Speaking at Church

We knew something was up when we came home and found a message from one of the local leadership in our church unit on our answering machine.
We also know that he is in-charge of assigning speakers so we suspected he was calling us about that.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint we have a lay ministry.  That means all the jobs etc are on a volunteer, unpaid basis.  I currently serve with the cub scouts and get no monetary compensation for all the time I spend at meetings, planning things, etc.

This also carries over into the realm of our Sunday meetings.
Our meetings are divided into three 1 hour blocks.  First you have sacrament meeting (where the sacrament is presented, and people speak), Sunday school in the middle, and the last is for the gender specific meetings (Relief society or Priesthood).

Sacrament meetings fall into one of two categories or types.  Each month on the first Sunday is what is called Fast Sunday and we have our testimony meeting.  After business, and the sacrament people member, non-member, visiting or not have the chance to come to the front and give their "two-cents" about the church.  Generally, this works out well and people talk of spiritually uplifting things that have happened in their lives.  Many reaffirm their support of the church and the principles we espouse.

The other Sundays you will find a handful of people that will speak.  Generally, the first speaker is a youth (12-18 years of age).   They generally only speak for 5-10 minutes on some assigned topic.  In a unit with few youth like mine you will get a lot of testimonies by the missionaries or other less youthful people in this first slot.  This can be in jest or simply a special chance to hear from faithful more mature members. Then come the adult speakers.


With the adult speakers you have one that is the senior speaker and the other the more junior.  They like to get new couples that have moved in to speak so the wife is the first and the husband second.  The first gives a shorter talk but, that is not always the case.  As with couples they more then likely will coordinate so as to not run to long.  There have been times when the meeting runs long or short depending on the style, and people giving the talk.    Some nervous people will speak faster then normal and give their 15 minute talk in 10 minutes.  The Presiding authority then has to find a way to fill the time or if it is not to much, excuse everyone to head to class early after the song and prayer.

In almost all cases there is a intermediate hymn or other musical number between the adult speakers.  This breaks the meeting up a bit and can be a good to let people stretch and wiggle a bit.  This is also the perfect time to take a child out for a bathroom or water break.

 There is also one special Sunday that comes about once a month, though may be moved around as needed.  This is when a member of the high council (stake level calling) comes and speaks.  These people many times like to get a recently returned missionary to be their speaking companion.  It's nice to hear of their mission and you get them while they still have the fire and missionary zeal.  These high council speakers may hit several units on a given Sunday and present in essence the same talk more then once.  In our stake we have 10 unit spread out over 4 buildings.  It is not uncommon to have a high councilor speak at all the units in a given building in a month that they are assigned to speak.

So when you add all this up the bishopric councilor that is in-charge of lining up speakers only has to get some for about 24 weeks of the year.  That is because you also have to take out 2 weeks for General Conference, and two weeks for Stake Conferences.


So our time has come once again to speak in our unit.  Some people talk about how they escape from speaking for years.   In larger units you may very well find this to be the case.  The same might be true in a unit that has a lot of move-ins and move-outs.  With high turn over there are plenty of new people to chose.
Though for special Sundays like Mothers or Fathers day you will get some well seasoned member of the ward to speak.

The wonderful part about this system is that it gives an opportunity for the general membership to present about a wide variety of gospel topics.  This helps to strengthen their testimonies and general gospel knowledge.  For together we help one another learn.

And their meetings were ^aconducted by the church after the manner of the workings of the Spirit, and by the ^bpower of the Holy Ghost; for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing, even so it was done.  Moroni 6:9




    Buaidh - NO -Bas

Flat Income Tax and Tithing

There has been much to do about the fact that Mitt Romney paid only 14% or so in tax last year compared to the 20-30% many Americans have paid.  Then you find out that it was not on typical income but, on capital gains or investment income that is taxed at about that rate anyways; far different then the typical income.

There are those that hem and haw about it being unfair and the like.  They may even say that the rich should be taxed more.  Well if your rich in the way Romney is it might not make any difference.  Jack up his income tax all you want he'd likely have paid more or less the same amount.  That is because most of his money is from investments and not from sweating in the fields, or book royalties or other income gains related to direct labor.  So when you talk about jacking up the income tax rate on the rich who are you really going to hit hardest?  Not likely the one that can find a way to make a load of deductions or the one that make his money off of buying stock or bonds or having some money in a CD.

Have you ever wondered why some CEOs and other Corporate executive are will or can take a salary of only $1?  It might be that the related stock options that  they will receive or get will compensate.  Also since it is taxed at such a different rate it does not hit them as bad as say 2 million in salary.

I was able to read a good article on the subject and why it would not be such a bad idea move toward a flat tax.   The issue now with some more well to do people and their taxes is that they don't pay the same rate across the board.  They can hire a good attorney or accountant and use this to their advantage.

The great article on the subject found here Peter Rush: Yes, Washington should adopt a flat income tax


So one might think - why go with any kind of flat tax at all?  Isn't our thousand pages of tax code not working very well.  As the article mentions very plainly - there are to many exemptions that have been built into the system over time.  Thus those that have the time and money to pay a professional can work the system to their advantage.  A average person is kind of up the creek, though not necessarily without a paddle.

So what is the advantage of a flat tax?

• Everyone pays the same percentage on their income. 
• Same tax rate for all income, regardless of origin.
• Removes exemptions and ways to work the system.

Now some might say that this would be an unjust burden on the poor.   Other would say that the rich would not pay enough.  You might sense that this is right.  But what is 2% on  $10,000 in income and 2% on income of $6,000,000?  The difference basically amounts to  $200 verses  $120,000.  You might see a small up tick in the amount coming from lower incomes especially if they are currently not paying anything.  You might think you will see less from the richer people.  Yep it would seem that way.

Anyway you look at it; it is still a guaranteed percentage.  Easily seen and you can predict in a general sense what you'll pay.
Also the only way to cheat the system would be to falsify the sources of income and not apply some fake or inappropriate exempt you really did not qualify for.  I know it would reduce the number of accountants needed and the IRS would likely be reduced some.  But, leaner and meaner is better right?



An alternate view on why a flat tax would not work can be found here - Ajay K. Mehrotra: No, Washington should not adopt a flat income tax

Now there is the other subject I'd like to bring up.  It is called tithing.  It is the religious way of funding church activities.  Some congregations or denominations simply pass a plate around at their meetings.  Other like mine, have you pay 10% and it is done via envelop so that the whole world doesn't have to know what you paid.  You reconcile with the local leader at the end of each year.  A good way to make sure none of the money is being lost or stolen.  However, you put it the money is then used to build buildings, maintain building and do any of the many other things that occur in the church.  Now what is different here then the flat tax folks is that it is voluntary and no one asks to see your pay stubs.  They take your word for it and assume your being honest.  If that could only be the case with our government taxes.





In the end it may all amount to how we spend the money and how efficient we are in do that.  Thousands if not millions of government money i.e., our tax dollars have been thrown at project that never give a return on investment.  Though it is understandable we need government to provide us with things such as roads, police and fire etc.   These could be considered a bad return on investment until, your home is saved as it catches fire, or when the drunk driver is removed from the road by police.  Under perfect circumstances you would not need them at all. 

Moses 7 

 18 And the Lord called his people ^aZion, because they were of ^bone heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

 19 And Enoch continued his preaching in righteousness unto the people of God. And it came to pass in his days, that he built a city that was called the City of Holiness, even Zion.

 20 And it came to pass that Enoch talked with the Lord; and he said unto the Lord: Surely ^aZion shall dwell in safety forever. But the Lord said unto Enoch: Zion have I blessed, but the ^bresidue of the people have I cursed.

 21 And it came to pass that the Lord showed unto Enoch all the inhabitants of the earth; and he beheld, and lo, ^aZion, in process of time, was ^btaken up into heaven. And the Lord said unto Enoch: Behold mine abode forever.

So all this is food for thought.   Maybe going the route of the Lord's economic plan is best in the end.  it is just one way or the other.

Buaidh - NO - Bas

Pioneer Day

July 24th is celebrated as Pioneer Day in Utah.  Maybe even locations in Idaho, and Arizona.  The reason this day is celebrated is this marks when the first group of Mormon Pioneers reached the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. That is why I'm not sure if the largely Mormon communities in locations like Arizona or Idaho also celebrate this event.

As many may know the Saints were pushed out of Nauvoo Illinois and eventually over several months made their way across the plains through Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and finally ended at the Salt Lake Valley.  Brigham Young as he saw the valley on the rise just before descending into the valley "This is the Right Place, carry on".  He'd seen it in vision and knew this was the place that the Saints would be able to prosper and thrive.

Strangely the route they was used matched much of what could be the Oregon trail and/or the California trail. 
It appears that the Oregon trail was used slightly earlier then when the Mormons first crossed in 1847.  One way or the other this trek that they took was thousands of miles and not all that easy.  Whether is was undertaken by wagon train or hand carts it was long, exhausting and perilous.  There were presumed threats of Indians attacking, disease and sickness that could be had, issues with wild animals, and then the age old lack of food and water since the journey was taking so long.  All this made sure that those that arrived at the final destination were hardy folks.  The faint in heart, the sickly and invalid did not usually make it the whole way on the journey.

There is very good movie that was made recently that highlights the hardships of taking this crossing and exemplifies why we celebrate Pioneer Day.  17 Miracles is an amazing film about the hand cart companies that came across to Salt Lake in part as a solution to the lack of funds available to members of said companies.

Though it includes some information from multiple hand cart companies and is not necessarily in chronological order it is one of the best films I have seen that show the overall sacrifice that was necessary to make the trek west.
Yes the movie can be said to have a bit of a LDS slant since it does cover the Mormon Pioneers nevertheless, you can get a sense of what life was like back then.  We may not complain of sitting in a car for hours to get to our destination.  How about 3-4 days to cover the same distance with no good source of water or food the whole distance.

 This whole topic of the Pioneers basically covering  the 1840's through to the 1880's is very fascinating.  The beginnings of new technologies.  The vast logistics involved.  The crossing of a vast unknown continent etc.





One of the best book over all that explains in a more or less easy fashion not boring with to many details but, not lacking on content is the following book.  It covers all the essential elements of the Pioneer experience and has it broken down into sections like - Making camp, on the trail etc.  Very much worth the money. It works well for adults and children.


  Want to see some programming on the commemoration of Pioneer day?  I've included some links below to great content including the Annual presentation by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Can not get much better then that.

We all Share Pioneer Legacy - Elder Uchtdorf

http://www.lds.org/pages/modern-day-pioneers?lang=eng


2012 Pioneer Day Concert - Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Friends

http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/watch/pioneer-day-concert/2012/07?lang=eng&vid=1747398845001

 

Celebrate the Pioneers in your past or those that are current pioneers.  There may be more out there then you think.

Buaidh - NO - Bas

Baptismal Program - Revisited

Well we began to do some more research on what types of videos we want to use for the Baptismal program.
Original we had thought to use something from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir but, knew there would be limitations as we wanted to avoid any of their Christmas presentations.
See the original post on the topic.


So as we research more we found the number of options for the Mormon Tabernacle choir to be a bit limited.  You have a historic Nauvoo presentation and some type of oratorio piece and a DVD chronicling their summer tour in the mid west.  So the options were limited to say the least.  As we checked out some of the video clips from YouTube.com we began to see that most if not all of these would not work very well.  The idea was good but, it would not work very well.  Who really wants to see the choir singing.  Not enough scenes of other stuff.  So we had to go back to the drawing board.


That is when my wife remembered something by Elder Uchtdorf that is entitled "Happily Ever After".   In this talk he presented at a young women's conference recently he talks about having our own happily ever after.  

Turns out there are two version of the talk.  One is a shorter clip with only part of his talk and a lot of extra images etc, and the other is basically his whole discourse with a minor amount of additional footage.

Shorter Version

 

Longer Version

The Longer version is wonderful and would fill the time as we need it but, it can be a bit dry for some of the non-members and less actives we will have present. The shorter version is excellent but, being shorter would require that we Include some other clips as we project to have a good 15 minutes of time we need to fill.  We'll have multiple people changing cloths and since my daughter wears a brace she will take longer to get ready.  Extra consideration has to be made so a longer video is needed or several shorter ones with someone willing to start each up.

Some other ones we found while hunting around are - create (a cutie clip to inspire women), True identity (utilizing the Hans Christian Andersen story of the ugly duckling), and  You Matter to God ( including clips about the universe and how we are know personally to God the Father).

I think with all these various clips will provide us with enough material to fill in the time needed.  Also the messages are all very uplifting and will maintain the spirit that should be present at a baptismal program.

I'm including the other video clips for your viewing pleasure.
Now I just have to make sure we can get the clips into a format that will work on a standard DVD machine.  There is a great program called  YouTube video down loader.  You can acquire it for free off of Download.com

I also found a tutorial that indicates a program called DVD Flick (also available at download.com) can be used to package up various video clips and make them usable in a DVD player.  I acquired the free program and soon will be sure if it will work.  If it does not work I'll have to go back to the drawing board or have a laptop present to show the movies.

Create

True Identity

You Matter to God

We thoroughly enjoy the talks by Elder Uchtdorf.  His messages are so timely and they can work in many situations with member and non-member alike.  I even saw a comment that someone used a clip with Elder Uchtdorf during Sunday school at an Evangelical church.  That shows how powerful they are.


Buaidh - NO - Bas

Go Beyond the Surface

How many times have you said to yourself - "They just don't get it."?

All to often we find that people just don't understand where we are coming from.  You might feel you have almost nothing in common and after a while you feel that is not worth your time to try and get people to see your point of view.  And thus it is with our religion.

I've been reading some interesting commentary and articles out there due to the fact that Mitt Romney looks like the "Ordained" republican candidate.  What this does is bring the issue of religion especially that of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints many times referred to as Mormons to the front.  People want to know what he believes and if that might make a difference in the way he acts as a president.  Sometime the minute details are what get people hung up about.  They may only be seeing the big picture and not some of the important details.

The following commentary can cut both ways
"But more than that, we — as Mormons — need to avoid judging others who appear quaint and quirky to us.
Those Hindu gods with elephant heads or a dozen legs? They help people rise above the world.
On the surface, such things may appear bizarre.
But they don't look odd to those who go beyond the surface.
Mormons don't like being mocked. We wish people would try harder to see the faith as we do.
And if there's a lesson in that, it may be this.
Mock not if you don't like to be mocked."

Don't mock what you don't know  By Jerry Earl Johnston, Deseret News

As a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I hate it when people get things wrong.    The basic things - Being a cult etc.  But, am I giving the benefit of the doubt to those around me.  Many times not because I have not gone beyond the surface.

I guess these Jehovah Witnesses we see out on a Saturday spreading the word and want to avoid have gained their conviction or testimony at some point.  Who in their right mind would go around a neighborhood all day knocking on doors?  That takes conviction.

But, to many of us are so busy we really don't have time to go beyond the surface.  That was one of the many challenges I faced as a missionary.  Have people that are investigating the church fulfill their commitments.  Things like attending church services or reading the Book of  Mormon.  Just getting beyond that was a major obstacle.  And in many cases it was purely that the people in question did not really have the desire to get to the point of going beyond the surface.  They had a cursory interest in finding out a little about the church but, not going much further then that.

I think in some cases it was also fear.  Fear of what might happen if they really did pray with an open mind and a sincere heart.  Just think of it.  Would you perform a scientific experiment if you really did not want to find out the result?   Experiments are what ones does to get a result.  In some cases you suspect things will turn out a certain way and do the experiment to confirm or deny your hypothesis.

The same goes for Pray and digging beyond the surface with religion.  You have to perform the experiment (Pray) and then accept the conclusion.   It might not be what you expect in the end.  And it might not be that super fast all telling, angel visiting, miraculous experience either.   Just look at many of the general leadership of the church.  They don't go around claiming to have been visited by angels that told them to believe.  Mostly they claim to have had a sweet, feeling of comfort and confirmation.  NO bells, whistles or hallelujah chorus.  Just something simple but, definite.

And in some cases it was not on the first or many even the second time they prayed.

So as the church comes under more scrutiny due to Romney's Nomination we hope that people will go beyond the surface.  That they will base their information on facts or information obtained directly from the church and not some ex-member that likely has a grudge or some supposed expert that is not even a member but, just happened to have studied a lot.

On the flip side we should give the benefit of the doubt to those of other faiths as well. Try and see where they are coming from.

We all have our built in prejudices.  All based on our background, where we grew up, who we associated with, and the like.  At times these "values" maybe a little colored but, not wholly off base.  At other times they maybe totally wrong and bordering on down right ignorant or racist.

It's like the fact

"Rev. Jeffress endorses Mitt Romney and shared values".  Just a couple of months ago he was saying Romney comes from a "non-christian cult".  So now he sees the light?  Did he really dig beyond the surface?  Or is he more scared of what he feels Obama is and want to throw his weight behind a more "acceptable" candidate?  This smells of hypocrisy.  I don't think this very genuine.  Appears to be more like he's wanting to support the candidate for his party and has to come up with some flimsy things to make it work even though this looks like a back pedal from his stance a few months ago.

That is why I'm glad the church has a stance of political neutrality
This is a good rule of thumb in politics.  Find out a bit more about the candidate then what is being provided in the sound bits.  Some times you will be shocked at the truth.  And also don't keep such a short memory on things promised.   My father specified that once a person ran for city council promising to keep large development out of the area.  Shortly after he was elected he was doing exactly what he said he would not.   Work with a local land owner (the owners of a high end shopping mall etc) to get a 32 story building built near the freeway.  Shortly  there after term limited were implemented.  People were sick of being fed a line and taken for a ride.  At least now every 8 years or so you have new blood.

So make and effort to go beyond the surface.  And take the plunge if you have not already.  Pray and find out if the Book of Mormon is true.  You might just want to read it first.


Your eyes might be opened or at least you'll understand a little more what a Mormon really believes.

Buaidh - NO - Bas

Baptismal Program

In about 2 months our only daughter will turn 8 and have the opportunity to be baptized.  This is a big day for her and she is getting very excited for the whole process.

It is amazing to see how much more now she questions things and is wanting to learn and understand how things work.

She had a great question the other night when we had the full time missionaries over for dinner.  She asked: "Why do ladies not have the priesthood?".  Boy that is not your typical question, and is rather deep on some levels.  This was a first for the missionaries so my wife specified that females have a different calling to be mothers and such.  That solved the problem and gave her the answer she needed.  We could have gone into scripture and the like but, it would not have helped all that much more.

Now we have been planning the baptismal ceremony.  We confirmed with the bishop of the local unit the basic parts.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints there are 2 parts to a baptismal ceremony.  The first is the actual baptism performed by a Aaronic priesthood holder of the office of Priest or by a holder of the Higher or Melchizedek Priesthood.  The second portion is the confirmation as a member of the church and the receiving of the Holy Ghost.   If it is a convert baptism that part is now taken care of in the next Sacramental meeting on a Sunday.  In my daughter's case it is handled the same day shortly after the baptismal ordinance has been handled since she is a child of record and not yet 9 years old.
Along with the ordinances you usually have someone give a short talk on the importance of the ordinances.  This helps the people present to understand the significance of what is occurring.  They maybe combined or separate as we will do.

So the only major thing we are trying to resolve is what to do while the people that were involved in the baptism are changing their cloths.  We originally though about having a slide show involving pictures from the life of our daughter. Then we came to the conclusion this would be a bit pushy and not very appropriate.  Then we turned to things we have seen at other baptismal services.  There have been missionary invites, bearing of testimonies, singing of music and short video presentations.   We are opting for a short video presentation as this makes sure there is not an awkward time of silence where people are wondering what is going to happen.  This also helps if we take a bit long in changing our cloths.   There have been short missionary invites that leave a strange amount of dead time when done if the people are not back yet.  We also witnessed a pianist and chorister that were not prepared with the needed additional music and it became again awkward.


So we have been thinking hard of a video presentation that would be appropriate while at the same time not too long.  It needs to be around 10-15 minutes time so some films like "Prodigal Son" would not work.  "Together Forever" is great and has several shorter pieces but, again it is hard to cut it off in the middle of something.  So we have turned towards the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  We are thinking that a video presentation of them singing along with some inspiring vistas or scenes would be the best.  Now we just have to come up with one that fits the best.  We want to avoid one of the many wonderful Christmas DVDs that will not fit very well with a June baptism.

Likely it will be their "Historic Nauvoo" or "Songs of America" presentations.  But, who can beat their music right?  It will just be a great uplift to the service.  And in reality they are so famous that several current artists have recorded with them for their Christmas albums - Josh Groban, and Andrea Bocelli

Want to find out what it takes to make an album with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?  Check out here a great article!



       

     

     

       





I'm going to include links to the two songs we will be using as the opening and closing. Also we are lucky to the a very excellent singer in our unit that happens to be a birthday buddy with my daughter who will sing "I'm trying to be like Jesus". I'm including a like to that as well.

When I Am Baptized - #103 
I Feel My Savior's Love - #74 
I'm Trying to Be like Jesus - #78 

If you'd like to be able to review some of the other wonderful songs in the Children's Songbook and even download digital copies you can do so here 

If you'd like to know a little bit more on why we do not baptize our children until they have reached at least 8 years of age - check out these verses in Moroni 8.
If you'd like to get the straight scoop on what members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints really believe you can request to have a missionary visit you - Missionaries Request for Visit


Buaidh - NO - Bas

A Bit on Christmas

Can we thank the Catholics for Christmas?  Well maybe since it is based on the Christ Mass held on 25th of December.  But, we do add in other traditions as we go along.


We acquired a great book titled "A pioneer Christmas : celebrating in the backwoods in 1841" by Barbara Greenwood from the library.  It uses a fictional family of mainly Scottish background to show how it was that Christmas was celebrated by pioneers back in the mid 1800's.  You get some tidbits about the Germans, and how things started to blend. An over all informative book.

It's the Germans that give us the Tree tradition, the garlands and such from most of the northern Europeans.  You also get the traditions of St Nicholas and all his secret gift giving from some Greeks, but that tradition also ended up in the north of Europe.  The mayor in the "Hans Brinker" story dresses as st nick to deliver some goodies (mostly fruit and candy) to the children.  And the dutch have the shoes by the door tradition which interestingly carried over into various parts of Brazil.  My wife mentions they left out shoes hoping for a treat or two on Christmas back when she lived in the interior of Ceará.  The idea of stocking seems to be a bit more North American.  Though the claymation "Santa Claus is coming to town" would tell you the use of stockings was to get a around some rules created by the burgermeister.

What the book shows and tells so well is that various cultures brought with them to the Americas various traditions for the Christmas/holiday season.  Over time the best or most practical were merged and retained.  This fomented into what we in the United States of America now consider Christmas.  And now that concept of our Christmas is heading all over the world; influencing other cultures; due to our popular movies like Home Alone, It's a wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Santa Claus is coming to town, The Grinch Stole Christmas and the like.

Now many are complaining that the holiday has become too commercialized.  You feel like you have to give presents to everyone, cards to a ton of people and the real reason for the season is being lost.  Yes, it should be a time of reflection, celebration of the birth of the Christ child, a time to spread the "Good News" of the gospel.  A time to get together with friends and family.  A time to check on the widows, the lonely, the down trodden and give a helping hand to those in need.

Interestingly my daughter performed a few interesting songs for the winter concert this year at school.  One is "Do you need a reason"  a song that mentioned almost nothing religious but, rather a reason to celebrate the season - LOVE.  Not bad but it leaves out the religious aspects of Christmas.  They did get to learn the draddle song the Jewish people use.  Nothing for Kwanzaa though.  A simple blend of somewhat religious and secular.  A little something for everyone.

I did like the O Tannenbaum she learned in German.  She got the accent down but, that could be associated to the German blood floating around with a ton of other stuff in her body.

I'm including the lyric for the part she learned here as reference
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
wie treu sind deine Blätter!
Du grünst nicht nur
  zur Sommerzeit,
Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
wie treu sind deine Blätter!

O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree
How loyal are your leaves/needles!
You're green not only
  in the summertime,
No, also in winter when it snows.
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree
How loyal are your leaves/needles


So as we try and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas we should take some time out to slow down and try and enjoy ourselves.  And try coming up with a new Tradition that is a little less commercial and more holding to the real meaning of the season.


Buaidh - NO - Bas