(in no particular order, fashion, or importance)…

I’m generally not a fan of Christmas cards.  When I was in college, most students were big into doing Christmas cards for all the other students they were friends with.  One day, after getting about 30 cards in my mail box, all with a generic “Merry Christmas, From (Name)” inside, I made a decision.  No longer would I send out Christmas cards – or any other cards for that matter – if I couldn’t take time to make them important, meaningful, and/or at least write a personalized note to the person receiving it.  I’ve pretty much stuck to that.  Last year I created a little “Edelen Family 2007″ booklet with pictures and year in review updates of our family, and sent those out at Christmas.  This year, we’ve sent out no cards at all.  Just know this…if you send us a card, and all it says inside is “Love the Jones Family” or “From the Martin’s” or “Merry Christmas…The Smith’s”, that card is appreciated, but it gets thrown away immediately.  Bah, humbug.

I remember one Christmas getting several Nintendo games from Santa.  Being the oldest of four, Santa came to our house for a LONG time.  In fact, since I’m 15 years older than my youngest sibling, Santa still came to our home when I was in college!  Anyways, this one Christmas I got up at approximately 4:30am to go see what was in the living room.  One of the Nintendo games was called “1946″.  It was based on an old World War II bomber plane, and you flew the plane and shot things and completed missions.  By the time my parents got up around 7:30am, I had already beaten the game. 

One Christmas I got a Honda CR-50R dirt bike.  Dirt bikes were the craze in my area, all my friends were getting them.  Problem is, when you break your arm 3 different times in a 2 year span (from 4th – 6th grade), it tends to make you scared of ever being injured again.  I loved that dirt bike….all 6 months and maybe 8 times that I rode it.  I just didn’t have the backbone for it.  And I always felt bad because I remember how much time my dad spent with me looking for the perfect dirt bike.  Sorry dad.  I hope the hammer I’m getting you this year makes up for it.

I LOVE the Christmas spirit.  I’m just not crazy about the way it’s fleshed out.  Credit cards, malls, re-gifting,  overloaded dumpsters filled with wrapping paper, SALES, SALES, SALES, eating tons of food and more dessert than you should have in a year, and feeling guilty when I don’t particpate in the $5.00 gift exchanges at work.  The regular gift exchange, the redneck gift exchange, the white elephant gift exchange.  Before you know it, you’ve spent a car payment or two just so you don’t feel weird being the person who doesn’t buy into buying gifts.  Bah.

I’ve lived in Tennessee for 10 1/2 years.  In that time, there have been approximately 6 occasions where it has snowed enough to either sled on, make snow angels, or honestly keep you from going to work.  Therefore, the odds of a White Christmas in Knoxville compute to 1750:1.  But I’m still dreaming.

Has there ever been a better holiday tv special than Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer?  It first aired in 1964, and has been telecast every year since.  I’ve watched it every year for as long as I can remember, and always look forward to it again and again.  I have noticed though, as I’ve gotten older, that the Abominable Snowman seemed a LOT scarier when I was younger than he does now.  (Wikipedia just taught me that Rudolph, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and The Grinch were ALL first aired in the 1960’s.  Amazing.)

Drank egg-nog about 2 weeks ago.  I’m not sure if I’d ever had it before.  It was delicious.

We’re heading to Kentucky on Friday and will stay until Tuesday.  This will be our longest trip to Kentucky to see my family since Eli was born.

I have mixed opinions about using X-Mas as an abbreviation for Christmas.  I do it sometimes, I just sometimes feel weird about it, even though I’m fully aware that X is an abbreviation for the Greek word for Christ.  If anyone ever says it’s wrong to use X-Mas because “You’re taking Christ out of Christmas”, just tell them that God despises lying and being judgemental.  Oh yeah, and Merry Christmas.

I just discovered that today is officially “National Sibling Day.” Who knew? Being the oldest, wisest, and least attractive of 4 children, I should know these things.

In honor of National Sibling Day, allow me to honor my siblings.

Kari Jo (2nd from the left) is 27 years old, is married to Rodney, and has a wonderful 6 month old son, Grayson. She has a master’s degree in education and is a middle school teacher in Kentucky. She’s a wonderful singer, is very thoughtful and caring, has an infectious cackling laugh if you get her REALLY cracked up, enjoys swimming in their backyard pool, went through a mean-attitude-hellacious-demon stage of life when she was around 8-11 years old that is hard for me to even imagine now, and is really good at picking on our brother, Brandon.

Speaking of Brandon, far left. He’s 19 years old and is currently a freshman at the University of Kentucky. He’s witty, a little moody, can be quite thoughtful when he wants, and spent much of his childhood playing Ninentdo and Play Station. He’s pretty good at all sports, but is currently the most adept at tennis. I don’t think he has a major right now, but has expressed interest in the FBI, CIA, CSI sort of field. I have incredible memories of his childhood up until he was age 6, which is when I headed off to college. We shared a room for those 6 years, wrestled a lot, played sports in the yard, and had a lot of fun times.

Kaly, 2nd from right, is our youngest sibling. She’s 16 years old. She’s very smart, has an amazing voice, is also quite witty, and has a pretty typical teenage female temperment….mean, nice, sort of nice, mean again, not talking, talking all the time, laughing, growling…you get my point. =) She’s really funny though, and has her heart set on a career in dermatology. She’s destined to invent the next generation of Pro-Active, which will actually make people 2 levels better looking just by applying. Are you a 6? With Kaly’s future creame, you’ll be an 8.

Unfortunatey, because Brandon was 6 and Kaly only 3 when I left for college, I’ve missed much of their growing up. That has really bothered me more as time has passed. Now that they are older, I just now feel like I’m getting to know them and be friends with them again, which is cool. Kari and I definitely had some rough years as siblings when we were younger, but for the last 10 years or so we’ve been much closer, spent weeks at church camp together, developed a better friendship as adults, things like that.

Being the oldest of 4 has definitely meant more to me as an adult than as a child. I think more about my siblings, wonder how they’re doing, hope they’re succeeding in whatever they are doing, worry about them, and look forward to many years of shared time and fun together. Kari, Brandon, and Kaly….I love you all very much, and am proud to be your big brother.

Disclaimer…my opinions in this post have nothing to do with the fact that Christmas truly exists to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, of which I am extremely grateful. It deals with Christmas as a “holiday season”, celebrated by the masses, many of whom may not have a speck of faith in Christ, but enjoy the holiday nonetheless.

With that in mind, here are the things that I truly ENJOY about “The Christmas Season”:

1. The weather. For some reason, in the last 3-4 years, I’ve grown from hating cold weather to actually really really enjoying it. Weird.
2. Days off. If you include Thanksgiving and New Year’s as a part of the entire season, you normally get to enjoy quite a few days off from work. Nice.
3. Rudolph, Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and any other classic Christmas cartoons.
4. Christmas services at church. No matter what denomination you are, what church you attend, or what type of services they do, you know at Christmas time you’ll be talking about Jesus and singing familiar Christmas worship songs.
5. Eli’s anticipation of Santa Clause. How fun is it to be young enough to still believe in Santa? I love hearing him talk about Santa, what Santa’s going to bring, seeing Santa at every mall, etc.
6. Christmas lights. I’ve always enjoyed driving through neighborhoods looking at the wide variety of decorations, lights, yard displays, and more.

Here are the things I truly DO NOT LIKE about “The Christmas Season”:

1. Gift buying. I know this sounds harsh. But I’m really tired of buying gifts, getting gifts, expecting to buy gifts for people I don’t think I should be buying them for, getting pressured to participate in gift exchanges at work. I think Christmas would be so much nicer if it were more like Thanksgiving…just a time to relax, eat good meals, be with family and friends, and remember Jesus.
2. Sale prices. Some people see the $20.00 pair of shoes that are normally $60.00 and think it’s awesome. I see it and often think, “man, they are really ripping people off throughout the rest of the year when they sell those for $60.00.” Really, when you see how low stores will mark things down, it almost makes you wonder why we would buy anything the rest of the year?
3. Political correctness. Happy holidays. Enjoy the season. We wish you a happy holiday season. Crap, crap, crap. It’s especially disheartening when 90% of the “Christmas” cards don’t really say anything about Christmas or Jesus. Which leads me to…
4. Christmas cards. This has been a pet peeve of mine for a looong time. I truly do not like to receive Christmas cards that simply say, “from the ____ family”. If you can’t take time to write a personal note, include a family picture, or put together a more creative card, please don’t send out Christmas cards. Just my opinion. =)
5. Christmas falling on the 25th. The 25th is the day we celebrate Christ’s birth. But any research will tell you that Jesus probably wasn’t actually born on December 25th. I wish Christmas would always be on a Friday or Monday. That way – like Thanksgiving – you could always have a long weekend off of work and really fully enjoy the holiday. Doesn’t it stink when Christmas falls on a Wednesday or a Saturday, and you end up not getting any extra days off?
6. Increased stress. Isn’t this the opposite effect Christmas should have on us? Shouldn’t we be happier, more reflective, and slow down? Instead we have 7 different gatherings to go to, 20 gifts to buy, increased traffic everywhere we go, and a personal budget crisis. It’s just not right.

Well, those are my thoughts. I’d love to hear yours. And I want to wish everyone a very happy and joyful holiday season and may you and family enjoy each other’s love and company as you rip off the wrapping paper and think about which things you’re going to keep and which you’re going to take back for exchange. No really…Merry Christmas. And thank you God for sending Jesus.