Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

12:40 AM, Christmas. That very loud alarm on Fulton Ave. started up. ("BAKuhweh BAKuhweh BAKuhwey you have VIolated an ARea proTECted by a SECURity SYStem BAKuhwah BAKuhweh BAKuhweh WEEEOOOWEEEOOOWEEEOOO") This time I only let it go five minutes before calling the police. I figure nobody in a 2+ block radius really wants to listen to it very long in the wee hours of Christmas morning. I wonder why it gets set off so bloody often, and why it always takes my calling the police myself to get it shut off. Nobody else calls? Passing police cruisers don't hear it? The alarm system itself doesn't dial somebody? Is there something especially valuable in that one house, or somebody really clumsy living there? It's gotta be waking people up for about a block in each direction (and annoying people who were already awake for twice that distance).

And I had just gone to bed myself.

"As the scripture says, 'make it your ambition in life to be pleasing to God.' If I had made it my ambition in life a long time ago to be pleasing to all the other Christians, I would have been so hogtied I would not have accomplished anything for the gospel." -- Connie Neal, author of What's a Christian To Do With Harry Potter? and The Gospel According to Harry Potter, in an interview in The Door

I really like the eclectic selection of holiday music WRNR is playing. Something about hearing "It's going to be a punk rock Christmas this year" right after the very sweet "I'm the angel in the Christmas play" ... I've heard straight-up holiday songs, novelty songs, parodies of old standards, rock/jazz/reggae/etc. adaptations of carols, "message" songs (such as "So This Is Christmas") ... and not enough of the same sort of thing for a long enough stretch to get annoying or boring.

But the one that had me dashing to the computer with a lump in my throat, to Google the lyrics, was a Dar Williams song:

The food was great, the tree plugged in, the meal had gone without a hitch,
Till Timmy turned to Amber and said, "Is it true that you're a wtich?"
His mom jumped up and said, "The pies are burning," and she hit the kitchen,
And it was Jane who spoke, she said, "It's true, your cousin's not a Christian,"
"But we love trees, we love the snow, the friends we have, the world we share,
And you find magic from your God, and we find magic everywhere,"

So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,
And where does magic come from? I think magic's in the learning,
'Cause now when Christians sit with Pagans only pumpkin pies are burning.

It's The Christians and the Pagans