Date: December 27, 2004
Well, how went your Christmas? Ours was, in a word, fantabulous! Good worship, good gifts, good family and really good food. We even managed to squeeze in a movie.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've seen so many versions of Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit From Saint Nicholas," I hardly know what the original was like anymore. There's the Florida version, the NASA version, the Politically Correct version, the Senior Citizen version, etc. For today's joke, I decided to write my own version ... er, sort of.
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THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS
'Twas the day after Christmas, I'm tired
and sore;
My living room looks like it's been through a war.
With paper and presents strewn all about,
It will take us six weeks to clean up, no doubt.
The children had run all amok from their
bed,
And now there's a pounding deep inside my head.
The screaming, the tearing, the squealing of joy
As each gift revealed a shiny, new toy.
I'd wanted to get Mom a gift that would
melt her;
Now all I want is some warm Alka Seltzer.
The noise of the kids and their gifts clang away;
I don't think we'll see the cat until May.
The post-Christmas blues have nearly set
in;
The things that I bought I've started regrettin'
The gifts that I got may make my life easy,
But my spirit is woozy, perhaps even queasy.
We mustn't forget the babe in the manger;
Amidst all this stuff, his tale's in danger.
And now he will grow from baby to Lord;
Meanwhile the kids are all saying, "I'm bored!"
So the lesson, this day after Christmas, I
learn;
Is the stuff that we buy has no power to turn
Our hearts to the path that is narrow and true;
That must come from his love, and the faith that's in you.
[written by Mark Raymond, in honor of my Dad ... Clifford John Raymond]
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WORD for YOUR DAY: So what does "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" mean? The Scholastic Book of Idioms reminds us that knowledgeable horse traders could tell the age and health of a horse by looking closely at its teeth. If you were given a steed and then proceeded to check its teeth (look in its mouth), you'd be telling the giver that you didn't trust the gift and were, in fact, being quite rude about the whole thing. So the phrase is a warning to accept a gift in the spirit in which it is given and not complain about it.
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Mark!
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