The Real Santa Claus

I was reading one of my friends blogs, Fear the AoD, and he spoke of a kindly gentleman who resembled Santa Claus. In his post he spoke of our ideas of Santa and how he is the spirit of giving. It got me to thinking, why is he so iconic? So I did some research.

Saint Nicholas of Myra is the primary inspiration for Santa Claus. He was the bishop of Myra in Lycia, who was famous for his gifts to the poor. He believed in "sell what you own and give the money to the poor". He dedicated his life to spending his inheritance to helping those in need. One of the more famous stories of Saint Nicholas is about a poor man and his three daughters. They needed a dowry to be able to marry, but they had nothing and were destined to be sold into slavery. On three different nights a bag of gold appeared in the stockings hung by the fire to dry. Sometimes the story says it was three balls of gold, which are now represented by oranges.

Saint Nicholas is also known as the patron saint of sailors. One story tells that he visited the holy land to walk where Jesus walked, and on his return trip a horrible storm threatened to sink them. He calmly prayed, and to the amazement of the sailors the winds died down.

There is also an interesting story that takes place long after his death. Townspeople of Myra were celebrating Saint Nicholas and on the eve of the feast day Arab pirates come and steal the treasures of the saint. On there way out of town they kidnap a young boy and force him to serve as a cup bearer to their king. For a year he was his servant, but on the next eve of Saint Nicholas he is whisked away and taken back to his family by Saint Nicholas himself.

Another interesting tidbit, is that Saint Nicholas was apart of the first Council of Nicaea, which gave us our first uniform Christian doctrine.

If you'd like to find out more interesting facts about Santa, you can go here, which is where I got most of my information.

Mermaid Girl

Shiloh Pepin was a young lady who I saw on television who touched my heart. She had a condition called sirenomelia, or mermaid syndrome. Her legs were fused together and was born with no genital organs, lower colon, and only one partially working kidney. The doctors said she wouldn't make it past a few days of life, but she lived. She lived to be 10 years old, and passed on October 24th. She came down with a cold very quickly and it progressed to pneumonia.

Stories like hers is such an inspiration. How many times have you given up because something was too hard? She lived her life to the fullest that she could. She learned to swim, went to summer camp, and rode a special bicycle. She did the things little girls did at her age.

I saw her facebook page, and it was over flowing with condolences. She obviously touched many peoples lives, and I'm sure God sent her here for a special purpose.

Thanksgiving's On It's Way

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and I know I am already dreaming of my grandmothers homemade dressing and fruit salad. Unfortunately, this Thanksgiving is going to be different from all those that I remember. You know that this time of year we are all 'suppose' to be closer as a family, and having good cheer etc etc...well try to tell that to my family. My uncle is in the midst of a divorce, his children are going to be having Thanksgiving with their mom instead of us. To me it's really sad that they don't at least make the effort to try to visit both places. I really wanted to see my baby cousin and I know for sure my grandmother wanted to see him. It would've meant a lot to her to share Thanksgiving dinner with her great grandchild. To me all of this is a minor inconvenience, but for her I know it will be a heartache. I'm very close to my grandmother and I hate to see her get so upset. I just know that Christmas dinner will end up being the same way.

Besides my obvious family troubles, I am still looking forward to Thanksgiving. I just love watching the Macy's parade and watching the performances. I also like to watch A Christmas Story that usually airs that evening. Who doesn't love watching that determined little boy get his Red Ryder BB gun? I love watching him go gaga over that leg lamp and getting the boot to the forehead from Santa after hearing those horrible words, "You'll shoot your eye out kid!".

Another favorite tradition is the day after Thanksgiving. While everyone else is facing horrible mobs shopping on Black Friday, I always put up my Christmas tree! There's nothing better than to put on some of the classic carols and decorating your tree.

Thanksgiving is also a time for reflection. I am so very thankful for my family. I have been going through a lot lately, and I've had their support every step of the way. I'm also thankful for all the small things, like my little dog Bumble, dogs are also woman's best friend :) Going out with friends, good music, a fun game to play, watching the critters outside, taking time to count the stars, and all the things that make up my everyday life, all these things make life great.

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Tomorrow I go to have surgery to take out my eggs for the IVF. I'm nervous about it, I remember how it hurt last time. I will say one thing, my doctor doesn't mind giving out the pain meds. lol Monday when I went to his office he gave me a prescription for Lortabs and Valium. I've not taken Valiums before, but I have had just one dose of Lortab from the last time. I'm not a big medicine taker. I only took that one dose because David was tired of hearing me scream every time I moved...

Saturday is when they put the fertilized eggs back and December 2nd is when I take a pregnancy test. I would say keep your fingers crossed, but I think it's better to say to have your hands folded in prayer :) Luck has nothing to do with it. God gives the gift of children, not the doctor.

Early Christmas Fun

Yesterday David and I had a very nice time with his brother Derek and wife LeAnn. We all went to see A Christmas Carol in 3D. I absolutely LOVED it. This was also there first time seeing a movie in 3D, and they enjoyed it as well. I have only seen a hand full of movies in 3D, we have only moved here last year and we weren't near any theaters before that would show them.

There were parts of the movie that I actually found a little scary. lol When Marley comes to haunt Scrooge, they make it very creepy. They sort of built up to the point and made me jump a couple of times. Also, when Marley's jaw comes unhinged is a bit scary. But as it goes on, it becomes a joke because he tries to still talk and acts silly. I guess that's what you call the comedy relief. :) When the Ghost of Christmas Future enters the picture, it becomes a little unnerving. He mostly shows himself as Scrooges shadow, but then chases him as the driver of a hearse lead by two very evil looking black horses. And of course, the scene when Scrooge falls into his own grave gets your heart pounding as well.

After the movie we went on to Chili's for dinner. It was only the second time I've ever eaten there, and of course I got the ribs. What's a trip to chili's without ribs? It was good and messy, but my clothes survived.

We then went shopping and each got to go to our favorite shops. LeAnn is an avid reader so we went to Books A Million. I found a Christmas themed book called The Legend of Holly Claus. I've only gotten 60 pages into it, but it seems like a wonderful fantasy book. It's filled with fairies, goblins who dress up as elves, centaurs, fauns and many others. I admit it's more of a young adult novel, but who cares. :) Next was Derek and David's turn, they went to Best Buy. I was a little bored. They of course found tons of stuff to look at and I even got a gift idea for David. Next was my turn, I got to go to the Old Navy Outlet. I bought a blue coat with some fuzzy fabric on the inside. Very comfy.

At the end of the day we came back to our house and they played with our doggie Bumble. It was a very good day. I had lots of fun.

Drama, in Game and Out

Eternity Matters seems to be going through drama again. I won't go into detail about that because you can see it on the forums if you really wanted. But I guess I read the blog from a previous member that got me down that was directed at the drama. I helped with the new website slogan, and she pretty much bashed it. I had no intention of 'misusing scripture'. I guess I am a very sensitive person and it hurt me. She then went on to say that God doesn't care that we play WoW. Maybe not in a literal sense, but he cares about me and I know he cares about what I do. So if I find friends and can hear the Word in WoW, then I'm sure He cares a lot. I don't understand why anyone wants to stir things up, I suppose they feel a certain conviction in what they are saying. I know when I feel something deeply and no one listens I get frustrated. This doesn't mean I agree with them, I just think I can kind of understand why they do it. On the other hand, it makes me wonder if they enjoy doing these things. It seems to me that sometimes they do, but I am on the outside looking in.

In real life news, I am going to the doctor again tomorrow. This will be my first time driving there on my own, and I'm nervous. I confess, I HATE to drive long distances, it makes me very nervous. But this is very important to me, so I can't wait for someone to do it for me. It is less than two weeks now that I will do the actual IVF. I'm nervous to whether it will work or not this time. It worked last time, so I am praying that it will again. Just this time, I hope I have a happier ending.

This past week I was put on some anxiety meds, that alone makes me feel like a failure. That seems like a strange thing to say doesn't it? It just bothers me that I don't seem to be the master of my emotions that I'd like to be. I am just not dealing with the stress well, and I guess it was time to get some help. It's also not like I'm the only one in my family to be this way, my father, grandfather and other great uncles and aunts are like me. We have a very nervous nature. If only I could be like my husband, who is as easy going as possible. If we do have children, I want them to be like him.