Image:  Facebook

This Week's Quote

For a Jewish guy, I've recorded a lot of Christmas albums.

Barry Manilow

Source:  Brainyquote

Image by 15290004 from Pixabay 

Why I'm a UU, Summarized

At my Unitarian Universalist church in Seattle today, as part of an Advent sermon on joy, the junior minister told a story that had me laughing more than is probably decent.

Beth recalled how the small UU church she attended growing up in Topeka, Kan., encouraged congregants to express a joy or a sorrow during the service. On one particularly memorable Sunday, her mother shared with the congregation that she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer and planned to undergo surgery. Beth's mother was hopeful, but this announcement clearly fell in the sorrow category.

A transgender woman who followed shared a joy, namely that she would soon be receiving long-awaited chest feminization surgery.

Beth's mother yelled out that the two of them should try to get a two-for-one deal.

Use What Ya Got

 

 Image by ecto1 from Pixabay

Christmas 2021

It's Christmas day. Santa brought me a cold.

This was already a less than cheery holiday for me. In the last five months, my mother passed away, my divorce became final and my brother-in-law received a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer.

Add in the brand spanking new COVID variant, inflation and my exasperation over the willingness of so many of my countrymen to continue believing in the lies of Hey Mr. Tangerine Man, and, well, let's just say I've been taking to heart those enlightened messages about how happiness at Christmas isn't required.

I've aimed to leaven my Scrooge-like impulses with a little whimsy. My mask of choice these last weeks features Snow Miser and Heat Miser, two flashy characters from the 1974 Rankin/Bass Christmas special "The Year Without a Santa Claus."

Unfortunately, so few people have recognized the images that I feel like a 500-year-old. With a cold.

Today I'm wearing socks I got as a gift last year. They're purple with snowflakes—and rainbow stripes and unicorns.

It's a lonely Christmas, but thank goodness I have queer whimsy to help see me through.

Image by Pixaline from Pixabay 

This Week's Quote

Nothing says holidays like a cheese log.

Ellen DeGeneres

Source:  Reader's Digest

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