Well December first. I guess we can talk about Christmas now. I keep saying how time flies as you get older. In just over three weeks Christmas will be over. When we were kids summer seemed to last forever. Two months and it's gone. The seasons just seem to fly by now. As do the years.
I mentioned how the light display at Bear Creek Park after Diwali and before Christmas was kind of strange. It was hard to figure out what the point was as there was nothing there from Diwali or Christmas. At least the Christmas lights at the Bear Creek train are about Christmas.
Lac Lafarge is nice but again no nativities or anything to do with Christmas. Kind of empty and soulless when you think about it. I really like the German Christmas market in Vancouver and the Shipyard Christmas market beside Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver. Krampus this year was a blast. I guess that kind of put me in the mood. Some years I just can't wait until it's over. I normally just look forward to the New Year.
This year I'm kind of savoring the season. I was surprised to hear there are no Christmas lights at the Stanley park train this year and I was like WTF? They're out in Cloverdale this year. Turns out that's because Harry Potter's enchanted forest is in Stanley Park now until the new year. That looks totally cool. My kids grew up reading Harry Potter. Then it was Lord of the Rings. I was impressed to see them excited about reading.
Grouse mountain has live reindeer and lots of Christmas things going on. Capilano suspension bridge has lots of lights and a boardwalk in the trees. All of these are more practical with a year membership. One time can be pricey. Season's passes are more worth while. The canyon lights are impressive.
Christmas doesn't have to be about religion but banning religion is a little George Orwell. It creates a knee jerk reaction that can just as easily miss the point. As I've said before, some people scouer the Internet for examples of extremism to justify their own extremism. That's a pretty miserable life.
In the top video it's a Spanish children's Christmas song about the Donkey going to Bethlehem. Latin America hasn't gone secular yet. It's still OK to talk about the Nativity there. In Colombia on December 7th it's called the Day of the little Candles. They line up the streets with candles to light the way for Mary and Joseph. In Colombia January 6th is a day to remember the Three Wise Men and give more gifts.
No to be in your face about it, but all this Nativity hate is somewhat misguided. Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet and think his mother Mary was one of the most important women in scriptures. My Syrian neighbours named one of their children Jesus. So all this Islamophobic hate about Shirian law is toxic.
There's nothing wrong with celebrating the birth of a child. Any child. If someone wants to celebrate the birth of Buddha or Mohamed, have at it. They both did good things.
Josephus was a Jewish historian who did not believe Jesus was the Messiah but recorded the reality of his existence and his mission. Advent is a chance to remember the prophecies he fulfilled. He was born in Bethlehem of the House of David. He was raised in Nazareth.
Do you know what the law of the Nazareth is? It's part of the law of Moses. People would dedicate themselves to spiritual things and not use a razor. Just let their hair grow. That's what Sikhs do. When we went for brunch in Abbotsford a few months ago an older Sikh man smiled and bowed as he passed by so we smiled and bowed back. Then I turned to my son and said I think he likes your beard. My son would make a good Sikh. He has very long hair and a very long beard right now.
Everyone has different Christmas traditions. In Cali, Colombia they dance salsa for three days. When I had a second job on the ski hill I worked with several Australians. I asked one what kind of traditions he has at Christmas back home. He smiled and said oh we have shrimp on the barbie at the beach.
I paused a little bit confused and tried to visualize it. Then I said, oh yeah, Christmas is in the middle of your summer. That would certainly put a different twist on it. My father used to play 6 white boomers by Rolf Harris.
The Vancouver Sun is reporting that "A Chilliwack man has been identified as the victim killed in a targeted shooting Friday evening near Surrey’s Guildford Town Centre. On Friday just before midnight, Jaskaran Birring, 26, was found suffering from life-threatening injuries on 105 Avenue, between 152nd and 153rd streets. First responders were unable to save him."
Related to the drug trade. Shooter's vehicle was torched.
The Guardian is reporting that "Trump’s pardon of Honduras’s ex-president shows counter-drug effort is based on lies and hypocrisy." Truth. Why has Trump blown up alleged narco boats in the Caribbean and at the same time decided to let a big time trafficker off the hook?" Because that whole war is another lie. Venezuela has oil.
"Former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, who Trump last week pledged to pardon, despite the fact that Hernández was sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for allegedly creating a cocaine superhighway to the United States.”
“The people of Honduras really thought he was set up and it was a terrible thing,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. THAT IS A BOLD FACED LIE. My daughter was there at the time.
It's worse than that. Juan committed defiant voter fraud and Trump demanded the voters suck it up. Everyone knew he was a drug dealer because his brother was. So was his police chief.Not only that, he was a slime ball. He would take money for public prescriptions, put it in his pocket and give the public placebos at the hospital. I kid you not. The people despised him.
I wrote about it at the time. They were counting the ballots and Juan was losing so they stopped counting the ballots. The military collected all the ballots and when they counted them the results flipped. The people were protesting en mass despite the fact that they were using live ammunition on the protesters.
