The true meaning of Christmas

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Despite all the efforts to combat it, Christmas is here. What was once a celebration of Christ’s birth has become artfully hijacked. In some ways it’s been converted into a time of commercialism. In others it’s become simply a time of tradition; family, food, fun. I’m not saying the exchange of gifts is bad and, quite frankly, this world needs more tradition and family time. Whether good or bad, these things are a distraction from the true meaning of Christmas.

One thing I first realized when I became a Christian is that there’s way more to the Christmas story than I’d ever known. Jesus didn’t suddenly spring up and change the way God dealt with man forever; his birth was foretold. Around the time of his conception, you didn’t have to explain to an Israelite who the Messiah was. He was foretold by the prophets. His lineage was known and predicted, as well as his birthplace of Bethlehem. They were literally waiting for him to arrive. Check out Isaiah 53 and you’ll see how important Christ’s arrival is, and what was foretold.

Another thing I realized is that we Gentiles are not God’s chosen people; Israel is. We, however, through the faith in Jesus that his nation didn’t have, are grafted in. In both the old and new testaments, Jesus is referred to as a light to the Gentiles. As Paul points out in Romans, the grace God shows the Gentiles is intended to provoke Israel to jealousy. He made a covenant with them that he will not break, and his wish is that they’d come around.

The Christmas story as told in Luke is simply beautiful. I love to try to picture that starry night (because I’m a starry night kind of guy) and the magnitude of the events that unfolded around Jesus’ birth. People were waiting for his birth. This night was prophecy fulfilled, the opportunity for God’s chosen people to be redeemed. Later on, because he wasn’t the type of Messiah they wanted, they rejected him. When Stephen was stoned in Acts chapter 7, he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He was ready to redeem his people, but again they rejected him and killed the messenger, Stephen. Thus we are now in the church age, the time of the Gentiles.

Christmas 2008 has been such a blessing. Little PJ turned two last week, and his brother is now one year old (and walking!). We’ve got a White Christmas, something I’ve been dreaming of for the past few years. My wife and I, although busy beyond belief, occasionally get time to stop and remark how thankful we are for the blessings we’ve been given. Times are hectic, but this too shall pass.

One other down side every Christmas is that my dad disowned me when he found out I wasn’t going to a Catholic church any more. He hasn’t spoken to me since, and it’s been around five years now. I don’t remember the exact time it started. He didn’t attend my wedding, didn’t visit us in the hospital when our boys were born, and he’s never even met his grandchildren. If I come to the house, he leaves the room until I have gone. I can’t really get too upset by dwelling on it, because it’s his decision. The man that told me all through my youth that it’s important not to ever leave a loved one on bad terms, because there’s no telling if something might take them from you, has thrown his own advice out the window. Hopefully little PJ and Jonathan, along with our prayers, will someday help soften his heart.

Today, Christmas Eve, marks the 10th anniversary of the day I brought Scooter home from The Birdhouse, tucked in a little pet carrier box which I stuffed in my coat to keep him warm. This also marks the first Christmas I’ll spend without him. My wife believes that the boys are allergic to him, so he’s been exiled to my parents’ house indefinitely. I turn white hot with anger when I think about it – not at my wife, of course, but at the situation. I love that little bird. I know he’s blessing my parents with his unique personality.

One thing I didn’t get to enjoy this year was caroling, although I did pause to remember a caroling visit to one of the nursing homes back in Christmas 2006. As we walked the halls singing, many residents would stand in their doorways and sing along. I could barely continue through the tears when I’d see a little old lady standing at the entrance to her room, singing the fourth verse of Joy to the World (or any of our other Christmas hymns) from memory. These days most people, myself included, don’t even know how many verses the popular Christmas hymns have, and certainly don’t know the words to those verses. I was touched beyond description. If you ever have the opportunity to go caroling for these folks, don’t let it pass you by. It will leave you a changed person. I’m sorry I missed it this year.

My wife took care of Christmas shopping for our family, although I did make a last minute trip out for a little special something for her. I tend to go to Kirkwood mall once a year (not counting Scheel’s), mostly because I don’t care for having to shield my eyes from the way the girls are dressed down there. This time of year I crank up my iPod, put my head down, and finish my shopping all in one day. Among the random songs came a couple of Christmas songs by gospel singer Robert Robinson, whose voice will send shivers up your spine. I had the privilege of sitting about thirty feet from him at a concert where he belted out What Child Is This…if I’d been standing, I fear my knees would have failed me. Wow. If you saw a guy with watery eyes wearing a motorcycle jacket and an iPod this Christmas, that was me.

Two events that always signal the Christmas week are: James Bond marathons and the 24-hour “Christmas Story” marathon on TBS. I own the DVD of “Christmas Story” after being introduced to the movie in 2003. How I went 20 years without discovering this masterpiece (and Christmas staple) is beyond me…but that has been rectified. And I still watch it on satellite, despite the fact that the DVD sits ready and waiting. What can I say, it’s tradition. We also watched the usual Frosty the Snowman and other Rankin-Bass features, because they’re tradition too. I’m not going to teach my kids that there’s a Santa Claus, but I do find the TV specials entertaining.

We’ve got plans to just stick close to home and enjoy our precious little family (minus bird) this year. Our property is blanketed by a thick blanket of nice white snow, our little boys are finally old enough to partake fully in Christmas festivities, and the Lord has continued to show himself faithful (even when I’m not) throughout another year. I hope your Christmas is as memorable as mine. If you’ve got anything you’d like to share about your Christmas, please enter it as a comment. Merry Christmas!

So how cold is it, anyway? Depends on when you asked

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North Dakotans are proud of their wind chill. Given the latest bout of “American Made Global Warming” (ha), in the form of windy subzero temperatures, a couple of friends and I were having a discussion about the wind chill during our afternoon walk the other day. In 2001, the National Weather Service changed the method by which wind chills are calculated. This means that the wind chill temperatures we use to brag about our resilience will likely never be as cold as in years past.

According to this chart from NOAA, available in PDF format, it looks like we’ll never see those pride-inducing wind chill temperatures of old. Given the arbitrary +5F temperature of the above graphic, the windchill temperature derived from the old system at around 25mph would only be achieved with a wind of around 100mph! We don’t see too many of those winds around here, thankfully. All our snow would be in another state!

If you’re wondering why we never seem to see those ultra-cold wind chills our parents and grandparents brag about, that’s why. According to this article, the wind chill number was mostly used as a tool of exaggeration anyway. Given the way the media reports everything else, this should come as no surprise. And in light of the fact that climatologists have been caught using false data and putting temperature recording stations next to heat sources in order to get results favorable to the global warming agenda, we shouldn’t be surprised that some methodologies will change from time to time.

Parhelion II

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On my way back from a fantastic time at the ND Public Policy Institute, I noticed a couple of sundogs in the cold, blizzardy sky. Cold, wind, and a dusting of powdery snow tend to conspire to generate these. I knew just the perfect place to capture this one, then I headed home for dinner with my boys.

Other parhelion posts can be found here and here.

Another funny personalized plate

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I love camera phones; even when I’m out running errands with one or both of my little boys, one of whom turns 2 today, I can still snap a shot of reasonable quality if I see something like this. A lot of people go for humor in their personalized plates, and this one I found particularly funny in light of the hoax of “man made global warming.” Actually, that’s a misnomer. The environmentalist lefties ought to at least be honest and call it “American-Made Global Warming.” After all, they care not a whit for the dictatorships and communist/socialist nations who disregard any semblance of responsible environmental policies. No, instead they resent their own country. Talk about delusional…

Back to the license plate. According to Wikipedia, North Dakota is among the top ten states in vanity plate registrations. I believe it; at $25 above the regular fee, they’re a bargain. I have a few myself, actually…and many more in my garage that have expired or are from vehicles I sold. When you start licensing five or six motorcycles plus cars and trailers, the price adds up fast!

That reminds me of this plate I saw in downtown Bismarck. I don’t know the owner, so I don’t know if it’s a stab at humor or if they were actually in the audience when Oprah decided to give away a bunch of cars. It’s still eye-catching, though!

Do you have a personalized plate? If not…why not?

What a difference a hundred degrees makes

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This photo, titled “Thresher’s Row”, is one of my favorite pieces and has received some pretty nice complements at various gallery showings. I have a huge poster-sized print of it framed here at the house. I’m not sure if I’ve ever sold one, though. Anyway, I hiked up that hill east of Napoleon in the 100 degree heat, wearing a 20+ pound camera backpack, in a full leather racing suit. My Suzuki was parked down by the sign at the bottom of the hill (and was Photoshopped out of this piece). I did a gradient to black and white on the horizon to give the sense of these old threshers marching off into history.

I recently took a photo adventure with my friend Ken one early Saturday morning. This time I drove up along the fence line and hiked a shorter distance up the hill, albeit in the snow, to take another gander at the meandering line of old machinery. I didn’t get the exact angle as the first photo, but that’s alright. I was somewhat more appropriately dressed for a short hike this time, too; although I was decked out in proper attire for strafing rural highways on my motorcycle the last time I hiked this hill, I was in the hurtlocker due to the extreme heat! So far I have yet to visit this attraction when the temperature is in a comfortable zone. That’s alright; I do it for the photos…and the story.

That big blue atomic looking glow at the Capitol? Yeah, that was me

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This was an exercise in photography the other night, before the big blizzard blew in. I set my camera up on a tripod and set it up for a long exposure (20 to 30 seconds), then ran out in front of it with a blue LED keychain. I wore black, so I didn’t show up in the picture. I made a number of different attempts at this photo, resulting in blue streaks of light that drew patterns, bounded around on the lawn, or simply traced lines across the frame. This was my favorite.

One guy who’s probably okay with today’s winter weather

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Yes, I’ve been out wielding a shovel (in vain, mind you) in this morning’s blizzard. I grew up in the Rocky Mountains, and later moved back out there to work for a ski resort, so I actually like shoveling snow. It’s nostalgic in a way, and great exercise. Having said that, I so wish I had a snow blower right now!

One thing that has always amazed me is Bismarck’s apparently lackadaisical approach to clearing snow. I had an epiphany when I moved to Fargo for school back in the 1980s. I looked out of my window during a blizzard to find snow removal equipment working…and it hadn’t quit snowing yet! By comparison, it seems that Bismarck’s crews are told to wait until the snow stops falling. Well, using that logic, why not wait until May, or even forsake clearing the streets at all? Snow tends to melt in the Spring, after all…

Anecdotal evidence and asking around indicates that people think Bismarck is doing a worse job at winter street maintenance every year. I couldn’t agree more last week while skating down an unsanded ice rink called Washington Street over my lunch hour, literally driving around fresh traffic accidents while watching people skate sideways in my rearview mirror.

All grousing about my beloved hometown aside, let me direct your attention to the aforementioned abominable snowman. You’ll probably recognize him from the Rankin/Bass television Christmas specials that air on CBS this time of year. You can see him, along with the Grinch and other characters, in a highly decorated yard on the east end of Kennedy Avenue in northeast Bismarck, just a stone’s throw from the famous Northview Lane. If you head up 19th just a couple of blocks, you’ll find Longley Avenue temporarily renamed “Snowman Lane.” If you’re near the All Seasons Arena or YMCA area, head over to Sioux Avenue and drive down Toyland, one of Bismarck’s oldest neighborhood Christmas displays.

While it seems decorated homes get more sparse every year, these attractions (not to mention Christmas in the Park) are still in place, waiting for passers-by to share in a little Christmas cheer. Just make sure that the Public Works Department has managed to clear the roads, so you don’t get stuck in Winter Wonderland!

Obama deflection campaign sets its sights on North Dakota, land of corruption

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By now you’ve heard of the latest wildfire of indignation to hit North Dakota since that pinhead from National Geographic had the nerve to besmirch the name of our beloved state: this USA Today article calling North Dakota the most corrupt state in the nation.

Well, we do have Byron “Skybox” Dorgan who was embroiled in the Jack Abramoff scandal a while back. The media played that as a Republican scandal, but Dorgan (who’s on the Indian Affairs committee) was seen in Abramoff’s skybox at the MCI Center four years before he claimed in a press release that he’d “never met” the man. Next thing you know, he’s returning the money he never got from the man he never met…no worries. The lapdog ND media gave him a pass.

Now we have Senator Kent “Countrywide” Conrad, who is under investigation for getting a sweetheart mortgage deal on property in Bismarck. He too claims he had no idea what was going on, but an NBC News special report interviewed the guy whose job it was to MAKE these politicians know that they got special treatment. I actually lived in the 8-plex he got a loan for; Countrywide’s policy is to loan on no larger than a 4-plex.

Conrad owns this apartment complex near the capitol and claims it as his legal address so he can continue to live on the east coast complements of ND citizens. Even better: he provides another apartment in this complex to Senator Dorgan! I never saw either of them at this apartment building when I lived there, leading me to conclude that they keep those addresses on paper only so they can continue to run for reelection as North Dakotans. Oh, and Conrad gave some money to Habitat for Humanity as penance for his unwitting cronyism, and the KFYR’s and Bismarck Tribune’s of the state sucked it up like always.

These two alone have enough corruption for the entire state. As far as the USA Today report goes, we in ND have fewer people than other states, but plenty of government. The ratio is tipped. Besides, we prosecute our criminals (except for Conrad and Dorgan, we send them to Washington) when they abuse their public office. This whole thing is irrelevant, though; it’s just a ploy to deflect attention from Illinois, the state of the Obamessiah, who the media helped elect and will continue to shield as long as he’s able to hold office.

Previous posts about Conrad’s and Dorgan’s “residences” can be found here and here.

All is the way it should be, finally

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It seems like it was only a couple of days ago that I lamented the fact that the capitol hadn’t been displaying its Christmas colors. I expected the familiar Christmas tree shape to light up on the day after Thanksgiving, for some reason. I’m not sure where I got that idea from, but in asking others I found that many of them had the same impression.

I was about to wonder if they’d be skipping it this year, given how atheists all over the place freak out at the sight of something representing Christmas or Christianity and try to sue it out of existence. Look how they tried to sue the city of Fargo for having a Ten Commandments monument on city property! But then I got a note on Facebook from Attorney General Wayne Stehnejem saying that December 9th was the night the windows would light up. I waited eagerly, and tonight the windows (and star above) were lit. Fantastic.

It just seems that little bit more like Christmas now that Bismarck’s most prominent landmark is part of the display. Familiar things like this are what make a hometown more lovable!