Christmas knives are often new, exciting slivers of steel and polymer (yes, Virginia, unless you have stone or bone handles, it’s a polymer) that catch our attention for a few moments around the tree.
“Oh! Helen,” he said, over the sound of wrapping paper being shredded. “It’s a hand-made tactical friction folder from Frantic Forge! It’s just what I wanted.”
Her comeback was not entirely unexpected.
“Oh, John!” She managed to be heard over the kitchen timer and the sound of bubbling pots. “It’s just what I wanted! A hand-made bread knife combination turnip carver from Kitchen Dungeon Forge.”
This scene is played out in front of Hanukkah candles and Christmas trees all around the world. Trust me, I’ve had a few of these moments myself.
While we’re lost in admiration of our newest knives, there’s a few knives from Christmas past still hanging around. If, like Marley, I’m forced to drag a chain of knives with me through the next world, I hope these are attached.
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| Electric carving knives, one of mankind's most enduring inventions |
That’s my brother-in-law carving a turkey. He’s mastered the art of carving a bird. When I try that my results look like I used a hammer. I always enjoy watching him make short work of a bird.
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| If I had one knife to symbolize family and friends it would be a knife like this. |
What would a holiday be without family and friends? I’m sure countless men and women in our armed forces could tell us from past experience. It makes my eyes water when I think of all of them overseas, so far from family and friends with only their comrades near. It’s an imperfect world, but I believe the Man Upstairs has a special mark by each of their names in His Book of Life.
God bless and keep ‘em safe.
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| The Cold Steel bread knife: good for cutting bread and fighting ninjas |
My wife loves to bake bread. Could there be anything more fundamental to the human condition than bread? We break bread with friends. We welcome new members to communities with bread, and we give bread to loved ones departing on long trips. “I packed you an extra sandwich,” mothers used to say to sons, daughters and husbands when they departed on a journey. It’s something I miss.
Christmas spirit – the short version
Whether or not you believe in Christ as Redeemer, can there be any question that his message of peace, love, harmony and forgiveness has value for men and women then and now?
Everyday we hear the Siren song of the modern world. For a few days at Christmas be like Odysseus’ sailors and pour wax in your ears and ignore the material world just a little. Enjoy the real Christmas values: Peace, Home, Family, Friends, Harmony, Love and Forgiveness.
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