Christmas Prayer

Dear Lord,

What can I start doing now, to assure that on Christmas 2015 I will not have to spend another Christmas alone?

Maybe next year

Time for a party with family and friends and my Turkey and dressing, candied yams, sweet potato pie, cakes, and contributions from my sister and others (though I’d gladly cook everything), with Sounds of Blackness and the soundtrack to The Preacher’s Wife playing in the background—

Well, maybe next year. I’m going to my best friend’s Deaconal Ordination in Los Angeles in early January so I have to count my coins.

This year (unless one of my local friends invites me to their home) I will be feeding the homeless in the morning and I’ll go home and roast a Cornish game hen with Garlic and Rosemary, make some dressing, bake some macaroni & cheese, make some collards- maybe even chittlins to snack on throughout the day (and through new years eve), treat myself to a movie ( anything other than Madea’s Christmas) in the evening, and iron my clothes for work the next day.

Note to self

for 2013

For me it's self doubt, my obsessive need to put the needs of everyone before my own, my wanting to be appreciated, and after reading someone's  Facebook page about themselves on Christmas, I realized that I don't  think I love myself enough.
I need to remove what is weighing me down. But how? I need to pray on this.

Do have you a favorite Christmas memory?

My favorite Christmas memory- when I was 12, my grandfather told me he was too ill to cook and that I had to make dinner that Christmas. So he sat on the stool I always sat on as a child, and he observed as I made the Turkey and dressing, boiled the potatoes for the potato salad, made the spaghetti, cleaned and cooked the chittlin's, made the candied yams, fried the chicken, made the sweet potato pies, baked macaroni & cheese, baked a coconut pineapple cake (my first), made cornbread, made collard greens ( along the way he told me what to do and what not to do), fried some okra etc,. and when company arrived and my mom and sister set the table, he suddenly wasn't ill anymore, and everyone enjoyed everything. I doubted my ability but he was my biggest cheerleader. He told me I had sat on that same stool watching him cook since I was 3. He passed away about 15 yrs ago, but I still feel a closeness to him whenever I'm cooking or baking. He was always cooking for big groups of people. After he retired he even cooked for a homeless shelter as if it was a fulltime job, but he did it for free.

Do have you a favorite Christmas memory?

Merry Christmas, by the way!

Merry Merry

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS

Do you know about Black Pete?

I didn't know.

In the Netherlands, everyone is quite aware of the Christmas character known as Black Pete. He's a little African slave who helps out Santa Claus.
According to the Dutch tradition, Black Peter is responsible for carrying a book full of the names of naughty children, along with a rod and a sack to take the bad children away. He also scatters candy for children.
Since the character's creation in the 1840s, the Dutch have defended it. They even dress up publicly in blackface, and claim that Black Pete is only dark from coming down the chimney -- but he doesn't wash clean.

Yet recently, Black Peter is causing more anger and controversy among the Dutch for the stereotypes associated with the Christmas character.
In fact, they became so mad that organizers of New Westminster's Dutch Sinterklaas celebrations in Canada have pulled Black Peter from their traditional parade after complaints that the black-faced helper carried racist undertones. Members of the African-Canadian community complained that the character was offensive and outdated. It was the first time since 1985 that Black Peter will not accompany Sinterklaas as he heads to New Westminster Quay aboard a paddle wheeler boat, according to the Vancouver Sun.
Bernard Piprah, who was an organizer of the annual Black History Month symposium at Douglas College, argued to the Vancouver Sun that the Black Peter character comes loaded with offensive, racist stereotypes:

"[The character] is degrading, and it's racist, and it's incredibly outdated," Piprah said told the Vancouver Sun. "You can't erase that. You can go to your local library and read that this Black Peter was a slave. He beat children. He was dumb, and he spoke buffoonish Dutch. There are just so many insulting aspects to that character, and I can't believe they're celebrating it in New Westminster."

Although many Dutch just want the tradition to stop, some would like to address the issue. In Holland, critics say that avoiding the racism implied in continuing the Black Peter tradition is a way of avoiding the thorny issue of immigration.
"It's kind of something they should address, no matter what the culture, when an aspect of it is clearly offensive to a particular group," Piprah told the Vancouver News.

courtesy ---the grio.com

"One comment in the article said this is insensitive bigotry to the higest degree. Case closed."   I can't think of any more to add.
I'm speechless. Can we not get love (and respect) anywhere?

Merry Christmas

And a happy New Year to all who will read this! Please have fun and be safe and please remember that Jesus is the reason for this season. Peace!

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And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?

"It came without ribbons! It came without tags!

"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"

And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.

"Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!"



-- Dr. Seuss from "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"