Ugly Christmas Sweater DAYS

D O     Y O U     O W N     O N E ?

An Ugly Christmas Sweater?

T                    H                    E                    Y

actually have parties with everyone wearing an Ugly Christmas Sweater.      .      .

Do  you  own  One ?

Do you feel like you’re wearing one

W  I  T  H  O  U  T     O  W  N  I  N  G    O  N  E ?

Even if we don’t own an Ugly Christmas Sweater

There are some days when it feels like we are wearing one that seems it’ll never come off:

Bad Relationships

Job Security

Ill-Health

Death

Unrest

Zero to limited Bank Accounts

Moves

Conflict

.          .          .What to do?

I often remember my student church the first year I was in Seminary.

By God,

we were going to have the first

LIVE   NATIVITY   CHRISTMAS   PAGENT

that small little Country Church had ever had.     .     .

I learned from that experience,

NEVER    TO     BRING     LIVE    FARM    ANIMALS

into the Sanctuary;

Little Lambs looks great on Christmas Cards,

but the things they left between the

PEEE-EWWWS

while they were bleeping away

are smells and stains

I don’t think they’ve yet to rid themselves of nearly 40 years later.     .     .

I’m not even going to mention the Donkey’s antics

or the calves

or the fact that the goat ate stored furniture.       .       .

It got worse still

when our third Wiseman came down with chicken-pox the night of the big show

and it’s not the same song  singing:

  “WE   TWO  KINGS  OF   ORIENT  ARE“

.       .       .It got worse before   NEVER   getting better:

We had a beautiful illuminated JESUS

in the manager who’s    LIGHT    burned out.        .        .

no problem,

I replaced it with a bulb

that turned out to be a STROBE LIGHT.        .        .

N O T H I N G   like an

ON/OFF   ON/OFF   ON/OFF   ON/OFF   ON/OFF   ON/OFF   ON/OFF   ON/OFF   ON/OFF

J       E       S       U       S

B            L            I            N            K            I            N            K

away  in  the  manger.

W E   L I V E

Ugly     Christmas     Sweaters     LIVES

and we have the same three choices I had that

bleating/blinking/too much stink for a sanctuary full of un-clogged noses/two-wiseman cursed night:

C  A  N  C  E  L       T  H  E       M  E  S  S

It always seems like one of the best of possibilities,

doesn’t it.     .     ?

Let’s just cancel this craziness;

this mess,

and cut our losses and speak of it never again.       .       .

Who would blame us when things are a disasters

and getting no better.       .       .

I mean,

when the Ugly Christmas Sweater snags—-

why fix it.        .        .?

P  R  E  T  E  N  D

I’ve long believed

that the only day we actually celebrate all 365 days is

H     A     L     L     O     W     E     E     N

We should all be nominated

and actually win the Academy Award

every year for the phenomenal acting jobs we pull off each day.     .     .

Let’s just pretend our way through our Ugly Christmas Sweater Days.       .     .

After all,

we don’t want to spoil anything for anyone,

especially during  T H E    S E A S O N.   .   .   

E     M     B     R     A     C     E             I     T

It’s like hugging a porcupine.       .       .

but why not just embrace the obvious—-

Just not  O W N.        .        .

W E A R    T H E    C H R I S T M A S    S W E A T E R

I N    S T Y L E

Endure the Stank,

Dance to the pulsating Light,

Sing the not-so-complete-song

and fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

your way to the homemade cookie and coffee cake line,

straight to the hot chocolate.      .      .

Y  O  U  R     C  H  O  I  C  E ?

UGLY  SWEATER  CHRISTMAS  DAYS

We all have them

We all live through them

We all come out the other end of

T  H  A  T

tunnel a little more disheveled, snagged, smelly, guffawed at

but–THRIVERS–ALL

There’s only one thing to do–ever–when faced with an

UGLY  CHRISTMAS  SWEATER  DAY:

S   P   O   R   T        I   T

(No   Matter   What   The   Season)