Friday, January 22, 2016

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My friend, Jack, has a short list of people he totally respects. At the top if his list? His Dad. He told me once, "Don't think that meant that I always did what he said when I was a kid. In fact, the usual script was like this. Dad told me to do something or not to do something, and because I'm stubborn, I'd go ahead and I'd do what I wanted. After which my Dad would spank me. And then I would end up doing it Dad's way."

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

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I had a mountain of work to do to prepare for some radio programs that I was scheduled to record, and the way things worked out I ended up doing it on the road. I was traveling by van about 12 hours with two of our team members. Now, let me make one thing clear. I like to drive; a guy thing maybe. I'm not the greatest passenger. I don't really like to ride, but I had so much work to do, I needed all the time we were driving on the trip to get it done. So they actually set up this little office for me in the back of the van, and they brought along a little power pack that would allow me to use my computer all the way. Very reluctantly, I climbed into the back of the van and settled in to work and watch someone else drive. At first it drove me nuts. But by the end of the trip, I realized how much creative work I'd gotten done in my office on wheels. What a productive day I had! All because I let someone else drive.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

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Jenny's only two years old, but she's already teaching her parents. She often announces, "Let's pray." She doesn't always pick her times real well. Dad might be studying or Mom might be involved in her housework or trying to get ready for something. That doesn't stop Jenny from saying, "Let's pray." She grabs your hand, closes her eyes and she expects you to do the same. She's fully expecting Mom or Dad to drop whatever they're doing. Mom told me, "I don't dare tell Jenny, ‘Oh, later honey, I'm too busy now.'" Jenny's only two, but you know what? I think she's got the right idea.

Friday, December 25, 2015

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It was a Kleenex moment that Christmas season, for sure. Like the first Christmas, there was a newborn baby involved. But no manger. How about a Jumbotron screen at an Anaheim Ducks hockey game, of all places?

Thursday, December 24, 2015

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It was Christmas Eve, and the Hutchcraft family was acting out the Christmas story. Our daughter was Mary, with a towel draped over her head. Our oldest son was Joseph, bathrobe and all. Our then two-year old son was the closest we could come to a baby, so he was in the giant laundry basket. I was, of course, an angel dressed in a white sheet, sitting celestially on the back of the couch. And my wife – well, she wanted to be a sheep. So she was crawling around the living room floor with our sheepskin rug draped over her, doing her very best "baaa's". And the doorbell rang! It was two teenage girls from our youth group. Their folks were home getting drunk, and they were wondering if they could come to our house for a little while. When they came in, our Christmas players were in full gear, "baaa" and all. The door was open and we invited them right into our Christmas.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

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Visiting people who are in the hospital; I'm guessing that's not your favorite thing to do. A lot of times it's hard to know what to say to the person; especially if their condition is serious. But there are some visits where it's easy to think of things to say – like when you're visiting a new mom or a new baby. All you have to say is, "Aww, she's beautiful!" "Oh, he looks so smart; so alert" or "That's the cutest baby I've ever seen!" See, you're supposed to say these things even if the baby still looks all red and bald and wrinkled. But that first Christmas...well, one of the first people to see Mary's baby did not follow the usual script.

Monday, December 21, 2015

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My friend Billy knew where his parents hid the Christmas gifts. He's an adult now but he still remembers the year he sneaked downstairs while his parents were gone. (I'll bet you could guess the rest.) He went in the closet and saw the shopping bags that contained all his gifts. Nothing was wrapped yet. He looked inside the bags and there they were. He folded up the bag and went back upstairs. His parents never knew.

Friday, December 18, 2015

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Right after Thanksgiving I'm in my annual pilgrimage to the Christmas corner of our garage. I did it last year, and I brought out Christmas. Now, we've been accumulating ornaments and decorations for a lot of years now, and it's always a big deal for the family when they make their annual re-entry; all those decorations come back into our life again and all the memories. The house is actually alive with Christmas. Well, I mean for a while. But before very long, I'll reverse the exercise, repack everything in their aging boxes, and put them back in storage for another year.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

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The occasion was a city-wide art contest where the participants were told to paint paintings on the subject of "Peace." Well, you can understand that the judges were attracted to this beautiful "pastural" scene that a local painter had painted. It was a green pasture with puffy white clouds and this beautiful blue sky and a little boy going by with a fishing pole over his shoulder, little quiet brooks and birds flying around. Yeah. that one came in second.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

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I always look forward to it as one of the season's great Christmas moments – the lighting of that towering Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. And it's happening tonight.

I remember last year. It was just a tad more exciting, for me anyway, because I had sort of a second-hand personal connection. The tree came from the farm owned by our good friends' daughter and son-in-law. (Did you get that?) They were chauffeured to ringside (actually rink-side) seats for the big show. So, not only did I get to watch the tree and the performers. Hey, I had like friends on the front row!