Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy

by chuckofish

Four days til Christmas! I am re-reading Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon, the Mitford Advent/Christmas book, to help put me in the mood. It’s the one where Father Tim is fixing up the old nativity set. Standard stuff but always comforting.

I also got out some of my mother’s old Christmas books, including Happy Christmas, published in 1968, which includes selections from a wide variety of books.

This one reminds us that nothing changes that much–at least peoples’ view that times are never as good as the good ol’ days…

Anne is right on target as usual. “In the face of all this searching desire on the part of God, you can keep backing up, like Israel always did, hoping he will get bored and hassle someone else. Or you can be like Mary. You can magnify him—that is, praise his holy Name. You can let your soul rejoice in him. You can revel in the contrast between his great mercy and strength, and your own foolish weakness.”

Here is part two of Paul Zahl’s TCM picks for December. I have to say, I really disagree with him about King of Kings (1961) which he still really likes. I loved it as a child (Jeffrey Hunter is dreamy) and the music is great, but it is unbiblical and really pretty bad.

And here’s the Charlie Brown Christmas Medley (with all the parts played by Josh Turner) to put you solidly in the mood for mistletoe and presents for pretty girls…

And this made me laugh.