O. Christmas Tree

To the great delight of all the children in our home, the Christmas tree was finally assembled and decorated a couple of days ago. My most excellent wife had been trying to make time to get it done for the past few weeks, but scheduling logjams and our annual bout with the plague were obstacles of the insurmountable variety. Daylight finally dawned and the tree was up. {tada!}

This being the baby’s first Christmas with any real awareness of anything beside naps and nursing,

Our Common Table

Our church, a Southern Baptist one, is considering the move to weekly Communion. We used to do it weekly, but moved away from the practice for a variety of reasons. Now, we are thinking it through again, and it looks like that will be the direction we take.

I say all this to introduce a question: Does the eating and drinking of the Lord’s Supper have a cumulative effect?

Pagoodytakes

Today is the 30th annual smokeout…a day when Americans are encouraged en masse to give up the smokes. I want to be clear that my position is that cigarettes will kill you and everyone who smokes them should stop. I am an ex-smoker who can testify to the benefits of having quit. While I do enjoy an occasional cigar, and would love to smoke a pipe (but would hate the constant answering for it to my beloved Baptist brethren), smoking is generally not a good thing.

Family Tradition

AJ Vanderhorst shares a family tradition that is at once hilarious and warming. You’d do yourself a nice thing by reading this post. Do you have family traditions like this? Familiar but distinct. Common but heavenly. Humbling but encouraging. Grounding but freeing.

Street Cred

Tony Woodlief, blogger and writer, has referenced me and my blog in a piece he did for World on the Web (World Mag’s e-zine). And the stats go wild. While I have promised not to exaggerate familiarity, I count him a friend. Read his blog. Now. As you do, go through his archives. You’ll find a genuine man with a heart for God and great love for his family. Some stirring stuff, really.

Douglas Wilson on Culture and Educating Children

Okay, I like this. A lot.

There’s No Place Like Home

What does it mean to be “conformed to this world?” I think it means living in this world as if it were home. It is not.

A Friend I’ve Never Met

Tony Woodlief’s blog is often a glass of cold water on a hot day for me. This entry was particularly encouraging for me as a dad of four girls and a boy.

On a more important note…

Sam, my son with whom I am well pleased, took a shower after a haircut this evening. He has heretofore held showers in very low regard, but this time we were able to turn the shower into the rain locker (a phrase I got from my dad). Sam turned loathing into lather as he rejoiced, “It is raining just like outside, Dad!” He even washed his own hair. Day made.

Sweet Potatoes and Grace

My son ate sweet potatoes. They were slathered with melty marshmallows which were the allure. He tried a bite. After an obligatory display of gagging and face-making he said, “I need some of these on a plate.” This is a big deal.