Dear Santa...WHAT HAPPENED!!

I just happened upon this blog post and wanted to share;

"My open letter to Santa Claus

Dear Santa,
First, may I call you St. Nicholas? I'm much more comfortable with that name.
So St. Nicholas, now that the holidays are over I'm writing to tell you that I'm very concerned. I mean, what happened? For hundreds of years you were this beloved saint, a bishop who loved children and saved three sisters from a life of prostitution. You supposedly punched out a heretic at the Council of Nicea and then proclaimed the Truth. You were cool before cool was a word.

But now you're seen as just being a fat guy in some silly red suit. Sure, people think of you as jolly and an all around good guy, but you've been stripped of all your coolness and left as little more than a large elf who gives overindulged kids whatever they want for Christmas...
 
.....PLEASE go finish, this is a great post.
 http://learningtobeanewlywed.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-open-letter-to-santa-claus.html
 
It has been an incredibly busy holiday season and I still have much to do. We are celebrating "on the cheap" this year, first there is no extra money to spend and second, my kids are grown and buy stuff as they need it. We did get the grandkids bright and shiny new toys because they are God's gift to us and we like to spoil them. But everybody else is getting handmade.
 
The gandkids are at the Santa age and I have mixed feelings about the whole Santa legend. It is a lot of fun, so true, fun little songs, concerns from them that Santa will burn his behind so we can't have a fire on Christmas eve...etc etc. My husband and daughter morph into stone faced liars as they perpetuate the myth, I squeem as I look at the impersonators dressed in red, waiting to take the kids adorable handwritten lists...as one lonely reindeer looks on. You know, I'm just not sold on this whole thing.
 
When I was a young mother we went to church. Now there is a reason for the season.
 
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Here is a very nice compilation http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2010/12/6-part-harmony.html pretty easy to understand, useful for a family sharing time. And some substance for the holidays.

Turning holiday into Holy Day...

 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But Mary was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."

Well, my best to you, I hope you are in the middle of a very meaningful merry holy holiday!

The best gifts of all around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family wrapped up around each other.