Week #49: Crazy Christmas

“…I realized that tradition is priceless…[It] doesn’t have to be logical; it only has to emphasize the light of Christ & His everlasting love.” ― Lori Copeland

People do strange things. Like this guy, who has come up with another way to put his hood up. Or this parent who took their toddler in a shark costume to the beach.

Or these people. Seriously.

But one of my favorite weird things that people (& yes, I’m including myself in that group) have done is the Internet. After the invention of this instant connection to people across the globe, vast sums of information & knowledge, what do we do? Anthropomorphise cats who communicate in ‘lolspeak’ & who plot our demise as we’re distracted by their adorableness. One of the newest incarnations of this is Grumpy Cat, a perpetually frowning feline who just wants the world to burn. Since it is the Christmas season, Grumpy Cat contributors had to celebrate in their own special way:

https://i0.wp.com/www.dumpaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/grumpy-cat-its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-christmas.jpg & https://i0.wp.com/animalshak.com/files/2012/11/74782_10151260551658605_1558933715_n.jpg

Like I said, people do strange things—& the holidays catalyze this tendency into an avalanche of cheery traditions & manic celebrating. One such tradition is the Penguin House. For some reason, one house puts up what seems like hundreds of Christmas-themed inflatables to celebrate Christmas. (It’s called the Penguin House because the majority of these blow-ups have at least one penguin on them.)

Paulie's Penguin Playground - Christmas display in Olathe, Kansas

Even though it’s a local tradition, I’ve managed to make it through 5 Christmases without visiting. But last night, a few friends & I trekked through a drizzling December evening to this penguin-y winter wonderland. Wandering around, dodging Santas on motorcycles & getting scared by elves popping out of chimneys, it struck me that Christmas is about joy. For me, that joy comes from celebrating the birth of my Savior, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be accented by sharing strange traditions with the people I share my life with. Sometimes we can get tripped up in all of the conventions of something, when we should remember that birthday cake isn’t the reason for the hullabaloo, but another way of saying, “Today is special”. I just might be adding a visit to the Penguin House to my yearly Christmas customs & I hope that whatever spells special to you, you can enjoy it this year, while remembering the source of joy that fuels all our crazy fun 😀

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