The Blather house has exploded with Christmas cheer in the last seven days. Tonight, as the New Orleans Saints thump the Patriots, from my strategic vantage point here in my comfy chair I have 360 degrees of festiveness. Want proof? Okay . . .

With FOU #1 home from Baylor and FOU #2 recently back from the Serengeti, we had five places around the table for the first time in months. It was good and sweet and fun and right.

This was Mrs. Blather’s mom’s first holiday since the passing of Poppa George a few months ago so we went to Oklahoma City on a mission to fill Gramma’s house with joy and baking smells. Or failing that, fill it with snoring and dog smells. Mission accomplished.

On Friday I made the three-hour drive alone down to my folks house in the hills of Southeastern Oklahoma to visit and install a new computer for my Dad. His old one . . . and I mean OLD one (I think it was running Windows 95) had crashed recently and he was missing having email, web weather, and solitaire. Of course now an 80-year old who is battling Alzheimer’s is having to get used to Windows XP. Could be worse though. It could have been Vista.

Dr. Baker joined us for some Thanksgiving leftovers, after which, I headed back to OKC to rejoin my family.

We’re facing a lot of challenges this holiday season, but so is almost every family we know. And we remain rightly and profoundly grateful for daily demonstrations of God’s faithfulness. And how can a guy be glum when he’s surrounded by such cheer and love?

In these days of confused situations.
In these nights of a restless remorse,
When the heart and the soul of the nation,
lay wounded and cold as a corpse.
From the grave of the innocent Adam,
comes a song bringing joy to the sad.
Oh your cry has been heard and the ransom,
has been paid up in full, Be Ye Glad.

Oh, Be Ye Glad, Be Ye Glad,
Every debt that you ever had
Has been paid up in full by the grace of the Lord,
Be Ye Glad,

(M.K. Blanchard)