Thanksgiving Extravaganza.... Cause You Had a GOOD Day!

I was just finishing the last paragraph of twenty pages of writing for my Homiletics class when the phone rang and it was Terri. She was wondering if I had been to my blog today, which unfortunately I had to say no (Believe it or not, I actually have to write things for class sometimes) She was concerned that I haven’t told everyone about the big Thanksgiving Extravaganza, which I had to agree was a point well taken. So, before I turn off the computer and let my fingers cool down from all of this typing, (I still have 12 more pages to get done before Wednesday morning) Let me share with you about Thanksgiving.

First of all, let me say that Terri and Josh really have a great house. (They just bought it a few months ago) I was wondering if they would be able to fit everyone in, but that wasn't an issue at all, and everyone had plenty of room, that is, except for Andrew, he was fascinated with the stairs and wanted desperately to see if he could climb them.

Actually, I’m not sure that Mimi, (Terri’s’ dog) would agree that there was a lot of room, she was relegated to solitary confinement in her box after a momentary altercation with Andrew. I’m not sure that she even got a trial. (Do you get the feeling that Andrew had a busy day?)

One great thing about the day was that I had the opportunity to catch up on a couple of good movies, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Christmas With the Krank’s, and Shrek 3, It must be nice to have HBO (Karen won’t let me have it) It never ceases to amaze me how well my Grandkids know the words to so many songs, I think that I heard “cause you had a bad day” at least one hundred times until we decided to sing “Had a Good Day”

Of course the food was excellent, we were a little concerned about one of the turkeys getting done, but that turned out to be worry over nothing, and everything turned out just about as perfect as it could possibly have been.

I did learn something that I didn’t know on Thanksgiving, and that is that Don Knotts first appeared with Andy Griffith in the movie “No Time For Sergeants” Josh’s Dad said that he was in the movie, but I couldn’t place him, so with a quick check of You Tube we were even able to view the scene that he was in. (You’ve gotta love You Tube)

We finally made it home after 10:30, which made for a long day for old people like Karen and I, But, I can say that we were really proud of Josh and Terri and their first Thanksgiving Extravaganza, I only hope that Mimi finally got out of solitary confinement.

Blessings

What Season Did You Say This Was?

Tomorrow is a very special day. It is the first Sunday in Advent. For me, this season brings with it a sense of great anticipation and joy, as well as a subtle underlying sense of dread. Now, I am sure that many of you can understand this sense of dread with Christmas being less than a month away and all of the shopping, activities and festivities that must be crammed into those 27 days, but, I have a sense of dread that most people would find hard to understand, and that dread is Christmas music.

LOL I thought that might catch your attention. I am sure that you are wondering, why on earth would anyone dread Christmas music? Well, I am glad that you asked. First, let me say that I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!! I always have and I always will. It is my favorite music and as a matter of fact I have it playing on the stereo right this moment as I am writing this. I remember as a young boy, singing in the Moline Boys Choir, we would begin preparations for the Christmas concert season in September, so I had the opportunity to enjoy Christmas music from September through early January when the Christmas concert season ended. Even to this day, I have at least 2 Christmas songs on my MP3 player that stay on there all year long.

The dread that I face is the same as the dread that most pastors face this time of year. When do we sing Christmas music? When I first was introduced to the Pastor Parish Committee of Cana and Crothersville UMC’s I was asked, “Do you like Christmas Music?” I thought Wow, if this is the most difficult question that I am asked in this process, this will be a piece of cake. Of course I answered, “Yes, I love Christmas music,” Which met with a resounding chorus of pleasure from the group that was assembled. Well, apparently, Christmas music had been a source of contention in the past because they had pastors who would not do Christmas music until after Christmas.

Now, I can already sense the concern welling up inside of you, why would you wait until right at Christmas or after to sing Christmas songs? The answer is really quite easy, as I said, tomorrow begins the season of Advent, NOT Christmas. Yes, I know that the world celebrates Christmas beginning as early as October. Wal-Mart had the Christmas music going right after Halloween and they have had their Christmas section up and going much earlier than that. Even Karen always tries to put up her Christmas decorations on Thanksgiving or as soon after as possible.

The problem for a pastor or worship leader, is how do you stay true to the Christian calendar in a world that is pushing Christmas ever earlier and earlier? If I follow the world’s time table, we would simply ignore Advent and go straight to Christmas. I am sure that there will be people upset with me tomorrow because I don’t have any “Christmas “ songs, "Joy to the World," "What Child is This?" etc., planned although I have 4 beautiful Advent Carols scheduled, and thankfully for me at least two of them will be recognized by the congregation as “Christmas” carols. The dilemma that I face, is should we simply ignore Advent? I know there are those who would say YES, but as a pastor, I can no more ignore Advent than I can Lent. We would never sing “Christ the Lord has Risen Today” on Good Friday, let alone Ash Wednesday. These are critical times of reflection and introspection for the church, and to ignore them just because the world is rushing to join the big party and celebrate Christmas is simply wrong, in my opinion.

I do have to smile when people tell me that, “We have always sang Christmas songs beginning after Thanksgiving!” Well, that is not really true, I know that when I grew up we never put up our tree until the 13th of December, which was my Mom’s Birthday, and before that, most Christmas traditions involved putting up the tree and preparing for Christmas on Christmas Eve. Yes, I know that for most of us we grew up in a world that pushed Christmas earlier and earlier, mostly because Macy’s and the other retailers wanted us to, but it hasn’t been that many years ago that the season of Christmas really began much closer to Christmas than it does now. Even the popular song “The 12 Days of Christmas” refer to the 12 days AFTER Christmas, between December 25th and Epiphany January 6th.

So now, what do I do about it as a pastor? Prepare for an open revolt among the congregation? Possibly! Stick to my conscience and make everyone mad? Could be! The funny thing is that I thought that I had truly found a great compromise one year between the world and the church. The first Sunday of Advent, I had 2 out of four songs as Advent carols or Christmas carols, the second Sunday of Advent 3 out of four were Christmas or Advent carols, and then the third and fourth Sunday of Advent were ALL Christmas. Don’t you think that sounded like a reasonable compromise? Well, apparently not. I was told that ALL of the hymns beginning with the first Sunday of Advent had to be Christmas or people would just go somewhere else where they can get what they want, meaning, all Christmas music all the time:) . Are you beginning to see why I dread the decisions about Christmas music.

Well, this year I have decided that it really isn’t worth having people get angry over, I already have the music planned for this Sunday, basically using up the Advent carols in the UM Hymnal, and starting next Sunday we will be doing almost exclusively Christmas music, (perhaps with different Advent words, I know, I am such a rebel)

My prayer for everyone is that this season of Advent be filled with a spirit of joy and happiness. I also pray that you take the time to contemplate the meaning of the season, and that you are not too quick to move from Thanksgiving into Christmas. May the Peace, Joy, Love and Hope of the season of Advent be truly a blessing for each of you. And, as for the Christmas music? Don’t give your pastors too hard of a time, they love Christmas music too!

Blessings

Give Thanks

I wanted to share this post with you all. After such a wonderful day, I thought that it wouldn't hurt to remind us exactly how blessed we are. Happy Thanksgiving and God bless each of you!

Blessings

I’m NEVER Eating Dressing Again...

Greetings to everyone,

I hope that all of your Thanksgiving plans and preparations are coming along well, because if they are not, you are just about out of time. We had the opportunity to go and visit Terri and Josh last night and it sounds like their big Thanksgiving extravaganza is coming along right on schedule. One thing is for certain, no one will go away hungry that’s for sure. Which brings me to today’s subject.

I have discussed the information now with many who were present and I can now confirm that this incident did occur at the same Thanksgiving as the pumpkin pie fiasco. So, to set the stage, we had just finished the trial for Big Ben and Susie and it was now time to dry our tears about the pies that were lost and be grateful for that which we did have, (albeit Susie’s little escapade did do a significant number on the quantity of remaining deserts)

We sat down to dinner, said grace and began to pass the sumptuous delicacies that had been prepared for us by loving hands. My son Ben, who was about 3 years old, was seated next to me on my left and Karen, who was keeping an eye on Terri who had just turned 1, was seated on my right. As each dish came by, I took a little bit and put it on Ben’s plate and then took a big helping and placed it on my plate.

By the time all of the food was passed, I had one of the finest plates full of Thanksgiving fare that had ever been assembled in one place. I still remember thinking, just before digging in to that first bite, how hungry I was and how great this is going to taste. I remember this vividly, because I think the same thought every Thanksgiving. (Really, if you thought men’s minds were more complicated than that, boy do we have you fooled)

I then looked over at Ben, admiring, rather proudly, what a great job I did of filling the boy’s plate. For those of you who think that the ability to create such a culinary masterpiece on ones plate and then to consume that much food comes naturally, you are mistaken, it comes from years of practice and training, and Ben wasn’t too young to begin the process.

So, as I was admiring my handy work, I noticed that Ben was having a problem. He had just taken a big bite from a spoonful of dressing and suddenly he started turning green. He looked over at me with a pathetic look, a look that I had seen before shortly after his mother had given him spinach, and I unfortunately knew what was coming. I also knew that I had only a few seconds to avert what could be a disaster of epic proportion. But, before I could react he reached out and threw-up in his hands and all over his plate. I have to admit, that it was one of the worst things that I had ever experienced, but that paled in comparison to what happened next.

Without missing a beat, he simply took the handful of what started out as his Thanksgiving dinner, reached over and placed it squarely in the middle of my turkey and mashed potatoes. Now, I have seen a lot of things in my life, but that was perhaps the most gross and saddest of all. Of course, Mom and Grandma were up quickly to rescue poor Ben, clean him up and fix him another plate. But, as for my plight, do you think anyone offered to help? Do you think anyone even cared that I had been scarred for life?

Suddenly I wasn’t so hungry anymore, I am not really sure that I had much, if anything else to eat the rest of the day. Since that time, almost a quarter century later, there has not been a single Thanksgiving go by that the subject hasn’t come up (pardon the pun) The only real lasting effect was that Ben hasn’t touched dressing since then, which is probably best for all involved.

Ben sent me an email yesterday saying, in regard to my title “I’m NEVER eating dressing again,” Dad, you’re not the only one who hasn’t eaten dressing since that day, implying to me, that which I already knew, that he hasn’t touched dressing since that day. My response to him was that I didn’t say that I have never eaten dressing since that day. As a matter of fact, I still love dressing. I just let him know that from then on, I have been very careful who I sit next to at Holiday Time :)

Blessings everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving!

No Pumpkin Pie!!!

One of my fondest memories of Thanksgiving happened many, many years ago. Karen and I, Ben and Terri, my Mom and Sister, and my nephew Ben had gathered with my Brother’s family at his house in Mitchell IN for our big Thanksgiving family gathering.

The menu, as always, included turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, homemade rolls and a dozen other sumptuous delicacies that I am beginning to get hungry just imagining. Now, there is one important food that I am leaving out of this list. It is, of course, one of my all time favorite foods as mentioned in an earlier post. You may remember when I talked about the pumpkin pie that I received for my birthday, yeah that’s right, the one that Odie ate. Well, at the end of that post I mentioned that it might remind some people of an earlier experience. This is that experience.

http://pastorhigdon.blogspot.com/2008/10/tragedy-and-heartbreak.html

Just prior to dinner, everyone went over to my Brother’s Chiropractic office for an adjustment, leaving everything in the kitchen just about ready to serve for dinner. When we returned, a few minutes later, a tragedy had stuck. One of the dogs had gotten into the pumpkin pies! We knew it had to have been the dogs because there were incriminating paw prints all over the counter, in the pies and on the floor.

I am not sure that I have ever seen my Mom quite so mad, and it was declared in no uncertain terms that whichever dog was responsible for this travesty, there would be no pie for their master, (Thank goodness that not all of the pies had been violated)

Now, there were three possible culprits. My Mom’s dog Chrissy, of course she was too small and I couldn’t imagine her getting up that high. The next potential offender was my dog, Bones… say it isn’t so… Bones wouldn’t do that would she? Honestly, that would have required way too much work for her, she was much to lazy to do that, wasn’t she? But if she was the culprit, were they serious? No Pumpkin Pie for me?

I scurried around, but Bones was sound asleep in the same place she had been when we left, and there was no evidence of pumpkin pie on her pure white fur. So if it wasn’t Chrissy and it wasn’t Bones, then it must have been… Susie! My nephew Ben’s dog. Suddenly the evidence of the crime was all coming together, the detectives on CSI would have been proud. The paw prints matched Susie, she was certainly active enough to get up on the counter, there was no doubt that she had motive (wouldn’t you?) and most incriminating of all… Ben was over in the corner with a dish rag trying to clean the pumpkin pie off of her mouth and paws, I think that Ben could have easily been charged as an accomplice in the crime and at the very least for obstruction of justice or tampering with the evidence.

But, justice prevailed and the truth came to light. It was too late, Ben and Susie were caught red handed… well maybe I should say pumpkin pie pawed, but what ever it was, at least it wasn’t my dog.

All of these years later I still think of that Thanksgiving, and I always smile. Oh and in case you were wondering, at the ensuing trial, Susie was found guilty and given a life sentence without the posibility for pumpkin pies and Ben, well, there was grace and he was allowed to enjoy the pie that was left, even though there were those who thought that perhaps the punishment should have been more severe:)

Now, as I think about it, there is one other thing that happened that day. I will have to check with my sister, Verna, she remembers these things better than I do, but I think that tomorrow’s story, “I’ll Never Eat Dressing Again,” happened the same day, I’ll check with her and get back to you tomorrow!

Blessings

Thanksgiving in Indiana...

It is amazing to me to watch the days on the calendar go by. Thanksgiving will be here in just four short days. I always enjoy sitting back and listening to the detailed planning process as Karen and her Mom lay out all of the logistics of the big Thanksgiving dinner. And, this year another voice has been added to those preparations, Terri. She is planning for her very first major Thanksgiving dinner extravaganza. I certainly remember the one that Karen and I planned. I am not sure that it was our first, but it certainly was our largest undertaking.

We called it Thanksgiving in Indiana. We sent out invitations to all of our family living in the foreign land of Illinois, and invited them to join us for a time of food celebration and joy. Well, I’m not sure that we accomplished all of those things, but we certainly had food, and it was a great joy.

As I look back now, it is with a bit of a sense of sorrow, mixed with joy, mixed with a sense of longing. (The word that I would have used here is melancholy, but Ben gets upset when I use big words) especially as I think about those who are no longer with us, Karen’s Dad, Andy (who of course our Grandson Andrew was named for, my Mom Jewell, and my Brother, Phillip. I think back upon those times, and realize how truly blessed that I am. There has never been a time that I have been without food, (well there was the time that I was sent to bed without supper, but that’s another story) I have always been surrounded by people who love me, and I have nothing but warm memories of the holidays that are so rapidly approaching.

Which brings me back to the plans for the big celebration on Thursday at Terri and Josh’s, I wonder what new memories will be created on that day? I wonder what Mary and Andrew will remember, and what lasting memories will be created for everyone else who will be there?

I have two vivid Thanksgiving memories that I would like to share with you over the next couple of days. The first is called “No Pumpkin Pie” and the other is, “I’ll NEVER Eat Dressing Again” You won’t want to miss these :)

See you tomorrow!
Blessings

Wish for My Grandchildren...

I received this essay the other day. Actually, it was attributed to Paul Harvey, but he didn’t write it. He did, however, read it on his radio program. It was actually written by a man named Lee Pitts and published in Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul. It is my prayer that you live a life full of joy, health and happiness, knowing that there will be times of sorrow and pain. May you remember that it is often the darkest just before the dawn, and that each new day brings light and hope.

Enjoy, and may God bless you this day!

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.
I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as un-cool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hanukkah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

As I read though this list, I felt that there was one very significant thing missing, and that is that I hope that at some time in your life you come to have a relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, finding assurance in His love, peace in His understanding, and mercy in His grace.

Blessings