Boxing Day

I've always wanted to go Boxing Day shopping. This year was not the year to start.

I did, however, hit up a few stores… in a small town neighboring my home town. With a small town comes a small crowd.

Skip forward a day, the day after boxing day, should be safe to do some returns/shopping right? Wrong.

It wasn't as bad as Boxing Day likely is… but it might have been close.

While buying something in a video game store (don’t judge me) the sales guy was trying to sell me a few additional things… only to find out, he couldn't sell them, he was sold out. In fact, it looked like a tornado had gone through most stores.

Shelves were barren, whole isles torn apart at the seams by shoppers getting next year’s Christmas gifts (hmmm… maybe I should have done that)

Moral of the story. Boxing Week shopping is fun… but it’s also not something to do in a rush… especially if it involves Customer Service. 15 minute lines are a little crazy.

                                                                                            

Happy Christmas

It's that time of the year again. I love it.
Flashing lights, the smells of awesome coming from the kitchen and the sound of kids on sugar highs using really loud and annoying electric toys.
Can't beat Christmas.
Material fluffy traditions aside, it's important to reflect on what Christmas really is.
Jesus.
Babe, born in a manger. The saviour of the world in a barn. That's such a mind bending thought, isn't it?
One song that truly captures what Christmas is (for me at least) is Downhere's How Many Kings.
Listen to the lyrics... and have a Merry Christmas.

The Grinch

Monday night commemorated one of my family's few "normal" Christmas traditions. Watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
Not the Jim Carey abomination blasphemy cash grab mess from a few years ago.
The Dr. Seuss classic.
I've always loved that cartoon. Not sure how much of it is sentiments and how much of it is genuine love of the show, either way, it's a great half hour special.
If you don't know the Grinch (tisk tisk), it's the story of a green guy that hates Christmas. Lights, sounds, smells... not a fan. So he takes all the gifts and food away (and pretty much everything else). Then, when Christmas morning rolls around, he's shocked to hear the residents of the alpine town of Whoville sing despite the lose of gifts. That causes him to realize the true meaning of Christmas is love and family (we know it means something else as well, but it doesn't go that far).
From the stellar rhymes of Seuss to the character arc of the Grinch. It's become a staple.

Last year I discovered that now defunct Christian band Queen's Club, did a cover of the song from The Grinch too! Score!

Enjoy.
  

Hawk Nelson - Words

The first time I heard the song, I was a little concerned.
For me, there is a thin line between profound and cheesy... the verse started out great, but the odds of the chorus bringing the cheese seemed really good.
Thankfully, I was wrong.
This song is totally awesome!
Not only from a lyrical and musical stand point, but content as well.
Something as simple as joking around with friends can cause hurt feelings. You say something without thinking, wham. Someone says the wrong thing to you on the wrong day, wham.
What I love about this song is the reminder it gives us to watch what we say. If it's going to come back to bite us, we're better off keeping it to ourselves.

After this, I'm more than excited for the new Hawk album in the new year!