Dec 96, Scott County and Catholic Daughters

Getting Your Head Ready for Christmas Chillicothe

David..Basketti Bummy

You’ll spent the next days getting ready for Christmas.. trees..decorations...buying gifts ... worrying about time... If you’re under 16: Oh Boy! If you’re over 21: Oh Lord! Between 16 and 21, you’re not sure.

Like preparing for a wedding every twelve months.

I want to speak tonight on theft prevention. The Christmas season has more theft than any other. So don’t trust anyone… take a close look at the person sitting beside you. You’ve been watching me, but what have they been watching? USA TODAY: 1) shoplifting home burglary car theft BUT: TONIGHT… the type of theft that’s more common than any of these at Christmas… The THEFT OF JOY. For some of us… just petty theft.. for others, grand larceny.

We rush, we buy, we wrap, we cook, we eat, we pray, we go three places in one night…. and before we know it, our JOY HAS BEEN STOLEN.

---Jim Kern: Mrs. Brown ---Anxieties? Look in your own purse or billfold.

SO..A FEW TIPS ON THEFT PREVENTION FOR THIS CHRISTMAS....

THIS IS YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

LIGHTEN UP! THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU HAVE TO DO THIS SEASON: Realize that Jesus Christ was born. The SECOND MOST IMPORTANT THING: Everything else.

So LIGHTEN UP! The Important stuff is already done!

---church lady A FEW THEFT PREVENTION TECHNIQUES: ---take a pine cone, roll in peanut butter, then sprinkle with bird seed and hang outside your window where you can look at it every morning before Christmas. SEE HOW SIMPLE GIVING CAN BE. ---Wear something really outrageous to work or school some day, just to celebrate Christmas. BREAK YOU OWN PRIVATE DRESSCODE. MY DAD: Christmas tree on head. Stop being so normal. Jesus Christ came to earth do change the entire world… the least you can do is wear loud socks. ---Take your shoes off more often. ---build a snowman in someone’s yard who can’t build one anymore ---Next time shopping: Say Merry Christmas to 10 total strangers. 7th-graders, this week. Most: great. One gave dollar, “Here, I don’t care what it’s for.” ---Next time somebody at Hardees or McDonnalds tells you to have a nice day, ask them why. ---Send a love letter to someone you love then don’t sign it..let them suspect everybody in the whole world. ---Eat more ice cream this Christmas. There’s so much ice cream in the world and so little time. ---Kidnap your grandchildren and take them on a picnic. ---go to a nursing home and don’t do anything for them. Ask a resident to do something for you.. lick the stamps on your Christmas cards.. wrap a few packages… The killer of our elderly is not so much disease and infirmity but a feeling of uselessness. I’d lose my memory too, if I didn’t have anything important to remember. ---Lighten Up! You don’t have a thing to do this week that’s more important than a savior coming into the world and that’s already been done… take it easy!

STOP GIVING SO MUCH BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO AND GIVE MORE BECAUSE YOU WANT TO: ---What do you dread the most? Those things you have to do because you always do them and somebody expects you to do them. My cousin.. I see once a year. No idea what she needs. Never been to her house. She: the same with me. WE MADE AN AGREEMENT: We’ll get each other something but won’t worry a minute on whether it’s the right thing.

GIVE MORE SURPRISES! The fifty-dollar gift you always give to the same person isn’t much of a thrill..to them or to you. Go ahead and give it if you have to, but give the one-dollar gift that nobody expects you to give. ---Give a flower to the lady at the checkout counter who’s always so friendly ---a decorated apple to the lady who always smiles at you at church.. tell her it’s just because she smiles. ---Simply tell someone... “I’ve waited all year to say this, but I really appreciate you.” It’ll be remembered long after their WalMart Special Aftershave and Deodorant kit or their designer scarf has worn out. ---Jan Smith… the ability to walk into a room…. Always wrote me notes of encouragement. ---We have a lady in our church who brings fresh flowers for the alter every Sunday (flower shop refuse)...Nobody ever brings her any flowers. ---Give more gifts without letting anyone know who did it. The best gift: when the giver is unknown. Lockers at school for Mary. ---Goon Squad. ---Kmart last weekend… little girl kept shouting “Merry Christmas!” to everyone and embarrassed mother was trying to get her to be quiet. NO!

THE IDEA BEHIND CHRISTMAS IS “SURPRISE”...When I was born, I had no idea that a baby was born 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem to take away my sins. It was a surprise to me!

To keep from being robbed of your joy, FIX SOMETHING: ---Think of a problem you have which you just can’t get off your mind and you can’t do anything about. MAKE YOURSELF FORGET ABOUT IT FOR ONE WEEK. ---Think of a relationship you have which has been damaged. HEAL IT THIS SEASON. Give your pride a vacation. ---A teach with a man who really grates on my nerves… Tennis shoes, sweat pants, never prepared, and the first to gripe. I also teach with an atheist who’s a wonderful teacher. Every morning he compliments the first guy. Shames me. I’m trying to learn how to be a Christian from this atheist. And it’s working!
To keep from being robbed, Give Yourself this Christmas. It’s the one gift God wants most from you. ---It’ll make your load lighter. Jeff W: giving person. Tied up. Gave of himself even then.

Albert Sweitzer: The only ones among you who will be truly happy are those who’ve sought and found out how to serve others.

Finally: Stop trying to please everyone. You can’t do it. But by making a few happy, it’ll spread. Hiney the Mule.

Find the time to celebrate Christmas by yourself. I asked classes: When most lonely? Around people. Groups are wonderful. They’re fun. Nothing greater than a family gathering, but Christ never worked on the group plan. It was always one by one. Please.. PLEASE find time this Christmas to sit down with your cup of coffee or Christmas tea, and think about a Christmas where a little child was born for you alone. Take a walk on a cold winter night, alone.

6.To keep from being robbed of your joy, Don’t worry about being thanked. Conway Twitty.

God blesses giving and the giver.....

7th grade nursing home project I know a church...huge endowment...spirit of church stopped once they stopped struggling and giving NHS..used to party...now, service Daniel....Zebco 22 Fidel Cashero???? Chuck Swindoll.. a minister and author… says as a minister he has a real danger of mistaking himself for an undertaker. Preached on praying for what you need the most. Lady: 31 year old divorcee. Hung pants on bedpost. Father in heaven, hear my prayer, and grant one if you can. I’ve hung a pair of trousers there, please fill them with a man. “Dear Chuck.. I am wondering if I should be worried about something. It has to do with our son. For the last two weeks I have noticed he has gone to bed with a woman’s bikini over the foot of his bed. Should I be concerned about this?

The Coonridge Christmas ride…. van.. praying.

7 To keep from being robbed of your joy, stop complaining.. Architect: the hottest places in hell are reserved for the whiner and complainers. If my life were ten times longer, I still couldn’t justify a minute of it complaining. When I speak to teachers: For every minute you spend worrying and complaining about your students, spend one minute praying. And if you’re not a Christian, go out and hire…..

I wish you the best Christmas ever... but it cannot be if you allow yourself to be robbed on a daily basis. No burglar can break into a happy heart and steal it’s joy. Helen Dickens.. Jesus Loves you and I do, too! Lady with M.S.