It's Christmas Everywhere!

One of my favourite Christmas CDs is Relient K's Let It Snow Baby...Let it Reindeer. One of the tracks on it is a cover of Silver Bells. Relient K does a great job of creating some more sophisticated sounds for the classic, including a sweet piano riff. But in true Relient K fashion, they also wrote a bridge:

Christmas time is almost here
Take the time to breathe the air
The bells ring out, tell us about
How Love was born this day

As the song transitions from this bridge back into the final chorus, I can't help but think of the song with a new perspective; one that is more Christ-centered. It's a beautiful piece of music. Here, in the middle of a "Christmas" song is a little bridge that reminds me that I can find the beauty and wonder of Jesus in many places during Christmas, not just by participating in mass or by looking at nativity scenes. I can find Him in the hearts of mall santas, in the hearts of children laughing, in the streetlights blinking red and green, and yes, in the sound of silver bells.

Let us rejoice! Our Saviour has been born to show us how to live and how to love. Look for that love everywhere.

Here's a link to Relient K's Silver Bells:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmtBtksPqD4

Merry Christmas everybody!

Mary and Joseph's Christmas Wish

I'm young. I'm only 21. And so, I am not going to say that I have a lot of life experience, nor will I assume that I will ever know what everyone is going to go through during their lifetimes. But I can say with confidence that no one, NO ONE, is going to experience anything that will top having an archangel appear to you and tell you that you will give birth to God.

BAM.

Mind blown.

From One Season to Another

The first full week of January 2010 is coming to a close. The year of 2009 is under our belts, and the freshness of the new year is staring us in the face with relatives getting ready to go home, students getting back into routine, and the last hoorahs of the 2 week break quickly fading. Amongst all this, you may notice certain things: carols are no longer sung, people are taking their lights down, and Starbucks is getting rid of their holiday drink lineup. Yep, that's right - the Christmas season is over.

Those 12 days, from Dec. 25th to Jan. 6th (Feast of the Epiphany) always mark such an exciting time each year. The birth of Christ gives everyone the tremendous opportunity to make way for thoughtfulness, peace, and love. The reminder of His birth helps everyone to gather together as a family and to be thankful.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time…To Get Grumpy

It's that time of year! Advent is just around the corner, which means that in a little over 4 weeks, it'll be Christmas!! A time of joy, of peace, of hope, and of love. A time to spend precious moments with family and friends, to go play in the snow, to celebrate the birth of Christ, and...to get frustrated and angry while shopping for presents.

I used to work at Indigo Books. Yeah yeah it's a bookstore, but it was busy around Christmas time. I was a cashier most of the time, so I'd be helping people purchase their gifts, get them gift bags and gift wrap, all that good cheery stuff. But a lot of the people shopping...wow did they hate being there. Complaining about how the line ups were too long, or how we weren't going fast enough, or how all these books and dvds and cds were too expensive. And then somehow at the end of the whole transaction, they mustered up the courage to say "Merry Christmas.”