Gracie moved in this weekend and is making a good start at integrating with the household and destroying the furniture. She’s a real cat’s cat, and super sweet! (Yes I realize that’s a bit of a contradiction. But she pulls it off.)
Gracie on the chair
That's my kitty!
There’s something that bothers me about the Christian idea of Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, I like the carols, the tree, Santa Claus, all of the rampant materialism…I have no problem at all with all of the previously-pagan traditions. Some Christians think that these pagan themes are bad and distract from the core values of Christianity. But the reality is worse than that. Instead of making these pagan holidays Christian, what it has really accomplished is to make Christianity pagan.
Is that an angel?
When I say “pagan” here, I mean that in the way that Christians mean it: empty idol worship. It seems like there is a “real” side to Christianity, and a “idol worship” side. The real side is based on the teachings of Jesus, or at least on the writings of a handful of people who claimed to know what he would have written if he had known how to write. The idol worship side is the worship of Baby Jesus. You’ve seen it in action. The way some Christians defend the nativity display on the courthouse lawn, you might as well put a golden calf in the manger. It doesn’t have to stand for anything, they worship the thing itself.
What makes the Christian religion tolerable is that it has elements of ethics built into it. Jesus said more than just “Obey.” Oh yes, he very much did say “Believe and Obey.” But, he also said “for God’s sake think about what you’re doing, and how it will affect others!” A seed of rationality in a sea of blind obedience, hooray! Do unto others? You mean I have to actually think about what they might like? Wow, what a lovely change of pace from “worship me and make sacrifices.”
Be here 
now