First Advent

This year I discovered that I am the Christmas Police. Everywhere I look, people are celebrating Christmas wrong. I saw Christmas Trees and lights on houses in the middle of November. People seem to have forgotten when Christmas begins and I’m putting the smack down on them.

The Yuletide season begins 4 Sundays before Christmas (or the Sunday after the feast of St. Andrew). This is according to the liturgical calendar. I contend that if Christians are going to pretend Christmas is a Christian holiday, then I’m going to use their calendar to determine the beginning of Christmas. This year it begins today, November 30^th.

I celebrate First Advent by putting up the tree and other decorations. I also light the first purple candle on my Advent Wreath. Many of you may not use Advent Wreaths, you're celebrating wrong.

Here’s what you need for a wreath:
3 purple candles
1 rose colored candle
1 white candle
Something to hold them
Greenery of some kind

The first candle is the prophecy candle. It would be appropriate to read Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

You can also sing the beloved carol, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”

Get a pdf

I also drank some Julmust that I found at IKEA. It’s some Swedish Christmas beverage. It tastes kind of like Coke, but less acidic.

I am the Pope

As I mentioned in the last post, I was the Pope for Halloween. I have actually wanted to be the Pope for quite a while, but never did. I ordered a costume, but it was to short and wasn't all that fancy. My friend, Rusty, who is kind of obsessed with making awesome Halloween costumes said she would lengthen it. Then she decided she would redo it just for fun and that is why it's so freaking awesome.
There are advantages to working in an office with professional photographers. Groovy professional quality photos of me in a Pope costume is one of them.

Full Costume



















Exorting Pope



















Stern Pope



















Basketball pose Pope

Studious Pope

Praying the Rosary Pope



















Posing Pope

GQ Pope

Cute Pope

The reason I’m going to hell

Halloween of Spooky Doom

Halloween is my second favorite holiday. I like the spookiness and candy and especially pumpkin carving. I'm a bit obsessive about pumpkin carving and it's not uncommon for me to carve 4 or 5 during the month of October. This year I only made 3, I was lazy.

Spooky pirate ship with a fancy light I bought.















Scary belfry with bats and stuff.















OK, it's supposed to be Obama's logo. The pumpkin was really hard and I couldn't cut it very well, so it's not as good as I had hoped.















This year was the first time in a long time that I decided to dress up. I decided to go as the Pope. Most people would have more sense than to be the Pope. That's why I'm different than most people.

Here is a sample. I'm hoping to add some fancier pics later.