oh! ho! ho! week four!!

Four weeks of oh! ho! ho! Are you bored yet? I hope not! I’m having fun finding new friends and reading new blogs. Even though I’ve been so busy I’ve barely had time to read them. So, if you are one of my bloggy friends (new or old) please know I haven’t forgotten about you. I may be lurking, but I promise as soon as life slows down (this week, I hope!) I’ll be commenting and reading like mad. Doesn’t it stink when real life gets in the way of your bloggy life? Sheesh.

Let’s get back to Christmas, shall we? We are officially in the Christmas spirit here. In fact, Lydia is eating breakfast right now and instead of watching her normal “ELMO!”, she’s watching The Very First Noel. It’s the best little cgi DVD with Andy Griffith as the narrator. He narrates all in rhyme. And the music is by the First Hawaiian Christian Choir (well, something like that), so it’s got a little Jack Johnson feel to it. Oh, but I’m getting carried away because I’m not giving away that movie. (You should check it out though, it’s very good and really follows the Christmas Story…well, with the exception of the Wise Men showing up at the stable. But at least it’s much better than this movie. yuck.)

Whew…you can tell I haven’t been doing some serious blogging lately because I’m wordy today, huh?

Last Christmas I bought something that is destined to be a Christmas tradition in our house. It’s something I heard as a little girl, but could never get my hands on until last year! It’s Adventures in Odyssey’s Christmas Classics cd’s.

If you’re not familiar with Adventures in Odyssey you are missing out. It’s a radio drama produced by Focus on the Family. It follows the stories of a small town called Odyssey with Mr. Whittaker, owner of Whit’s End (an ice cream emporium) and all the kids and families that come in and out. I started listening to Odyssey when I was a kid and it still captures my attention like nothing else. It’s high quality with great voices (how ’bout Scoooge McDuck is one!) and stories that tell moral and biblical principles in funny, exciting and creative ways.

My brother and I are huge Odyssey fans and now Lydia will point to the speaker in the car and say, “Oddeeee!” I can’t wait to introduce her to these Christmas episodes. I think Odyssey (and other radio dramas or audio books) are such a good family-time activity. They are so engaging and big conversation starters. The Christmas episodes would be great for traveling to Grandma’s for Christmas, driving around looking at Christmas lights, or snuggling on the couch with hot chocolate and gazing at your Christmas tree.

The Christmas Classics set has my all time favorite episode called Gifts for Madge & Guy. And if you didn’t catch it, it’s based on O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi, which is also my very favorite Christmas story. I’m sure you know the story but, here’s the two sentence synopsis:

A newlywed couple has no money for Christmas presents. Their two most prized possessions are the wife’s beautiful hair and the husband’s handsome pocket watch. In a fit of unselfishness, they both sell their most prized possession to buy a gift for their spouse. The wife cuts her hair to buy a watch fob for her husband. The husband sells his watch to buy beautiful combs for his wife’s tresses.

OK, so it was a little longer than 2 sentences. But it puts a tear in my eye just thinking about it! What a good and true example of selfless giving! This radio episode is a hilarious and crazy fractured re-telling of this classic O. Henry story. I laugh out loud just thinking about it. Click here to read a real recap and hear a teaser of this episode.

So, onto the prize. I’m giving away FIVE, count ‘em…1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Adventures in Odyssey Christmas Sampler with 2 full-length episodes including my fave, Gifts for Madge and Guy.

All you have to do is leave me a comment. I’m not even going to make you tell me anything special. You can say “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Oh! Ho! Ho!” or just “Plllleeeeeaaaaase! Pick me!” and you’ll be entered to win ONE of FIVE prizes! And, if you want some extra entries, just subscribe to my feed or put up my oh! ho! ho! button somewhere on your blog with a link back here. Just let me know (via a comment) that you’re doing that so I can give you the proper extra credit! I’ll announce the winners (did you catch that? winnerS?!) on Friday!

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