If You Like, Then You’ll Love
Time for a Christmas edition of “If You Like, Then You’ll Love…” This is going to be an easy one.
So in since we’ve officially passed Thanksgiving and are moving into the “Christmas Season” there’s a ton of Christmas classic movies out there. ’Miracle on 34th St’, ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’, Elf, and of course the subject of today’s “If You Like Then You’ll Love”. So let’s hear it.
If you like ‘A Christmas Story’, then you’ll love…..
Ready? Go.
Tradition Or When You Can?
Well, it’s officially after Thanksgiving and I can morally feel okay about decorating for Christmas. I know some of you already have your Christmas stuff up and Thanksgiving and I can forgive you for that, but I’ve never even thought about bringing out the old Christmas tree before December 1st. Not because I don’t like to, but just because it feels weird.
So, today Kristin and I started the “Christmas decorations” talk and it looks like we might do some prep work today and ‘officially’ decorate tomorrow. Tree, house lights, stockings, the whole deal…. complete with hot chocolate and the movie ‘Elf’.
So what’s your decoration strategy? Do you have a set day that you do things? Any yearly traditions? Or is it just a ‘whenever you can talk dad into breaking out the ladder to go out in the cold and put up some lights’ kind of thing?
We don’t have a specific day that we do things but it’s always, always after Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving
I don’t know if everyone does this, and I don’t think we even do this every year, but I’ve heard of folks going around the Thanksgiving Dinner table and saying what they are thankful for. Now, I don’t think many folks are going to be doing much blog reading today, but I thought it’d be cool if we did that here.
So here’s the deal, up there is your awesome Thanksgiving meal complete with aluminum tray. Let’s take some time and list out the things that we are thankful for today.
Today I’m blown away at what an amazing family I have. Three healthy, awesome boys and an amazing wife that keeps me together. It’s been a crazy year and I’ve been gone most of the year and I don’t know how Kristin has kept things together at the house with the three crazies. I couldn’t be more thankful that I get to be home for a while, settle in and enjoy being with them.
Alright. Now it’s your turn. We’re all sitting around this table. Let me know what your thankful for today.
Ready? Go.
Downhere – How Many Kings
There’s no reason in my mind that this band isn’t massive. Downhere is one of the most creative, underrated Christian bands out there in my opinion. Their music makes me feel like I should be in the back alley of some dark, foreign puppet movie…. in a good way. There’s something eclectic and fiction about it, but somehow still unbelievably appealing.
I remember getting their first record when it came out and shortly after, read a review that said they sounded like Third Day. Now, I don’t remember who wrote that review but I don’t think they had any idea what they were talking about. Not that Third Day or Downhere’s sounds are bad, but certainly not the same.
So anyway, check this out. Today, in the attempt of getting in the holiday spirit, I decided to check out Downhere’s Christmas record ‘How Many Kings’. Someone from their label sent me it a while back and I just got around to listening to it. Now, I’m not normally a fan of Christmas music, but this record again, takes you to some fictional place and makes you expect to see Pinocchio walk around the corner of some cobblestone street. Sorry if that doesn’t make sense. It does in my head.
So anyway, if you’re looking for something to get you into that Christmas Spirit this is a good call…. And when have I ever steered you wrong? I’m even allowed to give away one of the songs. I’m sure it’s some way for their label to get me to advertise for them, but you all know me better than that, and this isn’t even an artist that works with SkörInc, so you know I must like it.
Anyway, grab the free song, then go get the rest of the album and have an awesome holiday season in a fictional place that probably only exists in my head. I should stop talking…. go get the record… and the free song. This band is ridiculous.
MercyMe.org
So, most of you already know, but today we launched the new MercyMe site. This was a fun one to strip down and really get back to the basics of content. They still have a lot going on but I feel like the simplicity of it is really what we were going for. Now, because this isn’t based off a new record it’s mostly based off of live photos. Anyway, sorry for the ‘presentation’ style blog post. It’s really late and I only slept about 3 hours last night.
Anyway. Let me know what you think. And like normal. Spread the word, click around and let me know what you think. I think this will be a fun new style for these guys to continue what they do.
This Should Have Been Posted Yesterday
So, yesterday was another big day for the SkörInc camp. Two very noticeable things were the release of Phil Wickham’s Heaven & Earth. Now, most Phil fans have had this record for a while because I don’t know anyone who didn’t pre-order it, but apparently some folks bought it yesterday because it shot to the number two spot on iTunes. Now, if you don’t have this record, you know what I’m going to tell you. Go. Get. It. Now. Phil has a way of writing things and putting sounds together that you don’t expect. I don’t know if that makes sense, but you’ll just have to listen to it and find out yourself.
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The other awesome thing of the day yesterday was MercyMe’s ‘I Can Only Imagine’ was the musical wake-up call for the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Pretty awesome right?
Lots more coming from SkörInc over the next few weeks so keep a heads up.
Shooting Guns With MercyMe
I’ve never even held a gun before today, but when in Rome… or Texas… shoot some dang guns, right? I still don’t know if I ever hit any of the target, but based on the video it looks like I’m shooting into Mexico.
Cooper Trey
You know those times when something or someone is so cool that you don’t even really believe that it’s real? Like it just seems like a set up or something? Like they are acting? That’s how Cooper is. It is absolutely unreal how funny of a personality this thing has. The things he says, the way he acts. It’s pretty ridiculous to watch. And today he turns three.
We aren’t celebrating until Tuesday when I am home, so he doesn’t really know that today is his ‘beth-day’ but he knows it’s close. He knows there’s some special train track toys and some other stuff waiting for him (because he saw it when we bought it) but he is waiting patiently for us to tell him it’s his day.
So (almost) Happy Birthday Coop. And if you haven’t seen this… You need to.
What’s Your Blog About?
Typically I’m a negative person. It’s easy for me to notice the negative things in life, the negative things people and the negative things in myself. It’s hard for me to not want to call people out on things that I believe are wrong especially in this blogging age where everyone has a soapbox. Everyone can blast anyone they want and I can too. In fact I almost did yesterday. I almost wrote a post about a Twitter that was flying around and everyone was praising…. and it was wrong. It was a slam on people in a “Christian light” and I completely disagreed with it. And I wanted to blast it. I wanted to hop on here and give “my side”. But I didn’t. Mostly because Kristin wouldn’t let me, but she was right.
I started thinking about it more. I started thinking about what I wanted this blog to represent. I started thinking about the way that I wanted my blog to be “categorized” as. Did I want it to be a place where all I did was prove to people how right I was? How awesome I was because I disagreed with other Christians? How I could sit in my office and spout off anything “controversial” and hope that someone popular would ‘Re-Tweet’ me or something? Or did I want my blog to be something that you could come to and, God forbid, actually enjoy? Something positive? Something that is there to encourage people, lift people up and actually edify?
Remember when we started Positive Post Tuesday? That seemed cool. There’s still some folks doing that and I love it. I wish there could be more of that. That started because I was tired of negative garbage that fills up Christian blogs where all we want to do is tear down people so we look awesome, or like we know more than someone else. Is anyone else tired of that crap?
So, anyway, all that to say, I hope this blog is something that, if nothing else, represents positivity. Is that a word Positivity? And I’d like that for my life too. Years from now when our grandkids are making fun of us for “blogging” I want a positive spirit to still be something that I am associated with. Now, does that mean that there won’t be times that I disagree with something? No. Does that mean that every post that I write on here will be flowery and shallow? I hope not. But I think you can address things that you might disagree with in a positive way. And I hope to be able to do that.
So here’s my question to you. What’s your blog about? What do you want it to be about. Let’s say there’s a “Legacy” that your online life can leave. What do you want it to be?
Ready? Go.
