Movies and advent

I have really liked having some free time and on this Saturday evening, I am watching "Pride and Prejudice" - the one without Colin Firth. Not as good but still worth watching. I never used to watch TV at all, partly because I always had a really small TV and only Terrestrial channels, but I am now living with a gigantic TV and cable, so I can while away many long hours, sometimes wasting my time and letting other things that I ought to be doing, go. The past few days I have been looking forward to the holiday movies that are always worth watching and catching up on an that has been the case, for sure. So as well as P and P I have had my eyes glued to "Love acutally," "How to lose a guy in 10 days," "50 first dates", "Elf" (yes, I know, pathetic, but still fun) and of course, "Shrek." I hear that 5 hours is the average amount of time that kids spend having "screen time." I can well believe it but I am sure that it is not good for them, as it is such a waste of time. It is just as well that Christmas comes but once a year...OK, I take it back. I ought to have a lot more self discipline that your average kid...

OK, so we are into advent. Tomorrow is the first Sunday in advent and our church has some traditions that it follows each year. Four families will share their family traditions and we will light the advent candles. I love this time. I remember it from my earliest days and it was always really exciting to help light the candles around the wreath. The time of looking forward to the birth of our Lord and Saviour is always an uncertain time. Even though we know that we will celebrate on December 25, there is still an air of uncertainty as we wait for that time to arrive. For the 2nd time in my life I will spend Christmas away from my family, so it is hard to hear songs in the stores like, "Driving home for Christmas", and "I'll be home for Christmas," but I know that I am by no means the only one being away from home. To think that Jesus was born away from his homeland and even after his birth, his family were forced to move. The only other time I have been away from Scotland was in 1997 when I was touring with a choir in Jerusalem. We actually sang in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve.

Very different experiences; the city of David and Bend, OR.