In case you have not done the math, there are only 32 days separating Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. That is a short span of time to recover from one major holiday and prepare for the next. Two of the biggest festivities on the Christian calendar are right together at the end of the year. This makes for some stressful times, at home and at church. Trying to schedule special events for family and church family can get to be a real challenge for all of us. Like most of you

For the kid “Growing Up On Dump Ground Road,” the Thanksgiving meal was always chicken and dressing. The reason for this was clear: turkeys were sold at the store but chickens were free from grandma’s chicken pen next door. Among my zaniest childhood memories were “chicken killing days.” I will skip the graphic details of how the bird lost its head, but I will never forget the sight of the headless chicken flopping around on the ground. My cousins and I would hoop and holler.

Probably like all of you, the kid “Growing Up on Dump Ground Road” was told repeatedly: “You are known by the company you keep.” It must be one of those lines that they teach at Parenting School. Of course, it is a warning to be careful about the type of people with whom you choose to associate. And since everyone knows everything about everyone else in a small town, it was easy for parents to identify the names and the nature of your friends. In all likelihood, they were