So...here I sit on this Boxing day full of snow, a two hour drive from home, sitting at my Father-in-law's computer in borrowed lounge pants. I thought it might be fun to write an entry about what I got for Christmas, to show how much I am loved, but also to show what my various gifts tell you about me. I will do this chronologically so as not to put any one person's gift above anyone else's. [ain't I pragmatic]
I recieved my first Christmas present from two members of my congregation, my wife and son on Thursday the 20th.
I got a figurine of Linus Van Pelt holding his blanket, it stands on a base and is flat and metallic. On the base it reads 'fearless' and if you put a candle in front of it you can see Linus on the wall, which is kinda cool. What it says about me is that I love Peanuts [but more on that later] and that Linus is my favorite character, because like me he is a philosopher and a theologian, yet still needs that blanket to feel safe [and while I don't have a literal security blanket you can bet your bottom dollar that I have several figurative ones].
I recieved my first group of Christmas presents on the 21st from my Mom, stepdad Len, sister, brother-in-law Jonathan, and neices Lucy and Nora and nephews Landon and Noah.
I got...
a target giftcard -- the first thing this says about me is that I really like Target, it is by far a better store than Wal-mart because of the clientel in Anderson, IN. I can't remember the last time I saw someone shopping at Target in their pajamas, whereas I think I see at least a person or two in their pajamas at Wal-Mart year round. Secondly it is a better store because their 'first week' movie, cd, video game prices are usually much better than Wal-mart. As you should already know, as a regular reader of this blog, I am a big fan of movies, music, and video games so this is a really big plus for me. My current plan is to use my giftcard to buy Season 6 of Psych [one of, if not, my favorite TV shows].
a coldstone creamery giftcard -- I also like icecream quite a bit, especially places that mix in various items into said icecream. At Coldstone I usually get strawberry icecream with strawberries, gummie bears, whipped cream, and graham cracker crust mixed in, I think that if you want to get technical about it it is a strawberry blonde with gummie bears.
I also got [along with Mary] some money which we used to eat out the other day, and [along with Henry] a dancing Charlie Brown [can you see a bit of a pattern forming].
My next set of gifts came on Sunday the 23rd. First from my congregation.
From both my congregation as a whole as well as from one of my members I got money. What this says about me is that I am lucky to pastor a small yet very caring congregation. I won't say that a life in ministry is without stress nor will I say that I am in love with the four hour round trip every Sunday, but I am extremely blessed to pastor the people that I do. It is the best place to be a first-time senior pastor. They are an understanding and forgiving bunch and I am very apprecitive of them.
Then from my wife and son. We did Christmas on Sunday because I had to work on Monday and then following work we drove to my in-laws.
I got...
Skylanders Giants and three extra characters (Swarm, a giant, and Pop-Fizz and Chill) -- Henry got me swarm, because I wanted him ever so much and Henry is a thoughtfull gift giver that way. What this mainly says about me is that a) we (Mary and I) decided to spend less on eachother since we had a third person in our home; b) I am a big child at heart, after all most of the people who love this game are under the age of ten, which I'm fine with. I tend to like action/adventure games, but I am less inclined to play the ones where you kill people, I would much prefer to kill aliens, robots, monsters, and other inter-dimensional beings. To that end I tend to lean more toward Mario, Sonic, Spyro, Jak and Daxter and the like. [I have in the past made an exception for the Uncharted series, but I no longer have a PS3]
I also got a stocking full of candy and other items, like a new lego batman keychain -- it says that I like candy, especially Dove chocolate with Peanut Butter, it also says that when we got our new car the keychain on the new keys was fairly ghetto so I needed a new one. Mary picked Batman because, well I love Batman.
Which brings us to Christmas day and my in-laws. From my sister-in-law Jennifer, my brother-in-law Mike and my nephew Owen I got...
an Amazon giftcard -- while Target is probably my favorite place to shop that has four walls, Amazon is my favorite place to shop period. for those who haven't tried Amazon.com out yet my suggestion would be to go do that right this minute, I'll wait. Amazon is a brilliant place that carries almost everything that has ever been made at prices that 9 times out of 10 compare favorably with any brick and mortar store. I would probably do all of my shopping there if I wasn't an impatient person [I like my movie and music the day it comes out].
an itunes giftcard -- I love itunes. I own an ipod classic with 140 gb of storage and I still have about 40 unused so this has already helped fix that [I downloaded a Duncan Sheik album that I didn't already have as well as the Toy Story short Partysaurus Rex, which is HI-larious]. As I said I like getting my music right away and since I usually work late shifts on Monday nights I tend to come home and download the new music I want right at Midnight, to this end itunes giftcards are helpful, especially in Mary's eyes.
a box of Strawberry fruit roll-ups -- Yes, I like fruit roll-ups. But what this really says is that a couple weeks ago Jennifer and Owen came and visited us. We went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum, the biggest and best in the world [not sure about the later, but the former is verifiable]. We had a great time, although I do fell that Henry could have had a better attitude about it, he seemed restless most of the time he wasn't asleep. BUT, Jennifer and Owen found my fruit roll-ups and decided to help themselves to them, so I got a box as a make-up gift.
and finally [at least so far, and I am open to more gifts] from my mother-in-law Janice and father-in-law Bob I got...
Catch Me if You Can on blu-ray -- I would think that this first points to the fact that I love movies. Second it points to the fact that I am a blu-ray believer. Third it points to the fact that this movie contains [in my opinion] the best two actors alive today Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. If either of these men are in a movie I will watch it, no matter what it is [even the Ladykillers remake that Tom did, which wasn't as funny as the prviews led me to believe] [or the Beach movie that Leonardo did, which was three-quarters of a good movie, but what in the name of all thats holy was that portion that resembled a video game about]
Hercules -- This is the Disney version. It says two things about me, first I do love me some cartoon movies, but more importanly than that since I learned that I was going to have a son I have been on a mission to acquire the kids movies that I feel Henry should watch as a youngster. To this end I started buying them this summer, some I got new (like Brave and Finding Nemo), some used (like Chicken Run, Spirit, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Tarzan), some as they released on blu-ray (like Aristocrats, Pocohantas, the Rescuers, and the Tigger Movie), and I still have a list of ones to buy in the coming months when they are re-released (like Peter-Pan, Who Framed Rogger Rabbit, and Mulan)
a 2013 New England Patriots calander -- I am a Patriot fan, living in Indiana. Before you accuse me of untrue things I have been a fan since Tom Brady was in high school and the only Super Bowl the team had been to was a 53 to 0 blowout by the Bears. I myself was in junior high and for whatever reason there were an unusually high number of Washington State games on TV in West Virginia and so I decided that wherever Drew Bledsoe got drafted that would be my favorite team. Hence when he got drafted by the Patriots I became a Patriot fan. There have been good years and bad years, a lot more good than most teams, and I love Brady and Belichick, but I was a fan before them and I will be a fan after them.
the Complete Peanuts 1983-1986 -- Starting in 2004 Fantagraphics began publishing the complete 50 year run of the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M Schulz in 2 year incriments twice a year. Each fall, following the publication of the 2nd volume, they put both of them out in a boxed set. So each year since I have received or bought the box set version. This means that I now own 36 years worth of Peanuts. I adore everything about this comic strip. I liked reading them as a boy, I was disapponted when I heard Charles was retiring and I cried when Sparky died the day before his final strip came out. I have a multitude of Peanuts related merchandise from clothes to statues to toys and stuffed animals to christmas tree ornaments.
New Interpreters Bible Commentary - Daniel and the 12 Prophets -- When I became a senior pastor I decided that it was high time to get a commentary set of my own. I choose the New Interpreters set because not only does it look at the scripure scholarly but it also has a set of pastoral reflections after each section, which I sometimes find helpful to jumpstart my brain. The problem is that as a whole it is so gosh darn expensive. To that end starting last Christmas I have been receiving and buying them individually, about one a month. This was the tenth one I needed, I have since ordered the 11th with the aforementioned Amazon giftcard which leaves only Numbers-Samuel left.
and a stocking with more candy, a McDonald's giftcard, and money -- this says that I have very generous in-laws
To end I would like to thank everyone for giving me things this year. I hope that you enjoy what we got you as much as I will enjoy what you got me. Merry Christmas, lets do this again next year.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
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