Peyton = Scrooge?

Monday night I was watching Peyton and Eli and when every guest would leave Peyton would say Happy Holidays. But when the game ended and it was time for goodbyes, Peyton wished his brother a Merry Christmas. Perhaps Pey didn’t want to offend his guest. 

Cool that Eli has his NFL Man of the year trophy in the background. Peyton won one as well.

Guess I am an old stick in the mud for wanting to celebrate the birth of Jesus, not the “holidays”. Merry Christmas. Instead of saying Happy Halloween or Happy New Years I am going to start saying Happy Holidays. Just got my first Christmas card at work from a company in Tennessee – which wished me a Merry Christmas. A keeper.

Youssef on why we say Merry Christmas: there are professing Christians who believe being a good person is the path to salvation. They do not feel like they need someone to save them because their sins are nominal. It is enough that they attend church and have never committed "major" sins. They believe a lie. The Bible says everyone was born with sin. This sin was passed along to us genetically from Adam and Eve. Like them, we want to do things our way. We want to stay in charge of our lives while paying God lip service. We justify our sin and minimize its consequences. We hide from God and others in our shame. Instead of confessing our sin and turning to a loving God for deliverance, we cling to and perish in that sin. God sent Jesus to deliver us from our sins. God knows we cannot do this through our own works. We can only be made perfect and whole through faith in our sinless Savior. At Christmas, we celebrate the Savior's birth. The perfect, sinless Son of God came from heaven, lived the most difficult of lives, and died on the cross. He shed His blood and rose again to prove His power over death and sin. We say, "Merry Christmas," because we know that our sins—past, present, and future—are all forgiven when we come to Jesus Christ. His birth, death, and resurrection have brought us peace with God. His plan of redemption has shown goodwill toward men. It is a gift we celebrate, not just at Christmas, but every day of our lives.

Georgia Tech running back Jordan Mason is leaving school a year early and entering the NFL draft. When he made the announcement, scores of well wishers told him how great he is. I looked up his draft rank on line - 25 running backs will be drafted ahead of him. That means there's a good chance he won't be drafted. Is the kid listening to good advice?

Fast food: Got suckered in to getting a a free big buford double burger at Checkers in exchange for paying $3.50 for a large order of fries. The fries were good, the burger not so much. But in a year or so I'll make another trip to Checkers.