Hale and Hearty Words

November 26, 2012 · 6:00 am

I Want Your Photo!! (Of Your Tree, That Is)

This is our tree. It’s a fake one (I prefer real, but fake saves us money at the holidays), it’s got colored lights, and each ornament is a special memory.

I love Christmas trees.

I love their lights and ornaments. I love the ones that are decorated in themes, and the ones covered in homemade ornaments. I love colored lights and white lights. I love how looking at a Christmas tree is like looking at a memory.

Friends, I’ve come up with a fun little activity that I’d love for you to participate in this holiday season!

I want to collect photos of Christmas trees from all over the world– and I want YOURS!

I’ve created a “Christmas Trees From Around the World” board on Pinterest and I want to add your tree to my collection!

Please send me a photo of your Christmas tree and make sure to include your name and location.

You can email me the photo (jenniferkhale (at) gmail (dot) com), you can upload it to Facebook and tag me, or you can add it directly to Pinterest and let me know and I’ll pin it!

**Please include whether or not you’ll allow me to list your name and location with the photo. Otherwise, I’ll just list the location when I pin it.

Make sure you are following me on Pinterest so that you can see the collection of trees as it grows throughout the holiday season! (Click the button to the right of this post to follow, or find me on Pinterest.)

I hope you’ll participate and I hope you’ll pass this post along so that many, many, many people will share photos of their trees with me!

Thanks, all!

Share with me: Do you prefer white or colored lights on a Christmas tree? Do you like themed ornaments that match or a mismatched collection?

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November 21, 2012 · 6:00 am

No Turkey for the Atheist

**This is a re-post, updated. I welcome your thoughts and comments and wish all of you a fun-filled, Christ-centered Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving. A day of giving thanks.

The definition is implied in the name.

But why do we say thank you?

Because something nice has been done for us. Because someone has given us something. Because we are responding to a kindness or blessing that has been bestowed upon us.

In so doing, we are implying that there is someone to respond to.

In the tradition of the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims, with help from the Indians (ahem, Native Americans) were able to give thanks to God for his many blessings. For helping them survive. For providing food. For bringing them to the New World where they could practice their faith without persecution.

So today, why do we celebrate Thanksgiving? Some will say it’s just another holiday involving family, food, and football.

But the implication is there– we are thankful.

I can’t imagine what it must be like to sit down around a Thanksgiving meal and eat without thanking the Lord. How awkward. How strange. How sad.

So, for those who don’t believe in God–why are they celebrating Thanksgiving? Who are they thanking? In the spirit of being thankful, what are they thankful for? If God didn’t bless them, then are they eating turkey and green bean casserole in honor of their bosses? Their friends? The bank? The economy? The government? Their own accomplishments?

What exactly are they thankful for? Stuff, surely. But what about the “stuff” that can’t be given by man? What about the breath in our lungs, the ability to wake each day, the family that surrounds us– our very existence?

It just doesn’t make much sense to me not to recognize the higher power in that.

We celebrate Thanksgiving because we are thankful for the many blessings given to us by the only one with the ability to bestow them. Whether you refer to him as God or just Divine Providence, the fact that you celebrate Thanksgiving at all implies that there is one to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.

If they are true to their belief, all atheists should be alone on Thursday, eating cold spaghetti. After all, Thanksgiving is a day of remembrance of tradition–a tradition born out of the idea of thanking God.

Thanksgiving is about much more than being thankful for “stuff.”

I have an idea–invite an atheist friend to your table and thank God for his or her presence and the opportunity to celebrate this holiday while sharing the truth and example of Christ.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Share with me: If you could only choose one thing to be thankful for this year, what would it be?

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Filed under The Christian Walk

Tagged as atheist, holiday, thanksgiving

November 19, 2012 · 1:52 pm

Is Your Thanksgiving Old-School or Trendy?

Has your Facebook feed be filled with daily posts of the thankful since Nov. 1? I like seeing that so many people are thankful for so much this time of year, but as one of my Facebook friends pointed out, some of these thankful people are running out of steam. Grasping at straws, even. I mean, when you’re down to posting that your thankful for thankfulness, well…

I haven’t participated in this fad this month just because I try to be thankful every day of every year. And sometimes the things I’m thankful for won’t even make sense to other people, so it’s best to just keep it between me and God.

But to all of you posting about gratefulness–keep it up. I’d love to see this become a regular thing and not just a “Thanksgiving Season” thing.

If you’re struggling with thankfulness this year, you might want to check out 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp. It will certainly inspire you.

Part of this tradition of thankfulness is gathering with family and friends to celebrate over FOOD.

So, I have some questions for you–

What time is Thanksgiving dinner traditionally served in your family?

Is your table full of the traditional stuff like green bean casserole and cranberry sauce from a can, or is does it hold gourmet recipes that change each year?

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?

What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition?

Here are my responses:

The time we eat varies each year based on who is coming and what time they arrive. This year we’re eating around lunch time. Last year it was dinner time. I prefer earlier in the day so that I can have a leftover turkey sandwich that night.

Our table has the traditional staples like turkey and dressing, but my mom is practically a gourmet chef, so while the recipes contain ingredients that you’ll find on a traditional table, like corn, sweet potatoes, and green beans, the recipes vary from year to year. All of us grown-up girls make items to contribute, too.

My favorite Thanksgiving food is dressing. Yummy, yum, yum, yum.

My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is watching the Macy’s Parade on TV. I’ve never missed it. I love that parade so much, and someday I’d like to go see it live. I hope that someday my boys will remember watching it with me.

Need a delicious dessert for your holiday table? Here’s what I’m making this year. It is, by far, the best cake I’ve ever eaten.

FYI– I use a box mix for the cake and leave out the coffee from the recipe. YUM-O.

Raspberry Chocolate Cake from Taste of Home