The Last Minute

December 23, 2015January 20, 2016 / Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

There are some of you reading this right now who are panicking.

It’s less than 48 hours until Christmas. There’s still one or two gifts you need to buy. Someone just popped into your head you realize you didn’t purchase anything for.

Look, I’ve been there. We’ve all been there. And honestly I’m right there with you right now.

It’s no sin to buy a present at the last minute. The act of giving a gift – even if it’s one picked up at Christmas Eve at Rite Aid – is a beautiful thing.

The best gifts though, the ones we truly cherish, the ones we remember for years and years are the ones someone plans out for us. Continue reading →

Rejecting The Yule Log Mentality

December 22, 2015January 20, 2016 / Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

The Yule Log has become part of the Doriot family Christmas tradition.

If you’re not familiar with the Yule Log, it’s about as simple as it sounds – a single shot video of a blazing fireplace (usual with some relaxed holiday tunes in the background) set on a loop for hours on end.

You can get a Yule Log “movie” on DVD or Blu Ray. A few cable channels show one on Christmas. There’s even one streaming on Netflix!

Now we also have a real fireplace. It’s usually ablaze as well on Christmas morning.

And yet we still put the Yule Log on the tv alongside the real fire as we open presents. Continue reading →

Monday Morning Music: Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town

December 21, 2015January 20, 2016 / Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

After Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band finished their second performance on SNL this past Saturday I was fairly disappointed.

Don’t get me wronged – The Boss and the band put on a couple of great performances of songs from their new box set celebrating the 35th anniversary of “The River” (a great Christmas present for the Bruce Springsteen fan and blog writer in your life).

On any other night I would have been elated to hear performances of “Meet Me In The City” and “The Ties That Bind” live on Saturday night.

The only problem was this was the Christmas show. Continue reading →

The Santa Clause Commission

December 18, 2015December 21, 2015 / Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

What if I told you “The Santa Clause” was a pretty perfect metaphor for our calling as disciples of Jesus?

You remember the plot of “The Santa Clause”, the 1994 Christmas film starring Tim Allen? Old St. Nick arrives on the roof of a man named Scott Calvin’s house only to trip and fall to his death. Calvin checks on Santa, puts on his garb and finishes his route.

After the night is over Calvin visits the North Pole and finds out, due to a hidden clause, he is actually obligated to become the new Santa. Despite his protests he actually begins transforming into Santa over the course of the year to hilarious effect.

“The Santa Clause” is arguably a Christmas classic at this point (despite the two abysmal sequels which followed it). But is there really a deeper message hidden inside the holiday fluff? Continue reading →

The Voice Of Christmas

December 17, 2015December 21, 2015 / Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

Are you getting a new phone for Christmas? You’re definitely not the only one.

Phones and tablets and even phablets (I hate that word) are some of the hottest gifts every Christmas season. I personally think I’ve seen more phone commercials this Christmas than for any other gift.

The new hot feature everyone seems to be advertising is voice control. You know, Siri, “Ok Google”, Amazon’s new Alexa feature, etc.

This is the new feature phone companies are on fire for. But I’m really not a big user of voice control.

I know some people use the feature all the time. And you are free to make fun of me for sounding like an old fogey for this. But I pretty much only use Siri for one purpose – speaking out my texts. Continue reading →

The War On Christmas

December 16, 2015December 21, 2015 / Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

GUEST POST: Today’s contributor to The 12 Blogs Of Christmas is my fellow blogger Scott Higa. Scott writes over at The Christian Nerd and I’ve become a huge fan of his work over the past year or so. His posts and his dedication are a huge inspiration to me. He also hosts The Christian Nerd Podcast which drops every Monday that does a fantastic job mixing nerdy entertainment news with serious faith-based discussions. Don’t hold his aversion to egg nog against him; follow along with his blog and on Twitter anyway. Enjoy his contribution to POP GOD:

Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace and goodwill, yet some people want to treat it like a warzone.

There was that fool complaining about Starbucks’ cups who brandished a gun in a store.

There are those who loudly proclaim “Keep the Christ in Christmas.”

And we have the constant reminders that Jesus is the reason for the season.

Now I wholeheartedly believe that Jesus is the reason for the season. The reality that God sent his Son to earth to be our Lord and savior is utterly amazing. I have heard the true Christmas story every year since my first Christmas in 1981, and I’m still blown away by God’s great love for us. He saw us trapped in sin and darkness, but sent his Son to bring the light and love that would set us free.

That’s awesome and worth celebrating year round, not just in December.

In fact, the true Christmas story is so amazing that any alleged war against it is bound to fail. So we don’t even need to enter into the fray; we can simply let Christmas be Christmas. Continue reading →

Presence Over Presents

December 15, 2015December 21, 2015 / Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

My dog is kind of over Christmas.

A couple of years ago I wrote about the reason why I give my dog presents. But this year I don’t think he’s feeling the holiday spirit.

You see Roc is in his twilight years. He’s slower than he used to be. He spends most of his day sleeping. He has a lot of trouble seeing and moving around from room to room.

He’s still in good health overall; he’s just going through what every dog and every living thing goes through as they grow old. Continue reading →

How To Be A Christmas Story Villain

December 14, 2015December 21, 2015 / Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

Two names have become synonymous with evil at Christmas – Ebenezer Scrooge and The Grinch.

For all of the goodness kindness of Christmas that Buddy The Elf and Santa Claus reflect, Scrooge and The Grinch are their antitheses – the mascots for the naughty list.

If anyone we know is being stingy and grounchy at the holidays we call them a Scrooge. If anyone is being greedy or cranky we call them a Grinch.

Scrooge and The Grinch are the ultimate Christmas story villains. Selfish, harsh, mean spirited – they are symbolic of every attitude we strive to avoid this time of the year.

I think it’s about time we change that though. I think it ought to be a compliment when someone calls you a Scrooge or a Grinch. Continue reading →

They Do Exist

December 10, 2015December 14, 2015 / Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

There are 2 commercials I look for every year that signal the season of Christmas. These commercials have been running since I was a kid and continue to come back on TV twenty years later.

The first is the Campbell’s soup spot where a snowman melts into a kid. The second is the M&M’s ad where the candies meet up with Santa Claus:

You probably know the M&M’s commercial by heart. The three mythical characters bump into each other under the Christmas tree and all faint at the other’s sight, muttering in disbelief, “They do exist”.

I look forward to this commercial every year because, for just a few seconds, it triggers the childlike wonder that Christmas is supposed to inspire in us. Continue reading →

Remaking Christmas

December 8, 2015December 14, 2015 / Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

It’s just not Christmas for me without “The Muppet Christmas Carol”.

We all have that one Christmas special or movie we have to make time for during the holiday season. And sure, I love “Elf” and “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “Charlie Brown Christmas” and of course “Die Hard”. But “The Muppet Christmas Carol” is my personal favorite Christmas movie.

The original music is infectious. The emotions are heartfelt. Michael Caine as Scrooge should have won an Oscar.

If you’ve never been won over by the charms of the movie you might think this is all blasphemous. You might think adding Kermit and Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat to Charles Dickens’ classic story to be a literary crime.

But what makes “The Muppet Christmas Carol” work so well is that it really doesn’t stray from the author’s original story. Continue reading →