Don't Deck the Halls Yet by Steve Watters on 11/13/2009 at 2:25 PM

Christmas is showing up all over the place whether you're ready for it or not. My son and I drove by a house in our neighborhood last night that already had their 20,000 plus Christmas light bonanza fully blazing. This is the time of year I start to feel like Thanksgiving has just become a quick meal on the way to Christmas. What happened?

"Thanksgiving has lost its cultural muscle," writes Eric Felton in a Wall Street Journal commentary today. He adds, "The early advent of the Santa season may have less to do with the red-and-green imperative than with the weakness of Turkey Day."

His assessment of the state of Thanksgiving in the 21st century is worth reading:

Could it be we've lost our capacity for gratitude? A successful harvest occasioned thanks back when it was all that stood between us and a long, cold, hungry winter. But now we're divorced from the seasonal rhythms of the farm, where the harvest is celebrated as the payoff of all the year's labors. Even in the midst of this Great Repression we enjoy perpetual plenty. What resonance does a cornucopia have to people who have come to expect ripe blackberries in February? If anything, we should be more grateful, but that's not our nature. Anything we struggle for, we hold dear; anything that comes easy, we take for granted.

He goes on to capture the awkwardness of trying to enjoy a family feast when some of those around the table just want to moralize about the food:

Not only don't we celebrate the astonishing abundance that is our good fortune, we whine and moan about how it makes us fat.... And if that weren't enough to squeeze the pleasure from the day, no modern Thanksgiving is complete without a college student home from school, lecturing the family on the cruelty of meat. (To which the only appropriate response is: "Does that mean you don't want the drumstick?")

He ends with an invitation to enjoy a little more of the goodness of autumn and Thanksgiving before diving into Christmas:

... before we break out the ornaments and dust off the Vince Guaraldi soundtrack, let's make the most of autumn and its particular pleasures. Jump in a pile of leaves. Savor the waning daylight. And go ahead. Week after next, eat that second slice of pumpkin pie—just be thankful for it.

Not Your Sushi Buddy by Suzanne Hadley Gosselin on 11/09/2009 at 10:55 AM

On a lighter note for a Monday morning, I submit something that appeared on my personal blog last year.

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In a day where relationships can be confusing, it was refreshing to receive this clarity from a young man:

DTSR (Defining The Sushi Relationship)
We should just establish it now. Our sushi relationship can't be exclusive. I just can't limit myself to one person. Believe me, it's not you...it's me. I mean, I like eating sushi with you, but I'm still young and I don't want to miss the possibility of other sushi relationships. We both need to move forward without feeling guilty. Please, just be careful as you're trying new rolls. I would hate for you to have an "Chili Roll" experience with someone else.

My heart (and stomach) will go on.

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In case there is any doubt, this DTSR was a joke penned in jest by a witty pal. As a fun gesture, this particular friend (with whom I used to have sushi once or twice a quarter) presented our sushi bonus buy card to my husband as part of our wedding gift.

Making Hospitality Happen by Suzanne Hadley Gosselin on 10/13/2009 at 4:41 PM

The ladies at the Girl Talk blog are running a great series on hospitality. I was recently having a conversation with my husband about wanting our home to be a hospitable place. One house I lived at several years ago was the kind of place that everyone loved to come to and hang out in. I grew up in a house like that, and I want my home to be that way.

Why is hospitality important? From Girl Talk:

If we have trusted in Jesus, we have found a home in God. We were once strangers, alienated from God because of our sin. But through the suffering of Jesus Christ, we have been brought near to God. We are not strangers anymore.

We have received the ultimate act of hospitality! How can we not, in turn, show grace and love to others by extending hospitality to strangers?

I'm trying to think of a single time I showed hospitality to a stranger. (I did bring a Swiss skateboarder home from the airport once and one of my guy friends showed him hospitality.) But hospitality can begin with the people we know. People from church and work. Bringing people into a welcoming home speaks of our welcoming God.

Obviously, it's important. Romans 12:13 says: "Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality."

How have you practiced hospitality? How can you cultivate this practice? What makes a home warm and welcoming to you?