Merry Christmas, everyone!  May this season bring you good times with family and friends, and may you have time to reflect upon the Lord and the blessings He has bestowed upon you.

A happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans out there who are hopefully taking time out to celebrate today with friends and family. Enjoy some good food, good times, and remain thankful for all that you have.

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone, and despite a few food-related setbacks (remember to leave the oven on the whole time you're cooking a turkey...however, the two hours of letting it sit after an hour of cooking left the bird extra juicy!), my family and I had a great time playing my Wii. We spent hours playing Wii Sports after creating a Mii for everyone.

While we played a little bit of everything, the bowling and boxing games seemed to draw the most interest. Bowling I understood because it's easy to pick up, but hard to master. Plus you can get four people going with just two controllers, which is all I've got right now. Boxing was popular just because it's hilarious to watch people duke it out. I've got some footage of my parents going head-to-head, and it's like they're just flailing at nothing. There's not much strategy to it either (at least none that we've been able to discern yet). Of course, the best part is seeing the winner throw their hands in the air like they just won an actual match.

I'd like to get that footage off the camera eventually (along with all the other stuff sitting on the video camera from the last year) and get it posted on here. Very entertaining!

With family fun like this, the whole Wii phenomena may just become huge!

Edit: Oh yea, if anyone else out there has a Wii and their friend code handy feel free to drop it in the comments below. Let the Miis mingle!

I'd just like to wish all my American brethren a happy Thanksgiving Day! I'm looking forward to spending the day with my family as my wife and I host them for the first time. Should keep us pretty busy!

But let's make sure to take time amongst all the food, parades and football to remember to be thankful for all that God has given to us. For that's the intent behind the first Thanksgiving. The pilgrims were thankful for surviving their trip to a land where they would worship God freely. We should feel privileged to live in a land where we can do so ourselves, especially when there are so many places where one can still not do so around the world.

Give thanks to the Lord!

Yea, this is from last year, but I think this is an excellent rant from a pastor in Georgia about Halloween and the way that many churches approach it. It captures much of how I feel about the way that Christians approach a holiday named after a Catholic holiday. As always, there's no better way of demonstrating love then by telling them that Trick-or-Treating is evil and then inviting them to some lame thing you're doing instead of going out and collecting a pillowcase full of candy.

And we wonder why the world thinks that Christians are a bit "off center".

Looking forward to the long weekend coming up. We'll be bringing Jake along with us to Williamsport to spend the weekend with Marci's family. It will be nice to get away from the city for a little bit (and give Jake a little room to run around). We should at least get some good grub.

But let's not forget the importance of Monday. Make sure to take time out and be thankful for the men and women who have given their lives to help protect our lives and our freedoms. We may not agree with the decisions of our politicians, but that does not diminish the sacrifices that our soldiers have made.

Have a good weekend everyone.