Christmastime Again

Christmas At Home

Spending Christmas with my family… more later.

WatchMeDance.com - Starring thedanceman: A New Dance Video Every Day!

It has just dawned on me that it is December 24th. Christmas Eve. I’m up late printing some gifts, and it just hit me. Where has the time gone? There’s always so much that I hope to get accomplished, but never do.

One thing, however, is just to important to let slip. I wanted to let you know what my favorite Christmas carol is.

What is it about Christmas that just makes you want to sing? It’s the only time of the year when radio stations will completely change their format. I’ve been in a Christmas carol mood since late November. Thanks to some wonderful file-sharing friends, I’ve listened to everything from Dr. Demento’s I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas to Luciano Pavarotti’s O Holy Night. Some have been strange, others inspiring. Yet one song puts me in the Christmas spirit like no other.

Maybe it’s because of the haunting melody. Perhaps it is the various parts of the song that allow the artist to shine. Is that why it can move me to tears each time I hear it?

No… It’s the Question that it raises.

Christians celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas. Now, most educated people pretty much know that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th, 0. You’re also probably familiar with the story that it was celebrated alongside pagan rituals, for the early Christians wanted to celebrate, but did so alongside another festival to avoid persecution.

I don’t think anyone logical would argue the point that there has been a gradual de-emphasis on Christ as a focal point of Christmas over the past few years. Whether it be the replacement of ‘Merry Christmas’ with ‘Merry X-Mas’, to the forced removal of anything Christmas-related in a California public school system in 2002, it’s not okay to think about the birth of Christ today.

Why is that? I think it’s because of my favorite Christmas Carol: What Child Is This?

It’s not the celebration of December 25th that offends people, it’s the question that it raises. Every year that Christmas rolls around, people are faced with the question, “Who is that Child in the Manger?” Each year, this one included, I see so many specials questioning - Was Jesus who He said He was? Can you really believe the Bible? Etc.

Funny - Am I missing something, or have I missed the “Was Buddha who he said he was” or “Can you believe the ancient Wiccan traditions” specials on PBS? Why is it that Christianity is singled out - the only ‘religion’ that has to prove itself?

Could it be because so many people don’t want to consider the possibility that it could be true? Isn’t it just easier to write it all off as fiction? I mean, what if that child in the manger really *is* the Son of God? What if the Bible *is* really God’s revelation to me? What if Jesus *is* the only way to obtain right-standing with God?

I ask you the same question:
What Child is this, who lays to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping…
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet… while shepherd’s watch are keeping?

I challenge you to consider the positive response:

This, This is Christ the King… whom shepherds guard and angels sing…
Haste, Haste to give Him praise… the babe, the son of Mary

C.S. Lewis stated that Jesus was either the world’s greatest liar – who held on to his lie through the most excruciating death possible –; A total lunatic – who persuaded many people; Or exactly who He claimed to be - the Lord. Compare the arguments… in the end it’s a matter one simple question that you have to answer:

What Child Is This?

Brandon’s Party was a lot of fun. It turned out that we were the absolute last party that they could have taken that day. Chuck E. Cheese was packed with kids and parties. I jokingly told a few people, “Thanks for attending our first and last party at CEC.”

Pictures like this one, though, make me change my mind:

Words cannot express how much fun he had.

Which Peanuts Character Are You Quiz

Usually I don’t do online quizzes, but I couldn’t pass up a Peanuts quiz.

Countdown To Christmas

Brandon Turns The Big 0-4

Last year, 2 guys @ work and I went in together for our Christmas luncheon. They bought the turkey, and I deep-fried it. It was a pretty big success last year - if I recall correctly, it was pretty much all gone by 1:00 pm.

So this year we decided to do the same thing, but we all thought we should get a bigger turkey. I went home and measured the inside of my cooker, being sure to leave a little bit of ‘wiggle-room.’ They went out to buy the turkey, armed with a piece of string - if the string would fit around the turkey, I was sure we’d be safe.

Wrong.

For starters, the guys got a great deal on a 28-lb. turkey. That’s right, twenty-eight pounds. I took the turkey home on Monday night. I had previously thought that one night in the refrigerator would be enough to thaw it.

Wrong.

As I was carrying the turkey into the house, I noticed the thawing guidelines. According to the wizards at Publix, a 28-lb turkey would take 3 to 4 days to thaw. I had to have the turkey at work in 2 days. Thawing it in the refrigerator was therefore out of the question. I then read that soaking it in water for 11 to 12 hours would thaw it. That’s the answer, I thought. I then left it overnight covered in water, and put it in the refrigerator the next day.

Before I went to bed on Tuesday night, I decided to get ahead of the game. I went ahead and assembled the burner, gave it a test run, and then started to mix up the marinade. I just knew that we had all of the ingredients.

Wrong.

So off I go to Winn Dixie at 11:00 Tuesday night, to pick up some more Creole seasoning, Poultry seasoning, and… something else. Got home and mixed up the marinade. I thought I was all set for the morning.

Wrong.

I could have sworn we’d bought a meat thermometer last year. As it turns out, I must have borrowed my Mom’s. So I have no meat thermometer, Winn Dixie is closed, and I don’t think that Salmonella will go over too well with the work crowd.

I woke up at 5:00 Wednesday morning. I poured the Peanut Oil into my pot, lit the burner, and started heating up the oil. I got out the marinade, and reheated it. While that was reheating, I got out my nice, thawed turkey.

Wrong.

The turkey was still slightly frozen inside. As I started cleaning it, I noticed that there were several places inside that were still frozen. I started running hot water through it to thaw it. After I was convinced that it was going to be okay, I began to inject it with the hot marinade. At about 6:00am, it was time to put the bird into the pot:

The first thing I noticed was that this turkey was much, much bigger than last years. I knew that it was much heavier, but for some reason thought that it would fit in the pot without a problem. But now I’m noticing that it is hanging over the sides of Amanda’s Lasagna pan. It didn’t do that last year. Well, I thought, it should be fine.

Wrong.

I knew that because the bird was so large, the oil would be coming near the top of the pot. Just to be extra-extra safe (because the first time I’d ever seen a turkey fried, I watched my uber-fried-turkey-hero, J.R., burn his wrist severely), I decided to take the pot off of the flame. That way, just in case the oil ran over the sides, it wouldn’t hit the fire. But I had left myself a safety margin, so the oil wouldn’t go everywhere. All would be fine.

Wrong.

As I lowered the turkey into the pot, I immediately realized that I was right about the level of the oil. It would not go over the sides. I had forgotten, however, that when you fry something in oil, the oil does not just lay there. It tends to jump around - a lot. Oil started going everywhere. I immediately ripped the turkey out of the pot and went inside to get something to remove the excess oil with. After I had removed enough, I put the turkey back on, and thought everything would be fine.

Wrong.

The oil wasn’t splashing as much, because it had cooled down. But as it heated back up, it started splashing out again:

At that point I decided to leave it. I went inside and called a good neighbor friend, who hadn’t left for work yet. I borrowed his meat thermometer for later. After that, all that was left was to clean up.

Wrong.

It turned out that my oil wasn’t reheating like it needed to. The optimal temperature for the oil was 350 degrees. But I couldn’t get it above 250 for the first hour. I did finally get it up to 350, but thought that the lower temperature was going to lengthen my cooking time.

Wrong.
The turkey cooked for two hours, and was just fine. Took it out of the oil, and I thought it looked pretty darn good:

What do you know… It tasted great. The folks as work seemed to enjoy it. It lasted a little big longer than last year, but was all gone by the end of the day.