Merry Christmas

We'll be taking a short break for Christmas. We'll probably be back next week in some form or another, I kind of want to recap & highlight some of the cool stuff Deckfight put out this year as well as pre-cap (just made that up) some of the stuff for 2010.

I have a long list of thanks that I'll give next week.

If you're looking for an awesome selection of indie/punk Christmas songs, Can You See The Sunset has an awesome list going.

But in the meantime---Merry Christmas.

"God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again." (John 3:17, The Message) More after the jump...

Friday Five: 5 (or 10) Christmas Things with Matthew Paul Turner

For a Friday Five at Christmas, I could think of no better person than author Matthew Paul Turner. He's the author of several books, including the Hear No Evil: My Story of Innocence, Music and The Holy Ghost which drops in February.



He also blogs regularly at Jesus Needs New PR, and includes this recent funny post about live nativity scenes.

And, there's a Christmas bonus. Not only did Matthew give us the 5 best things he's read recently, but also lets us know 5 things he likes about Christmas and 5 things he doesn't like about Christmas...




5 best things about Christmas

1) Baking pies

2) Spending time with family

3) Singing Christmas carols



4) The Charlie Brown Christmas Special

5) The traditions--decorating, putting my son in Santa's lap, fireplaces, and holiday parties with friends

5 things he doesn't like about Christmas

1) Holiday consumerism and busyness



2) The Shrek Christmas Special

3) "Silver Bells"--a ridiculous excuse for a song in my opinion

4) Spending more than three days with family

5) The struggle I have to engage the hope of Jesus

5 Best Things Matthew Paul Turner has read recently...

1) Entertainment Weekly

2) The Twitter feed of @FakeAPStyleBook--Hilarious.

3) The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

4) A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

5) Psalm 23

More after the jump...