you can almost taste the smoked turkey we will savor on Thursday. Tami dropped off the turkey today (Monday) and we can pick it up any time after 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday. On Thursday all we have to do is heat the smoked fowl in the oven and we will have a turkey we will never forget. I can hardly wait!

I am glad to let "Pit to Plate" smoke my turkey this year. These guys are bbq experts and will smoke it to perfection. I tried to smoke my own turkey once and it didn't go well at all. I couldn't even get the thing lit. Da-dump-bump! Sorry, everybody. I know that was a really bad joke, but I couldn't resist :-)

But I am serious about getting our turkey smoked by a bbq restaurant.

Thanksgiving Week

It's Thanksgiving week! One of my favorite weeks of the year.

There are only two days of school this week. My whole family is coming to my house for a glorious celebration of food and fun. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is on TV followed by (of course) football.  It's time to put up the Christmas decorations. And most importantly it's a time to thank my Great God for his provision for my family this year. I am truly grateful for the boundless blessings the Lord has bestowed upon me this past year. There are so many it would take me a million years to type  them all.

Putting seriousness aside for a moment, this whole week puts me in a jovial mood. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but I just feel giddy. You will be able to see it evidenced in this week's blog posts. Not a lot of hard hitting news... just good, clean fun!

Schoolhouse Rock

If you grew up in the 70's or 80's, you probably remember Schoolhouse Rock. These short little cartoons gave lessons in Social Studies and grammar. If you know about Schoolhouse Rock, you will remember one of my favorites. The Bill on Capitol Hill. Saturday Night Live recently did a spoof on this cartoon. It took a shot at Obama's executive order on immigration and it's one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

No pressure...

Tonight I taught a bible study lesson to my small group from church. That may not sound like a big deal, but it certainly was to me. For starters all seven of the other people sitting in the room probably have more biblical knowledge than me. That's pressure enough. However the bigger deal to me was one of the seven people in the room was our Pastor. No pressure, right? Nothing like teaching a Bible lesson to your own Pastor. Yikes!

All went well though. The lesson was satisfactory and I was basically happy with it. It seemed a bit choppy and it didn't flow as well as I would have liked, but overall the lesson accomplished what it was designed to do. Essentially it was one sinner talking to seven other sinners. I can't take any credit for this lesson. All glory and honor go to God.

Soli' Deo Gloria!

Shooting a turkey

Thanksgiving is only 6 days away and Tami and I will be hosting about 25 people for Thanksgiving dinner. I decided that since we haven't hosted Thanksgiving in many years, it would be a good idea to really do it up special. That's why I made the decision to go out and shoot my own turkey. I was expecting it to be a lot more challenging, but it was remarkably easier than I thought. The hunting trip was not without incident though. Read below to see what happened.

Executive Order

This evening our President vowed to use executive order to reform immigration legislation. He is completely circumventing congress and acting on his own. I'm not really sure what has happened to the system of checks and balances, but perhaps Obama has never heard of it. There is no longer any balance of power. The President believes he is omnipotent and needs approval from nobody.

The following cartoons are not related to immigration reform, but with Thanksgiving a week away, I did find them amusing.

Busy and Slow

It's been a busy day for me and a slow news day to boot. Veterans Day was over a week ago, but I thought I'd share this anyway. Heck, veterans deserve honor and respect every day, not just on November 11th.

You know you're getting older when...

This post is mostly aimed at young folks, which seems a bit odd since most of my readers are older. It makes no difference, everybody remembers a time when they realized they were growing up (whether they wanted to or not).

You know you’re getting older when…


Your houseplants are actually alive

You keep more food than beer in the fridge

6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed

You hear your favorite song in an elevator

You watch the weather channel

You go from 130 days of vacation to 14

Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as “dressed up”.

You’re the one calling the police because the neighbor’s music is too loud

You don’t know what time Taco Bell closes anymore

Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up

Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt

You take naps

Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one

Eating chicken wings at 3 AM upsets your stomach instead of settling it

A $4 bottle of wine is no longer “pretty good”

You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time

90% of the time you spend in front of the computer is for real work

You drink at home to save money on the dinner bill later

Snow doubt about it!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's two thousand words showing you why I am not at work today.

November 16/17, 2014.

Here we SNOW again!

And snow it begins...

The snow is coming down as I type this and it has begun to accumulate. The forecasters have backed off their latest forecast and the final estimates seem to be 2-4 inches of snow. No matter how you slice it, tomorrow's commute is going to be messy and challenging. I can't believe this is happening... it's too soon!

That escalated quickly

Earlier in the weekend, the weather forecasters were calling for a dusting of snow, maybe an inch at most. Yesterday morning the forecast was upgraded to 1-3 inches and last night it was increased to 2-4 inches. This morning we are hearing 3-5 inches. The severity of the forecast is escalating quickly! UGH! It's only mid-November. I am NOT ready for this garbage.