3-year-old asks for her daddy's return from Afghanistan for Christmas

I think there will be a Santa at the church Christmas party next Saturday night.

Frankly, I'm already Santa'd out: saw him twice yesterday and once today - he rode the train with us at Allaire.

I've never seen what ZZ describes. Was this in the South, ZZ?

Actually it was in a parish on an overseas military base, Moonshadow.

Completely unexpected. I appreciate the answer.

since the Bible does not tell us to observe the Lord's birthday.

If not for the Infancy narratives in Matthew & Luke, I'd agree with you.

I mean, I would agree that Jesus' birth wasn't a big deal to the Evangelists and the Early Church. But, if you figure that most of the early heresies were misunderstandings of the nature of the Incarnation, I'd suggest a regular memorialization of that event would only help counter false beliefs.

The 1970's is pretty late, Tom. But I was scandalized a few years back when Christmas fell on a Sunday and churches, especially in the South, were closed. (And ironically packed on New Year's Day, also a Sunday that year ... Jan. 1st is also an RC HDoO.

I was actually trying to fit my town's UPC's Christmas Eve service into our schedule this year ... for the sake of my kids ...

We have this "Christmas was illegal" conversation every year, don't we? I visited the Historic Village at Allaire this past Sunday ... I don't expect you to be familiar ... in Wall, NJ ... and during the brief chapel service they said just that, that Christmas was illegal until the mid-1800's or so, even later in NJ. Should I say (yet again), "Thank God for Lutherans" who brought a much-needed balance to the force?!