Gail and his Knights

First let me state by no means to I think I am better than anyone else here this is just my perspective.
Keeping that in mind here goes.

My wife and I do not teach our children that santa is real, however if you know us at all and have seen any of our holiday pics that lisa has taken and other vids you know we take the boys to see santa.

I see this as no different then letting them see Scooby doo or dora at Kings Island. They are not real, they know it as much as a 2 ½ year old can understand..

Growing up my parents never taught me Santa was real, that he gets you presents if you are good etc etc.
Mind you I do not feel deprived of anything at all. I was able to go sit on santa’s lap and tell him what I wanted for Christmas like any other child.
We have been teaching Nolan for a while now that God makes trees, flowers, the sun and the moon etc. Only lately when we ask him who made this or that he says SANTA!!!. We gently laugh and say no silly God made it. We’ve never told him santa made anything, somehow somewhere he picked that up. Now when you ask him sometimes he will say Santa and just laugh and say no santa’s pretend, he’s not real, God is real. Now we don’t snarl or yell at Nolan if he does these things we enjoy it, nor do we “preach” at him about it. he’s only 2 ½.
We don’t teach the boys that santa gives them presents because what possible good is there in doing so? For one you may have to explain to them (possibly crying kid) one day santa is not real. My mom didn’t find this out till she was 10 or so something like that. To me promoting that santa gives our children gifts takes away from the ultimate reason for the season. My personal conviction is that teaching our children that Santa is real and brings them presents is the ultimate insult to God. Here’s why God graciously provides me a job that, provides me money to provide a home, food and yes to buy gifts for the kids.
For me nothing is added by telling our kids santa is real, but plenty is taken away from God by telling them santa provided the gifts. If you really want to go deeper the whole idea of santa is that if you are good you get presents, when in reality God provides Christians and even the unsaved with great gifts regardless how wicked or evil we can be.
I am so thankful I am not rewarded based on how good I am or should I say AM NOT!
For me to say that even the smallest gift comes from santa would take the ultimate glory from God. We are blessed because of God’s wonderful grace not due to anything of man.

Isaiah 43:7
Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory,
I have formed him; yea, I have made him

I am a sinner saved by God’s Grace, everything I have is because of him, not me. Sometimes God does not get all the glory like he should. I hope not to promote something that takes away HIS glory even more.

Nolan's First time visiting Santa He still is scared of him,
Nathaniel had no problems with santa on his first visit this year.
pay close attention to the part where nolan stops for a moment looks at santa then starts up again. Too Funny!

Where did the X in Xmas start...
Christmas each year there are always those who loudly decry the use of the abbreviation "Xmas" as some kind of blasphemy against Christ and Christianity. This concern has been elevated recently with the public debates about manger scenes and the substitution of "holiday" for Christmas in stores and government venues. Among religious folks, the objection to Xmas is usually along the line that people have taken Christ out of Christmas and replaced him with an unknown (since the Greek letter chi, [C,c] which looks like the English letter x, is the symbol for an unknown quantity in mathematics).

The exact origin of the single letter X for Christ cannot be pinpointed with certainty. Some claim that it began in the first century AD along with the other symbols, but evidence is lacking. Others think that it came into widespread use by the thirteenth century along with many other abbreviations and symbols for Christianity and various Christian ideas that were popular in the Middle Ages. However, again, the evidence is sparse.

In any case, by the fifteenth century Xmas emerged as a widely used symbol for Christmas. In 1436 Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with moveable type. In the early days of printing typesetting was done by hand and was very tedious and expensive. As a result, abbreviations were common. In religious publications, the church began to use the abbreviation C for the word "Christ" to cut down on the cost of the books and pamphlets. From there, the abbreviation moved into general use in newspapers and other publications, and "Xmas" became an accepted way of printing "Christmas" (along with the abbreviations Xian and Xianity). Even Webster’s dictionary acknowledges that the abbreviation Xmas was in common use by the middle of the sixteenth century.

So there is no grand scheme to dilute Christianity by promoting the use of Xmas instead of Christmas. It is not a modern invention to try to convert Christmas into a secular day, nor is it a device to promote the commercialism of the holiday season. Its origin is thoroughly rooted in the heritage of the Church. It is simply another way to say Christmas, drawing on a long history of symbolic abbreviations used in the church. In fact, as with other abbreviations used in common speech or writing (such as Mr. or etc.), the abbreviation "Xmas" should be pronounced "Christmas" just as if the word were written out in full, rather than saying "exmas." Understanding this use of Christian symbolism might help us modern day Xians focus on more important issues of the Faith during Advent, and bring a little more Peace to the Xmas Season.

From Gail and His Knights Merry XMAS!

Read More
http://www.cresourcei.org/symbols/xmasorigin.html

I have thought all along the the selling point of megapixels on digital cameras was a marketing scheme now here's proof!!

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm
"So long as you have 100 to 150 DPI (dots or pixels per inch), you have plenty for a sharp print viewed at arm's length. This means a 6 MP camera can make prints 30" (75cm) wide and still look great. When was the last time you printed that big? "


For instance, a 3 MP camera pretty much looks the same as a 6 MP camera, even when blown up to 12 x 18" (30x50cm)! I know because I've done this. Have you? NY Times tech writer David Pogue did this here and here and saw the same thing — nothing!


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/technology/08pogue.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
“The more megapixels a camera has, the better the pictures.”It’s a big fat lie. The camera companies and camera stores all know it, but they continue to exploit our misunderstanding. Advertisements declare a camera’s megapixel rating as though it’s a letter grade, implying that a 7-megapixel model is necessarily better than a 5-megapixel model. "