My new cat Peanut is quite the mellow gal. At least she was today.

I’m pretty sure she did little more than loaf around all day, which in my estimation is not a bad plan at all.

I captured her maybe looking a trifle annoyed at me for putting this cat-shaped neck massager (turned off) around her sleepy little form. I’m not sure she appreciates the fact that the fake cat looks a little like the real thing.

Still, that didn’t stop her from napping. Nothing gets in the way of a feline and a good snooze. Well, almost nothing. Me taking all these pictures might cut into her beauty regimen.

She gets more lovable every day. I still think she’s a keeper. Now you go and find a furry cat or dog (or some other animal) to pet before you call it a night.

Newsflash: there are only two days left in 2018. It’s probably time to think about what you want to do in 2019, or better yet, who you want to be in 2019. Time to get cracking on those resolutions.

What kind of a difference do you want to make?

Will it be all about how you present yourself on social media so that everyone sees an idealized, glorified version of you?

Will it be about obtaining that better car, that better house, that perfect job, that ideal spouse, etc.?

Perhaps a different take to the question– what kind of difference for the kingdom of God will you make?

I think once you and I realize that our lives aren’t about us (and don’t really belong to us anyway), then we can begin to see our story in view of God’s greater story?

In God’s grand play of life, what will your verse be? Who will be better because of you? Whose story will be changed because of you faithfully living out your story in the grand scheme of God’s divine plan?

Tomorrow’s a good day to start over again.

I’m thankful for some unanswered prayers. Ok, in a sense, there are no unanswered prayers but those where God chooses not to give what we ask or not to give when we ask. There are God’s silences when the answer is much too big for us to handle at that moment.

But I’m thankful that God didn’t give me most of what I asked Him for.

I see just a tiny bit of the future, but God sees the entire thing. When I get a “no,” I can trust that God sees something I don’t. Or maybe God knows that the very request I’m desiring would also be the instrument of my destruction if I got it.

Elisabeth Elliott once said that God gives the very best to those who leave the choice with Him. Not to say that prayers aren’t important or that voicing petitions doesn’t matter. God specifically tells us to ask, seek, and knock continually for those things we need.

But still I have a puny, finite mind. I pray for stupid, selfish stuff quite often. We all do. But sometimes God gives us what lies at the heart of that silly request. Above all, God gives no gifts apart from Himself, the greatest Gift.

I think it was the fictional character Tim Kavanaugh in Jan Karon’s series of Mitford novels who came up with the phrase “praying the prayer that never fails.” That prayer is “Your will be done.” When in doubt, go with that.

My sister recently asked me what my favorite gift was from the most recent Christmas. It took me a minute. I had to dust out a few cobwebs from the old noggin, but I finally figured it out.

My favorite gift wasn’t the most expensive gift. It wasn’t on my wish list. In fact, it was totally and completely unexpected. It was a custom made ornament from Pigeon Forge featuring my late beloved cat Lucy. It gave me all the feels.

If I go back even further in time, way back to the Fox Meadows days, I can tell you that the gift that I remember most that gave me the most lasting joy was my trusty old Commodore 64.

It was state of the art way back in 1983. That Commodore 64 was my very first personal computer and served me well for 10 years. I know you can’t imagine, but it had a whopping 64 kilobytes of memory. Not 64 gigabytes or even 64 megabytes. 64 kilobytes.

To put that into perspective, the space bar on today’s computers probably have more memory than my entire computer. But I loved that thing.

I found out you can go back– sort of– I got a Mini C64 gaming system, which is a miniature replica of the old Commodore keyboard pre-loaded with 64 of their best games. Hopefully, I can avoid that infamous crick in the neck that plagued me one afternoon as a result of sitting too long playing Lode Runner or Impossible Mission.

I think 2019 is going to be a good year.

I’m very satisfied. My heart is completely full after another Christmas draws to a close.

When I was a kid, it was all about getting everything I asked for from the Big Fat Jolly Dude known as Santa. Usually, I got most of the toys and gadgets on my list, but I still always ended up feeling vaguely unsatisfied, like something was still missing.

The older I get, the more I realize that the best part about Christmas with family and friends are the memories you take with you. Long after the toys and devices break, get thrown away, get donated to Goodwill, or end up forgotten in an attic somewhere, those images from the past linger on.

Even now, if I try hard enough, I can conjure up pictures of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, some of whom are not physically present anymore. I can remember their smiles and laughter and especially their love for me and my love for them.

There’s a line from It’s a Wonderful Life that says, “You can only take with you what you’ve given away.”

There are no U-Hauls behind hearses. You don’t get to take all your toys with you when you die. What you take is the love that you shared and the people that will be in heaven because you shared the love of Jesus with them.

So I’m going to bed feeling all warm and fuzzy and contented.

Merry Christmas to all, indeed, and to all a good night.

” . . . and it was always said of [Scrooge], that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!” (Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol).

I’m always a little sad to see Christmas Day end. Honestly, I always feel a little let-down. Not because of any gift I didn’t receive or of anything lacking in the day, but because it seems like the end to the magical season that starts in November with Thanksgiving and carries through December.

I think the fictional character of Ebenezer Scrooge got it right. It may have taken nearly a lifetime, but he finally got it right. You can keep the spirit of Christmas alive beyond December 25 and throughout the year. You can honor the child born in the manger not only one day of the year but all the days of all the years.

There’ something about seeing colored lights and tinsel and decorations that brings out the childlike wonder in me. This time of year makes those who have departed from this world seem nearer than ever. I’m coming to love the season of Advent more and more as I get older.

But the magic of the season doesn’t have to end with December. I can still strive in small ways to bring peace on earth, good will to men. I can do my part to live in gratitude for that Jesus who grew out of that manger and into the Savior of the world.

I can even play Christmas music and watch those holiday movies when the urge hits me, even in the middle of hot July.

As I get older, gifts matter less. Seeing and adoring the Christ child matters more. May I never lose that wonder.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. The day after is Christmas. I felt I needed to remind myself what the true meaning of Advent and Christmas really is. Few said it better than Saint Augustine. These words really capture the impossible becoming reality that is at the heart of Christmas.

“When the Maker of time, the Word of the Father, was made Flesh, He gave us His birthday in time, and He, without Whose divine bidding no day runs its course, in His incarnation reserved one day for Himself. He Himself with the Father precedes all spans of time, but on this day, issuing from His mother, He stepped into the tide of years. Man’s Maker was made Man that He, the Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast, that the Bread might be hungry, that the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired from the journey, that Truth be accused by false witnesses, that the Judge of the living and dead be judged by a mortal judge, that the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Vine crowned with thorns, the Foundation be suspended on wood, that Strength might be made weak, that the Healer be wounded, that Life might die” (St. Augustine).

“He so loved us that, for our sake,
He was made man in time,
although through him all times were made.
He was made man, who made man.
He was created of a mother whom he created.
He was carried by hands that he formed.
He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, he the Word,
without whom all human eloquence is mute” (St. Augustine).

For some odd reason, I had a flashback and remembered the old wrapping paper we used to have back in the day. It was sort of a metallic green and came from the Goldsmith’s Department Store in Memphis (now Macy’s). I think my grandfather was the one who brought it home.

I remember it was an industrial sized roll, and I got used to seeing most of my presents in that green paper wrapping. It wasn’t overly festive or even technically Christmas-y. It was just plain green wrapping paper. FYI, if you watch the scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie and his brother are opening all their gifts on Christmas Day, you’ll catch a glimpse of some green wrapping paper very similar to the one I knew so well.

Honestly, I can’t tell you much of what came wrapped in that metallic green. I’d be lucky if I could recall maybe 1% of all the presents I received from all the Christmases in my childhood.

What I do remember are the people who gave me those gifts. Even back then, I knew that a lot of thought and love went into those presents. I wish I knew then as I know now that the greatest gifts were those people.

If memory serves, I think we finally used the last of that wrapping paper last Christmas. It was truly the end of an era. Now all that’s left are the memories I keep. But maybe those are better than any old wrapping paper anyway.

Yes, December 21 is Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. After today, the days start getting longer again.

Some of you are completely done with all your present buying and wrapping. You are the 1%. Lucky you.

Some of you (including me) have some or most of the Christmas shopping done, so there’s a little bit of breathing room and not as much stress.

Some of you haven’t quite started yet. You’re either the ones sweating bullets or thriving on waiting until the absolute last minute.

Maybe in the few days left till Christmas, you can choose not to obsess over what gifts you will give. Maybe spend more time relishing in that one Gift that you have already received, and will receive again. Jesus is coming!

That one Gift is all that really matters. Christmas isn’t about what’s under the tree but what’s in the manger. It’s not wrapped in pretty paper but in swaddling cloths.

Christmas is still about Emmanuel, God with us.