Ask a Lutheran

Christmas meme

Tempest inspired me to give this a shot.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

I wouldn't drink egg nog if you paid me. Ewww.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

Actually, "Santa" only fills stockings. Some of the stuff gets wrapped and some doesn't. No real rhyme or reason to it.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?

White on the tree. Nothing on the house.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?

Nooo....should I?

5. When do you put your decorations up?

Everything goes up on the last Saturday of the church year (which is the day before the first Sunday of the church year. That's this Saturday this year.) That way everything is up for the start of Advent as we prepare for the coming of the Messiah.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?

Red cabbage! It is a traditional German dish in our family. It's cooked with apples and brown sugar and cider vinegar and cloves. Sort of sweet and sour tasting. It's amazing with turkey.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:

On Christmas Eve - after church, but before we opened our presents - we always sang hymns and Christmas songs and read the Nativity story from Luke. Some of the songs we sang were in German, but I can't remember the words to them any more.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

I don't remember exactly how old I was, probably around 10, and I don't remember how I found out, but I do remember that I bawled my eyes out!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

We open ALL our gifts on Christmas Eve. Another German tradition.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?

The colour scheme is red, white and silver. Click on the picture for a closer look.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?

Is "despise" too strong a word?

12. Can you ice skate?

Yes and no. There's something the matter with my feet - bad arches or something - that makes being on ice skates for more than a couple of minutes excruciatingly painful. So, though I know how to skate, I don't actually do it.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?

Barbie motor home. Oh yeah!

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?

The Messiah.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
I don't know. Shortbread maybe?

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

Have you ever heard of the Quempas Celebration? It is traditionally done in the Christmas Eve service. Groups of children assemble in the four corners of the sanctuary. Beginning in one corner, the children sing the Quem pastores unaccompanied. Then the choir sings the Nunc angelorum in response, also unaccompanied. Then the whole congregation responds with the Resonet in laudibus. I wish I knew what the latin means. During the choir's singing, the children move from corner to corner. They represent the Gospel being proclaimed from the "four corners" of the earth. The choir's response symolizes the angels' pronouncements on the first Christmas. The Quempas is an ancient church tradition, going back to the 14th century, and is observed to this day in some churches. Ours is one.

17. What tops your tree?

A star. But that could change.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?

You know, the receiving is no big whoop for me anymore. I do really love the whole process of giving gifts. Selecting something that will be enjoyed, wrapping it, seeing the reaction, the whole bit. We have a pretty strict budget for gift giving, but it is so satisfying giving a good gift that took thought and effort and that I know will be appreciated.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending. I guess that it is technically an Advent hymn, but we only get to sing it at Advent/Christmas time. If you're interested, the words and melody are here.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
I'm gonna have to go with yuck. I can take them or leave them, but I lean more towards leave them.

And Now for Something Completely Different

My son was glued to the computer this past weekend playing a game he calls "Line Rider". Check it out here. Completely hilarious and totally addictive.

Don't say I didn't warn you!

This is me, with a big ole' smile plastered on my face...

Christmas came early for me! I have managed to find - or be found by - eight of my faithprints buddies now! Imagine my surprise when I logged in here to find that Shortybear left me a comment! As I read it I realized that I was grinning from ear to ear. Boy you guys now how to make my day! It has been a busy day for me, and my daughter needs to get on the computer so she can finish an assignment so I must keep this short, but I just had to say something to let you all know how beyond thrilled I am to be able to connect with you all again. It is something I have prayed for, and God is so gracious to grant this. Be "seeing" you all soon!

Crime and punishment

We had some excitement this past month - our home was broken into twice in one week.

The first time it happened was on Hallowe'en. Actually, it goes back to even before that. Back in September, we noticed that a bottle of liquor had gone missing from our liquor cabinet. Naturally, we asked the kids first if they knew anything about it (I don't want to give the impression that they're problem kids or anything, but they are teenagers after all...) but all of the kids quite believably denied taking it. Then my hubby asked if anyone had had friends in the house recently. My son, Brent, got a stricken look on his face. I took him aside and asked him about it. He admitted that he had had a friend in the house several days before without our permission or knowledge. This is a big no-no in our house - we are always happy to open our home to our children's friends, but there MUST be a parent present. Then he admitted that he had not seen his friend to the door when he left - he had remained in the basement - so it was possible that the "friend" was responsible for the missing bottle. Brent wanted to confront the boy, but I felt that it was not right to make an accusation without real proof. Everybody got a lecture on having friends in the house and Brent got grounded for 2 weeks for breaking the rules. We figured that was the end of it.

Then on November first, my other son noticed that there were FOUR more bottles of liquor missing from the liquor cabinet. Three of them were unopened bottles of rye (which we do not drink, but for some reason we keep receiving as gifts). We checked around the house and couldn't find anything else missing, but I recalled that the day before (Hallowe'en) I had found the back door unlocked when I came home from work. I had assumed that one of the kids had left it unlocked but now I wasn't so sure. I hadn't noticed anything missing the day before, but I hadn't specifically looked either. So, I called the police.

An officer came and took our information. I told him about the bottle that had gone missing earlier and that I thought this young man might have been involved in the most recent theft. He took the name and address of the boy, but he seemed very skeptical. He kept saying "I don't want to point any fingers..." but basically, he thought our kids were involved and he encouraged me to question them hard to "get to the bottom of it". He said he would go question the boy we suspected, but not until he we were sure our own kids weren't involved. Well, I didn't really think my kids were involved, but that evening my husband and I grilled them all. They all adamantly insisted that they had not taken the booze and weren't involved in any way. The next day I called the officer to inform him, but his voice mail said he was on vacation for most of November! I was a bit irritated, but figured I'd just have to wait for him to return.

One week later, however, my oldest son came home from school to find our back door standing open and evidence that someone had broken into our home through a second floor window (yes, the second floor!). Now, normally I am the first one home, but this day he had last period spare so he was first. He called me at work in a panic and I told him to call 9-1-1 and I would be home in 10 minutes. The poor kid went around the house - this time they cleaned out the liquor cabinet and my boys' gaming system and all of their games (which they bought with their own money) had been taken. By the time the police got there we were able to determine that nothing else was missing.

This time the officer took us seriously. She took all the information and called out I-dent (like the CSI guys) to come and look for fingerprints. (They even found a cigarette butt in our yard that they bagged for DNA evidence! I couldn't believe the trouble they were going to for a simple break, enter and theft. It was kind of cool, though, to see how it works in real life.)

Anyways, to make a long story short, the officer questioned the boy we had identified and he eventually admitted that he and another boy were responsible for all the thefts. Amazingly, the police were able to recover the gaming system and all but 2 games (our stuff had been "pawned" but only 2 of the games had actually sold). They also recovered some of the liquor, but I didn't want it back - ewww. Both of the boys were arrested and charged and are under orders not to approach my children in any way.

Since then, we've changed all the locks in our house, added window locks to the upstairs windows and added a security bar to the sliding door. Plus, we had an alarm system installed on Saturday. What freaked me out the most was not that they stole our stuff, or came into our home so easily. It's that the last time they broke in, my thirteen year old daughter almost was home. She had been feeling a bit under the weather and that morning I had almost let her stay home. I don't even want to think about what might have happened if she had been home...

After all of this, I feel strangely ambivalent towards these boys. The officer told us that the boy we suspected seemed genuinely remorseful for what he has done. Regardless of the outcome of the court proceedings, he is going to suffer some serious consequences - because of this, his mother has kicked him out and sent him to live with his father. Quite honestly, I feel compassion for him - I know he has a difficult home life. I am quite able to forgive him, and I hope that one day I get the chance to tell him that face to face. The other boy, however, has refused to admit his part (though his fingerprints were found in our home). He "lawyered up" (which is his right) and is refusing to cooperate with the police. It's hard for me to forgive under these circumstances. Without repentence, how can there be forgiveness? One day I'd like to be able to tell him this as well.

Goodbye Dick

When I came home from grocery shopping yesterday evening, my son Brent had some sad news for me. Our good friend, Mr. Dick Trego had died that morning.

I hadn't actually seen Dick for over a year. We got to know him well at our old church but since we began attending another church about 3 years ago I hadn't seen him as often. During those last 3 years I only saw him a handful of times at district (ie. church district) functions and at his beloved "Breakfast Club".

At Messiah Lutheran Church in Waterloo, I had the opportunity to work with Dick on the Board of Outreach. In his mid-70's by then, Dick had been involved in the work of the church for decades. Over the years he'd served in a variety of capacities - as an Elder, as Congregational Chairman, as a Department head or a Committee member of any number of groups - but in the years that I worked with him he stopped working in front-line service positions and took on more of a mentoring role.

Dick was a real "Barnabas"; an encourager. He generously supported the work of the church financially, and he supported and encouraged those in full-time church work, as well as those who work to further the kingdom through volunteer church service and their everyday vocations. Watching him operate - really, the Holy Spirit operating through him - I came away with a powerful picture of the Body at work. In his later years, Dick was no longer able to do the work of the hands that he once did...but he was able to do the work of the arms - a force behind the hands, enabling them to do their work. And Dick, of course, would be the first one to point out the ultimate source of that force; the Lord Himself. Dick never forgot that we have no strength of our own.

For the last five years, Dick volunteered Monday mornings at a school breakfast program, the Cedarbrae Breakfast Club. This is where I saw Dick most often in the last couple of years. It so happens that my mom is the coordinator of the program and my kids and I sometimes drop by to lend a hand. Most often, Dick could be found engaging the most troubled of the kids. He had a way with young boys especially and this was where his gift for encouraging really shone. By this time, Dick was in his eighties: fully bald, wearing glasses and a cardigan and moving a little slower than he formerly had, he could easily have been a target of scorn for these kids. But instead they gravitated to him because Dick, who understood how very much he had received by God's grace, dispensed grace as well. In this public school, where proclaiming the Gospel is prohibited by law, these children nonetheless saw a picture of their gracious Saviour in Richard Trego.

This is probably the only "eulogy" Dick is going to get. Dick's funeral service is being held this Sunday at Messiah, but a Lutheran funeral service does not have a eulogy. The focus of a Lutheran funeral service is placed squarely where it ought to be: not on the "works" of the one who died, but on the Work of the One Who Died. Dick, who many years ago was baptized into that Death, is now raised to life with Him as well. What else matters, really?

Dick is home now. I will miss him. But, oh I know how he must be rejoicing! He is with his Father! He is with his King! He is now exactly where he most wanted to be: in the eternal presence of God. See you soon.

It's kind of weird...

...having a blog that nobody is actually reading. (Well, actually at least one person has read it, 'cause I got a comment from Coppertop, woo hoo!) I didn't exactly have a following or anything on my old blog, but typically I'd see half a dozen or so comments to each entry, and they usually showed up pretty quickly. Now I don't know anybody anymore! Sniff...