The answers

-1) Quadruped with crimson proboscis - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

-2) 5 p.m. to 6 a.m. without noise - Silent Night

-3) Miniscule hamlet in the far east - Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem

-4) Ancient benevolent despot - Good King Wenceslas

-5) Adorn the vestibule - Deck the Halls

-6) Exuberance directed to the planet - Joy to the World

-7) Listen, aerial spirits harmonizing - Hark the Herald, Angels Sing

-8) Monarchial trio - We Three Kings

-9) Yonder in the haystack - Away in a Manger

10) Assemble, everyone who believes - Come All Ye Faithful

11) Hallowed post meridian - Oh, Holy Night

12) Fantasies of a colorless December 25th - I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

13) Tin tintinnabulums - Silver Bells

14) A dozen 24-hour yule periods - 12 Days of Christmas

15) Befell during the transparent bewitching hour - It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

16) Homo sapien of crystallized vapor - Frosty the Snowman

17) I merely desire a pair of incisors - All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

18) I spied my maternal parent osculating a fat man in red - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

19) Perambulating through a December solstice fantasy - Walking in a Winter Wonderland

20) Aloft on the acme of the abode - Up on the Rooftop

Christmas Quiz

Below are 20 titles of familiar holiday songs, but with a twist. The titles have been reworded into ambiguous trifle.

How many can you identify and supply the correct title? Answers to be posted later.

-1) Quadruped with crimson proboscis

-2) 5 p.m. to 6 a.m. without noise

-3) Miniscule hamlet in the far east

-4) Ancient benevolent despot

-5) Adorn the vestibule

-6) Exuberance directed to the planet

-7) Listen, aerial spirits harmonizing

-8) Monarchial trio

-9) Yonder in the haystack

10) Assemble, everyone who believes

11) Hallowed post meridian

12) Fantasies of a colorless December 25th

13) Tin tintinnabulums

14) A dozen 24-hour yule periods

15) Befell during the transparent bewitching hour

16) Homo sapien of crystallized vapor

17) I merely desire a pair of incisors

18) I spied my maternal parent osculating a fat man in red

19) Perambulating through a December solstice fantasy

20) Aloft on the acme of the abode

My Advent Rant

I know most of you will not read this post because you think you have heard this rant before from me. Well I think you might be surprised with this one.

I will sum of my feelings in one line: This year I decided that instead of spending my energy crusading against those who are skipping Advent and celebrating Christmas now, I would spend it celebrating Advent more fully in my own life so my Christmas will be even richer.

Now I realize that this is a rather dramatic change for me and some of you might be shocked. There are several things in that line so please allow me to explain a bit more. The first would be the fact that I find myself crusading a lot less these days then I did a few years ago. Now when I get my soap box out I find that there is sometimes a thin layer of dust on it, as before when I wore boxes out about once a month. Why the temperance... age, complacency, indifference, grace or something else? Well I am not sure but I think all might have a little part in it.

There is a phrase that I think come from the 80's: Let go and let God. Well I like this a lot. That is what I am trying to do. Letting go of trying to force people to prepare for Christmas with Advent and letting God worry about their hearts. I don't mean I have given up on my fellow brothers and sisters but I realize I can only walk with others and lead them to Christ beside them, not in front of them.

So how am I making this Advent special for me? How am I preparing the way for Jesus in my heart? Both great questions and let me answer them. This Advent marks the first Advent since I was in high school that I have spend the whole previous liturgical year in one spot. I have discovered that when one is not constantly looking forward to what is next then they can spend time reflecting on what is current in their life. This is what I am trying to do. I think I have been avoiding a lot of life processing and other personal goals for awhile. This Advent I am starting that process. I don't expect it to be done when Christmas comes, but nor do I expect my anticipation of the coming of the Lord will be over on Christmas either.

Keep up the fight and Happy Advent / Merry Christmas / or happy holidays for my pagan friends

Highlights

"This guy I have like on and off again since grade school did just get out of the seminary." Say what? No, that is not a line I said but rather a line a friend of mine said last night when I was talking to her on the phone. I promised I would not give her name, but I at least wanted you all to get to enjoy that line as much as I did.

Speaking of things I enjoyed, the Torres family thanksgiving was amazing. Those two make such good hosts and are so very blessed, it is an honor to be in their home. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about my buddy Ford hosted me for thanksgiving once again this year and it was wonderful.

As for what we did when we were there I can't really tell you to much about it yet, but I can fill you in, in a few months. You might want to read my other buddies Pat's blog about our football game that we played. You could also read more about the weekend at Chris's blog, but he never updates it so any news about thanksgiving on their would be last years.

In other news I made an Advent wreath. I cut out paper strips of brown and green for the wreath. Hole punched red paper for some little berries. Got purple and pink paper out for candles. I even cut four little flames out that I can tape on as we move through Advent. It looks like a 4th grade art project which is way better then what I was thinking it would turn out to look like. I will try to remember to post a pic. It is hanging on my door to my apartment. I thought it would be the nicest way to remind the person beside me that Advent comes before Christmas.

Keep up the fight

The GRE pants

No I am not turning into my friend ClairE who used to say pants after everything to make it sound funny.

I think I am going to take the GRE this spring. Why, I am not sure. I think grad school could be in my future, but I have no idea when, where or what for. Now you might be rolling your eyes and thinking that this is just the next phase I am in and you are probably right. After all you have seen me go through my white water kayak, law school, St. Meirads and several other phases with no action. I did however buy a scooter and continue to go hunting for no apparent reason so I do stick with some phases.

So if you have any study prep books or anything like that let me know. Should I have thought of this when my sister was working for a test prep agency? Yes, but I didn't so back off.

In other news, my mom got me a new pair of pants a few weeks ago and I really like them!! The might be the most comfortable pair of pants I have ever had. They are better then jeans.

Keep up the fight

Big Doins in Nashville

Last weekend mom and dad came to town and there were some big purchases made in the life of Andy Miller. I am not going to say I was parent pressured into them, but mom and dad were a moving force in a few of them.

The first of the purchases was a new recycling center for my closet. I like this one because the bins come out and they have nice and big handles. This way I can presort and then take it in to the big recycling center when ever a tub gets full. Here in Nashville you have to sort the paper according to the weight. Office paper, newsprint and cardboard all have to be in their own container or they will not take any of it. Oddly enough though you can mix all the plastic, glass and tin you want and they do not care at all about that. With this new bin system there will be no more big sorting days in my apartment where paper is all over the place. I can't tell you how much I am enjoyed using it so far, but then again most of you know how excited I get about things like this so I don't need to tell you.After sleeping on an old mattress that I had to put down two blankets on to keep the springs from poking me, it was time to get a new one. In fact this was my Christmas present from mom and dad to me. It is a great mattress. It is nice and firm and also has the pillow top so it is also nice and soft and cuddly. It has taken me a few nights to get used to it, but when I am gone this weekend I know I will miss it a lot. Speaking of beds and sheets check out the new poll on the right. I know it has been a long time since I had one of those up.

Now last, and by no means least, A NEW CAR, said in the way they do it on the Price is Right. That's right I got a new Toyota Corolla. As you can see, unless blind or colour blind, it is silver. I got a good deal on financing (1.9) and a ton of money on my old Saturn ($800). It is nothing to fancy, but I do have automatic windows and lights. I refuse to buy a car without auto windows and now that I have one with auto lights it will be hard if I ever have to go back.

Keep up the fight.

A Dark and Spooky Night

X

That "x" is where the picture of the pumpkins we carved last weekend will go if I ever get it sent to me. I am not going to mention it here who has yet to mail it to me.

So last weekend Ryan came down for a visit (I said I would not mention it up there I said nothing about down here). We had a wonderful time. I can't to much other then we visit some shops, took the Nashville Express and had some wonderful conversations. I would say more but some people count how many lines of text they get written about them in my blog so I want to keep it even.

In addition to having Ryan visit I also went to a concert in Louisville on Friday night. It was Ingrid Michaelson. My buddy Carl and I went. It was really fun. She is a great singer and puts on a great show. Yes, I like short choppy sentences.

Mom and dad are on their way here right now and I need to go get some laundry done before they show up.

Keep up the fight