Dickens on the Square

I just got back from Dickens on the Square, a Christmas event in my hometown every year. It's happening tonight, and tomorrow morning. First, we caroled (in English and American Sign Language), and then we watched the parade. The parade included a nativity scene, which I was happy to see. It was followed by a Santa Claus sleigh. The girl next to me (someone from my old church) said, "Ooh Santa!" I said, "Interesting, Jesus passed by and you said nothing, but Santa gets cheers!" She said that she didn't believe in Santa anyway, but I know she believes in Jesus. Interesting...

Then we ate at Taco Bell (just thought I'd throw that in).

Anyway, the point is, my home town is still old-school enough to include a nativity in their Christmas parade. Go Lockhart!

The signing went well - I was surprisingly comfortable with it. We practiced last night at our teacher's house (her daughter is a year older than me, and she's Deaf).
I can't wait until I can actually carry a conversation with someone. That will be nice.

Yeah, yeah, I know - too much about me, not enough about Christ being taken out of Christmas. You'll get over it.

Happy birthday, Jesus!

-Austin

Turkey Day?

Okay, I confess, this is about Thanksgiving, not Christmas. Sue me.

I just wanted to share that today, while I was at ACC (Austin Community College, where I take Chemistry for both high school and college credit), this guy was talking on the phone, and I heard him say something like, "Okay, so what are you doing for - ". He paused, "...turkey day?" It seemed like he was going to say thanksgiving, but decided that it wouldn't be appropriate to mention thanks to God. Rather, one should call it "Turkey Day," so as not to insult anyone.

I'm going caroling soon (in ASL, what's more), and all the songs are about Jesus, except "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," but that's just one in about ten, and theres nothing about Santa or Rudolph or anything like that, plus, it has the words "good tidings," which are straight out of the Bible.

USA Today

This is Austin, a new team member. I'm a little spy, looking out for the attempts of our society and specific organizations to remove Christ completely from Christmas and our culture in general.

Check out this article by USA Today about Christians who are fighting to put Christ back into Christmas:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-12-21-holidaysuit_x.htm

Now that's bold! In case you missed it, this lady was so fed up with the removal of Christ from Christmas that she brought a cake to her son's school that said, "Happy Birthday Jesus". That's bold, right there.