Top Five Christmas TV Specials

So far, I have told you about my five favorite Christmas Albums and Movies. Tonight, I am sharing my top five favorite Christmas TV Specials. To qualify for this list, like a movie, the TV Special has to make me feel good about life after I am done watching. Also, the special had to have been broadcast first on TV and not on the big screen. 


5. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer -If there ever was a story that show-cased the importance of celebrating people's differences, this is that story. Poor Rudolph gets rejected by his peers because his nose glows. We all know who has the last laugh.


4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Part of the reason I like this show so much lies in the fact that it reminds me of "A Christmas Carol." Both stories end with main character learning the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas is about people and the chance for redemption. Is that not the reason we celebrate a very special birth on December 25th?


3. Prep and Landing - This Disney gem first appeared in 2009 on ABC, and tells the story of two Elves, Wayne and Lanny, who are part of the Prep and Landing team. The Prep and Landing team ensures that the house is ready for Santa's arrival. Wayne and Lanny run into some trouble when Wayne loses the Christmas spirit. It is a show that makes me laugh and helps me to remember why the secular side of Christmas is so much fun to celebrate. 


2. A Charlie Brown Christmas - This is one of the few secular Christmas specials that touches on the real reason that we celebrate this most glorious of days - Jesus' birth. I am going to let young Linus Van Pelt finish this out:

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." 

1. Emmit Otter's Jug Band Christmas - This is a Christmas classic. It originally aired on HBO in 1977. I am not sure when I first saw it and whether it was on TV or on VHS Tape (yes, VHS Tape). We get to see into the lives of two otters - Ma and her son Emmit. They are but poor otters who barely have enough money to survive let alone buy each other a Christmas gifts. Without realizing it, they both join the same talent competition to try to win $50 to get Christmas presents. This is one of those movies that shows you the true meaning of Christmas.

3rd Sunday of Advent: Gaudete - Rejoice!, Patience, and Preparation

The third Sunday of Advent is a time for us to rejoice as Christmas is getting ever closer. We must show some patience for we have still have preparations to make. Today's readings cover all three of these aspects for this glorious day.

"Let the desert and the dry lands be glad, let the wasteland rejoice and bloom; like the asphodel, let it burst into flower, let it rejoice and sing for joy." (Isaiah 35:1-2a) We should rejoice; we know that Christ has come for us once, and we can prepare for the day when he comes again. It will be a glorious day.

In order to be ready for his second coming, we need to prepare our hearts. The first time around John the Baptist was sent before Jesus to tell of his coming. This time around, I do not know who will foretell of that great day when Jesus returns. We had better be ready. This is the perfect time of year for us to change. The Christmas season is full of chances for us to change and redeem ourselves.

We also need to be patient, because we do not know when Jesus will be back. 2 James 5:7 says: "Now be patient, brothers, until the Lord's coming. Think of a farmer: how patiently he waits for the precious fruit of the ground until it has had the autumn rains and the spring rains!"  Like a farmer, we are going to have to wait through barren seasons before the spring comes, in the form of Jesus.

Friends' Opinions

It would terrible if we lived in a world where all of our friends hid their true feelings from us. We all have friends who would not say something negative to us even if they were being dangled over a shark-filled pool. On the other hand, we have friends who will give us their opinions whether we want them to or not. Both friends are equally important to our personally growth, and I am glad that I have both kinds.

I have had a Facebook account for two years. Some of the statuses that I have posted during this time have been greeted with less than positive feedback from my friends.  I appreciate that they have called-me out on what I have said. Hearing differing opinions is the only way I am ever going to learn anything, and I do not care how old you are, you are never too old to learn something. My Dad, the man I admire most in this world, is in his 60s, and I know, without a doubt, that he would be one of the first to admit that he is still learning.

That is why I get bummed out when people, for whom I have a great deal of respect, get bent out of shape when their friends disagree with them on sites like Facebook. It is as if they feel they should be able to voice their opinions on a public forum and expect only to get responses from those friends that agree with them. That is not the way it works, and nor should it be.

No matter how carefully you select your friends on something like Facebook, chances are that you will connect with someone who disagrees with you from time to time. That is a great thing. That means you have a diverse friend-base AND people who are willing to share their opinions with you much like you are sharing your opinions with them. Take those differing opinions and learn something. I am not saying that you have to agree with them, but at least give your friends the same opportunity that they have given to you. I think that we owe this to our friends.

Fiction Friday Brain Freeze

I have not posted any fiction since November 19th - Stuck in the Driveway IX. About 95% of the reason lies in the fact that I am not sure where the story is going. The whole story is a bit of an experiment. I had asked my wife to give me a situation that I could use to get a character out of. She gave me: "A car is stuck in the driveway with four cars behind it."

This is how "Stuck in the Driveway" started. From the first line, I have been trying to figure out how Stan Brogran is going get out of his driveway, and what is going to happen to him now that he is out. Here is what he know so far.

Stan Brogan owns a Landscaping business. He has gotten himself  involved with some foreign investors who, unbeknownst to Stan, are poisoning the United States water supply through the chemicals Stan uses in his Landscaping business. The investors are now after Stan because he found out what was going on. Stan, his wife Mary Ann, and daugther Elizabeth are under the protection of Witness Protection. Stan's son Johnny has been captured by Sergeant Owens (aka Mr. Darksuit), a mercanary working for the investors trying to get to Stan. Bev, Stan's cousin who was almost captured by Sergeant Owens but escaped with the help of Eddie has teamed up with Eddie and three his old Marine buddies. They are getting ready to try and find Stan to warn him that a mercenary is after him, a mercenary Eddie and his team know from the Gulf War.

That is about all I have so far. I have some ideas on how to continue, but I do not like any of them. For the most part, I like what I published for you to read so far, and so, I do not what to force anything. That is the other part of the experiment. I do not have an outline, and I have not predetermined how anything is going to end up. As soon as I figure out what is supposed to happen next, I will write about it. Until then it looks like I am the one stuck in the drive way.

Christmas Lights

This is going to be a short post tonight. I think I am finally succumbing to the cold that has been going around plus I have some other things I need to get done before I head to bed.

The family went to Jillian's Winter Open House tonight. It is always fun to see how your child interacts with other children her age. Not to mention, it is very fun to see all of the projects on which they have been working. Jillian grabbed my hand and lead me around the room showing me everything that she had done. I get a little tear in my eye just thinking about it.

After Open House, we drove around the neighborhood looking at all of the houses decorated for Christmas. You should have heard the girls directing our attention. Jillian was the funniest tonight though. She said, "Look out my side or your are going to miss it." It was cute.

My mom and I used to drive around to look at lights before I was married with children, and I am thrilled to share that tradition with my wife and children. If you have never done this yourself, turn on some Christmas music and go drive around your neighborhood to look at the hard work that people have put into their homes to make them look festive.  You will not be disappointed.

A Christmas Carol

I just finished my annual reading of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." No matter how times I have read this story or seen it on film, it still moves me. It is one of the greatest conversion stories ever written. We are forever indebted to Charles Dickens for giving us this masterpiece.

Although most people are familiar with the story, let me give you a quick summary. A miserly old man, Ebeneezer Scrooge, thinks that Christmas is a humbug. He is visited by the ghost of his dead partner Jacob Marley. Marley's ghost tells him that he will be visited by three Spirits, Spirits who are the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. They teach Scrooge the true meaning of Christmas. In the end, Scrooge changes his ways and learns "...how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge."

I mentioned in Why I Watch Christmas Movies/Specials that I feel good after watching Christmas movies.  The same is true after reading "A Christmas Carol." My spirit was immediately lifted. It inspires me to treat my fellow man better. Equally important, it reminds me that I can change things in my own life whenever I want. At the same time, it cautions me that many times when we change things in our lives we are often ridiculed by those around us. Dickens' wrote it best: about the people around Scrooge:

"Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him."

It seems that we always run into people who would rather laugh at everyone else than make changes in their own lives. They laugh at our every move when we set out to do something new or different. I say let them laugh. In the end, we will have the last laugh when our hearts, and the hearts of those we touch, are filled with the joy that change can bring. It does not matter if that is something as simple as being friendly to others or getting ourselves out of a bad situation - our hearts will swell like dear Ebeneezer Scrooge's.

Relief and Sadness

Today was a very sad day for some 40 of people where I work. They were laid-off today. Fortunately, I was not one of them. Despite my relief for being "safe." I cannot help but feel a great deal of sadness for all of those people.

I was in their shoes about seventeen months ago. It was a terrible feeling. For me, I felt like a complete failure; that I had somehow caused the layoff. That simply was not true. I was laid off because business was bad - non-existent really. The owner was getting away from Technical Writing and into Information Management. She had a tough decision to make, and I was on the wrong end of that decision.

Today's layoff was a similar situation. People were laid off because business is not what the share holders would like it to be. Good people lost their jobs because of that. I feel terrible for my unemployed colleagues and their families. It is a crappy time to be unemployed - not that it is ever really a good time.

Good Luck to all of those affected by today's layoff.