Podcast appearances and mentions of christian christmas

Send us a textCan you imagine finding solace amidst the chaos of the holiday season? Join us on a spiritual journey as we explore how faith and divine light can guide us through times of fear and uncertainty. Psalm 27 becomes our anchor, reminding us of the Lord's salvation and love, as we reflect on the true meaning of Christmas—the birth of Jesus Christ, our Redeeming King. Through personal reflection and worship, we find that trusting God, especially during the festive season's disruptions, brings peace and reassurance.We embark on a biblical exploration of the theme of light, tracing its significance from Genesis to the New Testament. As God commands, "Let there be light," in Genesis and Jesus proclaims, "I am the light of the world" in John, we discover the enduring presence of divine light through God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. This divine light offers comfort amid stress and uncertainty, particularly during the holiday season. As we navigate this sacred journey, we invite you to find strength and solace in the scriptures, allowing the divine light to dispel fear and uplift your spirit.Reflecting on the pressures of life and the challenge of maintaining faith, we emphasize the need for God's glory to be revealed in our lives. As we gather in communion, breaking bread and sharing wine, we celebrate the birth of Jesus and the hope and redemption He brings. This episode is a heartfelt invitation to embrace the spiritual significance of Christmas, encouraging everyone to remain steadfast in their beliefs. Let us celebrate the birth of our Redeeming King, seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness, trusting in His everlasting love to guide us through life's uncertainties.Christian Christmas message, divine light in Christmas, trusting God during Christmas, spiritual Christmas reflections, peace through faith, hope in Jesus, Psalm 27 faith, Jesus the light of the world, Christmas redemption message, Advent faith reflections, overcoming fear with faith, Christmas salvation, faith through uncertainty, Christmas in the Bible, strength through scriptures, Redeemer King Jesus, Christmas worship podcast.These tags and SEO keywords are designed to resonate with your podcast's spiritual focus, emphasizing themes of peace, faith, divine light, and the true meaning of Christmas, helping you reach a global audience searching for meaningful Christian content.Support the showhttps://www.pastorbencooper.co.uk/

Christmas is just around the corner, and joining Kieran to discuss Pagan and early-Christian Christmas is Blindboyboatclub!

Enjoy an hour of Easy Listening Christian Music. Each Saturday I will provide another hour of the Sweetest Sound in Town. We are a listener supported pod cast. If you have been blessed by our music I hope you will help with a tax deductible gift. You can donate on line with the Pay Pal tab on the bottom of this page. I will also be happy to send you an envelope for you to return a gift in or accept your Visa or MasterCard when you call our toll free number 1 888 382 0881. You can also send us your gift by mailing it to Shofar Broadcasting P.O. Box 1909 Charleston, W.V. 25327

Fill-In Notes: https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/39900/note-221779.html CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION1. What stands out to you in the traditional Christian Christmas story? a. Why do you think its not learned as a story of faith (ex: Zechariah, Mary, Joseph) ? 2. Whats your faith story a. What compelled you to take your step of faith to trust Jesus as your rescuer from sin separation from God? OR b. Whats holding you back from taking that step? 3. Does the following straight talk seem helpful to battle any doubt? a. If you have trouble rooting your confidence in Gods past faithfulness loving character, ask yourself : what more could he do to prove to you that he can be trusted?

Fill-In Notes: https://churchlinkfeeds.blob.core.windows.net/notes/39900/note-221779.html CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION1. What stands out to you in the traditional Christian Christmas story? a. Why do you think its not learned as a story of faith (ex: Zechariah, Mary, Joseph) ? 2. Whats your faith story a. What compelled you to take your step of faith to trust Jesus as your rescuer from sin separation from God? OR b. Whats holding you back from taking that step? 3. Does the following straight talk seem helpful to battle any doubt? a. If you have trouble rooting your confidence in Gods past faithfulness loving character, ask yourself : what more could he do to prove to you that he can be trusted?

I'm joined by my sister Makenzy on the podcast to talk about ALL things Christmas. We're talking about our traditions, favorite Christian and non Christian Christmas songs, and Christmas truths that mean the most to us. Christian Christmas Music Playlist: https://tinyurl.com/4un6mayz  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textThis week we're talking about the compulsion many of us feel to fake the "Christmas Spirit" and force our way through the Christmas season and the danger of that. Support the show If you have any questions about the subjects covered in today's episode you can find us on Facebook at the links below or you can shoot me an email at joe@buddywalkwithjesus.com One Stop Shop for all the links Linktr.ee/happydeamedia

No Christmas Left Behind In this special segment, we consume and discuss Christian Movies. Today, we're discussing the 2014 Kirk Cameron, Christmas Docu-Drama - Saving Christmas. Send us your movie suggestions! - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thebibleisfunny⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch the movie here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3_myOc2sYs

Listeners of this podcast know that when Christmastime rolls around, the SASF podcast likes to focus on the less appreciated Bible stories that lead up to the birth of the Christ:. You may remember past Advent episodes on the Levite's concubine, Onan, and Tamar. This year, the guys discuss the place of the Jewish people in the Christmas story. Why? Well, nobody needs a reason to talk about the Gospel, but in addition (if you're on X), you've definitely noticed a certain vocal minority who loves nothing more than to denigrate the Jews. Don't worry, we don't spend much time on those dummies -- but we do spend time discussing the meaning of Christmas, its place in history, the rights and wrongs of Zionism, Old Testament heresies like Talmudic Judaism, and, of course, the Jewish story that is the whole basis for the birth of our Jewish Savior... and why we're Christians now. You're also going to find out that you're the second lobster on the heavenly sheet in Peter's vision, so get used to not being the main character. Merry Christmas!

Enjoy an hour of Easy Listening Christian Music. Each Saturday I will provide another hour of the Sweetest Sound in Town. We are a listener supported pod cast. If you have been blessed by our music I hope you will help with a tax deductible gift. You can donate on line with the Pay Pal tab on the bottom of this page. I will also be happy to send you an envelope for you to return a gift in or accept your Visa or MasterCard when you call our toll free number 1 888 382 0881. You can also send us your gift by mailing it to Shofar Broadcasting P.O. Box 1909 Charleston, W.V. 25327

White Chicks meets Handbell Choir In this special segment, we consume and discuss Christian Movies. Today, we're discussing the 2015 Christmas Comedy, Altar Egos. Send us your movie suggestions! - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thebibleisfunny⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch the movie here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIg89KGmINI&ab_channel=ChristianMovies

There are really two different holidays celebrated during the Advent season. The Christian Christmas and the Secular holiday. This sermon brings out the many differences and the real reason for the season, Jesus. He set aside His glory, His royalty, His Power, to become a totally dependent Baby, Who needed diapers changed, Who needed to be fed, Who needed to be taught how to talk. He did all of this so that He could become the Substitute for the penalty for sin that was demanded.

Enjoy an hour of Easy Listening Christian Music. Each Saturday I will provide another hour of the Sweetest Sound in Town. We are a listener supported pod cast. If you have been blessed by our music I hope you will help with a tax deductible gift. You can donate on line with the Pay Pal tab on the bottom of this page. I will also be happy to send you an envelope for you to return a gift in or accept your Visa or MasterCard when you call our toll free number 1 888 382 0881. You can also send us your gift by mailing it to Shofar Broadcasting P.O. Box 1909 Charleston, W.V. 25327

Reach Out to Us Today!In this week's holiday bonus episode, we're looking at the season of Advent. We're going to explore why reorienting ourselves on the God's current story for humanity matters and how we can help change our perspective and point of view on this season even in the midst of reconciling the baggage that's present during this time as well. Support the show If you have any questions about the subjects covered in today's episode you can find us on Facebook at the links below or you can shoot me an email at joe@buddywalkwithjesus.com One Stop Shop for all the links Linktr.ee/happydeamedia

Did you know that about 96% of Americans celebrate Christmas? In the U.S., Christmas has become a largely cultural event filled with twinkling lights, jingle bells, and festive carols. While those traditions contain a special kind of magic, it's easy to let the busyness of the season overshadow the real reason we celebrate. In this episode, Amy and Sara share practical ways to slow down the holiday hustle and create meaningful moments with your kids that keep Jesus at the center of it all. From advent devotionals to baking, they offer 10 simple ways to shine a light on Jesus and make this Christmas not just merry, but deeply meaningful.Blog: 10 Ways to Keep Jesus at the Center of ChristmasAdvent Video Series by The Bible ProjectFree Family Advent Guide by LifewayBook: Advent Blocks Tradition SetCookbook: Bake through the Bible at ChristmasUnwrap Camp for Christmas--Questions of the Week: What is your favorite Christmas tradition that we do as a family, and why?--Hosts: Amy Lowe & Sara JonesProducers: Emily Alters & Cody Braun--Learn more about WinShape Camps at WinShapeCamps.org!Instagram: @WinShapeCampsTikTok: @WinShapeCampsFacebook: @WinShapeCamps

Santa and a Christian ChristmasYour support sends the gospel to every corner of Australia through broadcast, online and print media: https://vision.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thinking about what you should do for the Christmas season? Pastor David Teis and his daughter, Charity Berkey, talk about all the fun things you and your family can do to have a Merry Christian Christmas! Pastor Teis wrote a book called 'Christmas, It's All About Jesus Christ'. It is a daily devotional that will last you from December 1 all the way to the new year. There, you can read about Christmas from a Biblical perspective. To purchase your own copy of Pastor Teis' Christmas Devotional, please visit: https://a.co/d/2sLdu5k davidteis.com To purchase copies in bulks for a discounted price, please email Charity.berkey@experienceliberty.com

Not celebrating a Christian Christmas; a friend hosting a family on Christmas; hosting Shabbat for the first time (on The Chosen): Zack makes a proposal for how we might celebrate Christmas. For a handout, visit covmin.org/sermons

Wednesday Night Bible Study

Welcome to the Shawn Bolz Show where we look at current events, the entertainment world, and what is happening around the globe from a Christian discerning perspective that hopefully inspires you to keep looking for what God is doing in the midst of what is going wrong. Merry Christmas! Welcome to a special edition of the Shawn Bolz Show! I am so glad I get to be with you in the Christmas season, discerning what is happening in the world around us with a Biblical and spiritual lens!  Today we are going to be talking about comedians that are faith based that are actually worth following on the socials! Hopefully it will give you lots of things to laugh at during this Holiday season!  Then I am reacting to Christian Christmas movie trailers that I haven't seen before that have come out this year! Are they cringe? Are they worth it? I'm scared because I don't like most faith based movies, but they have been getting so much better in this past season!  We have an interview with a nutraceutical expert who is going to be talking to us about our health and hope for our physical journey in 2024. Finally I have news you need to know about the Christmas edition and a prophetic word about how God showed me he has something for YOU this Christmas. All of this and more on today's show!  My Website:  www.bolzministries.com or Download the free Bolz Ministries App for all of this in one easy place. Come join me on my Social Media:  Facebook: Shawnbolz Twitter: ShawnBolz Instagram: ShawnBolz TikTok: ShawnBolz YouTube: ShawnBolzofficial Find me on TV: TBN: https://www.tbn.org/people/shawn-bolz Watch my series on the names of God: Discovering God series: https://bit.ly/3erdrJ9 Watch my series on hearing God's voice: Translating God series: https://bit.ly/3xbcSd5 Watch my weekly series/Vodcast on CBN News Network: Exploring the Marketplace https://bit.ly/3B81e41 Join me for my podcasts on Charisma Podcast Network: News Commentary: Prophetic Perspectives:  https://bit.ly/3L9b5ej Exploring the Marketplace: https://bit.ly/3QyHoo5 Exploring the Prophetic:  https://bit.ly/3QyHoo5 Take a class or attend an event at our Spiritual Growth Academy: Our 4 week classes and monthly events are designed to do the heavy lifting in your spiritual growth journey. Learn how to hear from God, stay spiritually healthy, and impact the world around you: https://bit.ly/3B2luDR Take a read:  Translating God - Hearing God's voice for yourself and the world around you https://bit.ly/3RU2X3F Encounter - A spiritual encounter that will shape your faith https://bit.ly/3tNAW4Y Through the Eyes of Love - http://bit.ly/2pitHTb Wired to Hear - Hearing God's voice for your place of career and influence https://bit.ly/3kLsMn9 Growing Up With God - Chapter book and kids curriculum https://bit.ly/3eDRF5a Keys to Heaven's Economy - Understanding the resources for your destiny: https://bit.ly/3TZAc7u Read my articles: At CBN News : https://bit.ly/3BtwSdp At Charisma News : https://bit.ly/3RxPJtz Email My Assistant: assistant@bolzministries.com Our resources: resources@bolzministries.com Our office: info@bolzministries.com

Intro: Telegram, pre-Christmas madness, crazy warm weather, parents of a teenager.6:45 A symphony trip for the kids.. are9:06: Hope…or lack thereof from Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.12:31: The contrast of cheer and family and depressing Christmases.14:40: Meaningful secular Christmas lyrics, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was written by a victim of bullying.16:34: Inspiration for Christmas songs from non-Christians.18:12: Christian Christmas songs address the human condition.19:43: Difficulty in sharing Christian Christmas songs' source of hope.25:16: We “muddle through” with our ever present help in trouble.22:06: Even we have to wait until we're dead, in light of eternity, suffering has an end date.24:50: Gender-bending on Broadway.28:48: Transgender singing issue.32:20: Transgender needs for pharmaceuticals, and medical intervention ramifications.36:00: A podcast Molly listened to about an a Catholic convert from feminisim out of the “Eldridge Era” and wha it means to be a woman.39:21: What makes a woman? Or a man?43:07: Gender as a complimentary component in the world.47:03: Genitalia is a physical manifestation of an entire being's orientation.49:25: Contingent Monism and you are not you without…54:21: How this all relates to children and parenting.56:30: Show Close Too Busy to Flush Telegram GroupSend us a PostcardPique Tea - Referral Link (it's super-delicious and healthy)Molly's Favorite Milk Brother (she takes it in the van!)Ledger Hardware Wallet - Referral Link (store your crypto securely!)

Enjoy an hour of Easy Listening Christian Christmas Music. Each Saturday I will provide another hour of the Sweetest Sound in Town. We are a listener supported pod cast. If you have been blessed by our music I hope you will help with a tax deductible gift. You can donate on line with the Pay Pal tab on the bottom of this page. I will also be happy to send you an envelope for you to return a gift in or accept your Visa or MasterCard when you call our toll free number 1 888 382 0881. You can also send us your gift by mailing it to Shofar Broadcasting P.O. Box 1909 Charleston, W.V. 25327

Enjoy an hour of Easy Listening Christian Christmas Music. Each Saturday I will provide another hour of the Sweetest Sound in Town. We are a listener supported pod cast. If you have been blessed by our music I hope you will help with a tax deductible gift. You can donate on line with the Pay Pal tab on the bottom of this page. I will also be happy to send you an envelope for you to return a gift in or accept your Visa or MasterCard when you call our toll free number 1 888 382 0881. You can also send us your gift by mailing it to Shofar Broadcasting P.O. Box 1909 Charleston, W.V. 25327

Welcome to the 2023 holiday sermon! If you don't know every year I give a Christmas message during the holiday season and this year I'm talking about finding the real meaning of Christmas in the midst of chaos, hurt, busyness, etc and I'm doing it with a little help from my good friend Charlie Brown!Check out the video version by heading over to YouTube and searching BuddyWalk with Jesus! If you have any questions about the subjects covered in today's episode you can find us on Facebook at the links below or you can shoot me an email at joe@buddywalkwithjesus.com One Stop Shop for all the links Linktr.ee/happydeamedia

Christmas is a time of year that many Christians claim to know the reason for the season. Is there such a thing as a Christian Christmas? This weeks episode explains our journey of faith as a family and why we choose to not celebrate this season or holiday. Check out our AFFILIATES: Rejuva Minerals: https://www.rejuvaminerals.com/cgi-rejuvaminerals/sb/ref.cgi?storeid=*28a881a5a678755a343be6b142bb720c144cd3f3998e&name=Lesley_Goodgasell_ Not Consumed Ministries: https://store.notconsumed.com?aff=554 Kitsch: https://www.mykitsch.com/LESLEY CODE: LESLEY15 Instagram: https://instragram.com/stayathomemomgoody?igshid=ZGUzMzM3NWJiOQ== If you have any tips, insight or comments you would love to share please send emails to stayathomemomgoody@outlook.com

Welcome back to Analyze Scripts, where a psychiatrist and a therapist analyze what Hollywood gets right and wrong about mental health. Today, we are covering one of our most favorite Christmas films, "The Grinch." This version came out in 2000 and stars Jim Carrey. In this episode we cover Reactive Attachment Disorder, Season Affective Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder and the impact of trauma and bullying in early life. We don't leave you feeling hopeless so we also share effective therapy for early childhood disruption and stories of healing. We hope you enjoy! Website Tiktok Instagram Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Hi, I'm Dr. Katrina Fieri, a psychiatrist. And I'm Portia Pendleton, a licensed clinical social worker. And this is Analyze Scripts, a podcast. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Where two shrinks analyze the depiction of. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Mental health in movies and TV shows. Our hope is that you learn some legit info about mental health while feeling like you're chatting with your girlfriends. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: There is so much misinformation out there. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: And it drives us nuts. And if someday we pay off our student loans or land a sponsorship, like with a lay flat airline or a. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Major beauty brand, even better. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: So sit back, relax, grab some popcorn. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: And your DSM Five and enjoy. Hi. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Welcome to our December edition of our podcast. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Happy Holidays. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Happy holidays near and far. If you are an international listener, which we did just get Spotify wrapped info, right? We're global, so thank you. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: We are global. Guys, it's official. Our top three countries on spotify were America, Canada and Norway. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Who knew? So loving the northern European aisles. So we are really excited to kind of continue the December edition of some holiday classics. So today we're going to be covering The Grinch, the Jim Carrey version. So there's many versions, obviously. I think at least I'm more familiar with the Jim Carrey one. Then there's the cartoon, right? The original. And then there's the new cartoon, which is really funny and silly, too. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: And the new cartoon has some pretty sick beats, has some good music. And, of course, I think we were, like, going back and forth about, do we cover the original or the Jim Carrey version? And I was glad when you agreed we should do Jim Carrey version because it's so good. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah. And there's a lot there. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Yeah, just like the costuming, the makeup. Every time I watch it, I'm just looking at The Grinch, like, did he just take 10 hours to get in this costume every day? Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Probably. I mean, that is a fun fact. All of their facial constructions, the nose for makeup every single day. So I went to at my dance studio growing up, the girl I don't know her name, I should have walked who was climbing up the mountain at the beginning with the boys to, like, the grim. Yeah. So she went to my dance studio. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: No way. Yeah. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: So I don't know if she's been in things since, but that was always so exciting. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: That's like a hot take. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah. Anyway. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: And Taylor Momson was so adorable as Cindy Lou. I know. And that's obviously, like, pre Gossip Girl, but then she went into Gossip Girl, and then she was, like, the lead singer of that really intense heavy metal band. And I'm not sure what she's doing now, but she's just so adorable and was really perfect for the role. And I just loved all their hairstyles, and I'm assuming they were wigs, but just super cool. And then molly shannon, of course I know. Who doesn't love her? Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Some of the people when I looked up the cast list, I was like, oh, yeah, duh. That's them. But their makeup and costuming was so good that it just never even crossed my mind that that was my Shannon. But, like, hello, superstar. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Hello. Oh, my God, we should do Superstars, by the way, side note. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: And then I vividly remember this movie coming out. I think I was in late middle school, early high school, and it was like a year when my family was having a hard time and that Faith Hill, Where Are you? Christmas song came out. And it really was like I remember just being like, this is how I feel this year. And even still, it really gets you and I think really speaks to how emotional the holiday season can be as we keep talking about and emphasizing in our holiday episodes. That is a fact that holidays can be hard for people of all ages and backgrounds. And I really loved that this movie and the Grinch story in general really speaks to the meaning of the holidays and that beyond the commercialization of it, it stirs up a lot of big feelings for people. And that's yeah, yeah. Vividly remember hearing that song as a kid and being like just like, oh, speaks to Know. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: I mean, Faith Hill is such a wonderful artist. And I think know it came out with the album because Cindy Lou, right? Like, sings in her little beautiful voice, too, in the movie. But then the Faith Hill version, I think, was just like a tear. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Yes. And it reminds me of that song. My grown up Christmas list. Have you heard that one? Yeah, similar, right, where you're just like it's just like really I don't know, something about Christmas music really gets me. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: I'm a music crier, so if it is hallelujah. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Yeah, I can easily a lot of the Christmas, even a lot of the church hymns, even not for a sad reason, they're just, like, really moving. Yeah, right. They're so moving. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: I was just going to say that reminds me. I recently was at Disney World, and they're doing a lot of their Christmas stuff right now. And I went to what they call the candlelight processional show. I don't know if you've ever heard of it's, at Epcot. So it's this big show that's been going on for 60 years, and they have a big choir, a live band, and then there's always a celebrity narrator who basically narrates the Christian Christmas story, right. And then they sing all the classic Christmas songs with a huge choir. So it's like really emotional, really beautiful. And when I was there, Chrissy Metz from this Is US was the celebrity. Narrator do you know who she is? Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: I loved. This is us. I feel like in our giveaway, which we'll talk about then in our episode, a lot of people have recommended that to us over the years. But anyway, she was like, balling. She was just, like, so moved by the Christmas story and the big choir. And I think it's just like the music, right? It's, like, so moving. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: I attended the online version, but a conference for eating disorders. And it was in the Renfro conference. Yeah, she was one of the keynote speakers, just talking about her experience. And it was like, a couple of people who've been very open about their experience in a larger body and just, like, fat phobia and being an advocate. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Oh, wow. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah, I was really impressed with what she had to yeah. We both kind of just saw her in two different ways than this is us. So she's getting around everywhere. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: That's awesome. And actually, I just saw on her Instagram she's coming to New Haven with I guess she's like obviously she's a singer, but I guess with her band or something. Cool. Hey, Chrissy. Matt's, like, we love you. Okay. Anyway, back to the grinch. There's a lot we could talk about. So what jumps out to so I. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Was, you know, using Google as one does when they're looking for movie fun facts and something that I didn't see, but did pop out at me when I was watching the movie. Which is kind of a controversial disorder in the DSM and kind of in I don't know its use, its treatment, but it's a reactive attachment disorder. So I thought of him kind of immediately the Grinch with attachment. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Right. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Like, he kind of came from somewhere. We don't know. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: The storks in the sky. Yeah. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: And he landed outside and then he was cold and alone. I don't know for how long, not a long period of time. But it makes me think of some disrupted attachment and some neglect. And then the two sisters kind of take him in. And then he kind of goes on to continue, though, to not fit in and not have these connections with his peers. And so I thought, just for educational purposes, we could talk a little bit about reactive attention. I've worked I think that's a great idea over the years with it. And again, it's not common. But unfortunately, with the DSM, the current version of it, we only really have two disorders that we can diagnose and bill with. So it's reactive attachment disorder and then the disinhibited social where did it go? Disinhibited social engagement disorder. So everyone really wants there to be way more attachment based disorders. It would be more gentle, I think, with explaining some behavior. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: So anyway, like, from childhood to adulthood. Yeah, I think totally. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: And we've talked a lot about borderline disorder throughout our movies and TV shows. And there's a lot of talk about borderline often, but not always stemming from attachment issues. DSM, I think Sick should work on that. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Yeah. And I think, too, there's so many different schools of thought in terms of psychological development or schools of thought in terms of how do you do psychotherapy? What's sort of your lens that you see things through? And attachment is a big one. That's one that I find myself just naturally gravitating towards. And I've noticed we talk about it a lot on our podcast, almost every character. You and I are really curious about their attachments. Like with the morning show, we were like, oh, finally we saw Corey's mom. We're just constantly wondering, how did people get to be this way? And I think those early years are so important, right? Like between ages zero and five. That really sets the stage psychologically for how you will relate to adults. Really. Like, those early attachments we talked about in our Harry Potter episode with your caregivers are incredibly important. And, yeah, we see the Grinch as a baby, but like an older baby, like six to twelve months, I'd say, based on his head control and vocalizations and things like that. Dropped off on the stoop. So what happened before then? If anything, it's cold. And then he looks totally different from everyone else. And he's super bullied. Like all those scenes with Martha May when he's so excited to give her the valentine or not the valentine. The Christmas angel. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: And even the teacher. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: I know everyone's like that one scene. Slow laughing, right? Portia Pendleton, LCSW: They're like, yeah, even the teacher. It reminds me of Stepbrothers when the mom gets involved singing songs. Brennan has a know where. It's just like even the adult who's supposed to be protecting you in that. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Space is like adding to it. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: I think a lot of people, even if you have solid, secure attachment, can relate to feeling bullied or laughed at in school. But he really got it. And we really saw how that made him isolate. Totally. Right. Totally isolate. And it's interesting, right? I think comparing how the Grinch responds to that type of early experience know, in a future episode, we're going to talk about Frozen, how Elsa responds and then isolates herself. It's interesting parallels to me. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah. And a common theme in some child movies. I just think it's know something bad happens, which I guess is just a good story. And then how someone responds to that something bad happening or hard or, you know, how they kind of manage to do it. And ideally, if it's a Disney movie, they coped well and kind of come out the other side. But we see that with a Grin. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: So, again, when we talk about attachment, again, it's a term used to talk about the connection between an infant and their early caregiver. Usually it's a parent, but not always. It can be a grandparent. It can be someone at an orphanage. Hopefully it's someone that's a good place to start, is we hope there's someone. Right? Hi, scribbles. So then we think about and we've talked about in a lot of our past episodes, like Harry Potter, you a lot of different ones about the different type styles of attachment. We think about secure attachment versus insecure attachment. And then in that umbrella of insecure attachment, we think about avoidant attachment styles versus anxious avoidant attachment styles versus a reactive type of attachment style, right? So when you have a secure attachment, the child knows and feels secure in knowing that their needs will be met by their caregiver. And this develops over time, like for human babies, when you cry, your mother comes to feed you, to change you, to hold you. As the baby gets older, the child begins to be able to tolerate waiting for mom because they've been able to internalize, like, even if I'm crying, I know she will eventually come to me. It's something called object permanence, where I believe it's around 18 months old, where kids can realize, like, okay, even if I don't see my mom, I know she still exists, and when I need her, I know she will hear me and come to get me, even if it's not immediate. So you develop this secure feeling like your needs will be met. When you have insecure attachment, you don't develop that. You can't count on your needs being met, and you react to that in different ways. If you have an anxious attachment style, you're always kind of like wanting it to be met and not really being able to trust, like, will it be met or not? You're always anxious about it. If you have an anxious avoidant attachment style, you have that anxiety and then you kind of avoid social interactions in adulthood, you might not pursue romantic partnership, you might have a hard time making long term friendships, things like that. If you have a totally avoided attachment style, you don't interact with anyone, and you're just like, I can't trust anyone. And then this reactive attachment style is having a really hard time soothing yourself. So I remember seeing this in some kids when I did inpatient child psychiatry rotations who maybe grew up in I specifically remember one case where the child grew up in an orphanage in Russia or somewhere like that and was adopted by a family who'd also adopted like eight other kids but adopted them at like age nine or something. And the kid was having a really hard time adjusting, and it was just like a lot of emotional dysregulation, really hard time feeling soothed, really hard time trusting that anyone is safe to soothe them. It's really sad to see. And so we think that kids with reactive attachment disorder have a really disturbed internal working model of relationships. It's like the most severe version of an attachment disorder. And so that leads to a lot of interpersonal and behavioral problems later in life. Most of them have early childhood neglect, abuse or both especially in that ages zero to five range. Or early loss, like early tragic loss, which then leads to neglect or things like that where their needs aren't met. And I think it's been connected to I don't know the date off the top of my head, but things in adulthood like substance use disorder, mental health disorders, trouble maintaining jobs like stuff like that. But what's been your experience with it? Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Similar, just kind of working. I think it's been some of the saddest cases I've worked with and just some of the ones that I feel like really sit with you and I won't forget. And I think that just speaks to how many painful and terrible things that we see and work with families for. It's like this, just for me, has really taken the cake, I think, because treatment feels really difficult and challenging because so much of it has to do with the caregiver. And the caregiver really should be in their own therapy because it's so difficult, really. You have to almost be like it's almost like an impossible expectation which no one's asking the parent to give or the caregiver to give. But you have to really be kind of coaching constantly. Everything's kind of a goal, everything's even a hug. Like a lot of kids with reactive attachment disorder don't like to be touched. So it's like how can you show important love? Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Regulate them. Yeah, exactly. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: It's just hard. So there's like attachment therapy, play therapy, of course for little ones. There's some residential that they do rad. Sometimes they send them home with a puppy I've seen to develop a bond with something. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Yeah, because I was just thinking, as you were saying, that so much of therapy, at least in adults, focuses on the therapeutic alliance which means the connection between the patient and their therapist. And time and time again studies have shown that is the strongest predictor of positive outcomes in therapy is having that connection with your therapist. And for so many patients. If not, I would argue all of them who have attachment struggles, whether they meet criteria for a full fledged attachment disorder or they just have some. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Interpersonal. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Stuff with their parents that they're trying to work through, that gets replicated in the therapeutic relationship. And that can be, like, a great way to work on healing those wounds and learning how to trust other people, at least in the psychodynamic work that I do. And that's going to be so hard with someone with a reactive attachment style because they're going to really struggle to form that alliance with their care with a therapist. And I think that's like the whole goal probably for a really long time in the therapy is just to connect and be a safe place. Right. And similarly if you're adopting a child with this kind of attachment style, I think, but I'm sure we could do a better job that adoption agencies and stuff like help parents learn how to relate to these kiddos and over time but I don't actually know how much support parents get who are adopting. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah, I think that's hard. I guess, even thinking of some of the cases where the belief is that some were from the kind of the international adoptions from places in Eastern Europe where we kind of know historically there seems to be a lot of neglect and then other just like horrific cases of child abuse and neglect here right. Early on adoption. So when we think of the Grinch, the point of kind of bringing up reactive attachment disorders, there's so many things. So people there's like antisocial personality disorder people have kind of talked about with him, depression, trauma, of course. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: But it's like I think this was. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Just like a little bit of a unique one. But he does demonstrate some of the criteria. So not liking physical touch, he wants to kind of be on his own, being unhappy or sad, it says, without a clear cause. I think we could take the trauma approach that there's always a clear cause with abuse in the case, it's always coming from somewhere but not really expressing emotions. So having a conscience, like struggling with remorse or guilt and then the detachment, withdrawal, kind of all of that. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Yeah. And in terms of the DSM Five how, they also include some other symptoms that you might see in children with a reactive attachment disorder, which includes things like poor hygiene, not meeting motor milestones, having trouble with eye contact or social interactions, having blank expressions, appearing like unfocused, not responding socially appropriately to an interpersonal interactions, and stuff like that. And kind of all of that makes sense. Right. Because you learn how to groom yourself from your caregiver, right? Like your caregiver brushes your teeth, brushes your hair, gets you dressed before you know how to do that. So if no one's doing that for you, you don't know to do it for yourself. Right. And so I think you could also see how I just think, like, a trauma informed approach is so important because you could see how someone with this attachment style could be misdiagnosed as like ADHD, odd conduct disorder. And sure, I think there might be a proportion of people with this early childhood trauma and attachment style who go on to develop those things, but it might not actually be that. Right? Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: That's important to emphasize. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: The big years that I feel like that kind of comes out is more which is where the research with reactive attachment disorder is lacking and why it can be a little controversial because there's no long term studies, really about what it turns into. They know a lot from zero to five. But then after it's like, are the kiddos kind of getting a secure attachment, working on it, developing the ability to have close, safe relationships? Or is it kind of taking that other route where it's still not having any relationships and then the behaviors kind of naturally come out of that. It's not like the behaviors first, it's like you're kind of on your own in this big social world. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Exactly right. It's like the former way you described it is like what we see in this movie with the grins who he can develop this secure feeling with. Cindy Lou. Interestingly. A little child. Right? And we always think like children are very pure and kind and so innocent. Right. And as adults, we often say like, gosh, when do we all become know when you're looking at little kids and interestingly, as you were saying that, Portia, I was just thinking like, well, in order to do a long term study, your participants have to keep participating, which in of itself is an attachment. So these people are not going to do that, right, if their attachment isn't healing righteous. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah. And I thought his heart growing was to me just like so symbolic of him being and again, it's a movie and it's fast, but his healing and his ability to then connect and he kind of learns that through Cindy Luhu. And then it's safe to kind of try other attachments with his his caregivers. He kind know, reunites with and they put the sweater on him that's like itchy looking. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Yeah, but he can tolerate even that. Know, it is like such a beautiful like for therapy in some, right? Like, I guess if Cindy Lou and the Grinch are engaging in play therapy, I guess if you're following my drift, that if you can develop that connection and it can feel safe and if someone in your life can see past all the acting out behaviors, stealing the present, stealing the you know, stealing all the lights. All this stuff the Grinch is doing in anger, which is sort of his way of projecting out all the pain he's holding inside from all his early life experience. If there's someone in your life again, hopefully an adult, not a child, hopefully someone will train someone in your life who can hold on to and keep mirroring back to you that you do have goodness inside. You are worthy of love. I see you for who you are despite all your acting out. I'm not going to leave you, baby. Is that powerful? And don't you wish everyone could have a person like that in your life? I'm just thinking of all the teenage boys I've seen in my work throughout the years who are just really acting out. And you're just like, god, you just need someone to love you. And it's tough. And these behaviors make it hard to do that consistently. Right. But you really need it because they. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Are so naturally kind of pushing others away. But it's like the core purpose of that is to protect. So it's like while others are kind of getting hurt or like, oh, yeah, he's a jerk. I can't believe he did that. It's like obviously some peers, I'm not asking them to have the capacity to do that, but like the caregivers or the adults around or the teachers or the supports, the therapist, it's like, well, why is this happening and how does it benefit him? But he also does have a dog. So now, thinking about animals, was that a tiny little way that even while he was by himself, he was able to develop an attachment with an animal, and that made it easier for them with Cindy Lou, who's also like a little bit, in a way, children are like animals. If you could go with me giving you that positive, unconditional, like, just the consistency. I feel like children in a way, are predictable in that way with just sometimes emotions. And so maybe that was the little crack that opened, allowed Cindy to kind of open the door. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: And I think that does speak to why could his heart grow? Why could he start to develop this? I think because there's some ability there for that. Right? He must have had some, however small thread of attachment that he knew it was possible there was something in there, whether it was those two sisters that he learned to trust, whether there was something there that led him to getting the dog. Right. And I mean, I've seen so many adult patients with a lot of attachment issues or trauma who really rely on their pets, right? And then there's all of the emotional support animals, which can be exploited, but when it's appropriate, it makes so much sense, right. Even if it's hard to attach to humans, because humans can be cruel sometimes animals, you can develop that attachment. So I think it does speak to the Grinch's ability to develop an attachment. However, it takes time, and it has to be in the right situation. But I think if he had been living alone like a hermit, with no dog, with no desire, then a there wouldn't be a story, there wouldn't be a movie. Right. He just wouldn't go to the Hubilation. He would just kind of be a hermit. Right. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: I had a question for you, similarly, and I'm curious to hear your perspective about medication. So when I worked with some kiddos who had the diagnosis of reactive attachment disorder, it felt like a similar medication mix for borderline, right? Like an antianxiety, like a risperadol sometimes with respiradone, with aggression. So what else do you see? Yeah. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: So, again, I'm not a trained child and adolescent psychiatrist, but I would agree with you. In my brief training in child and adolescent psychiatry, during my adult residency training, it was hard because for a while I thought about pursuing child and adolescent, but then I didn't. And one big reason was because I felt like a lot of times as a psychiatrist, it was expected that you would medicate symptoms that at least like on the inpatient settings. I kept thinking, like, they're acting this way because of their home life or because of their parents or they're behaving and totally medicine isn't going to fix that. I would always say to my supervisors, I wish I could just prescribe them new parents. I just want to give them a loving parent. And Dr. Q, one of my favorite teachers of all time, when she would be interviewing kiddos and stuff, who were coming on the unit, she would get a good sense of what's their relationship like with their parents and then also ask them questions like, what do you go to when you're sad? Or who can you talk to when you have a question? Trying to gauge, like, is there someone else in your life? A coach, a teacher? Is there someone? And if there was someone kind of like the Grinch, there must been someone that you hope you can foster that relationship. But I would agree with you. I feel like in terms of the medication side, I think you often end up medicating certain symptoms in hopes it'll help keep the kid in, quote, unquote, behavioral control. And that always just rubs me the wrong way, because it feels like we're not treating the deeper thing or, like, the root cause, but then it's also like, well, how do you get to the root cause if the behaviors are interfering? It's really complicated, right? Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: But yeah, I would agree with you. I think we see. And sometimes that's appropriate. Sometimes when you have patients with something like borderline personality disorder, it is helpful for them to be on a couple of different medications to help treat the different symptoms so that they're in a place of emotional stability, where they can make use of DBT or play therapy if it's a kid. It's just, I think, really hard with kids when the medications we're using can have so many side effects. So it's a really nuanced decision. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah. And I think it just makes it hard. And I think we both have said ten times today, but attachment is so tricky, and I think the most vulnerable people are kiddos, and it just can be heartbreaking. When basic needs aren't met, there's abuse, and then, of course, that they're still not in a good place, and I don't know. But another totally agree, kind of just quick note about the Grinch is I thought it was funny someone it made me think of, like, what is it? Sad? Seasonal effective seasonal affective disorder. And it's like, it's always winter there. It's always holiday stress, right? So it's like, it's this perpetual can you imagine? Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Like, on the one hand, it's like, wow, it might be nice to live in Christmas time all the time, but then on the other, it's like such that's so much pressure, like, such high expectations. And we see that with the competition. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Between the neighbors, with how many lights. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: You get on your house. And then there's even the mayor's wife, who has, like, a Barbie body, right, who's using that light gun to get off. That's why loved this version of the movie, because it. Just speaks to that stress in such a comical way. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: And it's also for adults with right seeing, like, doing the gun, it's shooting in that little bit, like, sensual way. It was funny. Yeah, it's funny. And it's definitely a part of the must watch list for me, at least for the holidays. Yeah, I love it. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: And I love this version. I just love Jim Carrey. Like, who doesn't? Yeah, but he's such a good Grinch. It's so good. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah. Ten out of ten recommend. So thank you for listening today. I think we're going to wrap up. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: We'd love to hear your thoughts about this classic movie. What do you think about the Grinch's attachment style? Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah, so definitely let us know. You can reach us on many social media accounts like TikTok or Instagram at Analyze Scripts podcast. You can also leave a comment if you're watching this on YouTube. Or you can always email us at Analyze scriptspodcast at gmail. We'd like to hear your take. This was a little bit of new info. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Yeah, let's talk about the giveaway. I believe this episode is going to come out before the giveaway. Let me double check. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Monday. I think it won't that Monday. Well, sorry. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: I mean, it could well, can we cut this out? Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: You should check our instagram. And if there is the still giveaway going on, we're giving away $200 of an Amazon gift card as a way to say thank you to our listeners. If it's not, we'll probably maybe do it again at some point. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Maybe next do it again another time. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Make sure you're following us. You could see the opportunity to give us some feedback, and we'll definitely be taking some of the suggestions that have. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Been on that post. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: And again, please leave us some. We'd love to hear your feedback, but thanks for joining us. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: We're having a great time and we love all the interaction and catch us next week's. For our last episode of 2023, we will be covering Christmas Vacation, which is just such a classic. It's one of Portia's favorites. It will be released on Christmas Day. So if you need a little mental health break from all the festivities and you want to give it a listen, that's great. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: Yeah, no, good note. All right, take care, guys. Portia Pendleton, LCSW: Bye. Dr. Katrina Furey, MD: This podcast and its contents are a copyright of analyzed scripts. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited. Unless you want to share it with your friends and rate review and subscribe, that's fine. All stories and characters discussed are fictional in nature. No identification with actual persons, living or deceased places, buildings, or products is intended or should be inferred. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. The podcast and its contents do not constitute professional mental health or medical advice. Listeners might consider consulting a mental health provider if they need assistance with any mental health problems or concerns. As always, please call 911 or go directly to your nearest emergency room for any psychiatric emergencies. Thanks for listening, and see you next time.

Enjoy an hour of Easy Listening Christian Christmas Music. Each Saturday I will provide another hour of the Sweetest Sound in Town. We are a listener supported pod cast. If you have been blessed by our music I hope you will help with a tax deductible gift. You can donate on line with the Pay Pal tab on the bottom of this page. I will also be happy to send you an envelope for you to return a gift in or accept your Visa or MasterCard when you call our toll free number 1 888 382 0881. You can also send us your gift by mailing it to Shofar Broadcasting P.O. Box 1909 Charleston, W.V. 25327

Enjoy an hour of Easy Listening Christian Christmas Music. Each Saturday I will provide another hour of the Sweetest Sound in Town. We are a listener supported pod cast. If you have been blessed by our music I hope you will help with a tax deductible gift. You can donate on line with the Pay Pal tab on the bottom of this page. I will also be happy to send you an envelope for you to return a gift in or accept your Visa or MasterCard when you call our toll free number 1 888 382 0881. You can also send us your gift by mailing it to Shofar Broadcasting P.O. Box 1909 Charleston, W.V. 25327

Join us as we discuss how Christian families navigate the Santa Claus tradition. How we can balance the fun of Santa with the deeper meanings of the season in our homes? We're here to share stories and tips about the challenges and joys of parenting during the holidays. How do you explain Santa to your kids? Drop a comment and let us know: In your home and as a parent, how do you handle the Santa Claus tradition in a way that aligns with your Christian faith? We can't wait to hear your stories and learn from each other's experiences! - Subscribe and get more uplifting Hollywood content!

This is the time of year when we hear a message of peace and good will, and it's even common to hear Christian Christmas tunes in secular settings. However, we still look at the world and see so much turmoil! … Continue reading →

Enjoy an hour of Easy Listening Christian Christmas Music. Each Saturday I will provide another hour of the Sweetest Sound in Town. We are a listener supported pod cast. If you have been blessed by our music I hope you will help with a tax deductible gift. You can donate on line with the Pay Pal tab on the bottom of this page. I will also be happy to send you an envelope for you to return a gift in or accept your Visa or MasterCard when you call our toll free number 1 888 382 0881. You can also send us your gift by mailing it to Shofar Broadcasting P.O. Box 1909 Charleston, W.V. 25327

December 3, 2023Pastor Matt KendrickHaving a Christian ChristmasJohn 3:16-17Jesus is the reason for the season. Consider enjoying being a Christian this Christmas. Enjoying extra time off that God gives you. Enjoying the life and peace He's offering you. Christmas is about giving...It's about God the Father giving His Son to us and for us.To have a Christian Christmas:Enjoy the Gift of Christmas… Jesus!Enjoy instead of impress.Be still and remember God.Share burdens instead of bearing them all by yourself.Thank you for listening!For more info on Redemption City Church check out our website. If you'd like to connect with us further, please fill out a Connection Card and one of our staff will get in touch with you.Follow us on on social media: Instagram, Facebook and YouTube

In this Long-Form episode of the Bearded Bible Thinker podcast, Tanner, Marshall, and I discuss Christmas. Is it a pagan holiday? Should we celebrate it? If it has pagan roots, does that matter? What about consumerism in America? Isn't Christmas just feeding into the greed of it all? "Should I tell my kids there's NOT a Santa?" the parent said in a panic.We'll discuss it all here.

Though the word “Xmas” has receded in our annual lexicon to a large degree there still remains a vacuum in the hearts of man related to the spiritual aspects of this special holiday season. Replaced by Santa and presents, it's important to reflect on the true “reason for the season”. Below are 15 Christmas symbols. Of course, some have their roots in pagan or non-religious traditions. However, they still act as reminders of God and Jesus when viewed through the lens of a Biblical Christian worldview. Much of the credit for the actual list came from an article recently published in Parade.com. These are some of the elements that are reminders of the true meaning of the Christmas season. 

Enjoy an hour of Easy Listening Christian Christmas Music. Each Saturday I will provide another hour of the Sweetest Sound in Town. We are a listener supported pod cast. If you have been blessed by our music I hope you will help with a tax deductible gift. You can donate on line with the Pay Pal tab on the bottom of this page. I will also be happy to send you an envelope for you to return a gift in or accept your Visa or MasterCard when you call our toll free number 1 888 382 0881. You can also send us your gift by mailing it to Shofar Broadcasting P.O. Box 1909 Charleston, W.V. 25327

Enjoy an hour of Easy Listening Christian Music. Each Saturday I will provide another hour of the Sweetest Sound in Town. We are a listener supported pod cast. If you have been blessed by our music I hope you will help with a tax deductible gift. You can donate on line with the Pay Pal tab on the bottom of this page. I will also be happy to send you an envelope for you to return a gift in or accept your Visa or MasterCard when you call our toll free number 1 888 382 0881. You can also send us your gift by mailing it to Shofar Broadcasting P.O. Box 1909 Charleston, W.V. 25327

Clayton Greene is passionate about helping people develop good habits and holiday celebrations that foster a relationship with Jesus. With the use of products like Advent Blocks, GratiKube, and the Sabbath Box, he is offering practical tools that help churches and individuals in their discipleship. To access the podcast or show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com. Every pastor knows small groups are important, yet a lot aren't too happy with where their small groups are right now. You can grow your small groups right now. That's right. We have helped more than 800 churches grow their small groups, and it's not as hard as you think. Our super-simple, easily-doable 5-step guide to grow your small group strategy is found by clicking on this link. Resources mentioned in the episode: Advent BlocksSabbath BoxThe GoodKind Podcast www.GoodKind.shopEpisode 47 Jay Kim Red Letter Disciple PodcastKey insights from the episode: There's a cultural Christmas, and then there's a Christian Christmas. - Clayton GreeneThrough Advent blocks, children will learn the whole story of the Bible. - Clayton GreeneStopping to mark holidays is really important. - Clayton GreeneIt's necessary to incorporate into the family something analog, something that has a physical dimension to it. - Clayton GreeneA Sabbath box cues spiritual practice. - Clayton GreeneThe location where you put your Bible will affect how much you read it. - Clayton GreenePrepare for Christmas ahead of time so you are intentionally celebrating. - Clayton GreeneClayton Greene's challenge: Prepare for Christmas now. Are you following Jesus? Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going.In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will get results back immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.You can take the FREE Red Letter Challenge Assessment here. This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or the Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#199-22 Alan Warren Christmas Show Day 4 Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

#197-22 Alan Warren Christmas Show Day 2Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Facts that may surprise you or leave you the same.

In this episode we discuss the history of our Christmas celebrations, why we love Christmas and some of the challenges that come with Christmas. We answer questions about how you can tell if someone is genuinely a Christian and if it is ok to celebrate other religion's holidays with friends of those faiths. We top it off with a Christmas edition of 'Name that Tune.'

Ho! Ho! Ho! In our secular and pluralistic society, the debate rages each year about de-Christianising Christmas to make it more "inclusive". What's at stake when Christians stop fighting for Christian Christmas? Can you strip away the Christian virtues behind Christmas without losing the light, love, joy, peace, and goodwill at its heart? Are there even ways to "re-Christianise" some of the cultural elements around Christmas traditions which many still enjoy? And what are the unique evangelistic opportunities Christmas still offers, even to those who've long forgotten its Christian origins? Andy and Aaron discuss all these questions and more in our festive special episode! RESOURCES: * Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry: Why Christmas is the Foundation for Everything (Canon Press, 2012) * G. K. Chesterton, The Spirit of Christmas (Xanadu, 1984) * C.S. 'Xmas and Christmas: A Lost chapter from Herodotus' (1954)

Welcome to the end . . .  of T&J 2022! Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays. We hope everyone is having a great holiday season. Today we wrap up the year with a festive conversation about all things Christmas. Josh shares how he got kicked out of a radio station, which leads us into a conversation regarding Christmas carols, Christian Christmas, and the influence of pagan holidays over time. We hope you enjoy and choose to do some research to determine your own convictions. Enjoy! 

To wrap up 2022 I'm sitting down with my mom to talk about what it might have been like to be Jesus' mother and a mother to a whole slew of siblings to Jesus who would have been nothing like him.

Remember, we welcome comments, questions and suggested topics at thewonderpodcastQs@gmail.com   S3E42 TRANSCRIPT: ----more---- Yucca: Welcome back to the Wonder Science-Based Paganism. I'm one of your hosts, Yucca, Mark: And I'm the other one, Mark. Yucca: and today we're talking about surviving the holidays as a pagan. Mark: right? Yucca: Yes. So welcome to December . Here we are. There's, there's a lot to go into with this, and later on in the month we're gonna come back and talk about the different traditions and projects and things that you can do. But today we're gonna start with the, the kind. The, the more secular approach to the holidays and all of the family expectations and all of that cultural stuff that's going on. They kind of, everybody shares regardless of whether they're Pagan or Christian or whatever they are. Mark: Yeah, exactly. One of the things that is very weird about the mainstream culture is that it, it seems to load nearly all of its holiday festivity into a five week period or six week period at the end of the year, when historically there would've been. Celebrations around the course of the year, you know, harvest holidays and, and so forth. And there would've been. You know, several days taken out to celebrate those things. And so it seems as though with all of this ology compressed to this very short period of time, it can just be very overwhelming for people and it can give them a sense of never quite doing it well enough, Yucca: yeah. Mark: right? That that feeling of the obligation to make it perfect and that it never is quite Yucca: right? It's supposed to be special. It's supposed to be this magical, but, but, but, but, but, but yeah. Mark: right. Yucca: And whenever I hear people talk about it, There's almost always this underlying, there's this exhaustion behind it, right? There's this, there's an excitement about it and there's so many wonderful things, but people just seem so exhausted just because of what you were talking about. Trying to get all of that in, take a whole year's jolliness, and stick it into those few months or few weeks, excuse me, not months. Mark: Yes. And I think, you know, some of that is this sort of set of unfair expectations that we put on people to, you know, to create this. Event Yucca: Mm-hmm. Mark: set of events. But I also think that there's other stressors that go into that, into that mix. You know, it's like you're gonna have to deal with your family more if you, if you do that, you know, for most people it's like, okay, I'm gonna have to deal with my family more. Well, there are usually, for most people, there are stressors around that. Yucca: Right. Even if you, even if you dearly, dearly love your family, there's all of those dynamics I find getting back together with my siblings. You know, we're adults. We've been adults for decades, but instantly it's like we're children again with this. Same, you know, picking on each other and all of the ridiculousness, you know, and, and we have a, a pretty decent relationship. But that's even with a decent relationship that, you know, there's still all of that, all of those emotions. Mark: Sure, sure. And I think that, you know, with parents particularly, you know, parents will treat you like a child for your whole life. Un unless they're really pretty together, parents Yucca: Well, Mark: figure out that you've, you've finally grown up. Yucca: but it's hard that all kind of blurs together. Right. You know, it was yesterday. They were changing your diapers. Mark: Right, right. And you know, this brings, you know, it brings you into engagement with philosophies of parenting, right? Because maybe the grandparents just want to indulge, indulge, indulge, indulge. And you as a parent have to put some breaks on that and say, no, I'm sorry. You know, candy for breakfast doesn't work. Yucca: Or enforcing that the kids get to have boundaries. The kid gets to say no, you know, or things like that, you know, Mark: Yes, you do not. Yucca: particular thing is that Mark: do not have to hug Weird Uncle Ralph Yucca: Yeah. So, and then, you know, on top of that, in, at least here in the Northern hemisphere, the weather has changed. We're in a colder time of year. People are indoors. There tends to be more illness, and we're not even taking into account, you know, covid or anything like that, but just people are, there's, people aren't always feeling good this time of year, and we're encouraged to be eating all of these sweets and foods that we normally wouldn't eat. And so, We're putting ourselves in these, yeah, more alcohol. We're just in a more vulnerable place emotionally and physically and asking so much of ourselves at the same time and so much of others, Mark: Right. Right. And that Then, oh, Yucca: buy everything. We're being asked to buy everything and be told about how it won't be magical without it, and you need this and you need that, and you're getting tricked by, by companies that spend millions and millions of dollars to get your attention. Mark: Yeah. And that of, I mean, the, the financial stresses, you know, that's a whole other level of stressor that, you know, that happens with Yucca: Mm-hmm. Mark: And Yucca: And this year particular, right? That's something that happens every year, but there's a lot of challenges right now with all of that, just, you know, on a global level. Mark: Right, right. Yeah. So there's all that. And then if you were of an a. Religion. Then there's the layer of, okay, well how do I then live in a a way that I find fulfilling and meaningful? And not run a ground on somebody else's judgments. Right. Whether it's that you're weird or that you're evil , it's, you know, because either of those are pretty, yeah. Either of those are pretty unpleasant to wear, honestly. And so that's this sort of brew that the holidays is, right? It's all those kinds of things. The long list of. Tasks that have to be done and the decorating and the the buying and the just everything. Plus. You know, wanting to be as a non theist pig and wanting to say, you know, actually it's the winter solstice for me. That's, that's what I consider most meaningful. And here's what I'm gonna do to carve out some time to observe that on top of Christmas or Hanukkah or, you know, whatever, whatever more mainstream holidays you may be going to celebrate. Yucca: And I wanna pause this here for a second and say, it might sound like we're sounding a lot like wrenches right now. We are both Mark and I adore the holidays, and this time of year we're just starting with the, okay, how are we gonna address the, the self care and the balancing? And again, next week we're gonna get into here's some fantastic traditions and things you can do. But, but that we do really need to look at it from lots of different angles, right? And underst. , there is stress and we do need to take care of ourselves during this time period, as well as the, the more joyous side of it all. Mark: That's right because the hope, of course, is that we come out of the holidays feeling fed, right, feeling energized by all of the, the festivity that we've had. Even if it's tiring we can catch up on sleep, but you know, to feel as though we've had these meaningful kind of golden moments in the course of, of going through the holidays. That's, that's really the goal. And in order for that to happen, you gotta take care of yourself in the meantime. Otherwise, the current of the holidays will just sweep you along and That's a very out of control feeling, and it's not good for you. Yucca: Yeah, so why don't we start with the kind of commercialism side, right? How, what are some strategies that people can have to be more aware of that and more intentional with it? Mark: Okay, well the first strategy that I think is really important is to broaden the definition of gift. Because capitalism obviously wants to sell you a product. They wanna sell you a thing in a box. and that thing is made of resources that were carved out of the earth and may very likely end up in a landfill in not too short order. Yucca: Right. Mark: So it may not be the most, it may not be the, the, the best choice to choose a thing in a box. Now let me, let me put a caveat in. When it comes to children, you know, to to smaller children, my philosophy is let them have the equivalent of the, the secular winter solstice, holiday, the Christmas, because they will feel terribly deprived and terribly sad. If they don't have that experience, that doesn't mean they have to be mountain with gifts, but, I, I believe that in the case of children, you give them Yucca: of it. Yeah. Mark: And you give them things in a box. Yucca: Yeah, we do both. We'll talk more about this, but my family, we do, we do both Solstice and Christmas as separate holidays. Mark: right? Right. So, broadening the definition of what constitutes a gift means experiences. Experiences can be gifts. And that can be. Tickets to a concert. It can be a date night. It can be you know, we're gonna go dancing in this particular place. It can be you know, let's just go get coffee and talk for two hours. When do we ever get a chance to do that? It can be, let's go for a hike. There are lot, and, and many of those things don't have to cost much or any money depending on your relationship with the person. It can be. How about a massage or there are just, there are a lot of different things that you can do that will be in many ways, more memorable for people and don't involve the purchase of a thing in a box. Yucca: right? Mark: So broadening the definition of what constitutes a gift, I think is really important. In some cases, broadening in some cases, a gift can be something like, here's three hours of free childcare, right? I'm gonna, I'm, I'll watch the kids. You, you go and do whatever you want to do. Believe me, that's a very, very welcome gift for a lot of people. Yucca: is. I will wash the kids and wash your dishes if you want. Extra. You know, a bow on top there. Yeah. Mark: Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, these are things that are tremendously kind when someone, you know, opens an envelope or you can put the, a little gift certificate for whatever it is in a box, right, and wrap it, and all that kind of stuff. People will gen generally be very warmed by the fact that you want to put personal attention and time into your relationship with them. Excuse me Yucca: things that you create. I mean, one of my favorite gifts I ever got was a, Mark: Mm-hmm. Yucca: I mean, brother-in-law wrote us a poem and it was just so thoughtful, and you can tell that he really worked on it. And it, you know, I, I have it up. I don't put a lot of things on the wall. I've got it up on the wall because it just has stayed with me for all of these years, just how amazing it was, Mark: How lovely. Yeah, and people are creative in all kinds of ways. I mean, the handmade gift. Not to be confused with the Handmaid's Tale, the hand hyphen made gift is a wonderful thing. You know, whether, whether it's a piece of writing or a piece of music or a compilation CD of music that you think the person would like or a Or, or something from, from a local artist, Yucca: Mm-hmm. Mark: because I mean, to me there is a categorical difference between an artwork that was created by a local artist that is trying to sustain themselves through their art and something that was manufactured in a factory in China. Yucca: Right. Mark: They're, they're just, they're not the same. You know, supporting your local producers of beautiful objects, right? That's a wonderful thing. If, if, if the kind of person that you want to make a gift for is the sort of person that appreciates that kind of thing, then by all means, you know, do that. And I should say, now, I, I mentioned kind of the, the first part of my formula earlier, which is about making sure that children have. Gift receiving experience. What we do is we don't do gifts as adults. Yucca: Mm-hmm. Mark: We really don't. I mean, when, when we need something, we, we get it. Yucca: Mm. Mark: and so what we have done in the past is we put up a, we put up a yule tree, a mid-winter tree and decorated and all that great stuff, and we put treasures underneath. Yucca: Mm-hmm. Mark: Things that we have that we just love, that are really cool. Like I have an antique uranium glass slipper that that phosphorouses under ultraviolet light because it's uranium glass, right? They used to make that and it's just this very beautiful little thing. So it's one of the things that goes under the tree and it gives us a sense of kind of wealth. You know, look, look at the cool things that are in our life. You know, objects from nature to appreciate, you know, antlers and bones and skulls and abalone shells and, you know, all these wonderful things. So we, we don't do the gift thing for adults. And we might make an exception once in a while if there's something that seems like particularly needed or wanted on the part of some adult that we love. But the amount of stress that is taken off of you by not having to buy a thing for this long list of recipients. Is profound. It will make a huge difference in your experience of the holidays. Yucca: Yeah, it really does. And I, I wanted to add on a little bit with what you were saying. You talked about the different types of gifts and then also for the children. You know, giving them the, the traditional kind of box gifts, but that's something that you can do both of, and as time goes on, the ratio of which kind of gift they're getting as they're becoming teenagers, as they're growing into adulthood, it shifts what, what you're doing with them, Mark: Right. Yucca: And so then it's just a natural thing and it's not, it's never. Being deprived. It's about just what this is really about, is about the, the love for each other and the gratitude and the giving and the, you know, to use the to be stereotypical, the spirit of giving, right. It really is. Right. And, and being about that and not the, the object right now there is also, there are a lot of, of practical things that this time of year. You know, coming out of harvest, being about to go into the, to these very cold times of year when there's not a lot coming out of the garden, there's not a lot being produced, of being ready for the cold to come. So there's, there's some practical part about, you know, the giving the socks, the, that sort of thing that just. To being prepared materially for what's to come there. There's an element of that as well, which I think is important just to keep in mind that that's one way that we do show love is to make sure, hey, you've got, you've got your warm socks for the year, right? Mark: Yeah. You're, you're, you're gonna be comfortable. Yucca: yeah. Mark: Yeah, that's, that's a, that's a great thought. In Iceland, it's traditional to give books for Christmas, and Christmas Day is a day of sitting around in warm socks, drinking hot chocolate and reading books. Yucca: Oh, wonderful. Mark: The, Yucca: Cuddling with kiddies too. I, if they've got cats, right? Cat cuddling. Mark: Yeah. You know, those kinds of traditions they make for some very warm memories. They really do make for some super nice times. And having downtime like that in the holidays is another thing that's really important. When we talk about when we talk about self-care that's certainly one thing to be considering is when am I doing nothing? Yucca: right? Mark: know, it's, it's, it's hard to imagine that it's possible, but you gotta do nothing sometimes. Yucca: Or at least. Have nobody else's mind in yours. Cause we've really lost solitude, especially in the last decade or so as, as the social media and smartphones and all of that stuff has just kind of invaded into our personal lives. So there's so little time that we're ever simply alone with ourselves, and I think that that's essential, right? I think we're social animals. We need to be around other people as well, but, , but especially in the dark of the year, Mark: Yes. Yucca: to be alone a little bit is, is just vitally important, Mark: I, I completely agree. And ironically, the inverse is true as well because you, it's a time for gathering with loved ones and for, you know, celebrating the fact that we have people that love us in our lives and, and all that good kind of stuff. But you can go overboard with that. People, people, especially introverted people, or neurodiverse people who get overwhelmed by too much social stimulus really need their, their alone time. And so it's important to, to plan for that and make sure it happens. Yucca: Yeah. And thinking about both, it's kind of like in the dark of the year. We we're celebrating the light as well. I mean, that's a lot of what the Christmas tree with the lights on it is about, is bringing that light into the dark. But we're recognizing and seeing both. It's a celebration of both. So I think that that's one way to look at it with the, with the family, but with self as well. Right. Solitude and company. Mark: So wanted to talk a little bit about a couple of other gifty sorts of ideas. There's always food, know, baked goods. I mean, an incredible gift would be, you know, cook dinner for people and bring it to their house, you know, the week before. Before the big event, you know, something, you know, just when things are going super crazy, you know, give people a meal that they don't have to think about. You know, just, just being aware of what people's needs are and, you know, thinking about your own, you know, your own. You know, where are the places where you get really exhausted and you think, oh God, I wish I didn't have to do X. Well, if somebody else did X for you, wouldn't that be amazing? Yucca: Mm-hmm. right. Mark: Yeah. So, I really encourage that, that the incorporation of that, that personal touch into gifting Either through experiences or through handmade things or through which includes baking and cooking and all that good kind of stuff. And then also because there is there's a guilt factor in in. Commercial acquisition as well. Just really being mindful, you know, of where things come from, who you're buying from. There are, you know, there are tons of Etsy stores, there are tons of indigenous sort of. Internet based stores that you can order things from, you know, figure out who you really want to be giving your money to. Is it some international conglomerate with shareholders, or is it, you know, just somebody who's trying to, trying to get by?  Yucca: Hm. Wonderful. Well, why don't we, why don't we talk about the second part of this which is the family gatherings or the social gatherings. Maybe not necessarily family, but maybe the office gatherings or whatever it is because it's a big one, right? There's a big one in terms of whether you are of the same religion or not, but also just dealing. The various personalities when people are in this kind of heightened place to begin with. Mark: And I, I think a great place to start with that is the recognition that in those circumstances, everybody is under a certain amount of stress, Yucca: Mm-hmm. Mark: except possibly the most garous extrovert, the. Pretty much everybody else is feeling some level of what are people gonna think of me? You know, how this is the office party. How is my boss thinking of me? You know, there's, there's weird Uncle Ralph his weird opinions. How am I going to avoid getting reigned into a long conversation with him? All those, all those things, right? So under having a little compassion for the other people in the room is very helpful in, in my experience. It is, it is so challenging for us as people, and this is a weird thing to really get that the other people around us are fully fleshed out human beings with internal lives and, you know, their, their own. Yucca: story. Mark: Their own journey, their own aspirations and their own internal voices that nag at them and all that kind of stuff. There's a, there's a term for that, that realization called Saunder which when I heard that, I was glad that there was a word for it, because I think it's really important that people have that experience of others. It makes them more compassionate and more humane. Sa, S O N D E R. Yucca: Mm. Okay. Mark: And I'm not sure what language it's in. The, so that, that's a place to start is understanding that everybody may be a little bit on edge, a little bit keyed up because they're. At, at some level, when you're doing social engagement, there's a performance aspect to it, right? know, I, I wanna make sure I'm acting appropriately. I wanna make sure I'm, you know, not displeasing the people around me, all that kind of stuff. Yucca: Right. Reading everything correctly and Yeah. And responding and, and, and just being compassionate for those people. Yeah. And for yourself too, right? Yeah. Mark: Yeah, so, so now you've got these social engagements that you've gotta go to. Well, how do you take care of yourself, especially as someone who practices aio paganism or non theist paganism, or some other variety of naturalistic earth honoring path. You know, as someone who is an outlier. Philosophically and spiritually, how do you kind of stand in the truth of yourself while at the same time not picking fights with others that may have strong opinions about that? And I guess my first answer to that is that if their opinions are strong enough, you don't. Yucca: great. Mark: You, you, there's no point in, in, you know, trying to win an argument with some rabidly, right wing, evangelical Christian who just wants to tell you that you're going to hell. Yucca: Right. So the, so the first step is, is this something that you're going to engage with or not? Right? And in many cases, you may simply choose not to, but in the situation, in the event that you do choose to, right? Then thinking about before you go into that, how are you going to prepare and how are you going to respond for it? You know, you, you might choose something like doing some sort of, you know, shielding ritual before you go in, maybe doing some. Premeditation on role playing of likely scenarios that are gonna come up. Practice, practice some of your deflection techniques or expressions that you're going to use. If it is, if you've decided that it's really valuable and worth it to you to be there for whatever that reason is, right? Cause it's not our. Job here to be telling you what you should or shouldn't do. We're not, you, right? We have no idea what it feels like to be you or the shoes that you're in, but we're just encouraging you to think about how to protect yourself in that situation and still get the, what you're trying to get out of it. But no, at the end of the day, you're, you can't control anybody else, right? You cannot control the outcome. You can work on trying to get the outcome you want, but know that you're not, you can't control. Mark: Right? Yucca: Right? And if you're gonna go into this situation, you've gotta be prepared for that possibility. Mark: Yes. So part of thinking about that, how you're gonna protect yourself is how disclosive do I want to be with this particular group of people. It's your office party, for example. If the subject comes up, you may wanna say, well, my family celebrates the winter solstice. You don't need to go any further than that. You have a right to have your religious beliefs in the workplace, just like everybody else does. But, so you may want to sort of express this is, you know, this, this is what me and my family do. And then there may be questions, well, how does that work? And what's that about? And you can explain as much as you're comfortable with in Yucca: Or not, you don't. Mark: or not. Yes, exactly. Yucca: And here's the thing, depending on how you feel about it, you don't, you don't owe them that. You also don't owe them the truth. Right. Mark: true too. Yucca: That's, that's up to you. If you don't feel like that's something you wanna get into, oh, wonder how was your Christmas? Oh, great. You don't need to say, oh, actually I don't practice, you know, I don't believe in Christmas or Mark: I don't Yucca: like that. Mark: Christmas. Yucca: You know, you don't owe 'em anything, it's fine. It's however you wanna handle that. Mark: Yep. Yep, that's true. And that's, that's an example of where, of where, you know, being literally truthful can actually be a lot more harmful than, you know, applying the, the, the social lubricant of the little white lie. That just lets things keep clicking along smoothly. And of course we have to be very judicious about deciding when those things apply, but it bears saying that A lot of people would be a lot lonelier if they were fully candid about everything in their lives. with everybody around them. Yucca: Mm-hmm. And so, you know, we've been talking about the context of an office party, but that may also be the same, but you have the same things to think about with the family gathering whether you're the one organizing that or the one attending it, or, you know, And again, maybe it's not just one gathering. Maybe you've got three gatherings and you're going to the in-laws and yours and all, and then all of the different sides, you know? So this is something I would encourage kind of sitting down, like literally sitting down and just having a little strategy party with yourself, right? If you do journaling or something like that, it's a wonderful time just to maybe make some, just write down some of the. Possibilities and the strategies that you wanna have and what, what are your values and, and what do you hope to get out of it, and what do you wanna protect yourself from? And, and just be, go into it being aware because once when you're aware, you have a, a better chance of being able to respond in a way that you want to respond when you're not caught off guard. Yeah. Mark: right. Yeah. And the other thing to remember is that. And this is something that may not leap immediately to mind for people that come out of traditions like Christianity that require that you only be a Christian and not anything else, naturalistic, paganism is not like that. You can go through all of the rituals of, of a Christian Christmas gathering and no harm, no foul. You haven't offended anybody or betrayed yourself or hurt yourself or anything. Yucca: Yeah, there's Mark: You can. Yucca: gonna be mad at you about it. Mark: That's right. You, you can, you can have and still do all of your own celebrations and rituals on the solstice or as close to the solstice as works for you. And there's nothing wrong with that. So there's nothing hypocritical about it. So you don't necessarily need to, you know, lead the, the prayer to Jesus. But you can bow your head and just sort of be there. That all that's up to you. And it's, it's perfectly okay to play along in order not to create conflict. Yucca: Yeah. As long as that feels good to you, right? If it, if, if that doesn't feel good to you, then you don't need to be, you don't need to put yourself in this, that situation, right? So, Mark: Yeah. And, and that really is important to say because there are, I mean, I know there are a lot of people for whom it's like, I couldn't not go to my parents' Christmas. Gathering. Right? I couldn't not go to that. Even though they know that they really need to betray themselves deeply to be there. And when confronted with that kind of a paradox you really need to think seriously about whether you're gonna go. Yucca: Mm-hmm. Mark: You know, it might, it might actually be the, the better part of Valor to just say, I, I can't come this year. I, it just, it doesn't feel like it would be right for me. Yucca: Mm. Mark: And you don't have to go into any more detail than that. Yucca: And here's the 10 of cookies that I baked for you, Mark: Yes, Yucca: Or whatever, whatever it is that might smooth it out. Mark: Uhhuh Yucca: Yeah, so we actually last year we did a, a full episode specifically on this. So if this is something that people are, are kind of wanting more of definitely check out our episode from last year on, on this. Mark: was that a year ago? Yucca: It was a year ago. Yep. Mark: Oh man. Yucca: right. We would've talked about this early December maybe, maybe even late November. So it just flies. But why don't we transition now to some of the things that we can do during this. Time period in preparing for the holidays, throughout the holidays in terms of self care. Right. And again, we'll get later into some of the traditions and stuff that you, we can do the specific holiday celebrations. But but is there something that you would suggest to start with Mark? Mark: Well, I start with the body. Yucca: Mm. Mark: I mean there's all the psychological stuff that we, that we go through at this time of the year, and there are all the techniques that we have for working with the psyche, but getting enough sleep, Yucca: Absolutely. Mark: eating, eating some semblance of a decent diet, even if it's a little heavier in sugar than it usually is, it's sugar and fat. Don't worry about that so much, but make sure you're getting protein. Make sure you're getting a vegetable Yucca: whatever it is that, you know, works for your Mark: for you. Yeah, exactly. And get that sleep. Be aware of how much you're drinking. Yucca: mm-hmm. Mark: Because it seems like all of these gatherings in, in many cases, there's, there's alcohol going on. So if you do drink, just really be aware of, of how much you're drinking and if it starts to feel like that's not what you wanna be doing pair it back. You know, tell people, and you can facilitate that for yourself by bringing something to drink for yourself to a gathering. Right? There's wonderful like. Sparkling cranberry ciders and pomegranate ciders and things like that. There are some really delicious things now and I'm gonna put in a plug for my, my local brewery, Lagunitas Brewing Company, which has a great beer called a n a, which is it's, or I P n A. It's like an ipa, but it's na, which is no alcohol. And it's delicious. It actually tastes like a beer, but it doesn't have any alcohol in it. So, it's worth checking that out if you need to. So, you know, enough said about that. If you don't drink, this can be a very challenging time of the year. So, take care of yourself. If you go to meetings, go to meetings do the things that you need to do in order to keep all that in. Yucca: right. And just a little tip with our bodies, if you can get a little bit of sun early in the morning, that just, just even if it's a couple of minutes where you're outside and you. Kind of turn your face towards the sun. It really does make a big difference in terms of resetting your clock and, and kind of helping you out with that, with the sleep patterns and just getting your body to be doing the things that it needs to be doing at the right time, because this time of year it can be really. Really tricky on our bodies and our rhythms as and as we have the lights on all the time and later on, and when is it dark and when is it not? And, and our, we are, first and foremost, we are physical creatures, right? We are animals with, you know, millions and millions of years of adaptation to a certain environment, which we are not living. Mark: Right. Yucca: We, we are animals in captivity, right? We're, we're. And so just trying to be aware of that a little bit is a, is a good start. Mark: Yes. Yucca: So, yeah. Mark: that brings us to the, the psychological things that we can do in order to support ourselves and. To me, the number one thing there, if you're taking care of your, your physical self, the number one thing there is to go back to that first principle of, of naturalistic paganism, which is pay attention, right? If there's snowfall, watch the snowfall for 15 minutes. Listen to the rain on the roof, crack the window open so that you can smell the smell of the rain. Yucca: Mm-hmm. Mark: Go for a walk in the snow. Notice what birds are around, if any. Just, you know, notice what phase the moon is in. Yucca: Mm-hmm. Mark: There's so many. There are so many simple things that we can do to keep ourselves re-grounded in the fact that, okay, I'm on a, I'm on a physical planet that's going through a physical set of processes and all this culture stuff is fantastic, but I'm still just on a physical planet doing physical processes and it's all gonna work out. Yucca: Speaking of the moon December has the mites, which is one of the biggest meteor. There's two really big meteor showers a year. And if you get clear skies pretty much for the rest of the month even if you don't get it on the night that it's peaking, you've got some good chances to see some really beautiful meteors. So if you get a chance just to be out there and, and right now, Mars and Jupiter are both really bright up in the sky. Even if you're in a city, those are, are probably gonna pierce through that light pollution and just be really beautiful. Just to take a moment and just take a look, Mark: Yeah. Yeah. So other psychological things and it, I, I put this in the psychological category, even though it's a physical thing. Take a shower. Yucca: Yeah. Mark: Especially if you go through any kind of a stressful experience, take a shower, there is something about, and there's literally something physical about it. It's not just the sensations all over your body that create more of a grounded sense of being in your physical self. There, there is a way that splashing water creates negative ions that tend to kind of ground out the the, the kind of zazi feeling, the jed feeling that you can get from having From having social interactions or being in a crowded store or any of those kinds of things. So that's really a go-to as far as I'm concerned. Yucca: I don't know about the ions, but I know that it, that for me, the rush, the sound of the rushing water and that just being able to control those, that that sensory input is just, is really amazing. Like, I'll do a shower and then a bath, right first the shower to kind of wash it to like to, to do like, okay, the feeling like I'm washing it all away and then, The bath of just getting to just feel like melting into that water and Mark: Soaking in the heat. Yucca: And I, I like to actually run to be in the tub while it's filling, so it has that, that sound, that rushing waterfall sound and it's filling up. And that's one of the favorite things that we do in. In the holidays because I don't have a tub where I live. We don't actually have hot water either, so we, we just heat our water up on the stove to like do dishes or something like that. But we go into town to my mother-in-law's. She's got the big bath tub with water heater and it's like, oh yeah, we can do some nice relaxing for a long time. Mark: nice. Very nice. Yucca: yeah. That's a wonderful thing about the holidays, but there's other things too. Like a shower is a really wonderful one. But if you don't have access to that, right, there are other types of things that you can do that feel like you are transitioning, that you're switching between these. You know, you're getting away from some of that stress. You're letting go. I mean, there's the shaking, there's the dancing, there's the stepping into a ritual space, and we've talked a lot about this on, on the podcast. And you can do things like going into a, the dark room, right? Turning all the lights off, and then things like that. Mark: right, right. Coming back to yourself psychologically is very important at this kind of time because it is so easy to get to be what we call ungrounded. You know, it's easy to get your thoughts spinning if you're dealing with family. It's easy to get all the old messages from the family going again, right about ways that they criticize you or that they don't respect you sufficiently, or that they haven't recognized how you've changed. Yucca: And all the things they do that are just so annoying that drive you crazy. Yeah. Mark: Yeah. Yucca: All those things that you feel about them. Mark: so all that stuff can be going in your mind, and if you just let it keep going, then you can become increasingly stressed and more and more kind of separated from yourself. So. Sit down and just breathe for five minutes. It doesn't have to be a super long time.  Yucca: Off. Take the, the earbuds out of your ears. Mark: yeah. Get, get away from the gadgetry for a minute and just, you know, the other thing that I find is very, very helpful, and this sounds. Like, sort of brute force magic making. But get a big rock you know, a rock that weighs 15, 20 pounds. Sit it in your lap, sit on the ground, or sit on the floor and just sit cross-legged if that's comfortable for you, and just sit that rock in your lap. And. Yucca: just ground with it. Mark: Just wait. Yucca: Wait. Yeah. Mark: Yeah. You'll, you'll be amazed at what a difference it makes, just feeling that gravity pulling you back to the earth. And it, it clears the, clears all the spinning stuff out. It's, it's it's a powerful technique. Yucca: Mm. Yeah. Love that one. Mark: S. I I discovered that, or, or innovated it or whatever it was. My, my former wife was in a really kind of panicky space. She had I don't even remember what the circumstance was, but she was in this very hypermanic. Very anxious space and you know, was telling me about all the reasons that she felt that and that this was so, and she wasn't a pagan. And so I said, well, you know, we. We, we do stuff with things like that. So have a seat, you know, sit on the ground. And I put this big rock in her lap and she immediately began kind of to giggle. It was like, . That's great. That's so great. And sure enough, you know, given 10 minutes or so, her consciousness had really sort of changed. But yeah, so that's why I keep a big rock around. Yucca: It's great. Yeah, so this, this really can be such a lovely time of year and a really, really meaningful time of year and, and, You know, getting ready, ending out this year and getting ready for a new one and, and all of that. And so it's just a time that can also, you know, can be stressful. And so it's a good time to be aware and just really be present with ourselves and, and really honest with ourselves about what it is that, that we need, what's feeding us what's not. And thinking about. You know, what do we value and what obligations do we or do we not have and, and how to handle that. So, yeah. Mark: And if there are things that we feel obligated to do that we really don't want to do, are there alternatives? Is, is there some other way to get at that? You know, is it possible to. I don't know. I, I, I don't know what the example is. If, if the holiday meal with the family is a nightmare, maybe a restaurant, you know, there, there are, there are other ways of coming at this. If, if it's Yucca: Yeah. Just some creative thinking about it. Mark: Yeah. Yucca: Yeah. So. So we hope that you all have a wonderful intentional holiday season Mark: Yes. And may cramps come, but not take you away in his bag this evening. Because in, in, in Bavaria it's Crumps knocked. So, hope that you don't get whipped with Bert's twigs too much or hauled away in his bag. Yucca: That's great. All right, well thank you everybody. We will see you next week.   

~The Christian Christmas~ Mark Teaching Series, Part 48

If we are honest with ourselves Christmas is all about memories and traditions.  Of course, Jesus is the reason - and He is certainly a part of our memories and traditions but when we talk about Christmas we are talking about the things that we do and by doing them every year we are establishing traditions and building memories.  Today I'm sharing 3 keys that will help you make meaningful memories for your kids this Christmas. >>>FULL SHOW NOTES:  Episode #26 How to make Meaningful Memories this Christmas    >>>Create a Heart Focused Christmas There is still time to sign up for the free email course:  6 Ways to create a Heart-focused Christmas.  Sign up, and every day you'll get a short email with something to think about, and then a thinking, reflecting, or planning action step.  It won't tell you what to do, but it will help you work out what is important.   >>>FOLLOW BELINDA  On Instagram: @belindaletchford On Facebook: facebook.com/heartfocusparenting   >>>COACHING:  Book a free Jumpstart Call - see details