Christmas 2007

So Christmas 2007 has come and gone. It was an odd one for me. I enjoyed it and Wendy blogged about it here (and she blogged about Boxing Day here). This is Mark's seventh Christmas and he was the same age I was when my dad walked out a couple weeks after Christmas. I remember a lot about that Christmas, including what an ass he was that holiday and thinking how much better life would be without him. Those thoughts came to haunt me within a couple of weeks and he was gone and life was changed. I may not be the perfect dad but I made it this far. It's an odd milestone to celebrate but it feels pretty good. As a friend of mine said, "You have to experienced it to really understand what this feels like." I think the rest of you will think I am going crazy but that is okay too.

Christmas was a simple affair as it often is around here. I woke up early, went down to the Centre with Maggi to haul some televisions out for the guys and wish a Merry Christmas to the staff that was working. I was home by around 8:15 a.m. and everyone was just getting out of bed to open gifts. The big gift of the day was for Mark. A couple of months ago Lee said he wanted to get Mark a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. We phoned and phoned and no one had one (well done Nintendo. I wonder how many PS3's were sold by people who could not get a Wii?). Somewhere along the way, Mark started to say that he wanted a Sony Playstation 2 like his Uncle Lee. We realized a) you could find them b) it was cheaper c) there were a lot of games to play for it. So Lee got him a PS2 and Wendy and I bought him the Guitar Hero I & II combo and the guitar controller. One thing we learned while opening the gifts is that Sony's marketing hasn't gotten to Mark. As he was opening the gift he said, "I see a P and part of a S. I wonder what this is?"

We played The Simpsons game for a bit before we took out the guitar and then the competition started. For the last two days Guitar Hero has been played by at least one of us and a lot of smack has been talked around here. I hate to admit it but both Wendy and Lee are better than I am and Lee is the reigning Guitar Hero of the household.

From the family, Wendy gave me Warren Kinsella's book, The War Room. Mark gave me Steven Johnson's The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World. Mark and I have been watching Poker After Dark on Sportsnet and I am fascinated by it although I am embarrassed to say that I have no idea what is happening during the show. To help remedy that, he gave me No Limit Texas Hold'em Tournament Edition 2006 (with some help from Wendy). Maggi gave me Kanye West's CD, Graduation while Santa Claus dropped off Shadow by Bob Woodward and The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. Lee gave me one of the new Star Wars themed PSP's. Until I was playing around with it, I had no idea it also had a RSS reader in it. Expect to see a PSP feed reader checking out your feed stats in the near future. Until I get a memory stick for it this week, I will have to remain content with fighting the Empire.

After we established I was horrible at Guitar Hero, we stopped in and saw the Pederson clan and then was off to the Reimers were we had a great supper with a large group of friends. Today was more Guitar Hero (Wendy and Lee were battling it out) and we managed to take Mark to the park to test out a used GT Sno Racer I got for him just before Christmas and his snowboard.

The only bad part of the holiday season is I have had a fever, chills and cold for most of it. Thursday I am back at work and hopefully this gets better than worse.

Technorati tags: PSP, Sony, PS2, Guitar Hero

Happy Holidays

Well as I post this I am ready for Christmas.  Every fall I start a spreadsheet and over the following months it gets refined and items picked up.  We were done the bulk of the shopping well before the craziness of Christmas shopping hits and I actually made two trips to the 24 hour Wal-Mart to do some shopping.  Last night Wendy and I set our alarm for 3:00 a.m. and went to the Stonegate Wal-Mart and wandered around a bit.  It is amazing how the shopping experience gets better when there are only 20 other shoppers in the largest Wal-Mart in western Canada.  The really odd thing is that on both trips to Wal-Mart I saw someone shopping in what was clearly pajamas.  If I could be dressed to shop, surely they could be as well.   Wendy and I only had a couple of things to look at but the problem with shopping at 3:00 a.m. is that you can't really call anyone up and casually ask, "So do you have a deep fryer?".  I guess you could but Wendy wouldn't let me.

Wendy struggled a bit with her shopping for me and blogged a bit about it.  Her depression, self-imposed pressure, and firm deadlines don't always go together.  After reminding her that the perfect Christmas generally isn't purchased, a lot of stress went away and the four of us are relaxing while listening to some Christmas tunes.  Well actually Lee and Mark are having a Karate duel right now, Maggi is barking, and Wendy is officiating.  It isn't looking good for Mark or Lee while Maggi is holding her own.

Lee is off work as Case New Holland shuts down for a week over the holidays.  While I am sure he has some skills working on the paint line, he just brought up some presents that look like they were wrapped by a man.  Wendy is working at Safeway on Christmas Eve but for only the second time since we have been married gets Boxing Day off of work.  The big question on Christmas Eve is how many married men will come in at 4:00 p.m. or later and ask Wendy where Safeway keeps the jewelry.  They look so worried when she says they don't sell it.  I am putting in a half day at the Centre tomorrow and then am out of there at noon.  I am spending the morning sorting out the stuff that we are giving to the guys on Christmas morning.  Some churches have made gift bags for the guys as well as a lot of individual donations to be sorted.  The photo to the right is just some of the stuff taking up every single square inch in my office.  On top of that I have stuff stored all over the Centre.  Last week I actually created a spreadsheet to keep track of it all.  We are renting some DVDs and offering up a lot of food as well, it should be a pretty nice day.  If the weather improves Mark and I will take his GT Sno Racer out for a run.  I had one as a kid and some of the most painful things I have ever endured came as a result of that thing so it should be fun.  I just hope his injuries don't affect his Christmas.

On Christmas morning, I am getting up early and helping set up things down at the shelter.  Once shift change happens, I am heading back home to open gifts with the family.  Sometime tomorrow we are heading to the Reimer's to eat and argue.  Today Gloria and I had a conversation where we both decided that we would rather just talk about the faith rather than live it out so all we have to do is argue :-)

I have a growing photo set on Flickr of Christmas 2007 photographs.  I am sure more will be uploaded over the next couple of days but don't expect anything here until I head back to work on the 27th. 

Enjoy Christmas!

Technorati tags: Christmas, Wal-Mart, GT Sno Racer

The Transporter

On Friday, just as the kitchen brought some snacks down the hallway to munch on, I was dispatched by my boss to drive for the Salvation Army Christmas hamper distribution day.  It was cold out and not everyone has a car so I spent the afternoon driving people home after they got their food hampers from the Salvation Army and Rock 102.   I like to think I am as cool as The Transporter or the guy in the BMW Films although Friday I was driving a Chevrolet mini van so I kept the shooting and jumping to a minimum.

I had my camera on me and took a couple of photos of the warehouse.

I got there in the mid afternoon and a bunch of the hampers were already gone.

 

These are some of the 15,000 toys that were collected as part of the Rock 102 Toy Soldier campaign.  The blue bags are full of wrapped toys that have been chosen for each family according to age.  The unwrapped toys are ones that are given out for people who signed up late.  This way their kids still get some cool gifts. They aren't wrapped so people can figure out which gift to give away.

 

On top of the boxes of food, each family got potatoes, carrots, and Mandarin oranges.  They also got to chose from a ham or turkey.  Despite my preference for ham at Christmas, most people preferred the turkeys so what do I know?

When all was said and done, the hampers weighed about 100 pounds.  It was freezing cold out Friday and it would have been horrible to have to take that big of hamper home on the bus so we drove anyone who didn't have a car home.  Many of the people I drove home could not carry the hampers so I made a lot of trips up apartment stairs and almost always to the top floor.  While I didn't mind doing it, my body was hurting by the last trip of the day.  What made it worth it was a) the people I talked with really appreciated it and b) I realized I was being paid to get a pretty good workout.

It was my first visit to the warehouse and it was cool to see the scale of everything.  A lot of time and hours go into making it all happen and it is kind of mind boggling to think about 1 of 15 people in Saskatoon donated a toy to the Toy Soldiers campaign. 

I am working on a photo set of Christmas down at the Centre.  You can find it here.

Technorati tags: Salvation Army Community Centre, Saskatoon, Christmas hampers, Christmas, toys, food, Rock 102, Toy Soldier

So how does one make a difference?

I was reading some comments, IM, and e-mail in response to my last post.  Instead of editing my post, I am going to offer up some further thoughts.

I grew up in the church and therefore Christmas productions.  It was a lot of rehearsals and time that I could have been playing road hockey and in the end I was glad when it was over but I also admit it was kind of fun.  It taught me some great truths, mostly about how important it was to learn my lines and sing in a choir (yes, I sang in a choir off and on into my teen years).  It also taught me that it was okay for people to yell at one another and cry if they were musical.  The community came, drank apple cider, and engaged for that season with our community.  For the most part it was people connected to the performers (either kids or adults) or people looking for a nostalgic Christmas experience or other Christians looking to soak up as much Christmas as possible over the holidays (Christmas-holics?)  I am sure there is some value in it and I am sure many people love it but come January, whatever changes in church attendance went back down to previous levels.  Even if you are part of a church where a bunch of people come twice a year (Christmas and Easter), whatever is being done at Christmas isn't bringing them back very soon.

Now what could be done with a couple thousand volunteer hours in the community?  Servant Evangelism has a plethora of ideas to do over the holidays locally.  Every day at work we have people asking for warm winter gear (thanks to all those who have donated).  Globally there is the Advent Conspiracy where churches have come together to raise money for fresh drinking water in Africa or as they put it, "Advent Conspiracy is an international movement restoring the scandal of Christmas by worshipping Jesus through compassion, not consumption".   Other churches like Ginghamsburg have committed to confront with the crisis in Sudan.  As a worship event, instead of the big event, how about stealing an idea from Grace and give people a "time out" during Advent.

I am trashing Christmas traditions and maybe there is some value in dusting off the Maranatha Christmas books but if the aim is to be a missional community, I think there may be some better options.

I had a couple of IM conversations with friends who commented on the past as saying that part of the problem is that in the suburbs, you don't see that much need... especially in communities where the homeless problem is invisible and as one friend said, "People in my church don't have very many friends who are not Christians."  I wonder if this the result of the church doing what Dallas Willard talks about when we take people out of the regular communities and keep them in church communities.  Not only does the church deprive a community of ones redemptive potential but at the same time we lose touch of the community we live in. 

It got me thinking of the Christmas ads the Salvation Army runs.  Click on the ad for a full sized version.  Partly because I can see a crack house while typing this blog entry out and where I work, the need is pretty obvious for me.  Guys need warm winter clothes, many single parents who were on a losing strike at the University have very little for Christmas, there are even those who are trying to sleep outside in this weather (which makes the graphic there a little haunting to me).  Today in a meeting arose the need for more programs for people with full blown AIDS and of course low income housing is a big issue with occupancy rates as low as 1% in the city.

There are a lot of materialistic choices to be made this winter (I have even linked to some for you) but as I said before, there are a lot of things we can do that can make a big difference for others this winter.  Maybe my definition of "making a difference" is different than yours but I still think the church can do better than a Christmas cantata.

Technorati tags: Advent Conspiracy, Sudan, Advent, Christmas

A bigger waste of resources?

Everywhere I drive these days I see advertisements in front of churches advertising their Christmas pageant or Christmas cantata. It made me wonder if there is anything else in the church year that compares to this in terms of energy, money, and time expended which provides so little impact for the community. I know I am biased because of my context but in a setting in many communities where people struggle financially with the basics over the winter and especially over Christmas, there just seems to be a far better use of time and money then putting on a Christmas production whose real star is a local border collie herding live sheep. Sure you put on a nice evening for some seniors in a community but is entertaining the saints worth that kind of effort, especially when others are in need and especially when almost every other church in town is doing the same thing?

Wendy (who for years sang in her church's "Singing Christmas Tree") and I were talking about the opportunities for churches to make a huge difference over the holidays, both traditional and non-traditional and while there are that do some amazing things, I can't help but wonder what would happen if more churches turned their efforts towards those that need real help rather than towards restaging another Christmas story. Steve Sjogren demonstrates this best with Servant Evangelism.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good Christmas party and I am not really talking about that but there are churches that toss thousands of dollars and hundreds and hundreds of staff hours to an event that largely caters to other Christians. Former colleagues talk about the impact to their church in terms of conflict survived instead of lives changed with even from a straight church growth angle, it doesn't produce much results.  It just seems to be something that we have done for years because we have always done it.

It reminds me a little bit of something Doug Pagitt said years ago at Soularize in Minneapolis (apologies to Doug if I am misquoting him). He said that we need to spend less time concentrating on what the Reformer's wrote and instead we need to do more of what they did. Instead of spending so much time recreating the nativity, I wonder what would happen if we did a better job of doing what happened, being God incarnate on earth.

Technorati tags: Christmas, cantata, church, holidays, Servant Evangelism

Staff Christmas Party

Wendy and I went to the staff Christmas party the other night at The Barn Playhouse and she has a rather nice blog post about it.

Technorati tags: The Barn Playhouse

Gift Giving from jordoncooper.com

I enjoy Christmas a lot and I enjoy the search for the perfect gift for friends and family.  Quite a few other people pick my mind for gift ideas and here are some of the things that I may be giving or have suggested over the last couple of months.  Enjoy and add your suggestions in the comments.

• Dissatisfied with what the Canadian government is doing about global warming and Kyoto?  Well you can do far more than John Baird has ever done and install a wind driven turbine and generator.  It also qualifies for free shipping from Amazon (no word on if it is delivered by a hybrid).
• The War Room: Political Strategies for Business, NGOs, and Anyone Who Wants to Win by Warren Kinsella :: I never give out books I haven't read myself but all streaks have an end.  I had ordered this from Amazon but Wendy talked me out of ordering it until after Christmas. (I wonder what I am getting under the tree).  Kinsella's Kicking Ass in Canadian Politics is a oft given gift from me and I gave out a couple copies of Fury's Hour so I can recommend The War Room
• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich :: This is a couple of years old but I found it tremendously helpful understanding the problems that our clients at the Centre face when starting over. Bait and Switch is a good read from the issue of the American dream from a white collar perspective.
• Sony Playstation Portable :: When these came out they were expensive and not a lot of games to play.  A couple of years later with a plethora of games available under the Sony Greatest Hits brand and a new lower price, these are looking cooler and cooler every day. Star Wars Battlefront is a great game to toss in as well.
• iPod Touch / iPod Nano :: I have had a chance to play with both of the new iPod's and I can't see anyone being disappointed with either one of them.  The browser on the Touch is a lot of fun and would be great to kill some time with in a coffee shop and having an instant on Internet would be a lot of fun.  In the end I think it will come down to if you want to spend the extra money to access your Gmail and the web or just listen to music and video on the Nano.
• Beyond Magazine :: A four issue subscription can be bought for $30.  Not only do you give the gift of culture but you are also supporting an award winning, independent, ads-free arts magazine
• Atari Flashback Game System :: Take it old school with an old school Atari system and 20 built in games.  Sure your PS3 has amazing graphics but honor your past and play some Missile Command.
• Divine Nobodies and Wide Open Spaces :: Both books are by my friend Jim Palmer.  He has been called the next great spiritual writer of our generation.  Time will tell that but both Wendy and I have loved Divine Nobodies.  Wide Open Spaces just came out and I can't wait to read it.
• Make someone up some Moo cards from their photographs on Flickr.
• Anything by Ken Burns would probably make any amateur historian happy.
• Soul Grafitti by Mark Scandrette.  Another great book of 2007 and one where Mark is seriously looking at what it means to be a Christian... in other words what are the actions of a disciple.
• Out of TheOoze by Spencer Burke :: In what I hope is a series of books from writers who make up TheOoze.com, Out of The Ooze is a collection of love letters to the church from those who are on its fringes.
• Flip Video Camera :: These are a lot of fun (I have played with one a couple of times) and a pretty good deal for quick home videos and small enough to carry with you every day.

Technorati tags: Christmas, gifts, global warming, politics, books, Playstation Portable, PSP, iPod Touch, iPod Nano

Christmas

I guess I am officially in the Christmas mood. The snow and cold are here to stay in Saskatoon. Yesterday it was almost -30 with the wind chill. Just walking across the street from my car to work was enough to make me want to move.

Wendy and I did some Christmas shopping this weekend. We bought Mark a snowboard which was harder than we thought. We had some Canadian Tire money so I wanted to get it from Canadian Tire. At the same time I have always been told snowboards needed to have metal edges. After talking to a couple of people who do snowboard (I ski so I know nothing), I was told that for Mark's age and type of hill he will be snowboarding on (the hill in A.H. Brown Park isn't that big), the snowboard we got him would be fine until he is ready to graduate to an actual ski hill. After the Canadian Tire money, the snowboard was just a couple of dollars and we got him some snowboard glasses a couple of weeks ago. We also went to Toys R Us and I was amazed that the same toys that I played with as a kid have all made a comeback (or in the case of Star Wars have provided a steady stream of income for George Lucas for 30 years now). Mark has been fascinated by my PDA since I started using it again and we also found a Sponge Bob Squarepants PDA with a remarkable 2k of RAM. Not a lot but what does a seven year old need to keep track of.

We also managed to make it out to Costco to look around. The carts were lined up to the back of the store. It was a sight to see and what I don't understand is that Costco wasn't running that great of sales so I have no idea what would be so important to stand in line for a couple of hours for. We browsed and looked around and took some notes but like I said, there was nothing worth standing around for.

Yesterday Wendy came down to the Centre and helped decorate the Residential Unit's lounge's and hallways. Some wreaths on doors, a nice Christmas Tree (we still need a star to go on top), and some other decorations for the front lobby. We have B.B. King's Christmas CD playing and life is good. We have also been making some plans for making Christmas Day nice for the guys at the Centre which is fun.

Technorati tags: Christmas, Canadian Tire, Costco

Buy Something Christmas

Many friends and people I respect subscribe to the idea of a buy nothing Christmas.  Christmas is too commercialized and how much stuff does the average person really need any ways.  How about a different way of looking at it.  Instead of filling a shoe box with a bunch of stuff and thinking we have done a great thing, how about making a difference locally?  I did some media interviews today (one for French CBC Radio) with the cold weather descending on Saskatoon.  In the one interview, I said the guys at the shelter could really use cold weather gear like wool socks, gloves, toques, scarves, used jackets, and stuff like that.  You can drop them off at the Community Centre day or night.

Don't "buy nothing" this Christmas but use some of your wealth to make a real difference in someone's life.  Guys come in all of the time with frost bite or half frozen.  I think because we don't see burning barrels on the streets we think people aren't homeless during the winter but there is a segment of the population that not only do we give shelter to, they also need the basics to keep warm outside.  There are a lot of other organizations that are doing excellent work in Saskatoon that would appreciate some help over the holidays.  In other words, embrace the strangers in your community this holiday.

Technorati tags: Buy Nothing Christmas, Saskatoon, Christmas

Advent and Consumption

Speaking of consumption, Darryl Dash has a good post about an alternative (and more Scriptural way) of looking at Advent this year in Christian Week.

Merry Christmas

Well the stockings have been rumaged through, the presents opened, and the chocolates are laying out ready to be consumed so it must have been Christmas morning.

 

Wendy and I wendy down to the Salvation Army last night and served soup and sandwiches at the coffee house.  Captain Ed and Captain Charlotte lead a nice service in the chapel which ended when everyone lit their candle from the Christ candle.

 

After that there was soup, sandwiches, and donuts and other assorted treats for everyone and I don't think anyone left hungry.

 

After that we went home and joined Lee and Mark for some home made pizza and we watched Over the Hedge.  I was suprised how much the movie made in the theatres ($239,307,057 worldwide) as I wasn't that fond of us but what do I know.  Mark on the other hand thought it was great so as long as he had a good time it was worth watching.

 

After tracking down Santa with Google Earth and the NORAD Santa website, Mark was getting concerned that Santa Claus might come while he was awake so all of us went to bed until moning.

 

I was the first one awake and had to pull Mark out of bed which gave me reason to believe that Mark could not be my child and may have been switched at birth because I never had to be wakened on Christmas morning.  That being said, Wendy is a noted slugabed so he may get it from her, that and the very late nights this weekend.

 

Eveyone dove into their stockings.

Inside my stocking was a bottle of Arbor Mist and the traditional stocking stuffers.  Wendy got her own powered Oral-B toothbruth to ease her Soniccare envy while Wendy managed to traumatize Lee with some bikini underwear.  She threatened him months ago that if he didn't give her a Christmas list, she would give him underwear.  He never got her a list.

 

I gave Wendy a watch, Mark a rod hockey table, and Lee a Tomb Raider Legend for his PSP.  Maggi was given three indestructable frisbees and one lasted under a minute.  The other one outlasted Maggi as we played fetch through some deep snow for half an hour.  It came in ice covered (from her drool) which is more than a little disgusting.

 

Wendy gave me The Great Omission by Dallas Willard and The Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon.  After 18 years of asking, I was finally given an NFL Football by Lee.  Lee got Mark a Game Boy Advance SP but also managed to get me a game for it.  I forgot how much fun those things could be.

 

Well, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas where ever you are.  I will be adding some more photos to our Christmas 2006 photo set as we finish up the Christmas season so if you care to, check it out here.

 

 

Technorati Tags : Christmas

Santa

I was chatting at work when I remembered that 25 years ago while living in Calgary, a guy dressed up as Santa Claus used to come by every Christmas Eve with snacks and toys for us. I have no idea who that guy was... a neighbor... a person from our church... a friend of the family. I never thought of it from then until we were talking about kids who were scared of Santa and I remembered by sister cried when he came to our house. Now I am really curious to who it was.

Christmas Eve

I hope none of you are reading this and are all hanging out with family and friends. I am working today in a fairly busy shelter. Everyone told me that it would be really quiet and empty but we have a full house right now which is good in that I am glad people have a place to stay.

Last night Mark and I stayed up late watching a plethora of Christmas specials and finished the night strong as we watched a Godzilla movie. Mark slept in front of the Christmas tree and when I went down in the middle of the night, Mark was sleeping on the floor while Maggi had the fold out mattress. I pulled the dog onto the floor and Mark onto the mattress only to come down and find Mark back on the floor and Maggi on the mattress when I went to leave for work this morning.

Christmas Eve

Every year for almost the last decade, Wendy, Mark and I have driven to Spiritwood for the Christmas Eve service. It was a fun drive up there but a long one back (if we had hit anything, we wouldn't have been found until probably Boxing Day) in the middle of the night.

This year we thought long and hard about going to one of the downtown cathedrals to celebrate Christmas but after thinking it through, it felt like we were being ecclessial tourists. Instead Wendy and I are coming to help out at the coffee that New Hope Community Church puts on at the Salvation Army Community Centre. The church is in the building here and while it normally offers up some soup and sandwiches on a Sunday night free for the community, on Christmas Eve they are doing a special candlelight service and coffee house.

Wendy and I are just going to clean and help out in anyway that they need us to but we are looking forward to it. It should be a nice night.

Christmas 2006 Photos

It's Christmas time and we are having fun with it.  I uploaded some of our Christmas photos to a photoset at Flickr.  We will keep adding to it as the season continues.

Technorati Tags : Christmas, flickr, photos

The Waste of Christmas Gift Giving

James Suroweicki in the New Yorker

An economist might suggest that the solution is to abandon the pretense and simply start exchanging small piles of money. The boom in gift cards is a kind of socially tolerable version of this: the cards are somehow more personal than cash, and they’re also not going to be wasted on an unwanted gift. But Waldfogel’s studies also suggest a very different solution: if most of the presents we buy are going to be less valuable in monetary terms than in sentimental ones, then there’s no reason to believe that the more expensive gift is a better gift. In fact, the more we spend at Christmas, the more we waste. We might actually be happier—and we’d certainly be wealthier—if we exchanged small, well-considered gifts rather than haunting the malls. Calculating the deadweight loss of Christmas gifts is a coldhearted project, but it leads to a paradoxically warmhearted conclusion: the fact of giving may be more important than what you give. Start with “Bah, humbug” and you somehow end up with “God bless us, every one.”

Christmas 2005 photos on Flickr

I uploaded my photos from Christmas up to Flickr.  If you have a Flickr account (they are free) and are signed in and are "friends or family" of Wendy and mine, you can see all of the photos.  If not, you will only see a couple.

If you would like to see all of our photos (including Mark's photos), let me know at jordoncooper@gmail.com what your Flickr username is and I can add you to our friends list.

Technorati Tags : Christmas, photos, flickr

Mark's pictures at the Saskatoon Blades game

One of the things that we got Mark for Christmas was his own digital camera. Nothing fancy, just an inexpensive 1.3 megapixel camera without zoom or a flash but enough for him to have some fun with. He took it with him to the Saskatoon Blades game the other night and took some pictures. Not the best environment for a cheap camera but he had some fun and was quite insistent that we post the pictures on his blog. Here they are.

Link

Christmas 2005

Christmas 2005 is on the books.  It was a quiet day around here.   Since Mark was up late on Christmas Eve watching Star Wars with us, we slept in on Christmas morning until 9 a.m.  We got us, opened stockings, exchanged gifts, and then watched The Incredibles that Lee bought for Mark for Christmas.  After that it was some lazing around the house, napping, and goofing off as a family.  Later, Jadon came by, ate supper with us and that was pretty much the day. 

I got spoiled with a copy of Stanley Hauwerwas’s book, Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words and Mark gave me a copy of Bastards and Boneheads which at first glance could be a book about our families but is actually a book about Prime Minister’s of Canada.  Lee gave me Age of Mythology while Santa found out that I was a Madonna fan and I was given Confessions from a Dance Floor.

 Today Wendy is working for another hour or so and then after that we are running some errands and taking it easy tonight.

Technorati Tags : Christmas, Boxing+Day

Christmas Eve

So much for taking the Christmas season off from blogging anything.  I think I made it a couple of hours.  Pathetic.  Lee is downstairs sleeping, Mark is upstairs pretending to nap and for another 90 minutes, Wendy is working at Safeway.  I just talked to her a minute ago and she says it is just nuts in there.  Not a lot of fun.

Some random thoughts

• I didn't need to do any shopping today but we have broken an incredible amount of glasses and cups in the last week.  Zellers has their glasses on for 50% off today so I wandered in over at Market Mall.  I was expecting worse.  Every till was open but no lineups.  I heard it was worse earlier.
• I ran into an incredible amount of people from Lakeview Church today and many read my blog.  It was fun seeing a bunch of old friends.  Luckily none of them had to do any shopping and were just running errands as Mark and I were.
• After purchasing cups and some stoneware, we put them in the trunk of Lee's car.  Some women thought we were going to get in the car and leave but we went back inside to say hi to Wendy.  The women snapped, started honking and swearing at Mark and I.  It really scared Mark.  I hope she is proud of herself.
• We are watching the Star Wars Trilogy over Christmas.  I have no idea why everyone is so excited about this but Lee, Wendy, and Mark are all pumped about it.  Star Wars tonight, The Empire Strikes Back tomorrow and Return of the Jedi on Boxing Day.  May the Force be with you.
• Mark has had some fun with both Norad Santa and also Google Earth tracking Santa today.
• I wish I knew a big KISS fan.  I saw KISSopoly today.  How much fun would KISSopoly be to give as a gift?

Technorati Tags : Norad+Santa, Google+Earth, Star+Wars, Christmas, Kissopoly

Merry Christmas

I guess that should be Happy Holidays.  Canadian politicians are threatening to take the Election out of Elexmas.  What a shame.

I am not blogging at all until Boxing Day and Christmas is over.  By Boxing Day night our tree will be in the backyard drying out so it will burn in the firepit, the decorations will be put away and all signs of Christmas will be gone.  We are a weird family.

I may not be blogging at all.  Since Lee has moved in, 9 plates and bowls have gone missing as well as almost all of our glasses.  Some broke but I fear others are in his room.  I need to give someone the Stone Cold Stunner for Christmas.  Either way I am going to go to Zellers this afternoon and pick up some new plates that are not to leave the kitchen.  Wendy tells me that after about 3, the stores slow down but I fear for my life.

See you in a couple of days and Merry Elexmas!

Technorati Tags : Christmas, Elexmas

Family Christmas 2005

Wendy blogs about getting together with the Reimer's and Kristy last night and how much fun it was.

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As gadgets replace toys, what's in it for kids?

Are today's kids becoming the first post-toy generation?

Bratz, a line of dolls whose curvy figures and up-to-the-minute fashions have turned it into a $2.5 billion global brand, has discovered a threat even bigger than Barbie: Members of the first generation to embrace Bratz, which reached the market in 2001, are preparing to abandon Cloe, Roxxi and Sasha this holiday season in favor of - what else? - an iPod.

But instead of giving up on the girls who turned Bratz into a blockbuster, the dolls' manufacturer is aggressively chasing after them, not with bigger and better Bratz characters, but with digital video cameras and MP3 players. "We don't look at ourselves as a toy company," said Isaac Larian, chief executive of MGA Entertainment, the private company that owns Bratz. "The toy market, to be frank, is just shrinking."

Having failed to beat the electronics industry, the ailing toy business will join it in a big way in the year-end holiday shopping season, offering just about everything from cellphones for 6-year-olds (LeapFrog) to video projectors for 8-year-olds (Hasbro) in an effort to hold on to children who are casting aside Lego and GI Joe to play with their parents' gadgets.

Now I don't feel so bad giving Mark a digital camera this year.

10 Things That I Don't Have the Nerve To Give Wendy For Christmas

Wendy and I were talking about stupid Christmas gifts we have been given in the past.  Wendy's nominee was underwear and I had nothing to even come close to that.  If I was going to try to give her a really bad Christmas gift, these would all be on the list.  Wendy has promised violence should she even receive such a gift.

1. A bowling ball engraved with my name on it (a la Homer's birthday gift to Marge)
2. The complete collection of Rocky movies
3. A signed Red Dawn movie poster by Patrick Swayze
4. A memory upgrade for my Thinkpad with the promise that it will run faster when she borrows it.
5. A ticket to a Star Trek convention
6. The $1000 bubble top rod hockey table I saw the other day.
7. A tarrantula
8. A big screen flat panel HD television so we can watch football together
9. Tickets to the Ultimate Fighting Championship
10. Trivial Pursuit: Montreal Expos Edition.

Technorati Tags : gifts, Christmas, Wendy+Cooper

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

This morning Wendy wrapped up the last of the unwrapped presents and placed them under our Christmas tree. Mark was upstairs in trouble and Lee was working (The same Lee who was at work at 5:00 a.m. this morning). We had some Tony Bennett and Bing Crosby on the CD player and some tinsel was hanging off of Hutch.

Christmas this year will be spent in Saskatoon. On December 20th, we are heading over to Jerry and Gloria Reimer's house for an early Christmas dinner. We have spent almost every Christmas with the Reimers since I started working at Lakeview Church. On the 22nd we are looking forward to getting together with Tamara after her return from Taiwan.

On Christmas Day; Wendy, Mark, Lee and I are going to be spending it at home. Like other megachurch pastors, I am not having a Christmas morning service in Spiritwood so we will be getting up early, open our socks and presents and then hanging out over breakfast and the Walt Disney World parade on television. A little Regis and Kelly with my Christmas breakfast.

Wendy and I bought Mark a sled for Christmas. As long as it is -15 or warmer, we will probably take him sledding. I looked for one that would be fast so Mark will be flying down the hill. Our nearby hill isn't that nasty so he should be quite safe.

One Christmas tradition that hasn't continued is that our outside Christmas lights haven't been stolen. We changed the way we put them up and our lights are scaled back but unlike in previous years when we have had whole light strings stolen, not even a light has gone missing. Good but weird.

Technorati Tags : Christmas

When Christmas Falls on Sunday, Megachurches Take the Day Off

The New York Times is reporting on megachurches deciding not to have a service on Christmas Sunday.

Some of the nation's most prominent megachurches have decided not to hold worship services on the Sunday that coincides with Christmas Day, a move that is generating controversy among evangelical Christians at a time when many conservative groups are battling to "put the Christ back in Christmas."

Scot McKnight offers an excellent response to a lot of the criticism that the churches are getting.

Second, let’s ask a question at the heart of the discussion: Does the NT teach a Sunday morning worship service? Well, the evidence isn’t what some are making it out to be. We need to be fair here: there is a distinction between what is taught and what is mentioned or hinted at as something practiced. And there is no clear text legislating that Christians are to meet for worship on a Sunday morning.

And it ought to be observed that there is, whether some will admit it or not, no clear connection between Christian worship on a Sunday and the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of “rest” while the Sunday was a time of “worship.” (See here A.G. Shead, New Dict. of Bibl. Theol, 749-50.) Not one shred of evidence here. In fact, the Apostle Paul says in Col 2:16 that one’s judgment about Sabbaths ought to be kept to oneself – or at least it ought not to be used as an instrument of judgment. (I have a hard time, and you probably do too, thinking Paul is letting ordinary Christians render judgment about when they were to “attend worship.”)

There are, however, clear indications that Christians met on Sundays, the first day of the week: Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2. I’m not sure what Rev 1:10 means, and no one ought to be dogmatic about it, but I tend to think it is close to meaning “the Lord’s day (when on the first day of the week we gathered for the Lord’s supper).”

And there is the warning in Heb 10:25 that Christians ought to meet regularly with other Christians, though the author does not say this was to be on Sunday – we can assume it was, but it is an assumption.

This leaves us with this: no strong correlation between Sabbath and Sunday; no commandment to worship together on Sunday; the evident practice, however, of meeting on Sundays for worship and fellowship. The precedent, as Joe Thorn rightly says on Steve McCoy’s blog, is there; there is, however, no commandment. And Col makes me wonder if it is appropriate to correlate Sunday worship with Sabbath practice.

Lakeland Church is not having a Christmas service but a Christmas Eve one. We are a microchurch, not a mega one but we had a lot of discussion about the schedule and also how the majority of people did not want to attend church on Christmas morning but wanted to be with families. They have opportunities to attend church on Saturday night and many churches are having multiple services Saturday. I think a lot of the controversy comes from people just wanting to pick on megachurches.

Technorati Tags : Christmas, Scot+McKnight, worship, New+Testament

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Christmas @ the Freehouse

A couple of us from the worship.freehouse are getting together this Sunday night at O'Shea's to celebrate Christmas. If you are interested in joining us, it should be fun and relaxing. Something that I need this Christmas season.

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Christmas Day Recap

Hope everyone had a great Christmas Day. Ours was quiet. We woke up around 8 and opened our gifts and stockings. Wendy and Mark gave me two books, Heretic Blood, a book about Thomas Merton and Archbishop Desmond Tutu's book, No Future Without Forgiveness. The Rainbow Six game by Tom Clancy, and some CD-R's to keep my photographs backed up along with a wide variety of stocking stuffers and food. Some people from the church gave Wendy, Mark, a I some wonderful gifts as well.

I gave Mark a toy aircraft carrier and some hockey nets. Wendy got him a collection of Robert Munsch books called Munsch More. I had never heard of Robert Munsch until the Reimer's gave Mark this book last year. After wiping the tears from my eyes I became a fan of his books.

Mark and I gave Wendy a new watch, a hoodie, a ceramic village piece, Anita Baker CD, tea kettle (to replace the one I melted a couple weeks ago), and a loose tea maker.

After opening our gifts and watching a horribly done Disney's Christmas Parade (all traditions have to come to an end and Disney may have killed this for us), we headed to the Reimers to eat, exchange gifts, and watch Canada beat Slovakia in the World Junior Hockey Championships (a wonderful Canadian tradition.

Today I had coffee with a recovering Leighton who managed to be attacked by the flu over Christmas. He has battled back admirally and looked no worse for wear. We exchanged gifts, complained about churches not having websites and told stories of our worst tobogganing accidents ever. Made me want to take Mark to the nastiest hill I could find so he would have his own stories. Saskatoon has a couple big hill that turn to ice with use. Going down and trying to find your footing to get back up the hill is an adventure both ways.

Am spending tonight with Mark and Wendy. Relaxing, watching some television, and goofing off. Happy Boxing Day

Christmas morning

Christmas morning
Originally uploaded by Jordon.

Wendy and Mark exploring their stockings from Santa Claus.

Contextless Christmas Eve Links

• PC Magazine's People of the Year :: This blogging thing could catch on
• NORAD's Santa Tracker :: Let's hope they track Soviet's better than they build websites.
• Wendy's recipes :: Her recipe website attracts way more traffic then mine for the next couple of days.
• History of Christmas trees
• Santa's got a fighter escort :: Some CF-18's will be shadowing Santa
• Mike Gingerich knows how to eat at Christmas
• Sabermetrics