Did you pay attention in church over the holiday?

For your third day of Christmas celebrations, here's a little Christmas Bible Quiz:

http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Bible/Quizzes/Quiz2.htm

It makes you realize how much tradition and legend has woven its way into the Bible. Not all of that is bad, but we should pay more attention to what is really there.

On the second day of Christmas...

I return to work, refreshed from a weekend with my family in Memphis. This year was the new and improved version of the family gathering.

My brother and I are both getting married next year and we brought our fiances home for a little bit of Haag family tradition. We ate way too many cookies, spent time gathered in the kitchen while Mom cooked, heard new stories of Christmases past and got out for a little sightseeing.

Christmas celebrates new life, and having two new people at the dinner table (and to help do dishes!) made this year's holiday even more special.

For the next few days of this holiday season, I hope you all are able to enjoy many blessings and a sense of renewal as we roll into 2008!

Crosses at Christmas?

Now that all your Christmas decorations are up, I'm curious about a trend I've seen recently: crosses in Christmas displays.

Before Thanksgiving, I even received a press release from a company marketing Christmas crosses, all lit up for your holiday displays. But I wonder if the cross is really the appropriate symbol for Christmas.

I understand the push to keep Christ in Christmas - it's a sacred day for Christians and should be treated as such. So many other symbols are woven into the Nativity story such as the creche, or the star or even a Madonna and child. Is the cross the only symbol of Christ? And if we use the cross as a generic symbol for Christ, does it lose its power as a symbol of Christ's death and resurrection?

Any thoughts?

Reaching through the bars

My job allows me to talk to some fascinating people that most people never get to meet. I'm not talking about "important" people like senators and entertainers, but folks like the men in the Lifers' Association at David Wade Correctional Center.

They amazed me again this week with contributions of toys and bikes worth more than $2,000 to various charities in North Louisiana.

These men have committed crimes that resulted in a life sentence. Objectively, at least at one point in their lives, they were not nice people. But instead of dwelling on their fate, they have decided to do something positive with their future. They also provide examples for younger inmates, many of whom will be released to the public again.

Monday the Lifers and AANA (Alcoholics Anonymous/ Narcotics Anonymous) had a program to present their Christmas gifts to the community. A new project allowed them to help more than 30 children this Christmas. This fall the two groups started refurbishing bicycles.

Debra Cody, administrative sponsor of the group, said it took awhile for the project to be approved because of security concerns such as access to tools. It finally happened, and the first few bikes were given to the Boys and Girls Club of Homer in October. Then a couple of Grambling professors got involved, and sent about 130 used bikes to the prison. Men worked on them and managed to have 17 ready to give to the Boys and Girls Club and another 17 to the Providence House.

On top of those donations, they also had money to give from their usual fundraiser of selling handmade bird feeders. Through those sales and other fundraisers the men donated $1100 to Toys for Tots and another several hundred dollars to buy presents for the children at Hope Youth Ranch.

The men are under no illusion that theycan "make up" for what their crimes, but they do show the spirit of repentance and rehabilitation that we all would hope to see from the prison system. And they are thrilled and thankful for the opportunity. Inmate Roy Ates explained it to me a couple of years ago: "We do this because it's the right thing to do."

Photo: Marines pose with toys donated to Toys for Tots. From Debra Cody at David Wade.

Remembering seniors at Christmas

Kids seem to get all of the attention as Christmas, but a few folks out there have taken special time out for senior citizens. Many seniors have great memories of Christmases past, but for a variety of reasons can't be with family now.

Mary Alice Rountree, director of the Caddo Council on Aging told me about her volunteers at Promise Hospital. They normally deliver eight meals to seniors four days a week. Well, for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, the meals aren't delivered. So the staff took it upon themselves to fix plates in the hospital kitchen and deliver those, so the seniors still got a good meal.

"That's up and above," Rountree said.

A couple of years ago she asked for volunteer help delivering meals on wheels and she said this is just one example of how the volunteers are now more connected to the needy seniors in the community.

"The community is seeing what’s out there," she said. "To many of them it's shocking."

Happy New Year!

Folks in liturgical churches (Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, etc.) began a new year Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent.

Twice in the last week, I've given a little presentation on the Liturgical calendar to various church groups, so I thought I'd share some of that with you. The theory behind the calendar is to mark the cycle of Jesus' life and how it reflects in our own. Through the seasons of the church - including Advent, Christmas, Lent (those vary among denominations) - we mark the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Those episodes have direct correlation to our own spiritual journey.

Advent (the word means "to come") starts the year with a time of reflection and penance. It's not unlike the way we start the secular year with reflections and resolutions. But Advent prepares us for the great feast of Christmas, the birth of Jesus.

It's also a time of great cultural traditions. How many of us had Advent Calendars (the best kind came with chocolate) to countdown to Christmas? And many churches broke out Advent wreaths this weekend to mark the four Sundays of the season.

Do you have special traditions for Advent? Even if you don't celebrate Advent, how do you spiritually prepare yourself for Christmas?

Careful giving

Instead of spending hours at the mall picking out some gift your mother-in-law really doesn't need, how about making a donation to charity? It's quick, will help someone else in need and doesn't require wrapping.

But don't go giving away your money without some thought. Charity Navigator, a watchdog organization, has an impressive site with information on a ton of national charities and guidelines for how to evaluate whether charities are spending your money wisely. Among the recommendations:

* Charities should spend no more than 30 percent (preferably less than 25 percent) of their income on fundraising and administrative costs.

* Make sure a charity has short- and long-term goals, and evaluates the progress its making. For instance, Providence House's goal is to help families live independently and they can tell you the number of families who are still living on their own years after graduation.

* Feel free to ask questions of the organization's director or board. Look through the annual report and IRS forms. Form 990 is the one nonprofit organizations fill out - and they are required to show it to anyone who asks.

* Once you trust the organization, give to their general fund. Organizations need money to keep the lights on and pay for unexpected maintenance issues -- designated funds don't give them the flexibility to do that.

If you're looking for information on local charities, try Guidestar, which posts 990 forms. Also, if a charity receives more than a certian amount of money from state grants (I don't remember how much off the top of my head), they they have to send their audit to the legislative auditor, who kindly posts them on his website.

Of course, I am a little biased this time of year. If you don't want to do the work of looking at the charities, let The Times do it for you and give to the Joy Fund. We'll collect money (and put the names of donors and their honorees in the paper), and distribute all of it to various organizations to fund their Christmas projects. I'll write stories about as many of the charities as I can and keep you posted on what they're doing with the money. After the first of the year, we'll publish a full accounting of where it all went.

Deck the halls or burn the tree?

It's Nov. 7, red and green decorations have already taken over the stores and holiday bazaars are appearing in the paper's religion calendar.

Also appearing are several women's events to help curb the stress that can come with this time of year. I wrote briefs for three different workshops or speakers today. This is the first year I've noticed this much attention being paid to holiday stress by local churches. Are we really that consumed by too much holiday fluff?

Looking at my life (and I don't even have kids) probably so. Work has already blown into full-fledged holiday mode for me. And I know I've already started shopping with gifts in mind, making travel plans, and filling in the calendar with holiday parties. Another couple of weeks of this, and I can see the potential for wanting to burn down the tree.

What do you do to regain some of the fun and spirituality that Christmas is supposed to bring us?

Non-gift gifts

November and Decembers are quite possibly the most difficult months to be a religion reporter. Just as churches are pulling out all the stops for the celebration of Christmas, religion writers are expected to do the same. I have an idea that could be my best Christmas story yet, but I need some help.

Here's the concept: a series of stories about gifts you could give that don't involve tangible objects. I'm thinking about things like a genuine apology or gratitude. What do you think? And what would you add to the list?