What on earth do you do with a toilet that stinks of cigarette smoke?!  Seriously, JT thought I was joking until he walked into the bathroom.  It smells like the school toilets after some kids have popped in for a secret smoke thinking that the teachers won’t be able to tell.  I have no idea why, we clean it with various toilet cleaners, but it absolutely stinks!  Any bright sparks out there with a solution?!

One of the highlights of Christmas for me this year was the Trinity carol service at the Racecourse.  As usual it was a vibrant, moving and lively occasion, but I think that the thing that struck me the most was the fact that the seats were full, including those in the balcony all the way round.  Now, being on the 23rd December, one might expect that a lot of people would be away or with family so I have to admit that I was not expecting to see the venue so full.  Indeed, a Facebook group was set up for the event, inviting members of the church to attend and actually very few committed to being there.

I hope this means that there was space for a lot of visitors, as it was a fantastic service.  It was just very heartwarming to see so many people wanting to reconnect with the true meaning of Christmas.  It wasn’t the only service happening in the town either, meaning that there must have been an awful lot of people at carol services in Cheltenham that night.  Fantastic.  It was so refreshing after seeing the chaotic madness that was Cheltenham town centre in the weeks running up to Christmas, as though people took one night to forget about retail and consumerism and focus on God and His gift of Jesus.

Well, despite being in hospital, Grandma managed to come up trumps again this year with ‘hilarious gift of the year 2007′.  We all have a relative who, bless them, think that they should attempt to buy some useful gifts for us for Christmas.  Now Grandma is exceptionally generous and will always dish out a hefty cheque at Christmas time, but she will also attempt what has become known as the infamous “Christmas package”…  Everyone gets one and it certainly adds a little hilarity to Christmas day.  JT has won for the past two years with a plaque the first year in a delightful lilac colour with plaster and metalwork flowers round the edge with a sickening (and actually quite offensive) quote on it about beauty being found on the INSIDE.  I will never forget his face as he opened it and stated that it would look nice….In the garage.  Last year’s prize was awarded again to JT for a book entitled “They Died Too Young.  BUDDY HOLLY”.  Where does she find these things?!!!

Anyway, this year I won…  Imagine my silent mirth upon receiving the People’s Friend 2008 TEA TOWEL calendar!!  Complete with artistic duck and donkey and other friendly looking farm animals.  Stunning.  I am too embarrassed to hang it in the kitchen in case anyone comes round and sees it!!  Can anybody beat this?  The rule:  Whoever bought you the gift must be exceedingly unlikely to ever see your blog.

As his prize for winning the Vauxhall Tribes contest, JP appeared dancing for Dizee Rascal at Southampton University… He appears near the end.

How about this for ’something you don’t see every day’…?  A marathon of about 50 cheery Santas (male and female..?!) running down our street (clearly in some sort of race or training) chatting about the weather and family issues!!  As if this was not weird enough, they got to the end of the road and disappeared!??  We live in a cul-de-sac!!  Where did they go?!  They all ran to the end of the cul-de-sac and disappeared down the side of a house!!  Weird….  And that was that.

Well the last few days have been just that… Eventful. Viks and Tom got married in Yeovil yesterday, which was a great celebration.

The night before we had a party chéz (my) parents which was good fun. The night before that we had the Trinity staff party, which went really well apart from us managing to set fire to our tablecloth!! Whoops. Just not Christian.

Today JT has been at the Centaur since 8am and will probably be there until 11pm. I am going at 2pm. The event? Our annual Racecourse carol service! I am looking forward to this as it is always very Christmassy and good fun. Also Mel is back and will be singing, which is always a highlight

Some people get well grumpy about Christmas.  Not this car…  I noticed that it was feeling “festive” (almost!)

Thanks Jon for this!!

This whole bear business has been the topic of much discussion lately in many social circles and I appreciate that it causes a lot of conflict.  I have struggled greatly reflecting upon it myself as it even draws conflict within my own mind as to how it was dealt with, the issue at stake and how that relates to my own life.

Initially I thought that the whole situation was completely ridiculous (I am just being honest).  However, not wanting to be entirely judgmental I decided to mull it over and try to understand the following; why should there be such offence taken at a slightly careless, but nonetheless mistaken gesture?  Now I know that in Islam, the name of Mohammad is not to be trivialised in any manner.   However, if we look to the jolly old UK, we find small dogs called satan in order to heighten home security, Jesus as a swear word, a vodka bar in the centre of town in an old church building with an image of Jesus, arms outstretched, overlooking the bar, illuminated by a glitter ball cross etc.  Is this an insult or an opportunity?

Do people walk into that bar, see the image of Jesus and make a connection with God?  Maybe they do.  I would never rule out what God can do to connect with those who do not know him, especially if us Christians can’t open our mouths and share our faith with them.

Or should we be offended by the trivialisation of the powerful name of God?  I mean, not using God’s name in vain is one of the ten commandments - it must be pretty important to Him.  He also says things like “You know not of whom you speak” and “I AM who I AM” “At the name of Jesus every knee must bow” - at His NAME!  So maybe there is more to a name than we would care to admit.  Traditionally (such as in the Bible), children were named for the significance of that name’s meaning, such as “pain of my labour” or “after God’s own heart” etc.  Why are names so important?

There is a sense in which in the Bible, people were named as a sign of what they were, or would be.  God said “I have called you children of God”, meaning ‘therefore you ARE children of God’.  We don’t tend to think of names in the same way now, i.e. “I have called you Chardonnay, therefore you ARE chardonnay” because we don’t see many bottles of wine wandering the streets do we?

Mary was told that the Son of God would be called Jesus.  Many other mothers were told what to call there child.  Children learn to call their parents ‘mother’ and ‘father’.  This sort of implies that God/parents would say “This is who you are” in a name.   Therefore when God says “I AM who I AM” it is even more significant.  This is who you are, but… I am who I am. When I thought about this I thought about who I was.  I remembered that God is a theocracy, not a democracy - that we cannot make Christianity fit comfortably within society or even within our lives.  It is not convenient, it is often difficult to understand and offensive in human terms, but God is Lord.  He is either real or not.  I believe that He is real.

I am still not sure about the bear Mohammad…  Or satan the dog.  I am definitely not sure that going to a health spa and gazing at a fat cross-legged man named sid-arthur (however you spell buddha’s first name!) is going to detox my skin and cause me to feel relaxed.  But our society is odd and we have forgotten the significance of names.  Is this good or bad?  Are names prohibitive or sacred?  Either way, I feel a bit sorry for the poor bear.