296 Days Until Christmas!

Here is your daily reminder of how many days remain until Christmas 2023. 

There are many things to love about Christmas, and it’s hard to put them all into words. It’s a time of giving and sharing, spending time with family and loved ones, and reflecting on the past year. 

And while I may not be the wealthiest person on Earth, I do appreciate the smaller things that come with the Christmas season, like the beauty in snowflakes, great food, and being able to binge-watch holiday movies with loved ones. 

So, in anticipation of the holiday that is only 296 days away, I’m sharing 5 things I love about Christmas. 

1) Holiday Movies: For me, the holiday movies season officially begins in November. I am a sucker for Christmas and holiday-themed movies like The Grinch and The Christmas Story. 

2) Christmas Lights and Pretty Decorations: I always love the transformation of our normal surroundings after lights, candles, stockings, and favorite decorations complete their missions. You cannot help but smile, even on the gloomiest of days as you are surrounded by light and joy.

3) Christmas Music: I love Christmas Music, and I start my playlist as soon as Halloween is officially in the rear-view mirror.

4) Ugly Christmas Sweaters: Fun to wear - even more fun to observe.

5) Vacations: It’s the perfect season to visit loved ones - wherever they may live.

My Top 10 Greatest Albums of All Time

Without a great deal of commentary, here are my Top 10 favorite albums (as of today . . . )

But first some honorable mentions: 

• Billy Joel - Piano Man (1973)
• Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
• Blood, Sweat & Tears (1968)
• Three Dog Night - Around The World (1973)
• Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (1968)
• Doobie Brothers - The Captain and Me' (1973)

Now onto my Top 10 Albums!

10) Boston (1976) Debut album - technological and musical marvel. Groundbreaking. 

9) Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966) The Beach Boys eleventh album and by all accounts their greatest masterpiece. Vocal harmonies that sound like they were created in the realms of the heavenlies. 

8) Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark (1974) Her sixth studio album and her first combining her folk style with jazz elements. Simply stupendous. 

7) John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963) This breakthrough album combined two of the giants of jazz and big band vocals. It was rumoured that all of the tracks of this record were recorded in the first take except for the first song when the drummer dropped his drumsticks during the recording. Amazing. 

Just Come In (Part III)

There are some things you just can't imagine. For instance, I couldn't imagine as I walked in the doors of my grandmother's church what was about to happen. Thirty plus years later and it still seems like a dream. Church hadn't formally begun, I remember there was an organ playing, and BOOM! 

I was kneeling at the front of the platform, sobbing, unable to contain myself, and equally unable to move from that spot. I was wailing (or so I was told afterward) and halfway through the service a kind gentlemen suggested that I move to the side of the church as to not interfere with the service. I leaned on him until we got almost to the last pew closest to the door and BOOM! 

This time I kept proclaiming, not using my inside voice, (or so I was told afterward) these words, "I can't do this myself." Over and over. Tears flowing, sobbing continuing, and yet I couldn't stop saying those words. For the first time in years I truly cried out to God. I didn't care where I was, how loud I was, (which was pretty loud or so I was told afterward), or what else was going on. Toward the end of the service two men knelt beside me and prayed but I couldn't begin to tell you what they said. I just remember God piercing my heart with every utterance and the growing realization that my life was about to radically different. I didn't care about my pain, I didn't care about my job, I didn't care about my apartment, I didn't care that I had been robbed of years worth of savings, I didn't care about having to sell my car . . . okay that's not totally true but you get the point. The only thing that truly mattered was confessing to God that I couldn't continue to live my life without Him. No way. 

It's Here . . .