Christmas only discussion.
- Thread starter Charoite
- Start date
What?? It got above freezing??? lol
I see my neighbors sometimes having fires when it's in the low 60's.........
Time w/ kids, grandkids, granddog etc....... Together..
Going out tonight to the game room, should be real fam fun.....
I wasn't talking about making it a cultural thing. I was talking about carrying the spirit in acts. Making cookies for people in your neighborhood. Get together with the family for a meal. Put some cash in a Salvation Army collection. Make up something special for your pets. Even the Church itself goes beyond mass service. Many have meals or craft events. I also believe it's proper to toss aside certain things too. I won't be political posting or even bringing up politics and a few other things. Diets are another thing to be tossed aside for Christmas. I find it great to share a little booze on the holidays but no one should be getting drunk. Christmas is a time to share your talents whether it be baking or playing the guitar.
Minister of Truth
Practically Perfect
I like all that, too. Especially the cookies my neighbors just brought over earlier today!
Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, going up to Baton Rouge with my son to look at an 'abandoned Fixer-upper' with my son. They're asking $19,000, will probably take 10,000 - 12,000. It looks like a 'Katrina-house'. It's been stripped of all it's sheetrock, all the insulation in the walls and ceiling have been removed. My big question: 'How's the Foundation?' It's on Piers and looks like a 12 inch crawl space. I'm envisioning dead rats, HIV-infected drug needles, ... and mud.
It's near LSU and the Freeway, but in a 'bad area'. My son says the immediate area is well kept. I asked him if all the houses have Burglar Bars, he can't remember. (one of the first things I look for)
Hmmmm ... my granddaughter is going up there for the Ride with us ... (rubbing chin) ... I think I'll hand my granddaughter the flashlight and tell her to 'check the crawlspace, you're small'.
It's near LSU and the Freeway, but in a 'bad area'. My son says the immediate area is well kept. I asked him if all the houses have Burglar Bars, he can't remember. (one of the first things I look for)
Hmmmm ... my granddaughter is going up there for the Ride with us ... (rubbing chin) ... I think I'll hand my granddaughter the flashlight and tell her to 'check the crawlspace, you're small'.
Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, going up to Baton Rouge with my son to look at an 'abandoned Fixer-upper' with my son. They're asking $19,000, will probably take 10,000 - 12,000. It looks like a 'Katrina-house'. It's been stripped of all it's sheetrock, all the insulation in the walls and ceiling have been removed. My big question: 'How's the Foundation?' It's on Piers and looks like a 12 inch crawl space. I'm envisioning dead rats, HIV-infected drug needles, ... and mud.
It's near LSU and the Freeway, but in a 'bad area'. My son says the immediate area is well kept. I asked him if all the houses have Burglar Bars, he can't remember. (one of the first things I look for)
Hmmmm ... my granddaughter is going up there for the Ride with us ... (rubbing chin) ... I think I'll hand my granddaughter the flashlight and tell her to 'check the crawlspace, you're small'.
My brother in law fixes up houses and we are currently looking for one back where I was born in around Dayton OH. The family wants to fix up the home up here for vacations and property values are bonkers up here to get anything else. I did a check on our current house and in the last 4 years, property values in our area have gone up 87%
I'm no expert but I'm kind of an HGTV junkie and I've been looking online just about every other day at what comes on the market. I've learned that if it's in a bad area it's probably never going to be worth fixing up. There are always areas where real estate is cheap for a reason. Crime areas, drug areas, flood areas, areas of heavy infestations, etc. Old houses have the shit to deal with of knob and tube, lead paint, asbestos, etc.
That's very good, Jade.
I'm of a similar opinion about 'location'. I've heard so many horror stories of guys installing copper water lines and copper wiring, and then coming back the next day to see it missing. Being sold for pennies on the dollar to a scrap yard. Same with Kitchen Cabinets and outdoor AC units. He's talking about 'living there' with a generator. It's in the City, so I'm not sure if that is allowed. I lived in (or out of) a Panel Truck for 6 months when I built my first house, but I was out in the boondocks.
Property Taxes. That's one 'Tax' you can't escape from.
I think it would take a lot of 'time' looking for the right 'Fixer-upper' to fix up. I found it easier to just find some Land ... and then you have the pleasure of designing and building your own house to fit your taste and budget.
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
What?? It got above freezing??? lol
I see my neighbors sometimes having fires when it's in the low 60's.........
Time w/ kids, grandkids, granddog etc....... Together..
Going out tonight to the game room, should be real fam fun.....
Enjoy! Is it an arcade with video games? What do you play?
It's been quite a bit above normal here for the last week. Normal high is mid-20s; it's been hitting the low 40s. Still have plenty of snow though. Glad the ice is off the parking lots in town.
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, going up to Baton Rouge with my son to look at an 'abandoned Fixer-upper' with my son. They're asking $19,000, will probably take 10,000 - 12,000. It looks like a 'Katrina-house'. It's been stripped of all it's sheetrock, all the insulation in the walls and ceiling have been removed. My big question: 'How's the Foundation?' It's on Piers and looks like a 12 inch crawl space. I'm envisioning dead rats, HIV-infected drug needles, ... and mud.
It's near LSU and the Freeway, but in a 'bad area'. My son says the immediate area is well kept. I asked him if all the houses have Burglar Bars, he can't remember. (one of the first things I look for)
Hmmmm ... my granddaughter is going up there for the Ride with us ... (rubbing chin) ... I think I'll hand my granddaughter the flashlight and tell her to 'check the crawlspace, you're small'.
Is she squeamish about creepy-crawlies?
Iolo/Penderyn
Verified User
We'll be fourteen for Christmas. I've never really got used to the fuss. My Mother told me that when I was little, I didn't just not believe in Father Christmas - I disbelieved in Christmas itself. With us it was a working day. My father had to take midnight mass (God, the stink of all that booze when I used to go to it later!), then come home to a couple of stiff whiskies before filling our pillows-not-stockings. The real high point when he fell downstairs delivering a bike. After that he had Plygain at six, then two more services before lunch, at which point he used to collapse. The obviously-made-up story on which the whole thing is allegedly based is very unconvincing, as are the Yule codswallops and the capitalist robberies. We've got rid of the presents guff and just give money! Never mind - nice to see the kids and get a few beers down me! Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda, Cyfeillion/Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Friends!.
She won't be getting dirty. She likes truckin' around with her Uncle. We'll stop for Eats, maybe sightsee around Baton Rouge, go to LSU (a subliminal message implant), and do 'construction' stuff. We're taking a ladder, maybe put her on the roof, you know, for the view ... and that 'empowerment' feeling."The last evidence on display marking the beginning of the end of Huey P. Long is about 4 1/2 feet up a marble column on the first floor of Louisiana's sky-scraping capitol building. It's a bullet hole, big enough to hold the tip of your pinky finger.
People of all ages have visited this capitol for more than 70 years, eager to see the spot where the legendary Louisiana governor and U.S. senator was assassinated at the height of his almost dictatorial power in 1935."
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-11-09-0711080903-story.html
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
Why you little socialist atheist you! lol Hope you and yours enjoy your holidays, and have a wonderful New Year as well.
Merry Christmas my Welsh Brother!
ThatOwlWoman
Leftist Vermin
"The last evidence on display marking the beginning of the end of Huey P. Long is about 4 1/2 feet up a marble column on the first floor of Louisiana's sky-scraping capitol building. It's a bullet hole, big enough to hold the tip of your pinky finger.
People of all ages have visited this capitol for more than 70 years, eager to see the spot where the legendary Louisiana governor and U.S. senator was assassinated at the height of his almost dictatorial power in 1935."
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-11-09-0711080903-story.html
That's some cool history there. My grandson considered LSU for a while, then chose Southern, also in BR. He was bewailing his "not so great" 3.5 GPA the other day. He's majoring in mechanical engineering and just finished a semester with all STEM classes -- calculus, trig, chemistry, some engineering thing I've since forgotten. Smart kid. A 3.5 GPA is pretty outstanding.
Enjoy your visit!
In Louisiana, LSU is the 'Flagship' University. So, people who have never gone to LSU, still plaster LSU insignia on their vehicles.
(Unfortunately, in my family, we have trouble making it out of High School)
Historical Certainties About the Young Jesus based on theological scholarship
Jesus was born and raised a Jew. This is stated explicitly by Paul (Gal. 4:4) and is overwhelmingly attested in all our Gospel sources at every level , i.e., it passes independent attestation in every imaginable way. Virtually nothing is more certain.
Jesus came from the small village of Nazareth in Galilee. It is attested in all four Gospels (Matt. 4:13; Mark 1:9; Luke 4:16; John 1:45), and Jesus is sometimes called “Jesus of Nazareth” in other ancient sources (for example, Acts 3:6). Nazareth was, at that time, a small, unknown, and completely insignificant village in Galilee (northern part of modern-day Israel).
It is impossible to know if Jesus was really born in Bethlehem. All four of the Gospels assume that Jesus came from Nazareth. But two of them—Matthew and Luke again— independently claim that he was born in Bethlehem. These two are inconsistent with one another at key points (if Matthew’s account is right, it’s hard to see how Luke’s can be also and vice versa). Both also present serious historical problems when taken on their own terms (for example, the worldwide census under Caesar Augustus in Luke). Both Matthew and Luke also had a clear reason for wanting to affirm that Jesus came from Bethlehem, because a Hebrew prophet had predicted that a ruler would come from there (Micah 5:2; quoted in Matt. 2:6). Again, it seems odd that if it were widely known that Jesus came from Bethlehem, the tradition was not mentioned in our other sources (e.g., Mark, John, and Paul). As a result, most critical historians consider the tradition of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem to be highly problematic. Closely related, of course, is the story that Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem to register for a census. This story is found only in Luke and as we saw earlier, the story seems to be contradicted by Matthew. It’s not at all contextually credible. As discussed earlier, we know a good deal about the reign of Caesar Augustus but hear from no other source about some kind of empire-wide tax that compelled everyone needed to register return to their ancestral homes.
The story of the wise men, found only in Matthew, is historically problematic. It is historically implausible, both because no one else living at the time mentioned any such astral phenomenon, which must have attracted considerable attention had it occurred and because it’s nearly impossible to understand logistically (how exactly does a star stop over a house?).
We are almost completely in the dark about Jesus’ early life. We might assume that he had a normal childhood, but unfortunately we aren’t even sure what a “normal” childhood would have been like in rural Galilee. He probably would have been apprenticed to his father’s line of work, as a carpenter making yokes and gates or something along a similar line. He is called a tekton in Mark 6:3,It is nearly impossible to say whether the one New Testament story about Jesus as a boy (in Luke) is something that actually happened, since it is not independently attested nor does it pass dissimilarity, because it serves a clear theological agenda of portraying Jesus as a wunderkind (Luke 2:41–52) who was completely dedicated to God and superior to the leaders of the Jews at the age of twelve. We have only scattered hints about Jesus’ education. It is clear that he spoke Aramaic (a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew). The tradition is multiply attested (see Mark 5:41; 7:34; John 1:42). The Gospels also indicate that Jesus could read the Scriptures in Hebrew (for example, Luke 4:16–20; see also Mark 12:10, 26) and that he eventually became known as an interpreter of them. No traditions specifically indicate that Jesus spoke Greek, although some historians have surmised that living in Galilee, where Greek was widely known, he may have learned some. Some have also suspected that he communicated with Pontius Pilate in Greek at his trial, although we will see later that it is very difficult to know exactly what happened then. At best we can say that it is possible that Jesus was trilingual; that is, that he normally spoke Aramaic, could at least read the Hebrew Scriptures, and may have been able to communicate in Greek.
Jesus’ parents: They are assumed to have been Jews who lived in Nazareth and are consistently named Joseph and Mary in our sources. About the only thing said about Joseph in the Gospels, outside the birth narratives, is that he was a common laborer (Matt. 13:55; also found, possibly independently of Matthew, in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, 13). The Greek word used to describe his profession is tekton, usually translated as “carpenter.” The word could also refer to a number of occupations that involved working with the hands—stone mason or metal worker, for example. In any event, a tekton was a lower class, blue-collar worker, comparable, in modern terms, to a construction worker. Mary is reported in several of our earliest sources to have outlived her son (e.g., in John’s Gospel she watches his crucifixion).
Jesus evidently had siblings of both sexes. His brothers are mentioned in Mark, John, Josephus, and Paul. His sisters show up in Mark (3:32, 6:3).
Source credit Professor Bart D. Ehrman, Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Jesus was born and raised a Jew. This is stated explicitly by Paul (Gal. 4:4) and is overwhelmingly attested in all our Gospel sources at every level , i.e., it passes independent attestation in every imaginable way. Virtually nothing is more certain.
Jesus came from the small village of Nazareth in Galilee. It is attested in all four Gospels (Matt. 4:13; Mark 1:9; Luke 4:16; John 1:45), and Jesus is sometimes called “Jesus of Nazareth” in other ancient sources (for example, Acts 3:6). Nazareth was, at that time, a small, unknown, and completely insignificant village in Galilee (northern part of modern-day Israel).
It is impossible to know if Jesus was really born in Bethlehem. All four of the Gospels assume that Jesus came from Nazareth. But two of them—Matthew and Luke again— independently claim that he was born in Bethlehem. These two are inconsistent with one another at key points (if Matthew’s account is right, it’s hard to see how Luke’s can be also and vice versa). Both also present serious historical problems when taken on their own terms (for example, the worldwide census under Caesar Augustus in Luke). Both Matthew and Luke also had a clear reason for wanting to affirm that Jesus came from Bethlehem, because a Hebrew prophet had predicted that a ruler would come from there (Micah 5:2; quoted in Matt. 2:6). Again, it seems odd that if it were widely known that Jesus came from Bethlehem, the tradition was not mentioned in our other sources (e.g., Mark, John, and Paul). As a result, most critical historians consider the tradition of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem to be highly problematic. Closely related, of course, is the story that Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem to register for a census. This story is found only in Luke and as we saw earlier, the story seems to be contradicted by Matthew. It’s not at all contextually credible. As discussed earlier, we know a good deal about the reign of Caesar Augustus but hear from no other source about some kind of empire-wide tax that compelled everyone needed to register return to their ancestral homes.
The story of the wise men, found only in Matthew, is historically problematic. It is historically implausible, both because no one else living at the time mentioned any such astral phenomenon, which must have attracted considerable attention had it occurred and because it’s nearly impossible to understand logistically (how exactly does a star stop over a house?).
We are almost completely in the dark about Jesus’ early life. We might assume that he had a normal childhood, but unfortunately we aren’t even sure what a “normal” childhood would have been like in rural Galilee. He probably would have been apprenticed to his father’s line of work, as a carpenter making yokes and gates or something along a similar line. He is called a tekton in Mark 6:3,It is nearly impossible to say whether the one New Testament story about Jesus as a boy (in Luke) is something that actually happened, since it is not independently attested nor does it pass dissimilarity, because it serves a clear theological agenda of portraying Jesus as a wunderkind (Luke 2:41–52) who was completely dedicated to God and superior to the leaders of the Jews at the age of twelve. We have only scattered hints about Jesus’ education. It is clear that he spoke Aramaic (a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew). The tradition is multiply attested (see Mark 5:41; 7:34; John 1:42). The Gospels also indicate that Jesus could read the Scriptures in Hebrew (for example, Luke 4:16–20; see also Mark 12:10, 26) and that he eventually became known as an interpreter of them. No traditions specifically indicate that Jesus spoke Greek, although some historians have surmised that living in Galilee, where Greek was widely known, he may have learned some. Some have also suspected that he communicated with Pontius Pilate in Greek at his trial, although we will see later that it is very difficult to know exactly what happened then. At best we can say that it is possible that Jesus was trilingual; that is, that he normally spoke Aramaic, could at least read the Hebrew Scriptures, and may have been able to communicate in Greek.
Jesus’ parents: They are assumed to have been Jews who lived in Nazareth and are consistently named Joseph and Mary in our sources. About the only thing said about Joseph in the Gospels, outside the birth narratives, is that he was a common laborer (Matt. 13:55; also found, possibly independently of Matthew, in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, 13). The Greek word used to describe his profession is tekton, usually translated as “carpenter.” The word could also refer to a number of occupations that involved working with the hands—stone mason or metal worker, for example. In any event, a tekton was a lower class, blue-collar worker, comparable, in modern terms, to a construction worker. Mary is reported in several of our earliest sources to have outlived her son (e.g., in John’s Gospel she watches his crucifixion).
Jesus evidently had siblings of both sexes. His brothers are mentioned in Mark, John, Josephus, and Paul. His sisters show up in Mark (3:32, 6:3).
Source credit Professor Bart D. Ehrman, Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
I think he was born in April? Some time around the Roman Census.
Eagle_Eye
Well-known member
This is the time chosen to celebrate his birth just as Easter is the celebration of the resurrection.