During the Christmas mass, the Pope urged the faithful to see through the superficial glitter of the season. At the same time, he wants to continue the Roman Catholic Church’s anti-gay pogrom, but you wouldn’t expect him to sell a ring or a scepter to pay for the discredited ex-gay “therapy”, the ballot attacks on marriage equality and the forthcoming anti-choice and anti-equality campaign dressed up in a cloak of “religious liberty”, now would you?

Here’s my little story about a gift and a Christmas project.

(All the photos were taken by my partner Mr. B – and he made the project too as you’ll see.)

This December is the 2nd Anniversary that Mr. B’s folks have been living in an assisted living facility. The place is great – and we love the staff. They’re all quite nice and have been very helpful with the parents.

We wanted to do something nice for them, but don’t have a lot of money. There’s also the problem if you give something to one staffer, but not another…you get the idea.

As we grow older, every year brings physical and mental changes. Some are positive, we are stronger, taller, wiser, more experienced; others less so. Not every Christmas is an unmitigated delight. But one thing goes forward, the layers of memory that add up to a rich life.

I bet the Earth and all its critters love Christmas day. Not the religious part, particularly. But, with due respect for those of us who follow different paths, Christmas is pretty close to an international holiday. And that means as we emerge into the sun on Christmas day, the place is quieter than any other day of the year. You can almost hear the planet sigh.

Christmas just isn’t Christmas without holiday music. But, I am not talking about the standards, the songs that are over played on the radio and in Big Box stores, which people endure as they scramble around to purchase gifts and prepare for Christmas Day. I am talking about the blues, doo wop, R&B & soul.

OK, who’s up stuffing stockings?

I’m working up a Christmas playlist and looking for suggestions. What are your favorite holiday songs?

Thursday we had a bunch of snow here in Denver. It stopped snowing about 4:00 in the afternoon and there was about 9 inches at my house!

Jennifer and Dave (OMB here at FDL) are visiting for the holidays and they along with Mr. B decided to go over and check out the annual “Blossom of Lights” at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

The Smithsonian magazine highlights — and supports — evolution in the cover story of their January issue. Online, they go even further, with additional information and links.

Cue the TheoCon heads exploding in five, four, three . . .

I wish everyone here the most blissed out, stress-free weekend. Be good to yourselves and never never ever stop Keeping the Faith!

A senior North Pole official, operating under a grant of anonymity, provided a copy of a letter sent from the Congressional GOP leadership to Santa.

It starts like this: “We in the GOP Congressional leadership are concerned about the growing dependence in our nation on handouts, and the increasing expectation that you can get something for nothing. . . .”