Wreaths, Crosses, and Carols

Time of the Season

Among the things I love about the Christmas season is that it offers plenty of distractions from the day-to-day idiocy of progressive nitwits and our asshat President-Elect.

Because I'm a lazy so-and-so, I always begin my Christmas decorating with the low-hanging fruit, specifically the hanging of the Christmas wreath on my apartment door. On Christmas morning
I will add a small Nativity scene to the center.

Next up will be hanging the Christmas lights around my patio doors, a process which takes a couple of hours and usually involves a small amount of cursing. Once those lights are up there won't be much else to do until it is time to find
and decorate a small Christmas tree.

The finishing touch is typically a poinsettia plant, which I don't usually bring home until the final week of the season.

With the Christmas tree and poinsettia, I usually try to find a small, humble example that seems to have been shunted off to the side, away from its larger, flashier brethren...

"You get sentimental about the dumbest things..."

Do not...

Feast Day

St. Andrew (1715), by Camillo Rusconi

Today is the feast day of St. Andrew, the first of the Original Twelve Apostles of Jesus, and the brother of St. Peter.

Andrew was martyred in Patras, in western Greece. He was crucified by being tied to
a saltire, which subsequently came to be called a St. Andrew's Cross.

Andrew has many patronages, including Scotland (where his feast day is the country's National Day), Georgia, and Greece. He is the patron saint of fishermen, butchers, and farm workers, among others.

Well-Deserved Honor

"Later, 'gator!"

My beloved Kansas City Chiefs relied heavily on rookie WR Tyreek Hill in their pulse-pounding 30-27 overtime victory on the road at Denver last Sunday night.

Hill had a rushing touchdown,
a receiving touchdown, and a kick return touchdown in the same game, an NFL feat which was last accomplished in 1965.


This morning Tyreek was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his outstanding performance, which ought to convince the Chiefs to enlarge his role.

"I think the kid's nickname should be 'Bronco Buster' after that game!"

I like it...

Special Snowflake Factory

From the pen of Henry Payne, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

There are countless places and institutions around the world named for St. Andrew.
One of the most significant such places is St. Andrews, Scotland. Among other distinctions the town is celebrated as the home of golf thanks to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, and St. Andrews Cathedral is the largest church ever built in Scotland.

It is also the home of the prestigious University of St. Andrews, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the English-speaking world. Among the university's many architectural delights is St. Salvator's Chapel, established in 1450 and still a major center of campus life.

The St. Salvator's Chapel Choir has existed since the university's founding, and to this day continues to preserve and honor the music that has nourished the faithful for more than six centuries. 

Just over a month ago the group released a Christmas album called  
A Nativity Sequence. It includes traditional English and German favorites like "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" as well as hymns typically sung during Mass at this time of year.

My personal favorite from the collection is their somber version of "Coventry Carol," one of the darker Christmas songs to gain widespread popularity (it tells the story of the Massacre of the Innocents, from the Gospel of Matthew).

Today's send-off is the ensemble's gorgeous rendition of the traditional carol, from their YouTube channel. Enjoy...