Off the Beaten Plan

plan: to devise or project the realization or achievement of

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is either having a wonderful Christmas or a wonderful Friday. We’re putzing through our day, having already had the children open their presents, and now are working our way up to making the trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, over the river and through the woods, ironically enough.

Despite that the kids have had lots of fun with their presents, I’m not sure we did a real good job of getting the meaning of Christmas across to them. Aside from the fact that my husband did all the shopping, I didn’t take the time to have each of my kids choose a present for their sibling, and that’s something I wish I’d done. I really enjoy giving gifts as a way to say, “Hey, thanks, I appreciate you and we had a great year. Here’s a token of my appreciation,” and now I realize I wanted to share that with my kids.

Over the river...

Oh dear, is there someone out there right now yelling at me in their head that gifts aren’t the meaning of Christmas, that love and the birth of the Christ Child are? Well, yes, that too. But that’s not why I celebrate, although I did take my kids to a Christmas Eve service last night. I meant to go to the midnight service at the church we usually attend, but honestly, I was just too sick and tired. We’re a family of hackers today – all with nasty coughs and runny noses. It’s not fun.

and Through the Woods

At any rate, the holiday is also about spending time with family, hopefully without too many meltdowns in either the adult or child size, and we’re going to take care of that this afternoon. Then we can spend the whole next week playing with new toys, watching new movies, celebrating birthdays…oh yes, and an anniversary. Christmas joy abounds!

Have a great day, everyone! See you in a day or so!

Merry Christmas! was published on December 25th, 2009, with the tags , , , under the Completely Off Topic category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Holiday Gifts and the Office

giftIf you work in an office and not for yourself, you may find yourself a part of that quaint custom of exchanging gifts with each one of your coworkers. Or perhaps you’re lucky enough to have someone coordinate a Secret Santa exchange, so that you’re only obliged to buy one gift instead of 10. You could even be part of an office that has said, “No exchanges!”

In our office among the staff, we have nothing formal. There are two people that do not give gifts, and the rest of us gift among ourselves, including to the non-participants. We all tend to get the same thing for everyone (generally speaking), so when one person opens their gift, we may have all as well opened our gifts.

One of the people in the office doesn’t participate for religious reasons, and yet we all give gifts to this person anyway. The reason the associates do so is to show their appreciation for the past year of service we’ve given them. It’s like a tip. The reason I give this person a gift is because I like to give gifts as a way to show people I appreciate them, and because it’s fun to think up new surprises.

Why do you give gifts at the holidays? Do you buy for 50 people and then get stressed about the money you spent, or whether they like what you chose to get them? Or do you take the time to find a few special things for a few special people? Is there a nice way to balance the two?

I think it’s a shame when people feel obligated to give gifts to those around them. It’s also equally unfortunate to get so blase about gift giving that there is no thought put into a gift at all, making what should be a thoughtful thing into just another object inside another red bag with seasonal tissue paper.

Happy Holidays, everyone. And to my Witness friends…smile!

Holiday Gifts and the Office was published on December 18th, 2009, with the tags , , , , under the Editorial category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

The Agnostic Atheist Goes to Church

Here is the Church, There is the SteepleI don’t ever remember a time when I believed in God. I was a child, and I cried to my dad that I just didn’t get it. How could dinosaurs and the Garden of Eden have both existed? He gave me an answer that made me feel better at the time, but as a minister now (he wasn’t then), I wonder if he would still mean it?

Since my dad was ordained while I was a sophomore in high school, I spent a lot of my time in church, and hating it. I went to confirmation because I had to, and I never, ever fit in.

(Off Track: I remember this one project we had to do on a confirmand retreat – me and one of my friends both made question marks, but mine was perceived as “copying”. I was furious – I was the one who didn’t believe in God, and he was the one who was confused as to his spiritual path, but he knew he had one! How was that copying? Urgh.)

I also used to quite regularly fall asleep during sermons, even my dad’s. I would doodle, and do some really interesting Old West art with running horses in my church bulletin. I smiled, and said hi to all of the members of the church whenever I saw them around (because everyone knows the PK), and sang in the church choir because I have more singing ability than my dad (they made him turn off his mike – he gets quite out of tune, but he’s very enthusiastic about it).

But the very second I went off to college, I stopped attending. Finally, I didn’t have to go and be forced to listen and repeat this crap that I never believed in in the first place. I asked how I could cancel my membership with my dad’s church, but that probably wasn’t such a good idea. Apparently, that’s just not done. You can’t un-member once you’ve been confirmed. *sigh*

When we moved to Pennsylvania from Iowa to bring my son closer to my parents and to get back on our feet financially, I started going back to church once in a while. When my son was old enough for Sunday School, we were asked to bring him even more regularly, and so my husband and I would take turns. But it still wasn’t a regular thing, and the moment Summer hit, we would stop going.

Now imagine my surprise – we’ve moved to a new neighborhood. There’s a church of my parent’s faith just two blocks from our house, and of course I got hammered to take the kid’s to Sunday School. At this church, it occurs before the regular service, so I can drop the kids off and pick them up and not have to spend a moment listening to another sermon.

And yet, I find myself attending. Part of me says I go so that my kids can play for another hour in the child care room, and give my husband two whole hours of childlessness to enjoy on Sunday morning however he likes. But part of me actually likes it. Especially now, when we’re pulling out all the dusty old Christmas hymns.

I know all the songs. I remember all the responses and prayers that are printed in the hymnals. I still zone out during the sermons.

But coming in about 5 minutes before the service starts, hoping not to be too noticed, is an Agnostic Atheist sitting all by herself, putting $1 into the offering plate to help pay the church bills, and refusing to read responses or participate in communion because she simply doesn’t believe.

Very weird.

The Agnostic Atheist Goes to Church was published on November 30th, 2009, with the tags , , , , , , under the Editorial category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.