Two and Half Hours to Go Until 2009!

I'm just going to get this in on before the old year passes!

38 years ago this night was December 31, 1970. I had spent 2 1/2 days in the Pocono Mountains on a Tenn Winter Retreat. It was great! I remember when we arrived at the lodge. We got our rooms and then went to dinner. There was a roaring fire in a fireplace close to our table. The hot food and the warmth from the fire made it feel very cozy and comfortable. It was a wonderful time.

I remember coming back and waiting a the pastor's house in West Islip, on Pease Lane. I was friends with his son. I waited for my dad to come and get me. A little sidebar here is in order. My dad had worked all day in Brooklyn, then he drove all the way out to West Islip to get me. He then took his family to the watch night service at the church and we stayed up until well past midnight. I have one great dad!

That retreat left a great impression on my young heart. I remember it being a time of fun and laughter as well as spiritual growth. It was a good time.

Happy New Year!

In a few days 2008 will be over. Fast away the old year passes.

40 years ago on New Years Day my dad and mom took us to the city. The Long Island Railroad was the way to go. The trains were not like today. They were ashen and old. We got on in Bellmore and rode into Penn Station. We saw the tree in Rockefeller Center and then had dinner in Chinatown. It was a glad time with the family.

Facing the New Year for me has always made me full of anticipation. Exciting things are in store. Challenges also abound in 2009. The economy is of great concern. Yet God is in control. He will help all who call on Him.

More Reflections of the Holy Days

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day put me in a very mellow, contemplative and reflective mood.

I love the memories of Christmas Past. They are with us for the long haul. I love the sense of awe I feel each Christmas as Christ's Birth is celebrated. In recent years grandchildren have added something to Christmas I never experienced before.

I love the way Christmas brings me way back, back to Bethlehem, back to the manger.

This year my thoughts have been with those shepherds and how they were the ones to see the angels and get the news- the Good News, the Glad Tidings. God put this spectacular display on for them! How Wonderful is His Grace!

Christmas Reflections

I feel like George Bailey today- only - not just the richest man in town but the richest man on earth. It is the people God has placed in my life that make me feel this way. All through the years I have had wonderful people around me.

Growing up in Bellmore the Butler family lived across the street. They still are there. As with many folks from Bellmore it was such a great place to grow up that many never moved out. Unlike the end of The Wonder Years, the Kevin Arnolds of Bellmore came back to live there.

Jeanette Butler sent this e-mail out yesterday and I got her permission to share it today:

To my Lovely Family & Friends,

Merry Christmas! For a couple of days, I have been thinking what I was going to write in this message. I wanted it to be cutesy and joyous as well as meaningful. So, here it goes--

First, I decided to be totally different this year and write early in the morning. By now, some of you are up ripping about those presents which Santa left ONLY for you last night. By the way, I hope that you are having fun attacking these presents. By the way. the reason that I underline only is because each of you have been good this year and are very special to Santa as well as ME.

After you finish with opening your gifts. just remember that you have one more gift which can't be put under your tree. In fact, this precious gift came over 2,000 years before we were born. It came in form of a baby born in Manager. This baby came for each one of us so we can have everlasting peace and love not only on Christmas Day, but each day of our lives.

As we go about enjoying this famous day, let's us pause and thinking of this important which God gave each of us. Merry Christmas and may your New Year His Peace & Love. As the words of "The Christmas Song" says, "May all of our trouble be out of sight." That is my prayer for all of us.

Love you,
Jeanette

Krazy Karl

Merry Christmas...

People have commented on my sanity about running in the cold temps. It is good for me.

I want you to see I am not alone. This guy used to be my neighbor and church treasurer:

Cottage Grove, MN, has finally gotten above the ZERO mark and almost up to 30 degrees F

after being at -15 with wind chills of -40 degrees. Karl is found on the back deck relaxing

and catching a few of the suns rays as they sneek between the cloouds and asking for a

fresh glass of "ice tea."

A Christmas Story

A church heavy into programs and promotions sponsored an annual singing Christmas Tree. As with all such programming, it had to be enlarged and improved each year to maintain interest.

They had increased its size to the maximum for the building. They added real trees, then an orchestra. What would they do next?

They decided to dress a man as an angel and lower him through the ceiling on a wire to hover over the choir during some of the songs. It was dramatic and everything went well until the wire jammed about halfway down.

There he was! Slowly turning and helpless.

The "angel" began to yell, "Get me down, Get me down!" Soon, his yell became, "I'm going to sue you!" Finally our "angel" began to add curses to his shouts. The choir tried to keep its composure.

Finally, the "angel's" slow turning in the wind made him nauseated and he began vomiting all over the choir!

I wonder what they did the following year.

Snow

What Christmas Is All About

I just came back from Target and the Post Office. People are out doing their shopping, mailing presents, and preparing for Christmas.

I saw some people looking tired, particularly the ones at the cash registers. The Photo Shop was mobbed.

The snow we got yesterday is all gone now.

My shopping is all done.

I've been reflecting on Christmas Pasts. There are lots of good memories. I wrote some down.

Using the Nativity Set I got on my of my treks to Israel I told a group of children the story of Christmas a few days ago. It always brings me back to the Reason for this season. (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=212204&l=6cb8b&id=1058525670)

Jesus Christ is born!

Let It Snow!

A Baby Has Been Born!

A few years back after a full day and a full week during Advent, I said to Lucy, "Let's go to the diner tonight." We sat there in that diner packed in the crowd with others waiting. I commented to her, "This is just like it was in Bethlehem when Jesus was born! : Crowds of people, people spending and making money, noise, people complaining about the government..." And on that night off in a little stable, unnoticed by the city of Bethlehem
a Baby was born-
God in the flesh- Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. God is with us!

A Great Show

From My Friends At Next Generation:

Join us on December 27th for an exciting year end wrap up and new year preview. Next Generation is an exciting radio show hosted by Rudy Migliore, Rob Harrison, and Jacob Mathai. The show covers a broad spectrum of contemporary issues that matter to you. We invite call-ins, so call 631-321-WNYG. The show starts Saturday the 27th from 1-2 PM on 1440 AM. Out of area listeners can also listen in online at www.wnygspiritofny.com and click on the "ON AIR" button in the top left corner. So sit back, relax, get that tub of popcorn on your lap, and enjoy!

Mark your calendars now!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=44096551738
sign up that you will be listening

A Christmas Memory

I am a very nostalgic person. People have told me I have a good memory. I have a horrible time memorizing things but experiences, particularly the enjoyable ones seem to stay with me.

Christmas time is a stack after stack of stuff of wonderful memories. For instance for the 53rd Christmas in a row there are the set of Lionel Trains my dad bought me back in the day (when I was 6 months old). He, like all dads, knew that you buy gifts for your kids for them and for you as well!

Indulge me for a minute and let me tell you the story of the trains. By the way this is why movies like The Polar Express and even A Christmas Story are among my favorites!

My dad worked for the Grand Union. That was a grocery store chain from another time. Some of you my age and older will remember it. I was born in Queens and we lived on the North Conduit (just across from JFK). I pass by that apartment every time I go to Kennedy to pick someone up. It still has a luster and sense of something special to me.

On my dad's way home from work to that apartment one evening he saw the trains, the Lionel 1956 version, in a store window. He took the subway as we had no car back then. There they were and in a moment that seems to take place only at Christmas he bought the whole set and took them home for his 6 month old son!

For many Christmases around our tree these trains found their place. Then Lionel came out with a village called Plasticville. Various structures were placed there as well.

This year once again the whole display is out! It is one of the Christmas memories from childhood that are with me in it entirety. My grandson, Tristan Mark, has already joined me in looking at them with a sense of wonder.

I close with this memory...

Out of the Yard and Into the Streets

I began running again. I ran cross country and track in High School (Winter and Spring). My coach was Paul Limmer who has contributed greatly to my backyard's beauty. I have run off and on over the years but something happened in August that got me going again. He is coaching me without knowing it. More about that on another post. I felt this surge come on me to run and so I began. I have been running a number of times a week. I checked it out with James, my son-in-law, a medical doctor and a NYS Licensed PT. He gave me the go ahead. I have a good friend in New Hampshire, John, who has run for 24 years now. He encourages me.

I love getting out there before the sun rise. I just love being out there early- we have a frost and watching the dog owners walking their best friends before the sun is up is so interesting to me... all different kinds of dogs and people. I am getting to know some of them now. The owners are nice too!