Here’s a quick video made w/ Gawker. Make sure you watch the dog.
A Quick Christmas Look from Blake Thompson on Vimeo.
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This past week or so I’ve had a few conversations and read a few blogs (1 & 2)about whether I/we should tell our kids that Santa Clause is real or not. Early on, before our first kid was old enough to even talk I’d heard the idea that telling kids that Santa is real, that he’s always watching, that he has super natural powers, and will bring good gifts to us if we are nice instead of naughty can be damaging. Damaging if you line it up next to telling children that Jesus is real, always watching, loves us, and gives His grace and mercy even though we’re undeserving.
But what happens to a kid’s mind when they grow older and realize that the whole Santa thing has been a ruse and that their parents had been pulling their leg about this guy? Will they start to question the validity of the Jesus guy as well if the Santa guy reality is blown out of the water? On one hand it makes sense, but then again, I know plenty of people who love and believe in Jesus, but thought Santa was real earlier too. So I don’t know.
But the perceived dilemma was solved for us when our oldest was deathly afraid of Santa early on. Now she knows he’s not real. And she doesn’t try to tell other kids that he’s not real. I’m not sure where our 2nd one is on Santa. She’s never asked either way. But we’ve decided not to “lie” to our kids by telling them that Santa is real. A lot of people will probably think we’re scrooges for that. Especially family.
But I was surprised by a few conversations where I found similar thinking. And then I saw a series of blog posts called “Giftless Christmas” by Shaun Groves. Really eye opening. Counter culture. And cool at the same time. I know that Christmas Eve might not be the time to sit down and read through four posts, but I encourage you to read it at some point if you have children.
Shaun Grove: Slaying Santa ClauseShaun Grove: Going Giftless Pt. 1
Shaun Grove: Going Giftless Pt. 2
Shaun Grove: Going Giftless Pt. 3
Shaun Grove: Going Giftless Pt. 4
So.. What happens at your house? Do your (or will your) kids believe in the whole Santa Clause thing?
So after a tumultuous season of Fantasy Football things are now over. And I would congratulate whoever won, but I can’t do it now. Because how self centered would it be if I were to congratulate MYSELF for winning the the whole thing? I mean, I won the Orchard Oxford 2008 Fantasy Football League.
And it would be like tooting my own horn or something if I were to say, “Congratulations, Blake!” Plus it would also seem weird if I started talking to myself in 3rd person. My wife would give me a sideways glance but the people I work with might start questioning my sanity. And how lame would it be on top of all that? I mean, it’s just fantasy football, right?
So, since I am not able to congratulate the winner of the 2008 Fantasy Football season here with The Orchard, I’ll just post a small screen cap of the winners.
Hard to believe that Christmas is almost here. Only 6 more days. I think most of the pre-Christmas errands are done. Only one or two quick trips to make to tie up a few loose ends. This year The Wife and I bought each other a dining room table for Christmas. I like it a lot, but I don’t think it will play any XBox 360 games or double as a HDTV. But we’ll see.
We haven’t really gotten Rowan anything. He’ll only be 9 months at Christmas. He’s a baby; what does he care? Some people think that’s a horrible way to think. But we never really got any of the kids anything for their first Christmas. Actually Addison was only 6 months old and Ella was barely a month old. And of course the grandparents took up any slack. But before your first birthday you are much more interested in the wrapping paper than what is actually inside the box.
But along those same lines, I think it’s much easier to buy a gift for a 7 year old than a 4 year old. Personality and preferences have developed much more by then, so my seven year old can tell me more of what she wants. I’ll ask my four year old and she’ll offer up one or two suggestions, and then start telling what she wants for other people to have. In some ways I see that frustrating grandparents because they want to “get her something” that she’ll like. But I think it is sort of refreshing that she doesn’t have this huge list of things that she wants. She’s just happy to play with what she’s got. In fact, whatever her big sister wants is what she wants. Because she really would like to be like her big sister. And Christmas shouldn’t be about what we get anyhow, right?
Christmas this year will be different. We live a lot closer to all the family. So instead of driving 3+ hours from Clinton to make a North Mississippi Tour, we’re only 35 min away at the closest and 75 at the furthest. So that means I’ll be able to sleep in my own bed each night. But even when we drove longer distances I always made it a point to have my family in our beds on Christmas Eve. Some disagreed with me, but I felt it was important.
A tradition we’ve had the past few years might get tested. In years past since we were in Clinton on Christmas Eve because of attending church services, we’d always get some Pizza Hut carryout for our Christmas Eve supper. Not sure what will happen this time though. Might be back to LASAGNA at my grandmothers.
But a new year. A new routine. But hopefully not a loss of what Christmas is all about.
A few months back I saw mention of Phil Wickham on Brody’s blog. They were friends and Brody was telling folks that Phil was an awesome singer/songwriter ontop of being an awesome guy. Then a bit later Brody helped release Singalong, Phil’s free live worship album. I downloaded it back in August.
But just recently I spent time listening to it. And then when figured out that I had it all out of order in iTunes it made a big difference (it’s a live cd recorded at a worship meeting.) Anyhow, one of his songs is my new favorite. It’s called BEAUTIFUL. Last night it gave me chills as I really listened to the lyrics. That doesn’t happen often. So I figured I’d share it with you. Listen to it up above and tell me what you think.
The cd is a masterful mix of originals, traditional hymns, and a great blend of Phil’s voice, his guitar, and crowd singing along.
Anyhow, give it a listen. You can get the cd yourself for free from his website. It’s really good.
Hope your holidays have gone well so far. Let me know how you are. (lyrics are below)
[ht: Brody] Continue reading
During my absence I’ve been quite busy.
Yes, life has kept me on my toes with a few Christmas parties and family duties. But the main thing that has seemed to be on my mind was the coaching search at MSU. And after the “resigning” of Coach Croom the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the whole Bulldog Nation has been astir. But two days ago it seems we finally put the rumors and speculation to rest in the hire of Dan Mullen.
So maybe now my life can go back to semi-normal. I won’t have to be checking the message board and blogs and twitter feeds quite as religiously. It seemed I was a hawk for information, and a purveyor of it as well. I’d have people telling and asking info a lot. Now I guess we just figure out who the rest of the coaching staff and signees will be!
But that was partly to blame for the absence. The other parts were just staying busy with a family of five in the midst of holidays. Fun stuff. But I’m really looking forward to it. The tree is up, gifts are under the tree, some more gifts need to be bought, and weight is being put on I think.
But I’m back to blogging again. My wife checks here often and tells me “When are you going to post something new!?!, so I expect to flex the blogging muscles as we plow through the holidays and into a new year.
So I’m sitting in my living room listening to the carrots boil on the stove. Everything else in here is quiet. But I can hear the pandemonium that is coming from the back of the house. My brave wife decided to take all three kids to try to get cleaned off at once. Even she got a bath out of the time back there. But it’s been loud and crazy. I’m sure there’s a lot of water on the floor too. And the carrots continue to roll around in the boiling water (we’re going to mash them up to feed to Rowan… not eat our selves).
Last night was Art With Santa for our church. It’s our 2nd annual event that happens right before the Oxford Christmas parade. Kids come in and make Christmas art projects and get to sit on Santa’s lap if they’d like to. I don’t know exactly how many showed up. But it was pretty full in The Powerhouse for about two hours. And Pat said it was at least three or four times as many people who came last year. [a few pice below].
Then afterward we walked the parade route handing out signs for kids to hold up that said “SANTA, I’VE BEEN GOOD THIS YEAR!!!” The cool thing was that on the back side was our church name and info. So hopefully we’ll have a few more people hearing of us and maybe coming by.
We’re about to eat a little supper, and then decorate the tree. We were afraid it might not fit in our house because the house in Clinton had higher ceilings. The tree is a 9 footer. But it made it barely.
Now for some ART WITH SANTA PICS:
We should all look at doing this. And not just at Christmas.
I thought I’d found some nice tickets to the Egg Bowl. Then I found some even nicer ones (they were free).
I really didn’t think MSU had much of a chance of winning. And I knew that Ole Miss had been steadily improving. Heck, they beat LSU @ LSU last week. But I didn’t expect what happened.
Ole Miss scored. Then got the ball back and scored. Then intercepted us and scored. Then scored again. And like that it was 24-0 at the end of the first quarter. Ole Miss totally dominated MSU today. I left at the half. Glad I did. It got worse. Ended up 45-0.
Now the question is what sort of changes will happen with the MSU coaching staff. Many say a complete overhaul needs to happen. Some say the coordinators need to go at least. Croom has a pretty good recruiting class coming in. Some think if he goes they won’t come. Who knows? Does it matter who your recruits are if there is not good coaching to manage them? And lastly, some consider a buyout clause to be too expensive.
No matter all the debating, my opinion is something needs to change. And change quickly.
I asked this question to a friend the other day, but it seems vampires are so much “the thing” in pop culture. Why are vampires so popular?
- Right now the #1 movie in the country is Twilight. It focuses on a girl who moves to Washington (state) and becomes entangled with a “family” of vampires.
- The #1, #2, #3, and #4 books on the USA Today Best Seller list are Twilight and it’s three sequels by Stephanie Meyer.
- HBO‘s new series called True Blood has seen its ratings increase to now be its most popular series since the Sopranos and Sex In The City.
- I read that at least 18 vampire themed movies have been released this year with more on the way.
So why are vampires hot? What is making people eat up the books and movie tickets? I know it’s not because the books are outstanding literature. They’re not terrible, but not outstanding (I’ve read one and a half of the Twilight series). Is it the forbiddenness of relationships with them? Is it the fact they don’t die (a mortal death at least?) Dunno.
But at least in the way of the Twilight vampires, it seems Meyer is messing with the vampire legend some. Her vamps can come out in the day time, but their skin sparkles instead of smokes and withers away. And they can get nourishment by drinking blood from animals instead of needed it to be human blood. [The Japanese in True Blood have created a synthetic blood substitute for the vamps in that series, though they say it doesn’t taste as good as the real thing.] And they can see themselves in a mirror. No mention of garlic or stakes through the heart or holy water (that I’ve read yet at least)
Do you think vampires are hot? Why or why not?
