Life Perspective: Reviews & More

I've been busy! New Year's Content: 2009 New Year's Resolutions of Gospel Artists Featuring: DecembeRadio, Bob Halligan, Stephen Hinkle, Joanne Cash, Lyrycyst, Carried Away, Beloved, Kevin Levar, Mission Six, After Edmund, and Eliot Sloan (Blessid Union of Souls) By Kathryn E. Darden | Published 12/28/2008 | Top Ten Songs for New Year's Songs from Robert Burns, U2, Barry Manilo, Relient K, Dan Fogelburg, Stacy Orrico, Ella Fitzgerald, Sir Cliff Richards and more By Kathryn E. Darden | Published 12/6/2008 | Lord of the Rings Content: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Complete Recordings Almost four hours of music on four CDs, containing the full score of the 2003 film, the final edition of the three complete recording releases of the film trilogy whose score earned with three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, etc By Kathryn E. Darden | Published 12/30/2008 | Nashville Symphony Scores with Lord of the Rings Led by guest cond...

I love good literature, and for that reason, I am on several discussion boards to discuss writers like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkien . I was somewhat bemused that when people began to post their holiday greeting between December 21 and 25, 2007, the posts all had titles like: Happy Yule to All! Happy Holidays! Happy Hogswatch Night Happy Solstice In fact, I was the only person on two such lists to wish my fellow Tolkien and Lewis enthusiasts a Merry Christmas! The yule was a Germanic festival featuring a sacrificial feast some time in late December to early January on a date determined by the Germanic lunar calendar. The winter solstice is an actual astronomical event which occurs between December 20 and December 23 each year in the northern hemisphere. Hogswatch is a fictional holiday occuring on Dec, 31 and Dec. 32. None of them has anything to do with the celebration on December 25 which is known as Christmas unless the yule actually falls on December 25 by coincidence some year. The...

Yesterday (December 19) was my birthday and if you must ask, I was 29... again! I had a very nice day - it actually started last night when my older cousin invited me up for my birthday/Christmas and fixed me my favorite meal, curried chicken. She used the recipe my mother brought back from India, so this is curry the way I like it best. It was so good, and she sent me home a casserole dish full! Of course I ate too much! Then I gave her grandkids the presents I had brought up, and it was worth the one-hour trip up just to watch them having so much fun with their presents! Today some friends took me out for lunch downtown, and it was nice just catching up, and, yes, eating too much! It was Christmassy, too, with the decorations. Nashville is looking mighty festive! Then tonight I had a dinner meeting with sword swallower Dan Meyer who caught me up on his exciting career and treated me to a birthday dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. The food was delicious! Why, yes! I DID eat too muc...

Cookies for Kids will be hosting two holiday book signings for me in Nashville during the Christmas season to benefit the charity Special Spaces (Specialspaces.org). The organization has been given a storefront at Hickory Hollow Mall where they will sell gourmet cookies, do gift wrapping, and other special activities including my book signings! I will be signing copies of my books The Mayberry Poem - A Tribute to Mayberry and How to Promote Your Book on a Shoestring Budget on Wednesday night, December 17 at 5 PM, and on Monday afternoon, December 22 at 2PM. Cookies for Kids is located in the lower level of Hickory Hollow Mall near Sears in the "Real Estate" store front. Proceeds will benefit Special Spaces, a non-profit organization focused on making a difference in the lives of children with life threatening illnesses. The Mayberry Poem - A Tribute to Mayberry is a compilation of poetry about "The Andy Griffith Show." Each poem pays tribute to a character, episo...

'Twas the Night Before Christmas in an Iraqi Town Christmas in Iraq   is a poem written for a soldier and his troop I sponsored in Iraq in 2005. It is my hope that this poem and others like it will be forwarded to our military men and women during the Christmas season so they will know they are not forgotten during the holidays. 'Twas the night before Christmas in an Iraqi town; And our brave U.S. forces had all just hunkered down. Not a Humvee was moving, not a Jeep stirred the sand As troops dreamed of their homes, each and every man. Some longed for their sweethearts, other men missed their moms, Others missed sons and daughters not seen for so long. Sugarplums would be nice, but much nicer to be At home with their loved ones 'neath their own Christmas tree. When what to their wondering ears should be heard, But the faint sounds of carols, music and joyful words. At first heard so faintly, then the sound grew and grew -- The sound of your loved ones s...

Why do non-Christians think it is OK to mock our beliefs, parody Jesus, and insult Christianity? If we parodied Mohammad or Buddha like these B-list Hollywood types and their sycophants parody Jesus, why, we would be intolerant or hate mongering. But these actors and the morons who applaud them are guilty or the same kind of bigotry and hate speech they so gleefully accuse Christians of every time they spread the kind of intolerant idiocy featured in Jack Black's latest tastelessness. Actually, they are guilty of much worse, one, for their hypocrisy, and two, for their blasphemy. Perhaps you would think it equally funny if Jack Black portrayed someone you loved and respected - a religious leader, a parent -- and make a total mockery of what they stood for? Most of the people snickering at this are the same people who would be insulted if we insulted an animal or cut down a tree, but make fun of Jesus and what he stood for, well SURE! THAT'S OK! It's OK to offend Christians...

Christmas is my favorite holiday -- in fact, the holiday season is my favorite time of the year. I have always loved Christmas, and fondly recall our family traditions at this time of year. Even when my father was stationed in India and we lived there for three years during my childhood, family photos show my brother and me sitting amidst our presents under the Christmas tree which was some kind of Indian evergreen and looking much like any other Christmas tree but decorated with traditional Indian garlands of metallic cords and sequins as well as the decorations my mother brought with us. Our native housekeeper and his family piled traditional garlands of marigolds on our gifts and tables. Some of the metallic Indian garlands became part of our annual Christmas tree decorations. The marigold garlands, however, with their ties to Hinduism were left behind in India. There is some dispute among Christians as to how appropriate it is to put up a tree and celebrate a holiday which has its ...