Time for another Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you to Joyce From This Side of the Pond for the questions!

1. Oxford’s Word of the Year for 2023 is ‘rizz’. Hmmm…before today had you ever heard the word? Do you know what it means? (Apparently it’s short for charisma) Have you ever used the word? If you were in charge of the world, what word would you declare word of the year for 2023?

I have not ever heard that word before today and I did not know what it meant. It sounded more like a nickname for a person to me.

The first word that came to my mind to declare to the world is REPENT! Our world is in a mess.

2. What’s one word you tend to abbreviate in your writing or speech? (as in rizz for charisma)

I’m drawing a blank here except for FYI. It probably will become clearer when I read your answers to this question.

3. Are you a Hallmark movie watcher this time of year? What’s your favorite character from a holiday- themed movie, book, or TV special? 

We do watch some Hallmark movies. Because I’ve had to think so hard and long to come up with a favorite, I don’t think I have a favorite. 🙂 I enjoy the Christmas specials in ongoing series like Call the Midwife or All Creatures Great and Small.

5. What’s the most stressful part of the holiday season for you? 

Over the years the stress has decreased because I’m learning to adjust my expectations. Those adjustments have made things less stressful. Sometimes it is hard to admit that I am the one causing the undo stress and I’m the one who needs to adjust. I need to remember to let the peace of Christ rule in my heart.

Getting the Christmas letter/photo/cards out probably has the most time/deadline stress.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I’m reading a Christmas Advent Devotional these days leading up to the 25th of December. The writer is covering several Christmas Carols/Hymns/Songs, some very familiar ones and some not so familiar. On Day 12 this was the song that was covered, written by Jester Hairston in 1956.

Mary’s Boy Child

Long time ago in Bethlehem so the Holy Bible say, Mary’s Boy Child, Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day!

Hark! Now hear the angels sing: “A New King born today, And man will live forevermore because of Christmas Day!

Trumpets sound and angels sing, listen to what they say, That man will live forevermore because of Christmas Day!

While angels watched their flocks by night They saw a bright new shining star, And heard a choir from heaven sing the music came from afar.

Now Joseph and his wife Mary came to Bethlehem that night. They found no place to bear her Child, not a single room was in sight.

Hark! Now hear the angels sing: “A New King born today, And man will live forevermore because of Christmas Day!”

By and by they found a little nook in a stable all forlorn. And in a manger cold and dark Mary’s little Boy Child was born.

Hark! Now hear the angels sing: “A New King born today, And man will live forevermore because of Christmas Day!”

From the devotional:

A memorable line, repeated four times, is this: Man will live forevermore, because of Christmas Day.” It seems rare for a carol to emphasize eternal life, but this line is ‘spot on’. If it weren’t for Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, there would be no eternal life for any man, woman, or child. Among the many things that Christmas means, this is not the least–Christmas means we can have eternal life! 

Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.