The Christianville Spirit: Changes in Christianville

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Knows Love

January 23rd, 2019-TCS # 624

Welcome to My World, My Readers! And, This Newsletter is truly a “Welcome to My World” kind of Newsletter. You See, If You are a Veteran of My Newsletter, You pretty much know about The Origins of This Newsletter as well as How This Newsletter got It’s Name. For Those of You, are wondering refer to The Christianville Classic Newsletter, Christianville Explained and The History of The Christianville Spirit Newsletter. This Time I will make The Referring Easy for You by Putting a Link for You. It is also on My Christianville Classics List as Well.

Refer to “Christianville Explained”

http://thechristianvillespirit.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-christianville-spirit.html

 Refer to “The History of The Christianville Spirit”

http://thechristianvillespirit.blogspot.com/2009/04/christianville-spirit-history-of.html

Check These Newsletters Out before Continuing to get a Back Story about Where I am going with This Newsletter. Go Ahead, I’ll Wait!

Okay, so Now that You get That. I am going to let The Me from 2007, Explain the Reason of The Story mixed with Modern Me. 

“I Love the made up things (I always have! I have always had a Huge Imagination) especially States and State Capitols. In my mind every person's body has a State and State Capitol {that is except for me}. In all cases of States and State Capitols, The State Capitol is in the heart. I base all the Cities, Mountains, Rivers, and Roads after things they like and their friends and a hole bunch of other things but, Likes and Friends are the base of it. The next door States to the East are a Great Friend. the State to the North and South are Family Members. and, of course that leaves The West. The State to the West is The Lover or The One or Current Boy/Girlfriend. finally, apparently everyone's favorite city. Christianville, TN. Christianville is not a real city in Tennessee but, i made it up to be there. the cities around Christianville or otherwise called "The Christianville Metro Area" are called Mapleton, Brooke, Steven, Karleen, Northchester....just to name a few. of course, there is my newsletter The Christianville Spirit. which i write about my life and friends and family. in real life The Christianville Spirit is a newsletter. but, in The Christianville Metro Area it's an actually a newspaper. 

So, The First Part Basically explains about How My Imagination works as well as The Origin of My Made-Up City of Christianville. At The Time, because I was gaining Readers from both Family, Friends, and a Few (Keyword Here, Few) PTLS Family Members that I knew at The Time, when I started writing My Newsletter on My Present Newsletter Site, I wanted to give My Readers a Tour of My Metro Area of Christianville that I made up. Because after All The Christianville Metro Area, or as I now call Metropolitan Christianville or Christianville Metropolitan Area is a Very Extensive Area that I made-up. It was Then that I gave a Tour of Christianville as well as The Suburbs of Christianville. 2007 Me Explains about The Tour. By The Way, at This Time of My Life, I not only did The Tour itself but, Added Opinions of People I made up that Live in a City that I made up.

Brooke's Streets are all grid-like streets similar to it's next door cities of Steven, Maplewood, and Karleen. The City of Brooke named after Christian's long time friend named Brooke Herrick and alot of the streets' names deal with that and other nearby things.{etc: Herrick Creek Pkwy., Brooke Ave., Brooke Pkwy. and more..} Also, the streets also deal with Christian (since it's his hometown} and what he likes. Brooke is the only city outside of The City of Christianville that has a day of Christians' Best Friend Festival, a celebration of Christian's best friends. 

the City of Steven was named after my special friend, Steven Vandeneykel. Steven, like Brooke, Maplewood, and Karleen are cities of suburban-ness. but, the roads are the same somewhat but, the difference would be the city's character. the City of Steven's character is all about Steven and his special friend, Tigger friendship. so, you could probably guess that many of the things in the City of Steven are none other than Orange and Black. well, i think your right. between the "Tigger-Tennessee League" baseball team The Steven Tiggerites to the Orange and Black to historic Downtown Steven.. I actually took a visit to Tiggerite Stadium or otherwise known as Tigger Acre Ballpark and i came to find that it was actually a good game and of course all of kids went nuts for the mascot, none other than Tigger. after visiting Steven i decided to go northeast of Brooke to see Maplewood. The City of Maplewood is a nice city to visit. it was named from a town in the Twin Cities Area of Minneasota. With it's Northerly named streets {etc: White Bear Rd.,Maine Jct. Rd., and Presque Isle Rd.} it sounds like a northern thymed suburb. We talked to a couple residents and residents from other cities around the area and here's what they said....

"Maplewood is an awesome city to live in. i'm very proud to live here" -Mary of Maplewood

"I Love three cities. Steven, Brooke, and Karleen"- Madison, teacher at Steven HS

Finally, we move on to the last city of on Day 2 of the tour, Karleen. The City of Karleen was named after my friend Karleen Frishman. The City of Karleen's character is very like The Kentucky Derby. with it's horses and stallion named streets and places{Etc: Stallion Lake Dr., Stallion Place, and The Estates of West Sedona Ridge}. As we explore Downtown Karleen we find a lot of stop with horse toys and nearly every one has a rocking horse in the front window. 

Anyway, as You can tell, It has been a Long Time since I wrote all of This back in 2007. Unfortunately, Something that I did not realize until I got older that in Life, Friends don’t always stay around forever. They are moving and shaking and so am I. I have heard Many Times, from both My Grandma Honey as well as Godly Sources that Friends will come and go during different Stages, Segments, Seasons, Whatever Your Word for It is. I have learned this over The Past Couple Years and It makes me wonder, What do I do about The Cities, The Streets, Events that I named after them. My Special Needs Logic would love the Way of The Swedish, Once You prove Yourself to a Swede, You are on Their Party Invite Guest List for Life. Same Thing with Me, once You are a Great Friend, You get The Honor of Being a Name in My City. I also wonder though about The Originality of My City. I have realized Two Things, one is that, The City of Christianville and It’s names can be tweaked but, They stay original. Lesson Two is The Hardest One, Choose Names that are Solid. For Example, I named, The Most popular street in Christianville from West Ali, Karleen, Madison (I think) Street and after I changed The Maps, I finally settled on a Solid Name like My Brother, Michael. So, Now It is known as West Michael Street. The Suburbs, however, Were not as Solid Names. Now, In My Mind, It would take an act of Congress of Change The Main City of Brooke because it is The Most Original City in the Metro Area. However, Cities like Steven and Karleen with their Disney and Horse References, I realized recently that It was Time that I chose a More Solid Name for Those Cities. I had many Ideas including naming it after My Childhood Crush and Friend, Lynee. I thought of Sankt Lynee, because Lynee is a Saint in My Mind. Sankt Lynee, by the way, means “Saint Lynee” in German. I would model it after a Town called  Sankt Margarethen in Switzerland. But, I finally settled on naming it after My Little Boy Dog, Paco and My Friend, Deb’s Mom who I refer to as “Ma”. The City becoming Paco-Ma. The Disney reference of East Tigger Road became Destiny Road after Ma’s position in My Angel Cabinet as “The Director of Destiny”. Orange and Black were replaced with Brindle (The Color of Paco) and Purple (Referring to Ma). Steven Tiggerites, The Baseball Team in The City which was a Tigger-Tennessee League Team at Tigger Acre Ballpark changed to Paco-Ma Mud Dogs, a Tennessee League Team at Paco Lighthouse Field (Referring to Ma’s Love of Lighthouses) Funny Side Note here, that Both Popi, My Mom’s Dad and Deb’s Mom (aka “Ma”) loved Lighthouses. I find that really Funny. Now, Part of The Challenge was changing Steven’s City to Paco-Ma, only because I don’t talk to Steven anymore. He is in His Own World, to say The Least. But, The City named after My Friend, Karleen, a Friend who to This Day, I am still friends with. I had named Her City and put Horse references in It, something I really did not want to Change. However, I realized that, Yes, Karleen may be in My Life now, but She has a New Life with Her Fiancé.

Now, Bering in Mind, I could be wrong, but The Same Time, I figured that If I was Changing The Map of The Area, I might as well, Change it too. So, after Hemming and Hawing, I settled on naming after My Lil’ PTLS Sister (Not Literally), McKenna. because She will always be My Lil’ PTLS Sister. So, The Horse References stay the same but, The City Name changes from Karleen to McKenna. The Reason why The Change in City Names and Street Names is that I basically had to redraw by Hand, a New Map of The Area, which was Very Frustrating because It was Very Detailed and I did not want to draw it differently. Being a Perfectionist, I did not want any screw-ups and have to do it all again. It literally took me to trace the Old Map perfectly aligned with a Pencil and then, Pen over It. All in all, I hated to do the Changes that they needed to done sooner or later. But, that is Life, Changes happen all the Time!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Embrace Change, Change with It!

The Christianville Spirit: People as Trains Rerun

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Knows Love

January 16th, 2019-TCS # 623

Wah’ Gwaan, My Readers! I have used This Greeting before. I feel that This Greeting from Jamaica in The Most Unique out of The Greetings that I have used. Except, Maybe Ćiao from Slovakia. But, This Greeting means What’s going on or What’s Up in Jamaican Patois. It is pronounced “Wa-Goo-Ahn”. Jamaican Patois or Jamaican Creole basically sounds like Slang Words and English Words, mashed together. You learn something new Everyday! Anyway, so onto This Week’s Newsletter.  So, I was reminded of a Newsletter that I wrote back in 2015 about an Odd Dream I had that I called “People as Trains”. The Theory of It, which I am going to Rerun, is actually Good Advice No Matter where You might be in Your Life. Funny Thing that I probably should have mentioned at The Time that I wrote This Newsletter, is that Us PTLSers tend to be Very Fascinated with Transportation. For Me, It is Road Signs; The Sound of The Road; Pavement Changes of The Road at County and State Lines; I am interested in The Big Planes, like Double-Decker (either Half or Fully) Planes and How Big They can be. However, I know that There are Some Younger PTLSers that loves Trains and How they work. Maybe not The Loudness of The Horn because The Horn is Very Loud but, The Train itself. This Dream that I have, that sparks This Rerun Newsletter is that Trains run on Tracks and In order for The Train to run, It runs on The Tracks, therefore staying on Track. Anyway, I’m going to let the Me from 2015 explain. As They say in Television and Radio, Roll It Guys!

This Newsletter was written on January 14th of 2015 (Refer to Newsletter 433)

So, The Other Night I had a Strange Dream that I wanted to share with You. Now, Normally, I do not share about My Dreams but, This Time, I am going to because It has quite a Bit of Meaning. You See, I had a dream about Being on a Train. I think It was because I watched a Video from Cory (Mr. Safety) called “Beer Train” and I think that is Where it came from. For a Few Reference Notes, “Mr. Safety” is a YouTuber that I watched a lot when He was Dating another YouTuber named Kate (Katersoneseven). The “Beer Train” Reference; Cory made a Video about His Adventures in Alaska and Found that There is a “Beer Train” in Anchorage. It goes through some Very Beautiful Scenery and Gets a Little Wild. I was a little Curious about what happened because He said it was Crazy. Anyway, I remember waking up from The Dream with The Thought, “People as Trains, Gotta Stay on Track”. I thought, “Oh Man, I got to write this down!”, Following up with “Oh, I am sure that I will remember”. I didn’t. I remembered it the next day and told My Mom the Next Morning. When The Thought, “People as Trains” came to My Head, I wondered “People as Trains?! That’s Crazy”. It made more sense after Thinking about It. I can consider it a New and Interesting Theory. It is Interesting because Trains go through a lot and see a lot too. As My Friend, Deb tells me, “Life is not about Rushing to The Destination, It is about The Journey.” That is Very True! And, Trains do go on a Journey to get to Places. Not that I have I been, but, The Journey from San Francisco to Seattle is a Journey on It’s Own. Of Course, Trains also behave differently in their journey, as We would in Our Lives. We have Low Points and Go through Boring Parts of The Country. Also, We have High Points and Go through The Most Beautiful Parts of The Country like The Adirondack Mountains in Autumn; Montana; or Along The Pacific Coast. Trains, in their low points crash into Cars, Run Over Objects, or Just have a Conductor that just Lays on The Horn. My Brother tells me that They do that a lot when passing His House in Denton. “Sometimes, They just Lay On The Horn, It is so Annoying!” My Brother would say. Another Low Point, Going on a Crazy Train, You might feel like Saying, “I feel like I’m on a Crazy Train!” I’m sure that You have heard someone say that Saying before or Even “I Feel like This Train is moving Way too Fast!”  The High Points, Those are when Being on a Train or Being a Train is when it gets Awesome. Like How about a Train Plowing through The Snow in The Deep Woods of British Columbia! That is Beautiful! or Maybe the Honor of being The Polar Express and taking Excited Kids up to The North Pole. Sorry, I have seen that Movie a Hundred Times, I think I was getting Really Excited here! Another Cool Thing about Trains is that They take You to some really cool places! There are Times when People take their Vacations by taking a Train Ride to a Certain Places like Through The Mountains, Up to Chicago, Through The Alps, or Around Sydney. You don’t hear about it that often, but You would be surprised if You saw just how many People have their Luggage ready to go at a Train Station. Of Course, I should also mention that There are Different Types of Trains, The Regular Ones, The Historic Ones (like Grapevine Vintage Railroad or Savannah Historic Railroad), Amtrak (Here in The US), EuroStar (in Europe), and Let’s not forget The High Speed Trains (like The Accela Train along The East Coast of The US or High Speed Trains in Europe and China) So, What is The Point of All This? Well, If People are like Trains, We are on Our Own Journey. Sometimes We hit Beautiful Parts or Boring Parts of Our Journey. Sometimes We get stuff thrown at us or Objects like Ipads and Other Things put on Our Tracks (By The Way, You should NEVER do any of Those Things!). Sometimes, A Car, A Truck, and Yes, Even a Person may get in The Way of Our Journey and All While Trying to Derail Us. Sometimes, We will travel though Freezing Cold not seeing a Thing because of All The Snow, then Maybe We will travel through The Warmth of Florida, Mexico, or Spain. We’ll go though Many Cities and Many Railroad Crossings (both that are Lighted Crossarms or Some that are Not Lighted). We may Carry a Very Long Load of Cargo, Maybe Passengers, or Beer-Drinking Partyers. But, On The Other hand, We may carry “Precious Cargo” or Very Elegant Dinner Guests. The Scenery will always change, The People will change, and We Our Train-Selves will Change (like being Upgraded from just a Passenger Train to an Elegant Dinner Guest Party), or As Long as We stay on Track, The Track below us where ever We are, will Never Change. and, Who Knows, We may have More Unexpected Fun than We thought we would on Our Journey. All in all, Being A Train is a part of Life and You never know what You might Encounter.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Remember to Stay on Track on Your Journey.

The Christianville Spirit: Those Darn Electronics Rerun

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Knows Love

January 9th, 2019-TCS # 622

Greetings and Happy January, My Readers! My Greeting is actually Greetings! That is Funny! Also, although I said Happy New Year already, It is a Happy January as well. Just because You enter January by saying “Happy New Year” does not mean You can not say “Happy January”. So, Boy, Do I have a Few Stories for You that relate to a Newsletter that I am going to Rerun. You See, not that I like to complain but, It seems that If I complain, It is going to be about Computers and Electronic Issues. You See, The Past couple weeks going into Christmas, I had been having different Issues with Different Elements of Computers and/or Electronics. Not that I make it known much, but, I have a Mac Computer, with that, Yes, does not come Viruses but, When Mac Computers have an Issue, let’s just say It is No Easy Fix. Because Macs are Very Intelligent. You See, All of a Sudden, while I was Cyber-Traveling, My Safari Application (Basically, Apple’s Internet Program. Sort of like Internet Explorer) froze on Me, which it does from Time to Time because either The Program has stopped responding or One Tab is not responding. I tried refreshing, Nope. Then, I tried Restarting The Program, It did not turn on. After Researching and Trying different Methods including Several YouTube Videos, I ended up having to Reinstall The Whole System. As I mentioned before, Macs are Very Intelligent. On PC, You would just Delete The Program or Offending File and ReInstall It, Simple. Nope, it does not work that way with Macs. It took a Long Time to Reinstall and then, It was working, but Many Things were Out of Date. I updated it and Now, We are back to Square One. I then called upon My Lovely Neighbour, Mr. Marshall, who really knows Computers well. All it took to Fix It was Deleting an Offending File, not from Safari but, From iTunes! Yes, Really! Apparently, Someone put some File in The Update of iTunes that only works for Updated Computer Systems (or MacOS). Listen, I respect You, Apple. I Love You, You provide iTunes Movies, You power My iPad, You don’t give me Viruses. But, at The Same Time, You force People to update to Whatever New System or iOS on The iPad (or Whatever device) and People either don’t have Room for Storage on Either or It adds things that They add across All users that The Person with The Older System really can’t work or use, therefore The Effect is useless, if that makes sense. Secondly, Which brought us all Quite a Lesson, over Christmas, Our Internet was Out! It was Out because of The Box that runs The Internet inside was Dead, Affecting Our Cell Service as Well. Our Neighborhood was built on a Former-Airport, I think It has something to do with that. Of Course, All This was happening pretty much the whole time that My Brother was in Town. I believe that It was to teach us that We don’t need the Internet to keep us entertained. I did not see it as a Good Thing but, It equalled to us having More Quality Time with My Brother and that was what We wanted in The First Place because It feels like We don’t get enough with My Brother when He is Here or With Us. So, It turned out to be a Good Thing not to have Internet for a Whole Week as well as Little Phone Service. Another Thing that has Me frustrated is that I am very Organized Guy. When I come across Articles that have References that I need to Save for Later, I quickly file them somewhere like Dropbox or Google Plus. A Couple Month ago, I found out that Google was going to Get Rid of Google Plus! So, Going into The New Year, I knew that I would have to find a Way transfer all of My Referenced Articles somewhere. So, I Figured that instead of Waiting until near The End Date of March of 2019, I figured that I would move them. It took me 3 Days to not only figure out how to move them, but Where to move them to. I figured that although I did not want to Dump a Bunch of Articles on Facebook to get them into My “Saved” Lists on Facebook, but that was The Only Way to do so. I also had a lot of Personal References to deal with as well. So, I decided to put those in an Email and Dropbox form because I did not want them on Facebook. Often I find that Big Companies like Apple, Facebook, and even Google, They don’t pay attention to what Their Users want. They just change when They see fit to do so. My Theory, What if They polled People about a Change that They want to make, see if Users want it or not and then, go from There. So, with all that said, I am going to rerun a Newsletter about “Those Darn Electronics”! Enjoy and Maybe, I helped you learn something! 

This Newsletter was written on January 11th of 2012 (Refer to Newsletter 282)

So, among the cool things that My Mom, My Brother, and I did for Christmas, besides having an “Italian Christmas,” that was a candlelit dinner and playing with one of My Gifts. You See, for years I’ve had an Ipod Touch to play on and by playing on it, I mean I researched things on the internet and listened to Music. Of Course, I never downloaded any games on it because that never interests me. Anyway, for this Christmas, I got an Ipad and I love it now. I’ve gotten many apps, including a Living Earth app that tells the time and weather of a location. Let me tell you though that this Ipad is quite addicting to use, I mean just the Living Earth and now, the Google Earth app is hard enough for me to put it down. Ho Ho! Now, you know, like any young person, I’ve followed the technology a little slower than others but, I followed it. However, there are times when Technology can get in the way. You See, I’ve noticed whenever I’m out with My Mom and Brother, I notice kids and their families playing with their Iphones or Ipod Touch and not talking to each other at all. You know that scene where a family of 3 or 4 are sitting together, 2 parents and 1 or 2 kids, the kids are playing their Apple Devices while the parents talk alone and eat. You Know, I’ve never done that and never will. You See, when I was growing up, we didn’t have any Apple Devices to play on and not talk to my family. In my day, it was that we all sat at the table and talked the whole time, when it came to leaving the table, you had to excuse your self. Believe it or not, I survived very well without electronics, Why? Because we had a trampoline and kids in all directions to play with. I mean, I consider myself quite lucky to have the childhood that I did, with no fences between 4 Yards and a cul-de-sac. Now, I know most kids here in Plano don’t get that kind of childhood but, still. As far as any electronics, what we had was the TV and a Nintendo 64, at times all the Herrick, Barsis, and others wanted to play. Of Course, when we’d go out, we would all sit and talk, and if we were at Joe’s Crab Shack, we would go and play on the playground sometimes for a couple hours, it was awesomely fun. So, of course, I learned my Social Skills pretty easily between 3 Barsi kids and 3 Herrick girls and of course, our trampoline in our backyard. Now, of course, to this day, whenever My Mom, Brother, and I go out, we talk the whole time. And, yes I make sure not to bring my Ipad to the table unless it’s something I really want to show My Mom, other than that, I don’t bring it to the table at home or out. It’s kind of sad to see families that let their kids bring their devices to the dinner table because and it shows how dysfunctional electronics can makes us. I’m saying this because everyone should be able to talk with one another and as My Grandma Honey would probably say, “There’s no one or thing on that device that is more important than Family.” Besides, the best way for PTLS Kids to learn to talk is by imitating those around us who are talking, not texting or playing on a device. All in all, put down those electronics and get back to basics. if your excuse is to use it for entertainment to keep your kids quiet when they’re little, don’t expect them to converse with you when their older. 

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Be your kids’ entertainment, not the give the job to electronics.   

The Christianville Spirit: Happy New Year 2019

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Knows Love

January 2nd, 2019-TCS # 621

Welcome Back, My Readers! I would Love to Welcome You Back to Another Exciting, Much-Needed Awesome Year of Thought-Provoking, Heart Warming and Inspirational Newsletters to come. But, First, Happy New Year and Welcome to 2019! Wow! 2019! Never thought I would make it to 2019 somewhat unscathed! So, with that said, 2019, I welcome You with Open Arms! 2019! This Summer will be 20 Years since Graduating from Elementary School as well 20 Years since I started to going to a Brand New Middle School that at the Time, I was told, was Better tham the Middle School that I would have gone to. It would be interesting to see the Alternate History of that, which route would have been better. I digress. We will get more into that This Summer. So, (Clearing Throat), This New Year just got started! So, The Year’s Tagline and Theme of The Year is The Spirit that Knows Love, Now I am thinking both on This One. I, like Most Humans, think, anyway that We Know Love and Then, There is a Part of Us that believe that This Tagline will mean that The Spirit or The Year in This Context, I guess, will basically teach us about Love. And, by that I mean, True Love! So, Here is The First Lesson This Year about Love. I chose this Tagline because it is Credited to a Person, who to say the least is going through a Not Necessarily Pretty Part of Her Life at the Moment. I polled People last year about Taglines, and The Woman in Question; PTLS Member, Leonie Clements, put in The Mountain Load List of Tagline Suggestions. As You could Imagine, It is hard to choose just one Tagline that Someone suggested. This Year, I choose hers because that is Something that I want out of This Year, True Love. At The Moment, It is a Theme of The Year that I would literally Love to share with You. So, Leonie would say, What is Love? People say that Love is Complicated. But, that is what People see as Romantic Love. Really though, Romantic Love is not that Complicated. I actually wrote a Newsletter about It. (Refer to “Simple Affections (Series): Love Is..” Newsletter). But, In This Context, We are not talking about Romantic Love. In This Case, Love in general. For Example, To still hang out with a Friend that may have a Different Political View than You but, You still hang out with them and be not only cordial but, Treating them as They were still part of Your Friend Pack. My Friend that is Love. I still support My Friend, Gypsy January, even though, I truly have Never even met her in Person but, I see it as if I know her Very Well in Person and Supporting Her Dream of living in Her Soul Place. That is Love. There are Times when I am loving on My Little Boy Dog, Paco and I wonder how could I love that Dog so much. I often spoil Him! Sometimes, I might (keyword here, might) show Him a little too much Favoritism over Our other Two Dogs. In My Mind, anyway, Dogs are People too, Ya Know! There are just Four-legged Furry Things commonly known as an Animal. But, to Me, They are Family. So, They are Four-Legged, Furry Things are Your Family in Normal Context. Weird thing to say about Paco or Our Other Two Dogs. But, that is Love. Yes, there are even Times when You can Love Things like Your Prized Possession, whatever that might be. Like Me, You could also Love certain Subjects of The World! Mine is Geography, History, Politics (All of them mixed together), Road Signs, and more. You could love History, Math even (No, I am not judging!) There are People who enjoy Subjects like that! So, with that said, with Our Theme, We should make sure to do Things in Love. I actually read a Sign in an Mercantile Store with a Sign that quoted, What I thought was The Best Line about Love. Now, Normally I would not quote Bible Scripture in My Newsletter (Probably because I never have) but, Here It goes. “Whatever You Do, Do It with Kindness and Love”- 1 Corinthians 16:14. To Me, that Sums up Life as well as God in One Word, Love. God is Love and Love is God. So, What can We do to Spread Love? Well, The Most Simple way is One Random Act of Kindness at a Time according to Morgan Freeman in The Movie, Evan Almighty. But, One of My Ways is to do what I do Every Year and set Goals according to Love and with Your Heart.

So, Here are My 2019 Goals with Love and Heart!

• I want True Love. The Kind of Love that makes you Complete as well as Love that You can perfect over The Years. Love that makes you Fall in Love over and over, and You never get Tired of It; that Laughing at Something really Mundane kind of Love; Lay Underneath The Christmas Tree together or like Laying on The Grass looking at The Stars, with only The Christmas Lights at Night kind of Love; Singing to Our Favorite Song kind of Love; and, The Kind of Heart that will Love You No Matter what You look like or What You are doing kind of Love
• More Time with Friends, Near and Far!
• Learning to do Activities that I might Love like What  One PTLS Member Relation and Great Friend, Faith who passed away was going to teach me to Paddle Board. I would believe that Faith, herself, would still want me to at least try it.
• I do want My Mom and My Brother to find The Love of Their Lives too! And, for My Brother to become successful in What He Loves to Do because My Brother, Michael is worth it and deserves it! And, My Mom, She’s worth it and deserves it too! 
• And, Finally in The PTLS Front. I Love Geography so I  want to travel more to Spread Awareness about PTLS! 

So, Those are My 2019 Love Goals! This makes a Great Addition to My Love for Pasta, Yogurt, Music, Hallmark Movies, and Keeping it with The News around The World. All in all, I look forward to 2019, filled with Love of All Things. I Hope You find how you Love and Spread It for All to See!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Love comes in All Forms! Spread The Love!

The Christianville Spirit: Christian's Year-In-Review 2018

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

December 28th, 2018-TCS # 620

Well, My Readers, PTLS Family Members, and Friends, It looks like We have come to The End of Another Year here at The Christianville Spirit and What a Year it was. Wow! What a Year! Ya Know, Sometimes, when I choose a Tagline for The Year, I try to stick to a Theme that kinda goes with a The Tagline of The Year. Often Times, in January, I really focus on and By The Times, Mid-Year comes around, I have forgotten about Making Sure that My Newsletters carry a bit of The Theme. This Year, It was not My Newsletters that kept with The Theme, It was My Personal Life This Year. I would be Lying if I said, This Year was Great! Now, Yes, I know Every Year has It’s up and downs. Low Points makes You appreciate The High Points. I will Laugh at Myself where were a Few Years ago, like (Laughing) “Remember when XYZ was happening and I felt This Way!”. So Did This Year, as much it did not turn out like I Planned, fit The Theme? Yes! In Times, A lot of Times actually, We had to Keep Learning. Life without Learning is Boring! Even in The Most Craziest of Times This Year, Yes, We were Hopeful. and, In The Against All Odds Times, Dang Gum It... We were Resilient. This Year’s Tagline by The Way was “The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience” and It was actually Credited to Three People. Funny Thing, These were Most Influential People of This Year. The Tagline is Credited to My Neighbour, Patty (I call her “Miss Patty”) and PTLS Family Members, Sally Morgan and Karen Crane. So, As I explained at The Beginning of The Year when It came to This Year’s Goals. That according to My Friend, Gypsy January that You have to Set Your Goals with Your Heart and That is What I did. Because This Year did not turn out like I planned or Actually, This Year threw me for a Loop, We’ll put it that Way. It was not Possible to Accomplish My Goals. I will explain.

So, Here are My 2018 Heart’s Goals!

• I know I have Mentioned This Many Years in a Row But, I want True Love. A Revised Version of “Meeting The Woman of My Dreams”. It is somewhat The Same Thing but, Still. I want that Laughing at Something really Mundane kind of Love; Lay Underneath The Christmas Tree together, like Laying on The Grass looking at The Stars, with only The Christmas Lights at Night kind of Love; Singing to Our Favorite Song kind of Love; and, The Kind of Heart that will Love You No Matter what You look like or What You are doing kind of Love (Okay. So, Not This Year. I guess It was not Time. This Year was for Learning)
• A Goal that is in The Process, Finishing The Laser Hair Removal Treatments! I can’t wait until The Final Zap and I can shout “Mission Accomplished!”(Due to Reasons on both, the Person who does It as well as Myself. We could not do this)
• This Goal I have talked to Lynee’s Mom, Dona about. I think It is Time to meet Lynee’s Brother. After All, I have already met Lynee’s Sister, Jona; Mom, Dona; and, Dad, John, but have yet to meet Lynee’s Brother. (Wow! This One give Me Chills! I totally forgot about This Goal! Due to Craziness of The Year in Both Families, We could not do This!)
• This One I feel is Personal, as if All the Others aren’t. Before PTLS Member Relation and Great Friend, Faith passed away I wanted her to teach me to Paddle Board. I know it seems Silly and It is Harder than It looks, I am told. However, I never made it out to North Georgia to Learn how to do it, I probably wanted to do it to Impress Her a Little bit and I knew that It was Her Favorite Thing to do. I would believe that Faith, herself, would still want me to at least try it. (Oh Man! Another Really Good Goal! This One and The Last One I just mentioned will be Moved to Next Year)
• I do want My Mom and My Brother to find The Love of Their Lives too! And, for My Brother to become successful in What He Loves to Do because My Brother, Michael is worth it and deserves it! And, My Mom, She’s worth it and deserves it too! To My Friend, Scott Lerew, Where’s that Campaign You were going to start?! (Nope, Not This Year. Perhaps, Next Year)
• And, Finally in The PTLS Front. I have really wanted to make it to Italy. I have waited for a PTLS Family Members to have us there for a Long Time. It is sort of a Dream Trip, just like going to Sweden was. Plus, Why Not?! It gives me an Excuse to See Italy and Some of Our Family’s Heritage. There are Other Parts of The World that I would love to see as well. (Okay. So, This One was partly Done. I was sponsored to Sweden and Spain for a Second Time. I am Very Blessed! But, Did not make it to Italy)

Now, Yes, I know that I may sound Negative when Reflecting about This Year. Now, Just Because Crazy Stuff happened this Year does not mean that Good Things did not come out of It. It may sound Crazy but, Sometimes, The Best Things can come out of Not-So-Great Things. So, with that said, I can not wait until 2019. But, Before 2019 comes and We watch The Ball drop, Let’s Re-Live 2018 via what I call “Christian’s Year-In-Review 2018”, My self-produced Year-In-Review.

So, without Further a due, Let’s get started!

So, like all Years We start in January. So, as You can tell, This Year was Crazy and Therefore, I do have to Share some of The Crazy Things as well as Good Things. From January 14th to January 23rd, We had a Leak of Hot Water underneath The Slab of The House. You could actually feel The Warmth of The Water if You walked in Certain Parts of The House. Good Thing, It was Really Cold so you could feel The Difference. We had The Pipes rerouted and We found Leak and A Repair Guy fixed It. In PTLS News, We did something different with The PTLS Shirt Launch, It was Either the Traditional or Custom “Team PTLSers” Shirts.

Before I start with The News, I try as Hard as I can to avoid any Upsetting Political Stories, but For The Sake of History and My Year-In-Review, I feel I must mention them. If I feel that It may Upset (or Trigger) Someone, I will say, Political Story Alert! So, Let me say this first. Let Me Make it VERY Clear that Us here at The Christianville Spirit and In Integrity of This Newsletter, **The Christianville Spirit is and Forever will be Non-Politically Aligned with any Candidate or Leader.** In the News, On January 13th, There was a False Missile Alert in Hawaii. It sent People in a Panic and It was only a False Alert, Someone tripped the button. Also, On January 27th, Paris’ Seine River flooded.

In February, A Sad Moment, on February 26th, Former Neighbours, Shelagh and Fernando expatted to Merida, Mexico. A Personal Accomplishment was made on February 9th and February 25th respectively, I got up at 5 AM to watch The Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony of The Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Live. I find it better to Watch Live without The Commentary or Editing. In The News, There was an Earthquake in Oaxaca, Mexico on February 17th, It was a Really Bad Earthquake from What I remember. Also, Not that I am into Sports but, The Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl 52 for The First Time on February 4th.

Now, March (Marzo) Was a Good Month! Not only was it PTLS Awareness Month. It was a Big Birthday for Grandma Honey, Her 80th and She got to Meet her Great-Grandson, Jace (Honorable Mention: He was born on February 1st) It was actually The 6th Generation that Grandma Honey saw. I also dealt The Slime Craze (Refer to “My Three Biggest Triggers” Newsletter). On March (Marzo) 7th, My Brother made me a Frame of The Original PTLS Shirt. I call it “The PTLS Relic Shirt”. It was intended for Christmas. But, I got it the Day before PTLS Awareness Day! It was Sent at The Perfect Time! In The News, A Pedestrian Bridge collapsed near Florida International University in Miami on March (Marzo) 15th. They did a “Stress Test” during Rush Hour which caused it to Fall. Also, World Famous Physicist, Stephen Hawking passed Away March (Marzo) 13th. 

Now, We come to a Difficult and Crazy Month for Us, April. Literally 2 Weeks after We got Home from Grandma Honey’s 80th Party, She ended up in The Hospital in Mid-April. Therefore, We had to Drive to Atlanta for a Family Emergency. Now, I realize that It could have been Something and It could have been Nothing. I really Thank God that It was Somewhat-Nothing. I Mean, It was not Something Important like Heart, Lungs, You Know, The Important Stuff. No, It was because A Very Low Level of Potassium which in It’s own Crazy Way, is Important. Too Low of It and It can Kill You. Yes, I said that, It can Kill You! So, it goes without saying, No Matter what Your Age, Take your Potassium! And, Don’t be Afraid to Check your Levels every once and while! Now, It would not be My Mom’s Dad (Popi’s) Humor that This Family Emergency would happen on The 10th Anniversary of Popi passing away on April 17th, I referred to it as “Lighthouse Day”. In The News, There was a Shooting at YouTube Headquarters on April 3rd. Political Story Alert! On April 27th, There was Meeting between The Leaders of North and South Korea. Something that has not happened in 50 Years due to The Korean War. The Meeting was to basically End the Korean War, at least in Their Eyes. 

In May, It was the 10th Lynee Remembrance Day (or LRD as I call it) on May 22nd. I really wanted to meet with Lynee’s Mom at that time but, It did not happen. A Sign did show up a Couple Days after with Day Lillys showing up in Our Backyard, near a Tree that My Mom refers to as the “Life Tree”. In Other News, PTLS Family Member, Maggie got married on May 25th. We got to watch it on Facebook Live. In The News, Political Story Alert! There was a Shooting at a High School in Santa Fe, Texas on May 17th. In Positive News though, on May 18th The UK’s Prince Harry married Television Star, Commoner, and an American, Meghan Markle. It really was a Historic Sight to see. It is something that Never has been done before. 

In June, Due to Our Car being on The Verge of Breaking Down in Late June, We took Our Car up to Mr. Jeff to get it fixed, unfortunately There was Too Much to Fix. The Investment of Keeping It (It was named “Trinity”) vs. Buying a New Car, We just decided a get a New Car. It is pretty much the same car but, a Small Version of It. My Mom settled on naming it, MACC Trinity. In The News, Sad News of Chef and TV Host of Several Shows on The Travel Channel as well as One on CNN, Anthony Bourdain passed away on June 8th. Political Story Alert! US President Donald Trump and The Leader of North Korea met in Singapore for a Summit Meeting on June 12th. Something that in Historical Context has not happened in a Very Long Time. A US President meeting with The Leader of North Korea! 

July was One of Those Months of This Year that did not go right at all. After The New Car Mentioned at The End of June, going into July, Our Refrigerator Broke Down therefore causing us to have to get a New One. On Top of That, Towards The End of July, Our Air Conditioning also broke down and We basically had to have The Whole Unit replaced. It is much stronger and bigger now versus Our Old Unit. But, Still, Both events caused Great Stress on Me. Good News though, My Friend, Gypsy January moved to Her Soul Place of Oregon on July 20th. In a Way, It was a Silver Lining to watch her accomplish her Dream. In The News, There was Record-Breaking Heat here in Dallas. Upwards of 11o Degrees F. Thank God that Our A/C did not go out during that time, It went out a Week after. Also, There was a Soccer Team in Thailand that got rescued after being stuck in Cave for 16 Days on July 10th. 

August, In My Crazy Year, was Definitely a Highlight for Me. Over The Week of My 31st Birthday, We were Sponsored (meaning PTLS Family Members invited and paid for us get there) to go to Stockholm, Sweden for a PTLS Business Trip and Conference on The Road. I got to spend My Birthday in Another Country. Although, We were only flying through, We did stop in Iceland, The 8th Country that I have been to. Refer to “My 31st Birthday in Sweden” for More Details. In The News, Legendary Singer, Aretha Franklin passed away on August 16th.That was Sad! She was a Brilliant Singer! Also, A Bridge in Genao, Italia (Italy) collapsed on August 14th. 

September was kind of a Quiet Month with The Exception of an Ice Cream outing with Our Neighbours on September 3rd and The 10th Anniversary of Our Dog, Sophie passing away on September 24th. Something I refer to as “Sophie Memorial Day”. In The News, Hurricane Florence hit The Coast of North Carolina and Portions of South Carolina as a Category 2 on September 14th. It could have been so much worse! They actually projected that It was going to hit as a Category 4 or 5 but, At The Last Minute, It turned to a Category 2, although It caused really bad Flooding along The Coast of North Carolina. Also, In Natural Disasters, There was 7.5 Magnitude Earthquake that hit off The Coast of Indonesia on September 28th. 

October was another Point where I was blessed and honored to be Sponsored to go Spain for The Second Time for Another PTLS Conference on The Road. I referred to it as PTLS En España II in Mid-October. Also, In October was My Brother, Michael’s 30th Birthday! My Mom went up to Denver to go see Him. Because it was Right after going to Spain, I stayed Home and Watched The Dogs. It was actually the first time that I watched the dog along with Paco. In The News, Hurricane Michael (Yes, Really!) hit the Panhandle of Florida as a Category 5 Hurricane on October 10th. I know that It was a Serious Event, but, The Storm hit a Couple Weeks before My Brother’s 30th Birthday. Now, Come On, What are coincidences of That?! Also, In The News, Political Story Alert! The United States Supreme Court got another Justice! Justice Brett Kavenaugh. Yes, I know! This will be a Trigger but, In Historical Context, This has to be included.

In November was The First Year that “Christian’s Best Friends’ Festival” had a New Honoree Day. The New Honoree Day was called “McKenna-Faith Day” honoring My PTLS Lil’ Sis, McKenna as well as PTLS Family Relation and Angel Cabinet Member, Faith Thompson. On November 18th, I put My Now-Famous “Overhead Wonderland Project” of Christmas Lights. I figured that with My Crazy Year, that I deserved to get a Little Creative with My Christmas Lights Display. In The News, There was a Shooting at a Bar in Thousand Oak, California on November 7th. Also, There was a 7.0 Magnitude Earthquake in Alaska on November 30th. 

And, Finally We reached The Last Month of The Year, December. Now, I will save you and Not Write about Negative News Events because I feel that You do not deserve that as Your Year Ending. I will tell you that I ended The Year with having some Much Needed Quality Time with My Brother for Christmas. I would be lying if I said that It is not The Same without Him, even though He lives in Colorado and He is only a Phone Call or Skype Call away, It still is not The Same. Plus, My Brother came Home for Christmas which Made My Christmas Brighter. And, To Top that, I joined My Neighbours, Miss Patty and Mr. Marshall and spread Christmas Cheer Caroling to Our Fellow Neighbours! Talk about Christmas Magic right there! All in all, It may have been a Crazy Year, Okay Year, Good Year, or even Great Year. It was Year of Learning and Yes, even Growth. I did Grow This Year, I will admit. It was a Year of Hope and A Year of Resilience. But, I genuinely hope that You, My Readers, had a Good Year and Hope for an Even Better Year Next Year. As My Neighbours will say, It gets Better and Better! And, I can’t wait to see you back here for Another Year of Hopeful, Resilient, and Thought-Provoking, Heart Warming and Inspirational Newsletters to come in 2019!

(For the Last Time in 2018)

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Be Hopeful and Be Resilient!

The Christianville Spirit: Analyzing Christmas Carols-Part 3 (Mini-Series)

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

December 19th, 2018-TCS # 619

Well, My Readers, It is that Time of Year, My Favourite Time of Year, Christmas. I know I said that probably Last Week and The Week before, but I mean it Every Time. Christmas is My Most Favourite Time of The Year. Every Year, in The Start of The Month I start to write about December and How Much I Love Christmas, then I get to This Week’s Newsletter, Perhaps One of The Biggest Newsletters in My Schedule, My Annual Christmas Newsletter, and Sometimes I use all the Good Ones up during My other December Joy Newsletters. It is Difficult to come up with a Topic after All of Those Brilliant Topics before. However, This Year, I decided to do something a Little different. Instead, I thought of Doing all Magical Newsletters talking about Christmas over The First Weeks of December leading to My Annual Christmas Newsletter, I decided to do a Mini-Series that will actually lead Right into My Christmas Newsletter, using All the Magic over The Course of The Weeks of December and into My Christmas Newsletter. So, In case You are wondering, that is how I got the Idea for My Mini-Series about Analyzing Christmas Carols. So, Now that We have that covered, Let’s get into The Final Installment of My 3-Part Mini-Series! 

So, without further a due, This is My Christmas Mini-Series, “Analyzing Christmas Carols” so, I realize that There are Many Christmas Songs or actually, known as Christmas Carols out there but, I feel that The Songs that I am analyzing really explain the Best about The Magic of Christmas. So, The Next Song that I am going to Analyze is another Song from The Rosie CD called Santa on The Rooftop by  Trisha Yearwood (along with Rosie). Now, The Way This Song starts is not Traditional. You See, In Music, typically A Song starts Soft before We get into The Band Playing and Body of The Song, But, This one The Band is already in it. It starts the Three Bangs from The Band. Trisha comes in while The Band Intro is picking up Fast. Saying “Ohh Yeah!” One More Bang “mmhhmmm” with Some Christmas Jingles and The Story begins. 

“I was Walking Home on Christmas Eve; The Whole Neighborhood was Fast Asleep (Coming Home rather Late, I would think);” The Snow was falling, Coming down Hard; The Place looked like a Picture Postcard” (Christmas Romanticism at It’s Best. A Perfect Image of What I would Imagine Christmas Eve to look like). The Song Continues. “And, When My House came in to View, I noticed something up on The Roof; You can’t Imagine My Surprise! When I look closer and realized” (I listen to This Song every Christmas and this Part still give me Chills) Going into The Body of The Song. “It was Santa on The Rooftop; and, Our House was Santa’s first Roof Stop; Reindeer were Quiet as a Mouse” (This explains why We don’t hear a Big Thud on The Roof when Santa comes; Santa is Skilled!) “Didn’t Make a Sound; Santa got ready to make his way down”; (We are talking about How Santa gets down the Chimney) “He had one foot in The Chimney; Destination, Our Brand New Christmas Tree” (Sounds like there should be a “Oh Yeah!” here, There is One Later) “I knew Everyone was gonna be Shocked; When I told them, I saw Santa on the Rooftop!” (Can You imagine that Story for a Second?! Santa on the Roof of Your House and You saw it?!!) The Song continues Explaining about The Mother getting Home and Telling Everyone. “I tried to get Home right away; But, I was just a little too late; The Gifts were Laid out under The Tree; But, No Sign of Mr. S.C” (Santa Claus!). Rosie mixes in Now, “I ran over to the Fireplace; But, There was Nothing but An Empty Space” (I’m telling you, Santa has Skills; He can get in and out in 5 Seconds Flat, How He does that is Beyond My Literal Mind! It is Magic) This Part brings me Chills, It is like I can feel the excitement of The Children being awoken to find out that Santa is at Your House. Yes, The Mother said that, Santa. Is. At. YOUR. House! You are not Dreaming! “Got Everybody, Up out of Bed; Their Eyes Open Wide when I said” going to The Body of The Song and then, Adding “I knew Everyone was gonna be Shocked; When I told them, I saw Santa on The Rooftop” Christmasy Jingly Music and then, The Band Banging, “Some People think, The Man’s a Myth; I had My Doubts, I admit; But, How could I criticize When Somebody says with That Look in Their Eyes, It was Santa on The Rooftop!” (If You don’t believe in Santa, This Song will make you believe) Going into The Body of The Song ending with “When I told them I saw Santa on The Rooftop” with The Oh Yeahs finally comings. Repeating The Title of The Song and Then, The Song Ends.

I hope You enjoyed My Christmas Mini-Series. You will look up This Song and Listen to It!

By The Way, I should do an Honorable Mention to those who do not celebrate Christmas. So, To You Hanukkah Celebrators, I wish you the Happiest of 8 Nights of Hanukkah. The Jewish Celebrate that, by the way. You get One Present for 8 Nights as well as Lighting The Menorah and Spinning The Dreidel. Kwanza is a Holiday celebrated in Africa. Happy Kwanza to You also! And, Finally, The Holiday of Yule. They celebrate The Winter Solstice, They are originators of the “Yule Log” and “Yule-Tide Carols”. Happy Yule to You as Well. Just thought that I would mention them all! All in all, I Hope You have An Awesome (Insert Holiday Here) and From The Bottom of My Heart, Have a Merry & Blessed Christmas!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah (or Chanukah), Happy Kwanza, and Blessed Yule from The Christianville Spirit! 

The Christianville Spirit: Analyzing Christmas Carols-Part 2 (Mini-Series)

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

December 11th, 2018-TCS # 618

Spread The Magic, My Readers! Hey! That’s a Different Greeting! Yes, Folks! It is that Time of The Year, My Favourite Time of the Year, Christmas Holiday Season. One of The Reasons is not only The Christmas Lights, Christmas Trees, and Christmas Music. But, Of Course, I am missing one other element. Christmas Cheer, or more on The Lines of Christmas Magic! You know that saying that at Christmas, It seems like Magic is in The Air and Truth be told, It is in The Air and That is The Best Part of Christmas. So, For The Next Christmas Carol that We are going to Analyze deals with My Favourite Feeling of Christmas. Why I Love Christmas so Much! 

So, without Further a Due, This is Part 2 of My Christmas Mini-Series, Analyzing Christmas Carols! So, This is a Less-than-Traditional Song, but For Me, It has been a Tradition for Me. So, Every Year, My Mom puts in this Christmas Music CD to Mark the Beginning of The Christmas Season. It was from a CD called A Rosie Christmas. It was a CD of Rosie O’Donnell and Guest Singers, singing different songs (Not that She is a Rosie Fan). I like The Guest Singers. The Songs that They sing range from The Traditional 12 Days of Christmas to More Unique only to The Rosie CD Songs. The Next Two Parts of My Mini-Series, We will explore Two Unique Songs on This CD. Now, I should note that This Song can also apply to those who don’t celebrate Christmas. 

The Song is called The Magic of Christmas Day by Celine Dion. The Song starts with a Gentle Christmassy Intro. “Deck The Halls with Boughs of Holly; It’s Season to be Jolly; and be Thankful for All that We Have”. (One may think that You can be thankful at Thanksgiving, You can at Christmas Time too!). “All The Lights and Decorations, Put up in Anticipation, Of The Joyful Celebration, that on It’s Way!” (Jumping right into The Intro to The Body of The Song and Into The Body of Song.) “Counting the Days, till It’s Time for Christmas Day!” The Body goes like This; “Oh, and God bless us Everyone!” “The Good and The Bad; The Happy, The Sad” and Repeat The First part again adding “Here’s to family and Friends and It’s good to be Here again!”. Now, If You Want to explain The Magic of Christmas to Someone who may or may not believe, This is a Good Stanza to Read to Them. It’s My Favourite of Christmas. “On The Streets, There’s Children Laughing; People smile as They are passing; Christmas Time is Here, Our Waiting is done!” “Wishing it could last forever” (Don’t we all wish that!) “Not just 12 Days in December” (referring to The 12 Days of Christmas and The Joy of Christmas at It’s Highest going into Christmas) “Through The Year, It’s Good to remember that Special Way!, That Everyone Feels, It’s The Magic of Christmas Day!” (The Answer to The Problem! Remember the Way Everyone was Joyful at Christmas Time!) Then, We continue into The Body of The Song, that God blesses Everyone whether They are Good or Bad, Happy or Sad. and, It’s good to be Here (at Christmas Time) again! Towards, The End of The Body of The Song, It continues with The Perfect Way to get some Christmas Magic and Cheer! “So, Fill Your Heart with Love and Joy; and, Through The Eyes of Girls and Boys” (the Next Part will give you Chills! The Best Way to get Christmas Cheer!) “Share Their Wonder, Live through Their Joy!, It’s Easy to do! Just Open Your Heart and The Spirit (Christmas Spirit) will come to You!” Then comes a Christmassy Segway into The Body of The Song and Ending with “It’s Good to be here again!’. 

Before We close Part 2 of My Mini-Series, I want to share a Short but, Magical Story with You. So, As I have Mentioned around This Time of Year, One of The Mega-Churches in Our Area does a Dinner for The Special Needs Community. “The Special Friends Dinner”, They call it. A Way for Those with Special Needs to feel included in Christmas and Holiday Festivities. I will tell you, Yes, It was a Regular Christmas Dinner that We have had Each Year, but This Year, I really could feel The Magic in The Room. In Fact, We all got Christmas Jingle Bells for us to Ring aloud while The Pastor was singing on Stage. And, then, on Sunday, Our Neighbours, Mr. Marshall and Miss Patty took us over to Their Church because One of Their Kids was in a Kids’ Christmas Production. It was a Sing-along/Dance-along, It was Pretty Cool! Again though, The Friendliness of The People there was Magical as well. All in all, Yes, There is such thing as Christmas Magic. As The Song that We analyzed mentions; Just talk to Kids about it, They’ll tell you all about The Christmas Magic. and, Believe Me, that alone will make you Believe in it again. Even if You already Believe!

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Let The Child in You come out and Enjoy The Spirit of Christmas!

The Christianville Spirit: Analyzing Christmas Carols-Part 1 (Mini-Series)

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Keeps Learning with Hope and Resilience

December 4th, 2018-TCS # 617

Happy December, My Readers! Wow! Can You believe that The Year is almost over?! And, What a Year it has been, but More on that after Christmas. It is that Time of Year again though! It is My Favorite Time of Year, The Month of December filled with Christmas Cheer, Christmas Music, Christmas Lights, and above all, Christmas Magic (And, Believe Me, It can happen!). I know I Write The Following Statement Every Year but, I Love December because of One Holiday, Christmas. I do however have a bit of a Different Swing to My “Happy December” Newsletter. So, This December and Christmas Holiday Season, I have been getting Creative with Things including My Christmas Display. So, This Newsletter is going to be No Exception. So, Let Me Start with This Statement

My Name is Christian Smith-Centeno and I believe in Santa Claus! Wow! It takes a Man to say that! It takes a Man to say at My Age that He still believes in Santa Claus. In Fact, I challenge you to say the Same Thing.

So, I have talked about Santa Claus before (Refer to “Where is The North Pole?” Newsletter). This Year, We are taking a Different Direction with It. So, This Begins with a Story. So, My Mom and I were watching The End of The Christmas Special, Santa Claus is coming to Town and We were looking for The Next Thing to Watch when I noticed that Another Christmas Special was on, called Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer. Then, My Mom and I had a Funny Discussion about That Song and How It actually sounds. Honestly, of All of The Christmas Carols that We sing Every Year, This has to be The Funniest as well as The Most Morbid Christmas Song to Hear or Sing. You See, As I mentioned in “The Meaning of MMMBop” Newsletter, often times, People sing The Lyrics of Songs, but They never really Pay Attention to The Lyrics of What They are Singing. So, Just like I analyzed The Meaning of MMMBop. For The Next 3 Newsletters, I want to Share with You, The Songs and Meanings of Some of My Favourite Christmas Songs in 3-Newsletter Mini-Series that I am calling Analyzing Christmas Carols. So, Without Further a due, This is My Christmas Mini-Series Analyzing Christmas Carols. This Song is “Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer” by Elmo and Patsy.

 The Song Starts with Two “Young” Guys singing about How Grandma got ran over by a Reindeer in Detail. “Grandma Got Ran over by a Reindeer” The Song explains how Grandma as walking Home from The Family’s House on Christmas Eve and Mentioning what Musicians call “The Body of The Song”. “You can say There’s no such things as Santa, but, as for Me and Grandpa, We Believe”. The Song continues, “She’d been Drinking too Egg Nog” (Which Some People do at Christmas Time) “And, We begged her not to go”; “But, She forgot her Medication and She staggered out The Door into The Snow”. Question, Why didn’t Grandpa Stop Her?! or Go and Get her Medication. I wonder. The Song Continues, “When We found her Christmas Morning, at The Scene of The Attack, She had hoof-prints on Her Forehead and Incriminating Claw Marks on Her Back” and Then, It goes to The Body of The Song before continuing. It makes me wonder though, How could The Family not hear The Jingle Bells getting Louder, and Grandma most likely Yelling. Also, Why did it take until Christmas Morning to Find Her? Didn’t Grandpa want to know where His Wife was? If She had hoof prints on Her Forehead and Her Back, that means The Reindeer hit her, knocked her over, She rolled around a few Times, and They trampled on Her Back. How Horrific is That?! that sounds Painful. There had to Blood Everywhere. What a Horrible Death! Hopefully, The Egg Nog kept her from Feeling Everything!

The Song continues, “We are all so Proud of Grandpa; He’s been taking this so Well; See Him in there watching Football; Drinking Beer and Playing Cards with Cousin Mel” Okay, so Grandpa is over here acting like Nothing is Wrong. Perhaps, dealing with it in His Own Way, but, He is drinking too. It could have been Him! The Song mentions that It is not Christmas without Grandma, The Fact that The Family is Dressed in Black (Due to Mourning) and that, They wonder if They should open Grandma’s Gifts or Send them back. The Crowd in The Background says Send Them Back. (I Agree!) Although, I wonder now, What would be in those Gifts. The Body of The Song comes next and then, We continue, “Now The Goose is on The Table, and The Pudding made of Fig” (Trying My Neighbour’s Fig, were Good, I am wondering how Good that would be) “And, The Blue and Silver Candles! That would just have matched the Hair in Grandma’s Wig” (Oh Boy! Blue and Silver Candles looking like Grandma’s Hair; So, Maybe She was a Dallas Cowboy Fan but, What a Reminder of The Event!) “I’ve warned all My Friends and Neighbors; Better Watch Out for Yourselves!” “They should Never give a License to a Man who drives a Sleigh and Plays with Elves.” (Now, that sounds a Little Creepy!) The Song continues into The Body of The Song before The Last of What Musicians call “the Last Stanza” with Everyone singing behind Re-Explaining The Whole Story how Grandma got ran over by a Reindeer, Walking home from The Family’s House on Christmas Eve, You can say that There is No such thing as Santa, as for Me and Grandpa we believe and ending with a Deep Voice saying “Merry Christmas!”. Okay, so Thought here, I assumed that Santa always stays Above Ground, going from Roof to Roof, or Landing at Special Houses and Clicking his Magic Fingers for Gifts to appear. I mean, again, This Theory of Santa not stopping at Literally Every House on Earth in One Night, Logically..Really! That 7 Billon Houses in the Entire World. And, He would not stop for a Grandma that He just ran over! Isn’t that called a Hit and Run?!

 So, with that said, Perhaps, Santa saw Grandma down there walking down The Street, and thought “Bonus Points!”. And, Who knows? Perhaps Santa might had drinking too much Egg Nog as Well. I give My Condolences to The Family of Grandma. Maybe Next Year,   Santa will be More Careful.

 All in all, Be Careful if You Drink Egg Nog on Christmas Eve, Don’t Walk Home where Santa can run You down, Take an Uber or a Lyft.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Never Drink and Drive...A Sleigh!