DON'T LET THE "GRAND OLD GRINCH" STEAL YOUR CHRISTMAS!

The "Grinch" is sure to bring grins and groans around Christmas time! Just a couple of Christmases ago, the classic, wonderful Dr. Seuss book, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," a traditional holiday TV movie, became a holiday smash hit, a theatre money-maker, with its accompanying gifts and merchandise...and grinches were everywhere! It was kinda fun-grand fun!

When all is said and done--and seen, there's one "grinch" I know who THINKS he's grand, ACTS like he's grand, and if you believe him, he will grandly take over your life--BIGTIME--stealing the precious gifts you've received from the Lord. He's the enemy of your soul. He'll steal the love, joy and peace of Christmas--and replace it with strife, sadness and stress--all too common at this time of the year.

Be on guard - let the Holy Spirit give you a discerning spirit so you won't be robbed of a REAL Christmas this year. Let's focus our full attention on Jesus Christ who came to fill our lives with eternal gifts that money cannot buy. Hold tightly to His love, joy and peace AND you'll still have plenty to give away. His gifts are without limit and without price (He's already paid it!)--and that's what Christmas is all about!

Believe it--don't let the "grand old grinch" get his grungy foot in your door--show him the GRAND EXIT--and have a great day!

Scripture: The thief cometh not but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10)."

Prayer: "Lord, in the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparation and
celebration, help me not to forget YOU--it's YOUR birthday, I know! I
want Your love, joy and peace to flood my heart in these busy, hectic
days; may I not give houseroom to the "grand grinch" who would steal
a REAL Christmas from me; help me to take time to honour and worship
You, the Prince of Peace, In Jesus' Name, Amen."

Copyright 2003 by Peggie Bohanon, Springfield, MO. All rights reserved.

Up, Up and Away

I have been tagged from It's A Dog's Life, for this viral marketing.

Viral marketing is all about getting back links to help you increase your page rank and your authority.

All you have to do is copy the whole list to your post and tag some more friends, and go and visit all the blog/web sites on the list and rate them, use digg, stumbleuon, mixx, Technorati or what ever you want.

Tanny, thanks for tagging me, and to all who are celebrating HAPPY CHRISTMASHere is the list, my addition is at the bottom:

1.The Strategist Note Book
2.The Classy Life
3. Agenc Was Here
4.When Life Becomes a Book
5.The Haven
6.The FireWalker
7. crystrad8. nadnuts
9. ThomasWelcome10. Maitri
11. Dhanosh12."Addiction Explained"
13.Zuiyanhong
14.Heather
15.Let Peace Inspire
16.Conceptis Addict
17. Chuvaness....Chakaness....Eclavu...,
18. Diary (by Liudmila),
19. from Individual@home
20. Seaykopitiam
21. Tanny's Blog.
22. It's A Dog's Life
23. Beer Church Blog

I am tagging
24.Galvin
25.The Thin Edge
26.Palm Tree Pundit

So keep this list growing, and don't forget to rate them.

Christmas

Here we are awaiting Christmas
Storing up our gifts and food
Spending lots of lovely money
Don't forget, we must include
Auntie Betty, Uncle Norman
Cards for all the chaps at work
Daren't miss out a single person
Mustn't be found out a jerk.

Whilst were stuffing all the turkey
Christmas pud helped down with wine
Slumping down in front of tele
Snoring through the pantomime
This is usual for the masses
Greed and gluttony abound
Whilst, outside, the homeless passes
Searching pavements for a pound.

Jesus Christ was born at Christmas
Sent to earth to save us all
Lived to serve all those around Him
Always perfect, standing tall
Helped the leper, healed the cripple
Underdog and down and out
Suffered greatly for His mercy
Hated by the men with clout.

So we must be all like Jesus
Following His every way
Showing love to all who need it
Living in His humble way
For He loves a cheerful giver
One who relegates himself
To the role of peoples servant
That is how we earn our wealth.

Mike Bullock

GIFT WRAPPING TIPS FOR MEN

==========================

This is the time of year when we think back to the very first Christmas when the Three Wise Men: Gaspar, Balthazar and Herb went to see the baby Jesus; and according to the Book of Matthew, "presented unto Him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh."These are simple words, but if we analyze them carefully, we discover an important, yet often overlooked, theological fact. . . . . . . .

. . . . .There is no mention of wrapping paper.

If there had been wrapping paper, Matthew would have said so: "And lo, the gifts were inside 600 square cubits of paper. And the paper was festooned with pictures of Frosty the Snowman. And Joseph was going to throweth it away, but Mary saideth untohim, she saideth, 'Holdeth it! That is nice paper! Saveth it for next year!' And Joseph did rolleth his eyeballs. And the baby Jesus was more interested in the paper than thefrankincense."

But these words do not appear in the Bible, which means that the very first Christmas gifts were NOT wrapped. This is because the people giving those gifts had two important characteristics:

1. They were wise.

2. They were men.

Men are not big gift wrappers. Men do not understand the point of putting paper on a gift just so somebody else can tear it off. This is not just my opinion; this is a scientific fact based on a statistical survey of two guys I know.One is Rob, who said the only time he ever wraps a gift is "if it's such a poor gift that I don't want to be there when the person opens it."The other is Gene, who told me he does wrap gifts, but as a matter of principle never takes more than 15 seconds per gift. "No one ever had to wonder which presents daddy wrapped at Christmas," Gene said.

I also wrap gifts, but because of some defect in my motor skills, I can never completely wrap them. I can take a gift the size of a deck of cards and put it the exact center of a piece of wrapping paper the size of a regulation volleyball court, but when I am done folding and taping, you can still see a sector of the gift peeking out. (Sometimes I camouflage this sector with a marking pen.)

If I had been an ancient Egyptian in the field of mummies, the lower half of the Pharaoh's body would be covered only by Scotch tape.

On the other hand, if you give my wife a 12-inch square of wrapping paper, she can wrap a C-130 cargo plane. My wife, like many women, actually likes wrapping things. If she gives you a gift that requires batteries, she wraps the batteries separately, which to me is very close to being a symptom of mental illness. If it were possible, my wife would wrap each individual volt.

My point is that gift-wrapping is one of those skills like having babies that come more naturally to women than to men.

That is why today I am presenting:GIFT-WRAPPING TIPS FOR MEN:*

Whenever possible, buy gifts that are already wrapped. If, when the recipient opens the gift, neither one of you recognizes it, you can claim that it's myrrh.

* The editors of Woman's Day magazine recently ran an item on how to make your own wrapping paper by printing a design on it with an apple sliced in half horizontally and dipped in a mixture of food coloring and liquid starch. !!!!!! (HUH?)

* If you're giving a hard-to-wrap gift, skip the wrapping paper! Just put it inside a bag and stick one of those little adhesive bows on it. This creates a festive visual effect that is sure to delight the lucky recipient on Christmas morning:

YOUR WIFE: Why is there a Hefty trash bag under the tree?

YOU: It's a gift! See? It has a bow!

YOUR WIFE (peering into the trash bag): It's a leaf blower.

YOU: Gas-powered! Five horsepower!

YOUR WIFE: I want a divorce.

YOU: I also got you some myrrh.

In conclusion, remember that the important thing is not what you give or how you wrap it. The important thing, during this very special time of year, is that you save the receipt.

~(c) by Dave Barry~ http://www.mountainwings.com/

Secretary's Soapbox

We had a visit from our three grandchildren, who live near Worthing, during half term. Since we had last seen them two of them, Maddy and Issy, had celebrated birthdays, so we had got presents to give them. It’s always lovely to give gifts to people and watch to see if they are pleased with the things you have chosen, it really is true that it’s better to give than to receive.

I watched as they opened their presents, Maddy, who is seven, ripped open the paper, and promptly got down to opening the cardboard packaging to get at the present inside. She was obviously delighted with her gift which was a Barbie doll and her dog and cat which you could feed, with a litter tray and a scoop for the cat and a similar device for the dog who poo’d pellets!! Talk about realism!

Issy, who is eleven, was much more mature in the way she carefully peeped under the wrapping paper and said, “Cool!” before she took her gift out and tried it in a much more careful way. We had given her a set of electronic drums, which were in the shape of a mouse mat with a picture of drums that made a very realistic and varied sound.

As we get older, the way we accept gifts changes, it’s almost an embarrassment to show too much enthusiasm, and often we don’t immediately start to use what we have been given but put it away in a drawer until we might need it. What a shame!

But do you realise that some people have done the same thing with the greatest gift of all. The one that God gave us all in the form of His only Son, Jesus Christ. He was given to everyone, not just Christians, everyone . Many people have heard the story of Jesus, Christmas, Easter and all that. They may believe it to be true, but they just don’t act upon it, rather they put their Gift in the drawer of their mind ready to use when needed.

If this is you then please get that Gift out and use it, read your Bible, join a church family, talk to others, don’t wait until the last minute. There is so much to be found within the wrappings of that Christmas Gift.

We hope that you all have a truly joyful Christmas,
Cyn

PS. When Eddy was learning to talk, one of the first sentences he spoke was, “I don’t like sauce!” It’s become a running joke that he likes meat and gravy and NO SAUCE of any description..

The other day he was joining us for tea and Frank had opened a tin of Mackerel in Tomato sauce. I asked Eddy if he wanted a fish sandwich and while I was making it he came and looked at the fish sitting in a pool of tomato sauce and said “What’s that red stuff?”

Desperately trying to avoid the “S…” word, I hesitated.
Meanwhile Eddy had stuck his finger into the sauce and then into his mouth, “It’s fish GRAVY” he said, “Yum.”