Best Low-Cost And No-Cost Christmas Gifts

By Wednesday, December 18, 2013 8 0

Giving and receiving gifts can be juicy and joyful, and make us lots richer in what matters. I think the best gift-giving keeps us living within our means and grounded in our values. Climate change is driven by overconsumption, and research indicates that more stuff doesn't even increase our happiness. But more and better relationships do. A cool ...

How To Break The Rules At Christmas

By Sunday, December 2, 2012 14 0

The holidays are full of traditions and rules, some spoken and some unspoken. But change, which we might call rule-breaking, is always an option. While we don't all celebrate Christmas, most people in the world celebrate some kind of winter holiday (the word holiday was originally holy day). I celebrate Christmas because I'm a liberal Christian, but (more…)

Christmas Wreaths And Slowing Down

By Tuesday, December 14, 2010 0 0

Are you feeling at all hectic or pressured as Christmas approaches? As if the holiday season is so fast-paced and demanding you'd maybe rather skip all this? Let me tell you the story behind Christmas wreaths, the kind I have on my front door. It's actually the only Christmas decoration we have. (And I don't ...

Born For This

By Friday, December 25, 2009 0 0

Approaching midnight at my church's candlelight Christmas Eve service last night, after we had worked our way through the birth-of-Christ story with scripture readings and a goodly assortment of carols, we sang a final song that contained this lyric: Now ye hear of endless bliss / Jesus Christ was born for this! Those words thrummed that ...

Happy Birthday to the Unconquered Sun

By Sunday, December 21, 2008 2 0

Today is winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. In the days before fossil fuels routinely lit our nights, winter solstice was celebrated as the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. Imagine how vulnerable our long-ago human ancestors were as the days grew colder, darker and shorter. They struggled to protect themselves from the bitter elements; ...