Thoughts on the Angels and How Exciting Christmas Is

Earlier this evening I was standing next to my mom in the kitchen mixing myself a cup of cocoa while this was playing in the background:

Mom turned to me and said something to the effect of, "Isn't this magnificent?" Just moments before I had been thinking to myself how much I love this rendition of "Hark the Herald, etc." because of how triumphant it is. It was a wonderful moment because that feeling of the magnificent triumph of this Christmas carol seemed to encapsulate perfectly some ponderings I've had recently about the chorus of angels that accompanied the Savior's birth.

I like to think that the night of the Savior's birth there was a pretty sweet party in heaven. The whole of eternity was pointing to this moment, and we were so excited that it was finally happening - that the Savior of mankind was finally making his way to Earth to save us all from sin and death - that we couldn't be contained. (I say we because I like to think that I was among the angels who was so excited I just couldn't even handle it.) So, in our excitement, we made our way down to check things out:

and in the euphoria of the moment we just had to tell someone about it. Or rather, we had to sing to someone about it. So we went out and found some local shepherds, and we said to them:

"Hey guys. It's happening! He's here!! Jesus Christ! You know, the Savior! The Prince of Peace and all that jazz! The guy who's gonna make it all happen! HE'S FINALLY HERE! IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING! GO SEE!!!"

See, on Earth I think a lot of times we tend to get so caught up in the daily minutiae of life that sometimes we don't see what's really important and what's eternally significant. So in this moment - this all important and thrilling moment - the angels stepped in and let us all know what's really important. And I really feel like Charles Wesley encapsulated that message when he wrote:

Hail! the heav'n born Prince of peace!
Hail! the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die:
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"

He's the real source of the magnificent triumph Mom and I were feeling earlier tonight. I love and am eternally grateful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I thank God everyday for the incalculable gift of His Son, which gift we celebrate during this season.

The Definitive List of the Best Christmas Movies

I'm finally done with everything for this semester, and the strange stresslessness of life has left me not at all sleepy. So instead of sleeping I've ranked the best Christmas movies. I know in the title it says that this is a definitive list, but really that was just my way of saying that YES THIS IS THE DEFINITIVE LIST!! I'm right. If you disagree, well, then you'll just have to accept that you're wrong. Good, now that that's out of the way, let's proceed.

...

Actually, before we proceed to the actual list of best Christmas movies, there are a couple of other lists that I need to make first.

Christmas Movies that I've Never Really Liked Despite Popular Opinion

- Scrooged
- Christmas Vacation
- Love, Actually

Honorable Honorable Mention (aka good-to-fantastic movies that take place around or somehow involve Christmas, but because Christmas isn't a key player in the plot, weren't considered for the Top 10)

- The Hudsucker Proxy
- The Shop Around the Corner
- Die Hard
- The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
- Ask Me Again


Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

- Holiday Inn
- Mr. Krueger's Christmas
- Christmas in Connecticut
- Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer (clay-mation)
- A Christmas Carol (Both the George C. Scott and the Alastair Sim)
- Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
- The I Love Lucy Christmas special where they all dress up like Santa Claus
- Frosty the Snowman (cartoon)


Now we can get on to the list. Well, we will after GeorgeCScottScrooge stops being in the way:

whenever I read A Christmas Carol (which is every year) George C. Scott is how I picture Scrooge in my mind

The Definitive Top Ten List of the Best Christmas Movies

10. While You Were Sleeping

9. Elf

8. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon)

7. A Christmas Story

6. the home movie of Heather and her "My Child"

I don't have this one digitally so as to embed it here. But trust me, it's awesome.


5. Miracle on 34^th Street (the old one)

4. It’s a Wonderful Life

3. The Muppet Christmas Carol

2. White Christmas

1. The Bishop’s Wife

Feel free to let me know if you disagree with me, but let me reiterate that if you disagree, you're wrong. See I've spent minutes - several of them - thinking about this, and come to the conclusion that this is the way it should be.

Early Morning Cowboys

Sometimes I'm awake at 4:45 in the am and I take breaks from what I'm working on to watch videos of monkeys riding border collies and herding sheep around a rodeo arena.

Which naturally leads to me listening to awesome musics like this:

and this:

It's the simple joys in life.

My Thoughts as I Watched the Trailer for 'Le Petit Prince'

In Order:

- I hope it's in English
- except no, it should probably be in French
- but French probably wouldn't sell as well, so it'll probably be in English.
- oh good. French.
- man, I should learn French.
- I don't have time to learn French.
- mmm, I like this cover of "Somewhere Only We Know"
- I want glow in the dark paint
- and a plant tunnel.