Over the past week, I’ve been doing a little research on what our winter-deprived locale has to offer with regard to Christmas events.  Turns out, a  lot!  There’s ice-skating at UCF, snow falling in Celebration, a ginormous, edible gingerbread house in the lobby of The Grand Floridian, a frigid ice sculpture exhibit at the Gaylord Palms, plenty of musical performances, meals with various fictional personae, such as Mrs. Claus and The Grinch, lots of lights to drive around and see, Santas to meet, and The Nutcracker to be endured year after year by parents who dutifully take their kids.  The only thing I wasn’t able to find is a live nativity.  Well, I take that back.  The only live nativity I’ve found is a show at Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede, which alleges to be excellent, but I don’t know. (Update: Look in the comment section for info on some live nativity options.)

Here are a couple sites that I’ve found informative.

About.com’s Orlando Calendar of Events

A site actually called Christmas in Orlando!

Orlando Sentinel’s holiday guide

Some highlights from my research:

ICE! - Amazing ice sculptures, including a life-size Nativity carved of crystal-clear ice.

Gaylord Pamls Resort’s Best of Florida Christmas - 4.5 acres of magical Christmas wonderland.  ICE! is part of this and as far as I can tell, is the only aspect that involves an admission fee.

Light Up UCF! – It’s $10 if you want to ice skate, but if not, then you can walk around, look at the skaters, enjoy to light show, etc., for free (plus free parking on most days).

Life-size gingerbread house – I’m sure the other decorations in Disney’s Grand Floridian will be spectacular, too.

Free admission to the Morse Museum on Christmas Eve - a unique and quiet way to spend the day

Falling snow in Celebration – I’ve heard Celebration is great for lights, too.

A theatrical performance of A Christmas Story

Do you know of any other fun things to do around town during the holiday season?

I just finished a book called The Splendor of Silence by Indu Sundaresan. It’s set in British-ruled India in 1942, as Japan is invading Burma (next door to India) and Mahatma Ghandi is leading millions of Indians in non-violent civil disobedience as part of a movement to win independence from the British Crown. The story is one of an American soldier, Sam, who has come to the state of Rudrakot in search of his brother, Mike, who has gone AWOL from his military regiment stationed there. Sam meets the daughter of the Indian political agent, Mila, and falls in love with her. The bulk of the story takes place over the 4 days Sam spends in Rudrakot.

I enjoyed the book primarily because of the historical and political information I gleaned from it. Did I know India was once ruled by Britain? I guess, but I had forgotten. Did I know Burma was next door to India? Probably not. Did I know when Ghandi lived? Nope. (Am I horribly under-informed? Yes.) I also enjoyed reading about the cultural and racial issues going on at the time. I learned a lot about Indian society and quite a few Hindustani words (I didn’t realize there was a glossary at the back of the book until I was two-thirds done!). The book starts off a little slow, but by halfway through, I got to the point where I couldn’t put it down.  There are several open-ended plot lines that frustrated me and others in my book club, but overall I still thought it was an enjoyable read.

So, if you’re looking to brush up on your knowledge of India, this would be an entertaining way to do it.

Yummy cheesy potatoes

2 lbs southern style (square) frozen potatoes (thawed)

1/3 cup melted butter

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cups sour cream

1 block grated Cracker Barrel cheese

Mix all but potatoes.  Fold in potatoes.  Bake in ungreased 9×13 pan or corning ware pan at 350 for one hour.

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent. What a wonderful time of year, don’t you think? This Advent season, there are going to be Advent devotion guides each week in the bulletin for you, your LIFE group, and your family to make use of.

Mike told us that he’ll be preaching on 5 stories this advent season, the first of which was the story of Zechariah. I’ve heard it many times before, and as he was telling it yesterday, I was reminded of the movie The Nativity. Have you seen it? It’s a great movie to watch each Christmastime – pretty true to life and not too cheesy. The first time I saw it, a few years ago, it really made Christmas more meaningful to me, as I considered what everyday life was like back then, what God’s people were enduring under Harod’s rule, and the long, hard journey Mary and Joseph made together.

Mike made the point that after John the Baptist was circumcised and Zechariah received his voice back, Zechariah praised the Lord because he has rescued his people from three things: fear, death, and sin. The one that caught my attention most was sin. Over the past year especially, I’ve become discouraged at times because of what I see as a lack of progress in, or what seems to be a stalling of, my sanctification. I fall into the same old patterns of sinfulness, some of my sinful character traits (impatience and selfishness being two of the foremost) seem as dominant as ever, and I doubt that the Lord is good or cares about me. Surely if I were a true believer, these things would fade away, right? If I’m still struggling, sometimes feeling like I’m losing, does that mean I’m really not a believer after all? But I was reminded yesterday that no, the presence of such struggles does not mean that. Mike taught that being rescued from sin does not mean that we are rescued from the presence of sin in our lives, meaning that we are still going to sin. It also does not mean that we are rescued from the temporal consequences of sin. We still have to live with the effects of both our individual sinfulness and the fact that the world is broken – disease, poverty, abuse of all sorts, greed, financial turmoil, broken and strained relationships. But I like how Mike put it in a few different ways which meant a lot to me – he said that what Christ has rescued us from is the control and condemnation of sin, the power and penalty of sin, the ability of sin to define and damn us. Hallulujah! So, even if I’m still sinful, still struggling with these same old things for years and years and years, I am not defined by my sin. I am not ultimately controlled by it. It does not have absolute power over me. It does not condemn me, even if it feels like it does. I do not have to bear the final penalty, and I will not be damned by it. These words are a balm to my weary soul.