Cool Running of the Black Ninja

25 January 2012

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Running is a simple sports. You don’t need a lot of equipment or gears. Just a good pair of running shoes and the endless road ahead of you. Well, not quite. Not if it is cold.

There is winter running apparel available in sports stores, that are light and yet warm. However, even with these gears, once the temperature is in single digits (Fahrenheit), or worse if it’s below zero, they don’t feel warm enough at all. And I am not recommending running with a parka on.

Of course one can run indoors in a gym. Although, running in a treadmill is so unnatural for me. It is really boring. If it is just a mile, well, I can bear it. More than that, I just feel like I’m running and not going anywhere at all. For that is exactly what it is!

There are also indoor running tracks, which fortunately the gym where I am a member has. One lap is 0.1 mile. Actually, this is where I usually run in the winter. Again, after running more than a mile or so, it feels dull and repetitive. It is like running in circles. Then again, because that is exactly what it is!

I still prefer to run outside. Feel the wind in my face. Breathe the crisp cold air. Enjoy the beautiful winterscapes. Run and really go somewhere, and not just in circles. As long as I don’t freeze to death.

Last Sunday morning, our temperature wandered above the freezing point. 33 degrees Fahrenheit (0.5 Celsius) to be exact. I know it was still cold but I decided it was a good day to run outside.

My wife said that I was crazy. I admit, maybe  just a little bit. She even took pictures of my craziness.

heading out our walkway

I donned my cold weather running gear, complete with thermals, gloves and balaclava headgear, which I just call my Ninja mask. There  was snow on the ground but the road was plowed and cleared. No problems, so I thought.

Ninja runner. Where's my sword?

When I stepped outside, it was foggy and even gently drizzling, but it was not too cold at all. However, I have not gone far when I noticed that something is not quite right. It was very slippery! With the temperature right about the freezing point, the fine rain freezes when it hits the ground forming a very thin coat of glazed ice on the road surface. They usually call this “black ice,” as it is unnoticeable until you step on it or drive on it, thus making it very dangerous. If there is Black Ninja, there is also black ice. I was not prepared for ice running or should I say ice skating.

I had no choice but to turn back and return home disappointed. I may be a little crazy, but not crazy enough to risk myself slipping or falling and breaking a leg.

returning back already on our driveway without even breaking a sweat

I wondered, if there is winter tires for cars, maybe there is winter running shoes with ice and snow traction. As I googled it up, I found out that there really are. I must have one of those.

Or maybe I can even have Ninja spikes shoes so I can tramp black ice and can also scale walls and trees. Who said I’m crazy? Huh? Are you talking to me?

Time Under Heaven

22 January 2012

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One Friday afternoon one of my partners signed out to me the patients in the ICU. I was taking over and would be going on-call that weekend. One of the patients endorsed to me was the patient in ICU Room 26*. Her story was quite sad, to put it mildly.

She was in her early 40′s and was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of breast cancer, several months back. She had underwent radical surgery, followed by radiation therapy and intensive chemotherapy. However, despite of all the exhaustive interventions, the cancer still proved to be more aggressive than the treatment. It continued to advance.

The cancer had spread to the lungs and pleura (sac around the lungs), causing fluid to accumulate  in the pleural space. It also spread into the pericardium (sac around the heart), also causing fluid to build up inside the pericardium. It had involved the liver and studded the peritoneum (lining of the abdominal cavity) as well, causing water to seep out into the abdominal cavity. In fact, the cancer is everywhere, that it was hard to imagine that she was still alive. Well, barely.

For the past couple of months, the patient had been in and out of the hospital, that she literally lives in the hospital than home. Due to multiple complications of the widely metastatic cancer, she had undergone several surgeries and procedures. She had surgery to put a pericardial window (made a hole on the heart sac), so fluid could drain out and would not drown the heart. We also placed  tubes on both sides of her chest to drain the fluids around her lungs to prevent her from suffocating. She underwent multiple drainage of the abdominal fluid as well, to decompress her distended, pregnant-like belly.

Several times she thought of throwing in the towel, and considered hospice care. Hospice is the type of care that focuses on comfort and palliation of terminally ill patients. In other words, it is a philosophy allowing a dying and suffering patient to pass on peacefully by letting nature takes it course. Hospice is no way the same as euthanasia, which is illegal in the US. Euthanasia is a subject on its own that I will not divulge in here, but suffice to say that I believe, is morally wrong.

But once she felt a little better she would change her mind and would like to go full court press, and be as aggressive as ever with the treatment again. She was tried on investigational treatment and was even referred to a top cancer center in the US, but had received the same disappointing verdict of “nothing else we can do.”

Now, she was transferred in our ICU for severe shortness of breath. She struggles, but still fights with every breath, clinging for dear life. Still hoping against hope, that somehow she would survive one more day or one more night.

My partner then told me, that if I have time, maybe I could sit down and talk with her, and discuss alternative options of management, like palliative care or even hospice, and the further direction of her care.

We have heard the cliché that it is not quantity but quality that is important. Perhaps you also heard of the adage that it is not how long we live, but how we live is what matters. I am a firm believer that living is different from mere existing. Alive does not always equates with “a life.”

With the modern medical technology nowadays, we can support a person to continue breathing and his/her heart pumping, even though “life” has long been sucked out of the body. Sometimes medicine, as a discipline, do interventions just because we can do it, but may not be necessary for the best interest of an individual. I believe that there comes a time that death should be received as a repose to the suffering and not always be feared as an unwelcome guest. For death is as natural as birth to all humans. There is a time to be born, and a there is a time to die.

The next day, as I made my rounds in the ICU, I was ready with my “heart to heart” talk with our patient. As I entered room 26, I was caught unprepared with the sight I saw. The patient was silently lying in her bed with her eyes closed. Her breathing was labored as she heaved with every breath. A boy, probably 7 or 8 years of age, whom I assume was her son, was sitting very close to the bed. The boy’s head was buried in bed, muting his sobs, as he leaned against her mother’s side, while her feeble hand gently strokes his head.  It was so heart-breaking to witness: a mother who was on borrowed time, and who was in much discomfort, yet still trying to comfort her son.

All the reasonings I have in mind, and the discussions I have prepared, went out the window. Who am I to say to that boy, that his mother’s caressing hand was not worth living anymore here under heaven, even if it just for another day or even for another hour. For that boy, it was still worth it.

I walked out of ICU 26, without uttering a word.

(* room number was intentionally changed for privacy)

Two years and counting

18 January 2012

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It is two years.

What has begun as for my own musing and amusement, has turned into 280 posts and obtained about 23,000 visits so far. I am both inspired and humbled that people like you (yes, you who is reading this right now) would stop and read my rambling discourses. For this, I sincerely thank you.

If I have caused even one person to smile, or laugh, or cry, or be inspired, or learn something, or see something from a different perspective, or just pause and reflect, then I believe that the existence of this blog has been worthwhile, and not just cluttering the shrinking cyberspace.

But wait. I have done all of that. In me.

Mission accomplished.

The Death of Paper and Pen

14 January 2012

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A couple of weeks ago, we went to our local Science Center and view the exhibit “Lost Egypt.” Aside from the real mummies, there were also very interesting artifacts found in there. I was more absorbed with the hieroglyphics on the catacomb walls, as they built model of those walls in the exhibit. I felt like Indiana Jones trying to interpret these ancient writings. There was also a replica of the Rosetta Stone, a stone tablet with carved writings on it in ancient Egyptian and Greek language. The original stone tablet was believed to have been carved in 196 B.C., and was discovered in 1799 by French soldiers who were rebuilding a fort in Egypt in a small town of Rosetta.

These artifacts just proved that men had been writing for a long long time. It is debatable where the earliest writings originated, as some experts say it was from Mesopotamia, but others claim it was from Egypt. Well, if you consider the cave drawings, which are pre-historic paintings on the cave’s walls and ceilings, and the oldest of which was found in Chauvet, in France, then you would surmise that even cavemen scribbled on walls. I wondered if the caveman’s mother scolded her son or daughter when he or she drew on their home wall.

With the invention of paper, believed to be introduced by the Chinese around 100 B.C., and introduction of pens out of feathers or wood sticks, the earliest use of which was believed to be in ancient India, writing had evolved to the current practice as we know it today, using the universal paper and pens. It is interesting that even astronauts used special antigravity-pens (Fisher space pens) and paper in their space missions.

Dead Sea scrolls, written about 200 B.C. to 68 A.D.

We learned to write with pencils or pens and paper even before we entered Kindergarten, and maybe also scrawled with crayons on our bedroom’s walls, much to the dismay of our parents. Since then we composed our first essay in elementary, drafted a book report in highschool, and wrote love letters in college, all using pen and paper. When we finished our studies, we received a fancy paper signed with a fancy pen and with our school’s seal, as a testament that we graduated. And if you are working now, you sign with a pen a piece of paper (I mean bank checks, but it could be your “listahan ng utang” at Aling Nena’s sari-sari store too) to pay your bills. Paper and pens are so omnipresent in our society and are so integral to our daily living that we may not be able to do things without it. Or can we?

Last week I underwent two days of computer training. No, I’m not switching career, it was just a part of the changing practice of medicine. The hospital system where I practice is launching the use of full electronic medical records in all their hospitals. That means no more paper charts and records everywhere in our hospitals. All orders, all doctors’ progress notes, all nurses’ notes, and all patients’ history, physical exam findings, vitals, labs, and ancillary data need to be entered into the computer.

The good thing is that our outpatient clinic where I am a part of, has been using electronic medical records entirely for the past 3 years now, so I am somewhat accustomed to the digital records. And now the hospital is adapting this change too, which is I believe is the way of the future. I know some doctors (I could be one of them) don’t like it at all. It’s like teaching an old dog a new trick (no, I’m not calling my colleagues dogs). But resistance to this change is futile.

What this means is no more hand writing for me. It’s going to be all typing, mouse clicking or computer pad writing for me. Every hospital room is equipped with a computer terminal, and I would be lugging, aside from my stethoscope, a computer tablet wherever and whenever I examine patients. I wonder what would I do to all the pens I have. Don’t worry mine are just cheap ones, and not like the expensive collectible pens that some friends I know, have. Or maybe someday, pens will be antiquated that they all will be collectible artifacts, so I might as well keep mine.

I also believe that it’s not just the practice of medicine that is going electronic or digital. Perhaps in more other professions than I realize. And honestly, when was the last time you sent a hand-written letter? Is this the death of the era of paper and pens?

With the advent of computer and digital age, and with the current social networks that we have, it is quite funny that we came back full circle to the Stone Age. We are again writing on walls (of Facebook, that is) and inscribing on tablets.

Muscles and Luxury Cars

9 January 2012

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I have read in the news that the number one New Year’s Resolution in the US, is to lose weight. In fact, it was the most popular resolution every year for more than a decade now. So it is not surprising that the attendance in a fitness club is the highest during the month of January. However, according to one article, by April, there is already an average of 20-30% dropout rate for those who started their membership in January. Really? It takes them 3 months to quit? I was expecting it to be shorter.

If you are a member of a health club, you are among the millions of people who do. I hope you are not one of those who will drop out by April. According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, the membership to a gym reached an all-time high of 50.2 million last year. So fitness clubs, sportsclub and racquet clubs are such a lucrative racket. Sorry for the pun, it was intended.

According to that article also, different states in the US have different participation rates. I find it interesting to learn that Iowa was ranked 24th, with health-club participation rate of 14.8%.  That was better than I thought actually. I was expecting it to be worse, with the high percentage of obesity here. We are not the number one producer of pork chop for nothing, you know. Massachusetts was the number one gym-friendly state with 25.1% consumers.

As I pulled up in our local YMCA parking lot this morning, I have one observation that has been consistent over the 10 years and more, that I have been a member of a fitness club. I have observed that there is a higher proportion of expensive vehicles or luxury cars and SUVs in a gym’s parking lot compared to other parking lot, like the hospital’s, or the mall’s, or Wal-Mart’s. Lots of BMW, Mercedes, Cadillac and Porsche. (No Batmobile though.) Do you know why?

this Wal-Mart parking lot is an exception

The first possible answer is that, with cost of fitness club membership, that is about $30-$60/month for general purpose gym, to about $50-$200/month to a Spa/Country Club/Racquet Club gyms, that attendance to this clubs are skewed to the more wealthy portion of the population. And therefore these rich people also own those luxury cars in the parking lot. Or maybe the club’s owner owns all those expensive vehicles, and just parks them outside the gym.

The second possible answer is that people who join these health clubs are people, who are very particular on their outward appearance, thus they go to the gym to look trim, hunky and sexy. These people also have the propensity to choose luxury vehicles to project their classy image. I tell you, people can be vain. Or maybe they just feel good about themselves. But hey, it’s a free country, they can do whatever they please.

The last possible answer I can think of, is that maybe, people who go to the gym are more driven individuals, who strives to be in their best, including their health, and thereby they exercise routinely. These motivated individuals, are also likely to be more successful, and thus the more luxury cars in the gym’s parking lot. In fact, there are several studies linking regular exercise and business success.

Whatever the real reason behind the link between toned muscles and luxury cars, I am really not sure. But maybe you can join the gym too and find out for yourself. Or perhaps you are already one of those driving a hot, exotic car.

(*image of Batmobile from here)

Orchestra and Attitude Tuning

5 January 2012

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Not too long ago, we attended a concert by a youth orchestra in which our daughter, who plays the cello, is a member.  I would say that the concert was definitely a success and the music was fantastic. Of course, I am extremely biased. I am a proud parent, can’t you tell?

The orchestra was actually composed of 2 symphony groups combined: the Des Moines Youth Philharmonic (kids grades 7-9) and the Des Moines Youth Symphony (grades 10-12). The combined youth orchestra was conducted by the same Maestro who directs and conducts the professional Des Moines Symphony. The concert hall was filled like sardines to standing room only, as you can imagine, just the number of the proud parents (like me) and families present, were enough to pack the whole auditorium.

The orchestra was more than 100 musicians-strong, with their different instruments – the strings (violins, violas, cellos, and double bass), the woodwinds (clarinets, piccolo, flutes, oboes, and baboons bassoons), the brass (horns, trumpets, trombones, tubas) and the percussions (drums, timpani, cymbals, triangle and others that I don’t even know the names).

my daughter's orchestra

In the concert, it was interesting to witness – that much before the loud applause, standing ovation and catcalls; before the magnificent music pieces that were inspiringly performed; before the thousands of melodious notes that were harmoniously played with the various instruments; and before the conductor even raised his baton -  was one instrument playing one simple note. One oboe played a sustained key of A note. What followed after, was that all the instruments keyed in and were adjusted, making sure that all were in tune. Only then, did the concert began.

Why the oboe? It’s not that this is the easiest to play, in fact it may be the opposite, according to one musician friend. There were a few explanations, but the best answer I read is that this instrument is the least adjustable among other instruments. The oboe is tuned at the time that it is manufactured and cannot be otherwise tuned. It will retain its perfectly calibrated note, and will never go flat or sharp. However, some orchestras use a different instrument for tuning besides the oboe. I don’t think you can tune using the cymbals though.

Why the key of A, or also known as concert A? It is the pitch of 440 hertz or 440 cycles per minute. By the way, the human ear can hear between 20 to 20,000 hertz, and an astute music student can distinguish between 440 and 442 hertz. Interestingly, during the 17th and 18th century, the key of A can range from 410 to 425 hertz. Only during the 20th century was the key of A set at a standard of 440 hertz. I am really not sure why this pitch is used as a standard. I can speculate that it is the pitch that will optimally vibrate the human tympanic membrane or that it is the natural cosmic vibration of the earth, but that is not true.

Whatever reasons why it is the oboe or why the key of A is used as a reference tune is not important. What is important and what the point of this discussion, is that all the instruments in the orchestra needed to be in perfect tune.

I would say that life is like an orchestra. Different people have different qualities and capabilities, like the various musical instruments. We don’t need everybody to be playing violas, or all playing the tubas, or all banging the drums, for that will not sound good. We need each other’s individuality, and we complement each other if we work and play together. However, in every endeavor, we need a “standard pitch,” a common goal if you will, to which everybody attunes to, or aim of achieving.

Once our attitudes are “in tune” with each other, and only then, can we make beautiful music together. May we all have a harmonious New Year.

Bahala na si Batman

2 January 2012

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Kumakaway-kaway ang bagong nakalambiting pahinang papel sa dingding, nagpapahiwatig na pumasok na naman tayo sa isang panibagong yugto.

Bagong kalendaryo. Bagong taon. Lumang pananaw?

Tunay na ang panahon na ginagalawan natin ngayon ay walang katiyakan. Kasing linaw ng tubig-kanal ang ating kinabukasan. Halos gumapang na parang pagong ang ekonomiya, kahit anumang bansa ang pag-usapan, kahit na sa Amerika. Naghihirap na parang daga ang maraming mamayan sa iba’t-ibang lupalop ng mundo. Walang gobyerno ang ligtas sa gulo at eskandalo. Walang sinisinong pamilya ang mga problema at kahirapan, kahit pa Dimaano o Dimagiba ang apelyido nila. Walang tao sa kasalukuyan, ang hindi apektado ng walang-kasiguraduhang bukas.

Sa kabila ng lahat ng ito, sino nga ba ang nakakaalam kung ano ang ihahatid ng bukas? Kahit pa mga manghuhula sa Quiapo, ay hindi nakatitiyak. At mayroon nga ba tayong magagawa tungkol dito? Mabuti pa kayang maghalukipkip na lamang at magpawalang bahala, at tanggapin na lamang ang anumang barahang iaabot sa atin ng tadhana. Kaya?

Bahala na.

Iyan ang katagang kinamulatan nating mga Pilipino. Ito rin ang pilosopiyang nakaukit na sa ating kulturang kinagisnan. Bahala na. Bahala na si Batman!

Pero kung susuriin, ang katagang “bahala na” ay nagmula  sa “Bathala na,” kung saan ang isang tao ay ipinauubaya na sa Maykapal ang kaniyang kapalaran. Maaring maganda naman ang saloobing ito, dahil ito’y nagpapakita ng pagtiwala sa nakatataas na kapangyarihan. Ngunit ang masama, ay maraming mga tao ang ipinauubaya na ang lahat lahat, at hindi na nagsusumikap na ibangon o ibahin ang “kapalaran” na hatid sa kanila ng pagkakataon. Suwerte kung suwerte, malas kung malas, parang Sweepstakes.

Ika nga ng sinalumang kanta ni Rico J. Puno: “Kapalaran kung hanapin, ‘di matagpuan, at kung minsa’y lumalapit ng ‘di mo alam.” Kaya ba walang nang saysay ang habulin ang ating kapalaran dahil hindi mo rin naman ito maabutan? Sadya bang ang lahat ay nakasalalay sa “Gulong ng Palad” na parang lumang tele-serye?

Hindi ba nga’t si Juan Tamad, isa sa mga kinagigiliwang kwentong Pilipino, ay humilata na lang sa ilalim ng puno at nakangangang naghihintay na malaglag ang bayabas? Naghihintay na ang biyaya o suwerte, na mahulog na lang sa ating kandungan. Ito nga ba ang kagawiang Pinoy? Maging sa ating kanta, tele-nobela, o tradisyonal na salaysayin – bahala na.

Bahala na lang ba talaga?

Mawalang galang na lamang po, ngunit hindi ako sang-ayon sa pananaw na ito. Hindi rin ako naniniwala na wala tayong magagawa para sa ating kinabukasan, o kaya’y ibahin ang barahang tangan natin sa ating palad. Oo nga’t may mga bagay na lagpas sa ating mga kamay, at si Bathala (hindi si Batman) lamang ang may kontrol nito. Sang-ayon ako na mahalaga ang pagtitiwala sa nakatataas na kapangyarihan. Ngunit maraming mga bagay ay nasasa-ating palad, at ang magiging kahihinatnan nito’y bunga ng ating pagsisikap, at hindi lamang sanhi sa guhit ng kapalaran.

Kaya sa bagong taong ito, sana ay mayroon din tayong bagong pananaw sa buhay. Bagong pakikipagbaka. Bagong pagsisikap. Bagong pag-asa.

Bangon na aking kaibigan, ang bukas ay naghihintay sa iyo. Ang “suwerte” ay nasa pawis mo.

Of Flowers and Photographs

28 December 2011

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These lovely flowers will wither in a few days. The beautiful sunny day will soon turn into night. Even the hanging evergreen wreaths in our windows will not last forever, even if they are called “evergreen,” but will one day lose all its needles. And this picture-perfect photograph, will fade into memory.

Someday, just like the flowers, our strength will also wane. Our eyesight, like a sunny day, will grow dim. Our hair will turn gray, that is if we don’t lose it all first, like the needles of the wreath. And just like a faded photograph, our memory will one day, lose its sharpness.

But unlike flowers, our love will last. And like what old photographs do, we will leave an enduring legacy.

Here’s to us – happy 17th anniversary my love.

I got a Robot for Christmas!

26 December 2011

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There’s a robot now, roaming inside our house. You read it right. A robot. No, it’s not as technically advanced like the NASA Mars Rover, but it does explore the expanse of our whole floor. Nor it is an alien robot, like the Transformers that can disguise like an everyday machinery, but it does do household chore.

Meet Flori (a.k.a. taga-linis ng floor), my new iRobot, Roomba Model 560, vacuum cleaning robot. It cleans our floor by itself and then goes back to its dock when it’s done. It even has a feature that it can be programmed to clean our floor on schedule, up to 7 times per week. Maybe they should add a feature that it would play some music too, instead of the hum-drum noise it emits, while it is vacuuming.

Flori cleaning our floor

After many years of wishing that “somebody” can takeover the mundane chore of cleaning the floor, which is my designated task since I was a boy (using bunot and floor wax) and that I carried over to this day (see previous blog here), finally my wish came true. I am really happy that I got this gift under my Christmas tree. I am not saying though that the manual labor of cleaning the floor has not given me any satisfaction. Or maybe it doesn’t, but it certainly builds character.

Yes, it may be a little slow, as Flori takes about 20 minutes to clean one room that I can do in under 10 minutes, but I am not complaining at all. She can take her sweet time. And me? I can use that 10 minutes in doing something else – like blogging. She may not be as good in cleaning the corners and nooks, or under the furnitures, and other hard to reach spots, but then again, I don’t mind that at all. As long as she does not run amok and take over our house like an out-of-control runaway machine, just like the plot of so many robot or intelligent machine movies, I am content.

Now if “somebody” could also clear the snow in my driveway for me, that would be really cool (I mean hot….or warm, as I would not be freezing my ears doing it, you know what I mean). Is it too early to make a wish list for next Christmas? A fully automated, industrial grade, robotic snowblower is definitely in my list. A GPS-guided, fully automated, self-propelled, robotic lawnmower would be delightful too.

Santa? Santa? Are you listening?

Signature Baby Clothes

24 December 2011

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“And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” Luke 2:12

Are you fascinated by signs or clues, just like Sherlock Holmes? Well, the shepherds were given a “sign,” to know that they found the right baby to visit that first Christmas night. I suppose there might be a number of babies born that night.

Finding a baby in a stable and lying in a manger was strange enough I would say, but there was more than to it. The baby was wrapped not in a diaper or a blanket, but in a swaddling clothes. Have you ever wonder why the swaddling clothes was a sign? What is a swaddling clothes anyway?

A swaddling clothes is a long and narrow bands of cloth that is used in wrapping a body in the olden times. Then, where did Mary and Joseph got this “signature” cloth, you may ask, to wrap their baby? No, not in a shopping mall or store, for I don’t believe they had time for that, though I think  there were a lot of merchandise and bargains in Jericho, which was on the way. And definitely that type of cloth is not something lying around in a stable, or something that they just stumbled upon on the road in their long trip to Bethlehem.

The ancient Middle Eastern culture have a tradition that when they travel that will last for many days to months, men will take with them, a long, thin, gauze-like cloth, and wrap it many times around their waist. This would be one of the bottom layers of their clothing, and this would not be like Calvin Klein or Hanes . This cloth is reserved for death, if in case this will happen while they are traveling. If someone died during the journey, their friends and family would use this cloth and wrap their body from head to toe, just like a mummy, so they could complete their journey.

Since Mary and Joseph’s journey from their hometown of Nazareth, to Joseph’s ancestral town of Bethlehem, was a couple of days travel (80 miles in distance one way), it was most likely that Joseph was wearing his “death” cloth according to their custom. Do you see where this is going?

Though it cannot be proven with certainty as it was not recorded directly in the scriptures, but it was very likely that baby Jesus was wrapped in Joseph’s “death” cloth! That would make one of the wise men’s gift even more appropriate. Myrrh, was the spice used to embalm the dead. It was basically a deodorant for the dead.

Do you see the theme here? Jesus was a baby born to die. He came to this world to die for you and for me.

As we celebrate this Christmas, may we for a moment, pause for the real meaning of this occasion. It’s not about shopping (though that was what commercial institutions want you to believe), nor about our kid’s or our own Christmas wish list. It is not about Christmas trees, nor sitting on someone’s lap, nor filling our stockings with goodies, nor the gifts under the tree.

But yes, this season is about “the gift.” The gift was not wrapped with bows and ribbons, but with “death” cloth. The gift was not under the tree, but rather, He was hanged and died on a tree.

May you have a blessed Christmas.