A Round Unvarnish'd Tale

The United States Chess Federation has just come out with its December ratings list. (Ratings lists are published every two months.) Guess whose name is in ninth place among 16-year-olds? (Just to be clear, that's ninth in the nation.)

Yep, you guessed it. My son. Check it out.

This placement is particularly noteworthy because Trevor just turned 16 in October, so this is his first appearance on the 16-year-old list, period. To make his debut at ninth place is auspicious indeed.

I wasn't sure whether he had been in the top ten on any other age lists before. I know he's been pretty high. But he has had so many chess accomplishments over the years that I can't keep track of them anymore. So I had to ask. The answer was yes--this is the first time.

I think I can be excused for not knowing, since when it comes to my list he's always been number one. Congratulations, Awesome Son of Mine. You earned it, and I couldn't be happier for you.

Happy New Year!

That's how we greeted each other at my parish yesterday. Why? Because although the calendar still reads 2008, this weekend marks the beginning of a new church year.

It also marks the beginning of Advent, the season of preparation for the birth of Jesus. So although I admit I am enjoying listening to Christmas tunes on the radio as I travel my usual paths, I will not experience the joyful singing of Christmas hymns in church with my brothers in sisters in Christ until Christmas Eve. And that is how it should be. The focus in our worship right now is properly not on the arrival of Jesus in this world, for according to the litugical calendar by which we order our year, He has not yet come. But we know that He is coming, and as we hear that promise over the next four weeks, we wait, and watch, and prepare.

The Paul Gerhardt (1607-76) hymn "O Lord, How Shall I Meet You" (LSB 334), which we sang yesterday, perfectly captures man's sinful state and his desperate need for and anticipation of His Saviour. Here are several stanzas ripe for meditation and prayer:

"O Lord, how shall I meet You, how welcome You aright?
Your people long to greet You, my hope, my heart's delight!
O kindle, Lord most holy, Your lamp within my breast
To do in spirit lowly all that may please You best.

I lay in fetters groaning; You came to set me free.
I stood, my shame bemoaning: You came to honor me.
A glorious crown You give me, a treasure safe on high
That will not fail or leave me as earthly riches fly.

Love caused Your incarnation; Love brought You down to me.
Your thirst for my salvation procured my liberty.
Oh, love beyond all telling, that led You to embrace
In love, all love excelling our lost and fallen race."

That Jesus came to honor me and that He could thirst for my salvation is a mystery that I in my unworthiness cannot comprehend. All I can do is be glad and welcome Him:

"Then fling the gates wide open to greet your promised king!
Your king, yet ev'ry nation its tribute too should bring.
So let your praise be sounding for kindness so abounding:
Hosanna to the Lord, For he fulfills God's Word."
("Prepare the Royal Highway," LSB 343, Franz Mikael Franzen)

We sang this one in church yesterday, too. I wish you could hear the way my husband plays it. His ability to highlight the text in his hymn-playing always amazes me. (And for you hymn experts out there, yes, I conflated a couple of stanzas of this one in order to highlight the words I wanted.)

As you spend the next few weeks shopping, decorating, mailing Christmas cards, watching Christmas programs and baking cookies, I pray that you will also find time to be quiet, reflect, repent, pray, and prepare for the Advent of Our Lord. He's coming! Get ready!

Don't say I never told you anything useful, okay?

Here's my find of the year: Felix Lingonberries. I discovered them at Jewel while shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. In keeping with our minimal-corn-syrup policy (I can't say no-corn-syrup policy because I haven't succeeded in cutting it out entirely--we are still buying corn-syrup based catsup--but we no longer get it in our pancake syrup, peanut butter, bread, and a host of other things) I went looking for an alternative to the usual canned cranberry sauce (which because I read the label this year I discovered was full of corn syrup). I couldn't find any cranberries or cranberry sauce on the shelf that didn't have it, and I didn't have time to check other retailers, such as Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, that might have more options. And please, don't ask "why didn't you make your own?" I would wager $100 that at least one of my readers, but probably more, does just that. But I am a cook of modest talents, and again, there wasn't time to go to another store, much less for me to find a recipe and successfully execute it.

But then . . . then I happened upon this beautiful sight:

At $4.99 a bit more costly than the $2 can of Ocean Spray, but just look at the ingredients: wild lingonberries, sugar, and pectin. Period.

Into my cart it went. The day after Thanksgiving the entire jar was gone. I bought another one today (we still have lots of turkey and dressing in the refrigerator). This stuff is amazing! Much better than any cranberry sauce I have ever had. And I know, Melody--I didn't like the lingonberries in the Ikea cafe--but that didn't even begin to compare with this taste experience. The Ikea lingonberries had a bitterness I didn't care for; these were delectably sweet.

Here's a link with everything you might want to know about Felix lingonberries.

Last year around this time an Ebay listing took the cyberworld by storm. It was an ad offering a package of Pokemon cards for auction. Sounds like pretty dull stuff, huh? What was noteworthy was the item description, a hilarious narrative about why the mom in question was selling the Pokemon cards and how they had come into her possession in the first place (sneaked into her shopping cart at the grocery store by one of her six children).

The Pokemon cards eventually sold for over $100. The item listing is history, but that mom (Dawn Meehan) is now something of a celebrity, with an extremely popular blog and a book deal, no less. And luckily, that famous Ebay listing has been preserved for continued reading on her blog. If you missed it the first time around, or if you just want a rerun, click here and treat yourself to a laugh.

There is a radio station in my town that starts playing Christmas music during Thanksgiving week. I think it's a great idea. I love Christmas music, and there is so very much of it that is wonderful that if I limited my listening to the twelve days of Christmas I wouldn't get my fill! So I often find myself turning to this radio station when I am driving in the car, hoping for something Christmas-y to listen to.

I am frequently disappointed, not because I don't find a Christmas song playing, but because the song that I do find is to me not really a Christmas song. Instead, it's some pop ditty with a Christmas theme. So I continue my button-pushing, looking for something I want to hear.

It's not that I expect the pop station in town to play all sacred music. I like fun, secular Christmas tunes, too, things like "Winter Wonderland" and "Sleigh Ride." But so much of what gets played is not even in that category. Instead, it's Madonna singing "Santa Baby" or Whitney Houston singing about "My Grown-Up Christmas Wish." In my opinion these are not Christmas songs.

I also do not care to hear pop stylists singing Christmas hymns. "O Come All Ye Faithful" is not meant to be vocally interpreted but sung full-out by a congregation and/or choir, if possible with organ, brass and descant. The solo versions too often come across as being about the singer--"look at me, don't I sing this song beautifully?"--than about the adoration of the newborn king.

Judging from the fact that I often turn to the "Christmas" station to hear the same song that they played last hour playing yet again, it seems they could expand their playlist a bit. But I'm not holding my breath.

My husband is the lucky one. He has XM radio, which at this time of year expands its lineup to include several differently-themed Christmas stations, including one that plays only classical/sacred selections. That station has the right idea, except for the fact that on December 26 it will go off the air, since of course, Christmas is over.

Sigh.

Just . . . why?

Planned Parenthood Christmas gift certificates