Merry, uh, Christmas

Paul just read in the paper this morning that Jerry Falwell is forming an organization to boycott stores that won't say "Merry Christmas" and instead use "Happy Holidays" or, in the case of Target, "Gather Round." (Surely they have better things to do with their time?) The words "merry Christmas" are in the Bible, right? Uh, no. The word Christmas is not in the Bible and in fact, was not celebrated as a feast day in the church until the 3rd century. "Gather Round" actually seems to me to be a whole lot more Christmas-y. But the dumb thing is that they won't shop at Target, so where will they shop for Christmas? Walmart, of course. A store with an abysmal human rights record. I guess exploiting people isn't against their religion.

A guy from the ACLU said something about "it's not like they're protesting consumerism..." It's just words. And there is so much to actually be *done.*
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I've got plenty to do with my time! Community Link yesterday--we made pumpkin bread (vegan, even!) and took it out to shut-ins. I got to visit a 38 year old woman from Damascus who broke her foot. Church this morning--last time at Annunciation and there will be a little going-away thing for us. Then this evening we're having a small gathering at our house to say goodbye to our friends here. Tomorrow we'll need to pack everything that we want to have with us, as opposed to having the movers take. Tuesday the movers pack us up and move us out, and Wednesday, I hope relatively early after Paul finishes work (ha ha about the early...) we'll drive toward Tucson. Probably not get there on Wednesday, as it's like a 15 hour drive and Paul will have lots to finish up. We'll spend Thanksgiving with Paul's family and then drive up to Portland from there.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! See you in Portland. :-)