Ruth Anne Latta

 The following notices (allegedly)appeared in church bulletins or were announced at church services: The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water."  The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus." Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands. Don't let worry kill you off -let the church help. Miss Jane Doe sang, "I will not pass this way again," giving obvious pleasure to the congregation. For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs. The Rector will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, "Break Forth With Joy." Jane Smith and John Doe were married on October 24th in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days. Potluck supper Sunday at 5 p.m. Prayer and medication to follow. The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hosti...

 This story was sent to me by my friends Diane and Peter Schmolka.     When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the pre-Christmas pressure. Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.     When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, heaven knows where. When he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground, and all the toys were scattered.     Frustrated, Santa went into the house for a glass of cider and a shot of rum. He went to the cupboard and discovered the elves had drunk all the cider and hidden the rum.  In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor.  He went to get the broom and...

 Put Christ back into Christmas by Billy Bragg Put Christ back into Christmas The season of goodwill Peace on earth for everyone So let the bombs be still Let the guns fall silent Let the hungry be fed And let the tyrants of the world Lie uneasy in their beds You want Christ back in Christmas Yet you ignore his words And live your life in selfishness As if you've never heard Of the Samaritan who stops to help The stranger dressed in rags You pay lip service to the Lord While worshipping the flag A flag won't ask you what you've done To help the poor survive But Christ demands you cast away The sin of national pride Love they neighbour as thyself And you will plainly see That the true message of Christmas Is one of empathy In haste to vilify you forget Christ was a refugee King Herod's murderous orders caused His family to flee Into the land of Egypt Where their safety did lie Would you refuse to let him in And send him back to die? God rest ye merry gentlemen So drunken...

    https:// compulsivereader.com/2025/12/ 19/a-review-of-a-different- kind-of-power-by-jacinda- ardern/ Above is the link to  my review of Jacinda Ardern's memoir, A Different Kind of Power.

 A friend gave me a booklet from her church: " Forward Day by Day": Daily Devotions for Disciples.   I was impressed by the devotion for November 6th, 2025. The text is Matthew 14: 5, "Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd because they regarded him as a prophet." The reading is as follows: "History is full of awful rulers. Some, like the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible, are so bad that we include their nature in their names. Others, such as Roman Emperor Nero, are metonyms for evil, their reputations permeating our language.  Then we have Herod, whose legacy places him high in the pantheon of awful rulers. "Herod beheaded  John the Baptist, and then fearful of the growing following of Jesus, he condemned the prophet to death. Herod witnessed this cowardly nature in his father, Herod the Great, who was the ruler who called for the Slaughter of the Innocents because he worried a baby would unseat  him. When we look closely at powerful ...

 My Aunt Lucy      Aunt Lucy was a large woman who wore dark print winter dresses and thick spectacles. In the summers, she  wore cotton print dresses with aprons that did not necessarily match.  She taught nine and ten year olds, and in the summer, when her sisters came to visit her, they slept late, then sat over brunch in their bathrobes talking about school until two or three in the afternoon, when it would be time to think about supper.      At nineteen, in November 1924, she wore a shapeless black coat on the train to a remote school district near Parry Sound where she’d been belatedly hired to teach.  She was met during a blizzard by a burly fur-coated man who looked like a buffalo driving a horse and sleigh. Twenty years her senior, he was the school board chairman. Though she  was afraid of him at first, two years later they were married.  He earned a living as a resort owner and hunting guide for tourists.  She c...