A Christmas Reflection

I lead a couple of Bible studies each week, and we've been looking at the passages in the Gospels that deal with the birth of Christ.  While it's true that we are never instructed in the scriptures to celebrate Christ's birth, and the whole idea behind Christmas trees, red and green colors, Christmas ornaments etc actually goes back to the pagan middle ages.  I don't really care about the origins of those symbols, because in our context today I don't personally know anyone who worships their Christmas tree.  We have a tree too that we cut down in the forest about 20 miles from here.  The forest service is pretty serious about this whole permit thing too; they set up a roadblock at both ends of a 4 or 5 mile stretch of highway that's been designated for tree cutting, and you have to stop to show them your permit before you can go through.  It dawned on my as I was trudging around in the snow with Daphne and the girls that the forest service guys are geniuses - they get tons of fire mitigation done without having to do the work themselves, and they even get paid by those who do the cutting! 

Anyway, my train of thought got derailed there for a moment.  Where I meant to go was to talk about Mary and Joseph and the Christmas story.  It's fun leading these bible studies because most of those who attend are young believers or they're still trying to figure out this whole Christianity idea.  For several of them this is the first time they've ever opened a Bible, so everything they're reading is new and (sometimes) pretty confusing.  I've been around the church and the Bible for so long that I can approach all of this with a "same 'ol same 'ol" attitude, and in the process I miss the wonder of reading the very words of God written for us - words that have the power to change us and heal our hearts.  So as we've been reading through the various Gospel accounts of Jesus' birth, several things have grabbed our attention.  For instance,  when Gabriel appeared to Mary, Joseph and Zacharias (Elizabeth's husband and Mary's Uncle) one of the first things he said was, "Do not be afraid".  Why?  while I'm sure that it must have been terrifying to have an angel suddenly show up in your room,  I believe there's more to it than that.  Throughout the bible God says over and over and over, "Don't be afraid."  I think fear is probably Satan's most effective weapon against Christians.  Fear, worry, and anxiety can so overwhelm us that for all intents and purposes any influence we might have in our society is eliminated.  Joyful, peaceful, restful, thankful Christians are so rare that anyone on the outside would look at the church and wonder what possible benefit they would gain from becoming an insider.  All the same worries and problems, and more rules on top of that.  Yeuk. 

When Gabriel told Mary and Joseph that she would become pregnant by the power of God, they both had to realize the obvious implications of her pregnancy, and what everyone else in the village would be thinking - "Oh, so God got her pregnant?  Right.  That happens all the time!"  They knew they would be rejected, misjudged, and possibly run out of the village - or even worse.  So Gabriel starts by telling both of them not to be afraid, because God is in the middle of this whole bizarre situation.  And to their credit, both Mary and Joseph (who were only in their teens in all likelihood) responded by saying, "OK God."  That's why God chose them, because He knew they had child-like faith that would carry them through the turmoil and distress of the coming months and years.  That's the kind of faith I want  - to be able to rest in God's peace, knowing that I am never forgotten and never alone.  Peaceful.  Restful. Thankful.  Our lives are full of unknowns right now, so I'm encouraged by the example of Mary and Joseph to hold on to what I know to be true about God.

A parade truly Bailey-style

Last Saturday evening we co-hosted (with Chip and the Cutthroat Cafe) this year's  annual "Drive-By Christmas Light Parade".  I once asked Chip why he calls it that, and he replied, "Cause that's about it... we just drive by!"   You never know who's going to show up to be in the parade, and we had to postpone it one week due to the absolutely frigid temperatures last weekend (well below freezing).  This time around we had Logan's trailer stacked with hay bales for the hay ride, a vintage fire truck to lead the parade, another fire truck with lights flashing, two horses decked out with electric lights, my truck strung with intermittent Christmas lights (more on that in a moment), and two Park County deputies to block the highway as the enormous parade crossed on our way down and back.  We had a few people who gathered at the country store to wave us off, and I think one or two who peeked out of their curtains as the procession passed by on our way down county road 64.  We'll have to work on getting our fellow Bailiens (Bailyites? ) more involved in this momentous event next year. 

Anyway, I decided to decorate my truck this time year, and borrowed a voltage inverter to run the lights (you plug it into the cigarette lighter). I wish I had a picture of the finished product, but I was too busy trying to get the whole thing to work for more than 60 seconds to snap a photo.  Don Morrison and I spent at least two hours duck-taping the strings of lights all over the truck, plus we had a metal "sculpture" screwed down in the back with string lights in the shape (loosely) of snowflakes.  We were going to stand one of our wooden sasquatch cutouts wearing a Santa hat in the bed of the truck, but when the wind kicked up I thought it wiser to keep him on terra-ferma.  (I could just imagine sasquatch flying through the air and killing someone on the side of the road - it would be the first confirmed death by sasquatch).  We managed to get all the lights working by 4 in the afternoon, although we blew at least 4 or 5 fuses in the truck in the process.  When "showtime" arrived, I started the truck, turned on the lights, and promptly blew another fuse.  Then another.  Then another.  I was ready to give up and park the truck, since I was holding up the parade while I tried in vain to bring some Christmas cheer.  Then one of the firemen said that he had an inverter in his car, and if I had a really long extension cord we could run my lights from his vehicle.  What a great idea!  So we ran the cord out of his window and up to the bed of my truck, and the whole thing worked like a charm... for about 3 minutes.  After that the lights would come on, then go off, then on again.  Only in Bailey could you have two vehicles connected by an extension cord driving in the Christmas Light Parade. 

After the parade we all gathered in the store for coffee and hot chocolate and for the giving of the coveted Green-Bean-Can trophy.  It's actually about ten different cans - all unopened mind you - of vegetables, marshmallow cream, and whatever else all glued together.  Whoever wins the trophy is supposed to add something else to the "structure", which is now about 4 feet high and weighs a good 25 pounds.  It was great fun.
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One last thing:  this coming Thursday morning, the Bailey Country Store and Sasquatch Outpost will be featured on Denver's 9 News!  They were up here a couple of weeks ago during the power outage, and they ended up broadcasting from the Cutthroat Cafe all morning.  The reporter and her cameraman stopped by the store for a snack on their way back to town (when she walked in wearing black tights and a fur coat, I had an inkling she wasn't a local) and she was so enthralled by the whole Sasquatch theme that she wants to come back and do a story on us (since, as she put it, Christmas is the "season for believing").  We're not sure what to expect, but we're excited about the publicity this could give our store.  Stay tuned for more!

Creepy Dummys

Last night I decided to take care of an issue that I'd been avoiding for a long time: I bought a roll of 9 inch thick insulation to attach in between the floor joists under the store floor.  I've been avoiding it because 1 Its butt cold under this old building and 2 I hate working with fiberglass insulation because it gets all over you, makes you itch and sends you into coughing fits if you don't wear a mask and 3 I hate wearing masks and 4 its really, really creepy down under the floor.  We'd already closed the store, so it was just me down below with my thoughts... and its interesting what kinds of thoughts one has while climbing around in the dirt underneath a 130 year old building.  "I wonder if there's a body down here that someone dumped 100 years ago? Or what about giant rats, or brown recluse spiders?".  Needless to say, I got the job done in record time.  Some jobs are better left for the daytime, especially if you're afraid of the dark as I am.  Yes, I'm 51 years old and I still hate the dark.  I attribute this lifetime phobia and dysfunction to my older siblings, who used to lock my younger brother John and I in various rooms in the house, in the dark of course.  I vividly remember banging on the door and yelling, all the while imagining the monsters and ghouls crawling up behind us, ready to snatch us under the bed forever.   At the last possible second when the trio of torture would open the door and save our lives as we came tumbling out of the room.  It wasn't all our imagination either.  My older brother had one of those dummys that you could make talk, move its head, and make the eyes open and close.  It was totally creepy.  One day John and I were rummaging through my parents closet and we found that dummy on the upper shelf.  We looked at it and played around with it for a few minutes and put it back.  When we went back to get it a few days or weeks later, it wasn't there.  It had MOVED, BY ITSELF!  All our fears were confirmed... the dummy was ALIVE!  So when older brother and chief torturer Bill would shut us in that room, we just KNEW that the dummy was crawling out of whatever hiding place it had found and was dragging itself across the room to attack us. 
Of course, I'm not afraid of the dummy anymore.  My fears are much more rational, like finding a 100 year old corpse half buried under the country store.

 Just too creepy

Bitter Cold

We've experienced record-setting cold temperatures for the past few days, with the mercury falling to minus 20 or lower.  A couple of days ago we had 10-12 inches of snow as well, but it was the bitter, bitter cold that was the hardest to take.  I was out plowing from 4am until 8pm.  A very long day.  The power went out at 1:40 that morning and stayed out for four hours (something to do with a line or a pole that snapped in the -25 cold).  In that short span of time pipes froze all over Bailey and many were without drinking water or showers for one or two days.

Things are slow in the country store, probably a reflection of the weather more than anything.  On the morning of the power outage, channel 9 news from Denver sent a team up to the mountains to find a good story and they ended up at the Cutthroat Cafe next door.  I didn't see the broadcast, but they stayed at the cafe all morning and would cut out to the news, then back to the cafe again.  We've got some colorful characters up here and I think they interviewed every one of them - tatoos, cowboy hats and all.  Later on the woman presenter stopped in to the store to buy a snack for the drive back to Denver.  I knew- through my keen powers of observation - that she wasn't local.  Course,  the tights and fur coat were a dead giveaway.  She was immediately enthralled with the store and the whole Sasquatch theme, and she wants to come back up and do a story on us before Christmas... since this is the season of "believing".  Believing... in Sasquatch?  Hey, maybe we should start a new religion called Squatchism ("I'm a Squatchist; what are you?"), and I could be the Right Reverend Jim "Squatch" Myers!  Hmmm... maybe not.   Anyway, I hope it works out cause it would be great advertising for the store.  Speaking of Sasquatch, I'm thinking of asking one of the local micro breweries if they would make a special batch of just for us that I would call "You Don't Know Squatch" beer.  I think it would be a huge hit!  I've already bought the domain name - youdontknowsquatch.com   Yes, I'm serious.  I know a great idea when I hear one.

On to more serious matters: Today is the SEC CHAMPIONSHIP game between Auburn and Missouri, and Auburn is a 2 point favorite.  2 points??  Never heard of a spread that small.  Two days ago it was 1.5 points, so I guess the bookies suddenly gained .5 points worth of confidence in Auburn.  Who knows?  By this afternoon it could be all the way up to 2.25 points.  Anyway, today is also the annual Conifer Christmas parade that starts around the same time as the game, so I may end up watching the game with me, myself and I. 

The headlines of the Birmingham News newspaper this morning: 

 WAR DAMN MIRACLE!   

Yes, Auburn did it again: a last second, totally impossible, game of the century win - this time over arch rival #1 Alabama.  I was watching the game with friends and family, along with at least 300 screaming Auburn fans, at the pub where the Rocky Mountain Auburn Club meets.  Below is a video of the bedlam that followed the 109 yard touchdown return of Bama's missed field goal attempt with 1 second left on the clock, an event - I might add - that has only happened three others times in all of college football history.  Two weeks ago was the "Immaculate Deflection" where Auburn beat Georgia with what was - until last night - considered to be one of the most improbable endings in college football.  Yesterday's Iron Bowl will now go down in history as not only the greatest Iron Bowl ever, but one of the most incredible college games of this decade, if not ever in the sport.  The crowd of 90,000 stormed the field for the world's largest block party as the Alabama team and coaches slunk out of the stadium in defeat.  It's on to the SEC Championship game against Missouri next week and then... the BCS National Championship???  With this incredible, most amazing comeback season in Auburn's history, who can predict how this will all end?  All I know is this:  IT'S GREAT TO BE AN AUBURN TIGER!