I’m going to omit our usual Wednesday TEDTalks episode for a week or two to make a little more room for holiday cheer. Today’s feature…a modern day – and rockin’ – little drummer boy named Sean Quigley. Sean, a native of Winnipeg, put together a very fun – and very well made – video of his version of the “The Little Drummer Boy.” What’s kind of amazing is that he plays all the instruments as well as produced the video. And his exuberance as a drummer is, well, seriously fun. As he said in an interview with the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) last year shortly after the video went up and went viral, “Drummer Boy...

The trail of gratitude on the internet can at times be both long and complex. Case in point: I came across this piece on Christmas gifts at MaryAnn McKibben Dana’s great blog, “The Blue Room,” where she referenced an article written by Gretchen Ziegenhals on Duke’s fine Faith and Leadership website where she (Gretchen) talks about an idea she received at a workshop given by Susan Vogt. Still with me…? 🙂 I suppose it doesn’t matter. Here are the relevant paragraphs on Christmas gift-giving at home, first from Gretchen (as quoted by MaryAnn): At a retreat on Christian life, I heard Susan V. Vogt describe a wonderful tradition...

I’ve said before – more than a few times, actually ☺ – that I love just about everything about Advent and Christmas, and that I especially love the music of the season. Ancient and modern, sacred and secular, I love them all. (Well, not all, but a whole lot!) So in the spirit of the season I want to share a few of my favorite Christmas songs, some of which you may know, others that perhaps are less familiar, but all of which representatives of what that I like to call “unlikely Christmas carols.” They’re unlikely not because there is something wrong or inappropriate about them. Indeed I find each one points out something...

As of yesterday, we are within four weeks of Christmas. If that thought stresses you ought just a bit, you’re not alone. An untold number of studies say that the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s are among the most stressful of the year. And while I think that’s true for all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons, I think that’s particularly true for parents. Parents who want to make sure Christmas is great for their kids while also attending to all the usual stuff at work and home and, at this time of the year, trying to please their own siblings and parents as well. And, truth be told, when I say parents, I want to add a...