Keep Your Mind on What Matters During the HolidaysPosted by Administrator on November 30th, 2009

With Black Friday looming last week, I spent a significant amount of time surfing through ads, trying to find the very best deals on the presents I would get for my kids and my lovely wife. This inevitably led to scheming about how I would outsmart or outmuscle the early morning crowds to secure the perfect gift. Along the way, I found myself catching glimpses of the things I wanted, too, and hoping that my wife would pick the right one. Before long, I couldn’t even focus on Thanksgiving. I had bigger fish to fry, bigger deals to reel in. Yeah, yeah, being grateful is good and all, but, if I planned things out well enough, I could come home Friday morning with a bounty of the best presents. I would be a hero come Christmas morning, I mused. 

I’ll admit it here and now: I got sucked into all the things about Christmas that don’t matter. And it was ruining my holidays.

Luckily, my wife brought me back down to earth after Thanksgiving dinner in her forthright way. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was getting caught up in all of this so I could be the best gift-giver around. It had become a form of self-aggrandizement. Also, I was slipping in a few items that I really wanted- and maybe my kids would like them, too. Somehow, I had turned what was supposed to be an act of Christian love and appreciation into an act of selfishness. Funny how we do that sometimes.

So I rethought all my grand gift-giving plans. Like Scrooge and Charlie Bailey before me, I reconsidered what the true meaning of Christmas is. And I made a big attitude adjustment. I would not let the retailers dictate my holiday cheer. Rather, I would make my actions reflective of the Man we celebrate at Christmas. I thought about a neighbor of mine who has been unemployed for several months now and recently lost his car. I thought about others in similar situations. I thought about my wife and what would truly make her happy. And I resolved to do something- something real- to help these people and to somehow lift their burdens.

This is my new mission for the holidays. Anyone can buy a video game. But it takes real Christian love to give a real gift.



Filed under: News, family issues | No Comments

Family History BlitzPosted by Administrator on November 20th, 2009

 As I mentioned in my last post, our family just came into a huge list of names and dates. And it seems like the subject of compiling everything in one place has been in the air every time my cousins and I get together. People have records here and records there, stuff shoved into shoe boxes or old photo albums. Because we can’t shake the nagging feeling that we need to make an inventory of all the records we have, we are getting together this Saturday for a family history blitz.

This means we’re going to go online and see what we have already. Then we’re going to take all the loose bits of paper and notes on the backs of photos and make sure everything is accounted for. At the end, we’ll know where we’re missing information, where our efforts should placed. 

Has anyone out there ever done this? Did it work? Let me know.



Filed under: Ancestry.com, Family History, Resources, family issues | No Comments

3 Things Families Should Be Thankful ForPosted by Administrator on November 13th, 2009

Okay. Just to set the record straight, before November contained a holiday dedicated to turkeys, the New York City Rockettes, and football, there was this thing called Thanksgiving. The point of this holiday- no kidding- was to give thanks for all of the blessings we have. 

 
Now, maybe giving thanks is outdated. Maybe it’s just not sexy enough for the advertisers. I mean, after all, if you are thankful for what you have, how can they make you lust after all their new products? Maybe. But I’m one person who still believes in giving thanks for what I have. And family is one place where I think we should all be especially grateful.
 
To get you in the mood for Thanksgiving (not Turkey Day), here are 3 things families should be thankful for:
 
1. Time together – You’ve probably noticed that things are getting busier. With unemployment still growing and the cost of living still rising, parents are finding it harder to find time to spend together. Be grateful for the time you do have together and make the most of it. It doesn’t last forever.
 
2. Love and support – True friendship and unconditional love are hard to come by. If your family members, even with all their flaws, have been there for you during hard times or good times, be grateful for them.
 
3. Shared heritage – There’s something special about knowing there is a group of people out there who have the same genetic information as you, the same parents, grandparents, the same features, the same weaknesses, the same strengths. You can’t find that kind of relationship anywhere else.
 
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope this post helps you reflect more on things you’ve been blessed with and less on, say, football or cranberry sauce.

 



Filed under: family issues | No Comments