Nothing is more discouraging than unappreciated sarcasm.

Remember Eliot Spitzer? He was the NY governor who resigned when an investigation revealed he was a regular customer of a high-priced prostitution ring. The Feds, who got involved because they suspected he had used campaign funds to finance his liaisons, estimate he spent $80,000 on alternative entertainment. There are reports that he plans to run for NY State Controller, perhaps as the first step in a return to more significant public office. But if he decide to run he’ll have some competition. Kristin Davis, the madam whose business was ruined when the scandal broke, has announced that if Eliot runs she’ll join him on the ballot. To explain her motives in running against him she said, “His abuse of some of the women I arranged for him to spend time with raises serious questions about his character. Besides, his black socks in the boudoir are an additional affront to good taste.”

I stumbled across another feature of this MacBook Pro laptop. If I swipe across the touchpad with three fingers from right to left while using Firefox it does the same thing as the “Back” button, taking me to the previous web page. Cool!

Pandora.com has several Christmas music stations, including one that’s classical. I like it. And I had never heard of Vocal Majority before. They’re good!

Sect. of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. would join in making $100 billion available to help poor countries fight climate change. Wasn’t that sweet of her? So generous with our money, especially with our national debt at $12 trillion.

Tiger Woods was just named athlete of the decade. Accepting that his current marital and moral problems have nothing to do with that designation, I would still have given the award to the guy who finished second in the A.P. voting - Lance Armstrong. Six of his seven Tour de France victories came in this decade, and almost everyone agrees that the Tour is the single most grueling contest in sports. The fact that he holds more Tour victories than anyone else, and won most of them after beating a cancer that should have killed him, puts him in front of any golfer no matter how dominant they’ve been at their sport.

I know it represents the nadir of musical history (with the possible exception of rap) but nothing lifts the mood quite as quickly as some disco by the Bee Gees.

I got a lot done today. Wrote the sermon; had it done a full 24 hours before my self-imposed deadline. We’ve been looking at the four major players in the nativity drama - Joseph, Mary, the shepherds and this week the angels. There’s a word play in Luke 2:10 that doesn’t show up in the English: “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.’” (BTW, last week we saw that the angel’s word choice for “people” is very significant.)

I also spent time this morning working on music for Sunday. I found some good stuff for use after the holiday season and used Audacity to work some magic on the songs we’ll sing this Sunday. The music part of prepping for Sundays always takes more time than I think it will.

After lunch I changed the oil in Gerta. Instead of a removable filter old VW have a fine screen which should be removed and cleaned. I read they used that system because back in the day parts were expensive and labor was cheap. Now the situation is reversed. One of the things that should tell you is that the hassle factor of removing, cleaning and replacing the screen is pretty high.
But the job is done and she’s good for several more months.

Went for a run, the first in two weeks. Felt the layoff.

The gal at the bank asked me if I had all my Christmas shopping done. I said, “Yes and no.” Yes, because I don’t have any more to do. No because I don’t do any, and if you don’t start you can’t really be done.
Our family decided years ago that spending money on Christmas gifts for each other makes no sense. We don’t have sufficient disposable income to buy gifts reflective of our love for each other (there isn’t that much money) and buying cheap stuff in the “it’s the thought that counts” vein seems like a waste of time and money. Pam’s impossible to buy for (trust me, she is and she’d agree) and the kids made it clear years ago they don’t really need more Neil Diamond CD’s or turtle neck sweaters. So we concentrate on what we all want most - time together as a family. It gets tough this time of year because marriage means more family connections and more places to be at the holidays. But because the date doesn’t matter either we’re fine with moving it into 2010. We’ll find an evening when everyone is free, we’ll eat good food and then spend hours talking and laughing together. Yes, the grandkids will get presents - modest gifts to let them know they’re important to us. But in my mind Christmas has more in common with Thanksgiving than what seems to be the typical observance of Dec. 25th.

Thank you, Father, for my family. They are the best part of my life. And thank you for a family that doesn’t count the number of presents under the tree as a measure of love.