The Christmas Story

This Christmas season, I wanted to take a few moments to write something on here with a Christmas theme.  Admittedly, I had a difficult time coming up with many original thoughts for this post, but that’s okay.  In celebration of the true meaning of Christmas, this post will mostly be an account of the Christmas story.

I do have just a few thoughts before we get into it. As I’m writing this, the temperature is below zero degrees outside, as much of the nation is being affected by a winter storm.  At least with the snow we’re getting, there will be a White Christmas this year, which I like.  Although, I would prefer my White Christmases to be 30 degrees, with just enough snow to cover the ground, and no wind, and no hazardous travel, and for the snow to immediately melt on December 26 for the rest of the winter.  And absolutely no temperatures below zero, or even in the single digits.  (Not that I’m picky or anything.)  But given the winter storm, I hope everyone is staying safe and warm, and that the traveling mercies are in full force for anyone traveling, and that you are able to spend some time with family or friends for the holiday.

Also, in case you’d like to go back and re-visit my Christmas posts from previous years – in 2020, I provided my list of top ten favorite Christmas movies.  And in 2021, I gave a 10-question Christmas quiz, mainly related to the Biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus and the very first Christmas.  After reading this post here, feel free to go back to my quiz from last year and take it again if you’d like to.  But in case you’d like to brush up first, I’ll include some Christmas material here for your reading pleasure.

In honor of Christmas, the following is the main portion of the Biblical account of the birth of Jesus, as taken from the New International Version of the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew:

The Best of Dilbert

With the New Year now upon us, I got to open up my new 2022 Dilbert day-by-day calendar that I recently got for Christmas.  I have actually had a Dilbert day-by-day calendar each year for the past several years.  Over this time, I have saved some of the best ones to put on my refrigerator.  Of course, I only have so much room on my refrigerator, so there is a continual evaluation process of which new hilarious comics to put on there, and which ones finally have to be taken off.  Today, I would like to share with you some of the best Dilbert comics I have read from my calendar over the years, many of which I have saved on my refrigerator.

Christmas Quiz

With Christmas right around the corner, I thought I would put together a short 10-question Christmas quiz and post it on here.  Feel free to take this and test your knowledge of Christmas.  I am including the answers at the end, so you can grade yourself and see how well you did.  Each question is multiple choice.  Some questions indicate that there is more than one answer.  For those questions, in order to get it correct, please select all possible correct answers without selecting an incorrect answer.  No partial credit – although of course I have no way to enforce that, as you are on the honor system while you grade your own quiz.

One other thing about this quiz.  The celebration of Christmas has evolved in our culture over the years to include Santa Claus, presents, giving, spending time with family, vacations, Christmas-themed decorations/movies/music, etc., and sometimes white Christmases with the perfect amount of snow on the ground.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year.  But while certain extra elements of this can be fun and special in their own right, I made this quiz specific to the true meaning of Christmas – the birth of Christ.

Let’s see how well you do…

Cooking with Ryan

I’m not known as much of a cook.  My definition of “cooking” generally involves something simple like heating up soup on the stove, microwaving a chicken pot pie, or making mac and cheese.  If you ask me to do something more advanced though, like make a casserole, you may as well forget it because you’re inviting disaster.  Whenever there is a social gathering where everyone is asked to bring a dish to share, I’m that guy who comes with Chips Ahoy cookies or a can of Pringles.  With that said, however, I do have some recipes of my own that I thought I would share here on my blog.

I’m a 3

Upon reading the title of this blog post, describing myself as a 3, your first thought may have been to assume that I was rating myself based on looks.  That’s not where this is going.  You may also have thought this was in reference to Enneagrams, and that I was telling you my Enneagram number.  That’s also not where this is going.

For context, I started this blog about one year ago, mainly as a non-Facebook writing outlet and something to do during the pandemic.  In the process of starting this blog, I was advised that good blogs have an “About Me” page, so that people reading it can get to know the writer better and more closely connect with the subject matter.  Except, I hate describing myself.  So, if you check out this page by clicking on the “About Me” link above, you will see that most of my self-description is, “On a scale of 1 to 10, I’m a 3 in my ability to describe myself.”  In addition, if you check out my Twitter bio, (yes, I also have a Twitter; see my “Follow Me” page above), I have stated the same thing on my Twitter bio as well: “One a scale of 1 to 10, I’m a 3 in my ability to describe myself.”  This may cause you to wonder two things.  First, how did I come up with this line?  And secondly, why do I hate describing myself?

COVID Week: One Year Later

I’m back!  It’s been a record two months since I’ve posted anything on this blog, but in case you were wondering, no, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.  I just didn’t have as much free time to post on here during the first two months of 2021.  But don’t worry, I’m back from my two-month hiatus with some more thoughts for your reading pleasure.

The past few days, I was inspired to share my own personal reflections from one year ago.  As I’m sure you are all aware, it was at this time last year – the second week of March 2020 – that everyone’s world changed due to COVID.  Although I’m sure we’re all tired of hearing about this pandemic that’s still going on one year later, I don’t really have any new insights to share that haven’t already been said ad nauseum.  Rather, this one-year milestone has inspired me to recount my personal experiences from what I call “COVID Week.”

2021 Is Finally Here!

Happy New Year!  2020 is finally over!  Never before have we collectively wanted to get rid of a year so badly as this past year.  Since I actually have a blog this year, I thought I would use this opportunity to post some thoughts here in honor of the arrival of 2021.  Admittedly, I’m finding this to be a difficult exercise, in large part because I’m generally not one to put a lot of importance on New Year’s.  However, I’ll post what I can on this holiday, and if you stick with me to the end, I’ll include a link to a New Year’s Quiz for you fans of The Office.

What Really Grinds My Gears

With Thanksgiving just over a week away, it’s important that we take the time to reflect on the things we’re thankful for and the blessings we have been provided.  Regardless of how difficult a year like 2020 has been, we should all be able to think of several reasons to be thankful.  With that said, it’s not quite Thanksgiving yet, and I have a different list I’d like to share here. Instead, I’d like to share some of the things that do not make my thankful list.  A list of some of the things that really grind my gears.

Please note, these are not meant to be taken too seriously.  I’m not here to rant about serious things, like coronavirus, or politics, or matters of life and death.  This is a partial list of things that ultimately don’t matter, but are still annoying in their own small way.  When reading the following rants, I hope you appreciate them for their entertainment value, rather than thinking I’m just complaining about first-world problems.  Now that we have that out of the way, here are my thoughts on the following annoyances of life…

Living in the Present

“When is everything going to be back to normal?  Can we just fast forward to that point?”

Have you ever found yourself asking that question?  I have, several times.  I was just sharing that question with some friends recently.  I doubt I’m alone in that sentiment.  It seems like many of us long for the good old days of 2019, before the Covid Era, and would like for 2020 to just end already, so that things will be “back to normal.”  (And don’t even get me started on the phrase “the new normal”, the most overused phrase of 2020.  I refuse to accept that things will be this way for the entire rest of our lives, so the phrase “the new normal” aggravates me to no end, but I digress.)  Of course, even when 2021 does come around in less than three months, it’s still certain that things will still not be back to normal by that time.  I’m not sure why January 1, 2021 seems to be some magical date in which things will return to normal – a date in which a vaccine will be available, coronavirus will suddenly be eradicated, there will be no need to wear masks or socially distance, and everyone gets along with each other.

This brings me back to my question – when is that going to happen?  When is everything going to be back to normal?  And can we just skip to that point?  In pondering this question, I was reminded of a couple of movies that underscore the importance of being careful what you wish for and appreciating the moment we live in now.

The Letter E

Last month, our company went through our mid-year review process for performance evaluation.  The way the mid-year reviews used to work at my job, we used to have to complete a self-evaluation, while our manager completed their own evaluation of us and communicated their review to us in a one-on-one meeting.  And although our process has changed over the years, there was one time a while back when I did have to complete a self-evaluation, and I decided to see if I could do one without using the letter E.