Back in Dallas

 

Why? To take down Christmas at Ma LSP's. All those glass ornaments, many like old friends. Down they go, to retrain for next year.

While we're at it, you may remember the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan. Surely it should've been the other way around and the Baptizer says as much, "I should be baptized by you." Jesus was, notoriously, without sin. So how are we to make sense of this fulfillment of "all righteousness." Perhaps this helps.

Our Lord, true God and true Man, like in every way as we are yet without sin, took the sins of humanity on his sinless shoulders upon the Cross in obedience to the Father's will. Here we find an analogue to Christ's baptism, and he says as much, referring to his Passion and Crucifixion later on in the Gospel account, "Are you able to be baptized with the baptism I am to be baptized with?"

Jordan River,

God bless,

LSP

Boxing Day Pie

 

Spot the Etonian flag :)

After the festive fun and family conviv. of Christmas, Boxing Day comes as pleasant "breather," time to relax and take it easy. 

Walk the dog to the nearest Pick 'n Steal, reflect on Stephen the Martyr, it's his Feast today, as you stroll down the boulevards of Olde Dallas, and return to HQ for an easy lunch. Warm bread, cheese, dates and grapes, raise a glass to the Incarnate Word, slumber over books on antedeluvia and then...

Return to the fray to make pie. Yes, beef and mushroom pie from the leftovers of yesterday's feast, it's not hard. Cut the beef off the bone(s), chop up an onion, some garlic and celery and saute in 3 Tbs butter till tender and fragrant. Add three Tbs of flour and stir it up, then add beef stock. Well done, you've got this far, but you're not there yet.

A typical Dallas Light Cavalry Mess scene. Keen-eyed readers will spot LL, WSF, Old NFO, drjim, Jim, Wild, 

Ed, Doktor Swankenstein, DOS, Ed. C, Mike C, Manhattan Infidel, Seamus, GenX, Paul M, 

RHT, Adrienne (out of frame) and so many more.

Let everything simmer and stir, like a faculty revolt at Harvard, and add the beef. This is key, obviously. While the meat's simmering in the mix, saute some mushrooms in butter till golden and add those too, along with some red wine, and let it all cook to desired consistency. 

That done, turn off the heat, add yesterdays cooked carrots to the mix and allow the delicious pie filling to rest and cool. Have a glass of the right stuff, listen to Handel, shoot some 5.56, sharpen a kukri, whatever, your call, no rule, and in God's good time roll out some pastry. Good work, fill a pie dish with its filling, cover with jolly old pastry and fire it all into the oven at 400.

Let that beast cook for 20 minutes or so until golden brown, you can even glaze the pastry with an egg yolk if you like, then fall upon your scoff.

Like a Warrior,

LSP

Back In Dallas

 

At Dallas HQ on a pre-Christmas mission. Part of that involved going to Hunky's in Bishop Arts for excellent burgers. Seriously, they do a good job and you should go, but beware, it's not easy to find parking and you might have  deal with the Bat Woman muriel.

Rando Revolver

Huh, since when did Bat Woman free Palestine? Last year she was standing with Ukraine and the year before she was trusting the science, wearing a mask and getting vaxxed. Like no kidding, zhe's a right social trend barometer.

Genuinely Good Burger

Delicious burgers complete, we drove around the neighborhood, looking in awe at new apartment blocks going up in what was once shacktown ghetto. Smart people snapped those shacks up and guess what, now they're worth lots. 

A Wooden Tree With Glass

We balked at that investment opportunity, oh well, but did manage to set up a tree which glistens in the living room. Nice. In other news, the Pope's gone gay but not as gay as the Church of England, and the Senate's apparently some kind of bath house. And people are fleeing Democrat cities because Climate Change. But of course they are.

Cheers,

LSP

Merry Christmas!

 

There's such beauty to Christmas Eve, anticipation of the Feast with all the intimacy of the thing itself; presents, family, friends, glittering lights on the tree and on, and joy seems to fill the air. Quite right too, we're celebrating the most miraculous and glorious of things, the birth of Christ, the Word made Flesh, and with it the advent of salvation.

What can we do but bow down in adoration, praise and wonder before the mystery and the Missions did just that, celebrating in fine style. Then it was back to the Compound with the specialist who opened a "tactical stocking" and something called a "gaming laptop." Apparently these are important for today's troops. 

Blue took it in stride and may have got a Christmas special himself. Hmmmm. And so we advanced to contact, in  good way.

Merry Christmas!

LSP

Operation Tree

 

The drive to Dallas was easy. Roadworks, three lane to one lane traffic jams, and being stuck behind a Commie Jeep with COEXIST on its bumper. COEXIST? Idea being that all people of all religions can just agree to get along. Good call, sounds so reasonable.

But what if you worship the Owl God, Mictlāntēcutli, what then? Or Kali? What about that? Of course they never stop to ask the question, and so we drove on to Dallas.

Its towers were shrouded in mist, like the Andes, and so was the 'sprawl itself. I made it to Ma LSP's place by instinct. Right, left, forward, get to the objective. Which we did, and  the mission? Get a tree. Easier said than done. Hardly a fir to be found.

Still, we found one and set it up. It's gleaming now, like a colonizer. 

Friendsgiving Forever,

LSP

Judgement Runs Out Into Mercy

 

I always post this short reflection in Advent because it's awesome. From my Godfather, Austin Farrer:

Our journey sets out from God in our creation, and returns to God at the final judgement. As the bird rises from the earth to fly, and must some time return to the earth from which it rose; so God sends us forth to fly, and we must fall back into the hands of God at last. But God does not wait for the failure of our power and the expiry of our days to drop us back into his lap. He goes himself to meet us and everywhere confronts us. Where is the countenance which we must finally look in the eyes, and not be able to turn away our head? It smiles up at Mary from the cradle, it calls Peter from the nets, it looks on him with grief when he has denied his master. Our judge meets us at every step of our way, with forgiveness on his lips and succour in his hands. He offers us these things while there is yet time. Every day opportunity shortens, our scope for learning our Redeemer's love is narrowed by twenty-four hours, and we come nearer to the end of our journey, when we shall fall into the hands of the living God, and touch the heart of the devouring fire.

Advent brings Christmas, judgement runs out into mercy. For the God who saves us and the God who judges us is one God. We are not, even, condemned by his severity and redeemed by his compassion; what judges us is what redeems us, the love of God. What is it that will break our hearts on judgement day? Is it not the vision, suddenly unrolled, of how he has loved the friends we have neglected, of how he has loved us, and we have not loved him in return ; how, when we came (as now) before his altar, he gave us himself, and we gave him half-penitences, or resolutions too weak to commit our wills? But while love thus judges us by being what it is, the same love redeems us by effecting what it does. Love shares flesh and blood with us in this present world, that the eyes which look us through at last may find in us a better substance than our vanity.

Beautiful and true.

God bless,

LSP

Fire It Up

There's the fender, the "dogs" and the ancient fire tools from the time your ancestors conquered this land, or bought them in a street market in Brussels or Oklahoma City or wherever; doesn't matter, dammit. Where's the fire?!?

I've argued this for years, "Clean out the flu, light the fire; it'll be better, warmer." But no, a feeble gaslight rules.

Now that we've had a year of MAGA this should and must change. Real fires, please.

America First,

LSP

Boxing Day MAGA

Have you noticed how much better Christmas was this year, as though a cloud of MillSoc (Millionaire Socialist) oppression had lifted from the land? We certainly did here in the Metrosprawl; no complaints.

The kids, who won't be kids much longer, woke up to stockings that included micro drones and almost fell over themselves with excitement. Thanks, LL, for the inspiration. Then we drove to Dallas to celebrate with the rest of the family.

I got a MAGA ornament to go with the PSG (Presidiential Snow Globe), which was pretty uplifting and some neat unicorn paraphernalia. Be magical, it tells us. Hard not too with America's popular and glamorous First Lady in the White House. Seriously, think of the alternative.

Nasty, right?  Unlike the neat boxing robots I got the kids. Perhaps you remember them from the '70s, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em; who knew these fighting 'bots were still being made. Perhaps they weren't and now they are, thanks to tax reform and putting America first.

'

With that in mind, all the best for the Feast of St. Stephen and as always, MAGA.

Happy Boxing Day,

LSP

Melania Mondays! Christmas Special

Christmas, Monday, Melania. All of these words fit together which is why we're delighted to bring you a Melania Mondays! Christmas special. 

America's popular and glamorous First Lady is a devout Catholic but went ecumenical last night by attending an Episcopal church for Midnight Mass, Bethesda-by-the-Sea. The Rector, a former Navy Chaplain, preached about Nelson Mandela.

Undaunted by the sermon, the congregation gave Melania and her husband a standing ovation and who can blame them? The presidential couple are all about giving everyone a Merry Christmas instead of the miserable NWO "Happy Holidays."

After the service, Melania returned to Mar-a-Lago, which serves as a "Winter Whitehouse," where she spoke to children on the phone who'd called NORAD to locate Santa Claus. Melania is well known for her love of children.

Speaking at a Toys for Tots event at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling earlier this year, Melania said, "It is my hope that during this holiday season, people will remember it is not about gifts - it is about family, service and gratitude. We must continue to look out for, and help each other.”

Thank you, First Lady, for looking out for our country and doing your part to make America great again. MAGA.

Merry Christmas!

LSP

All Lit Up And Ready To Go

Dallas HQ looks good, all lit up and ready to go. Saying that, the tree was bought at the last minute and needed some attention. Still, it glitters like Christmas should and its ornaments shine back at you like old friends. Beautiful.

Buying last minute presents in the metrosprawl in near freezing rain was less beautiful but Half Price Books came in handy. You're not allowed to carry a gun in Half Price, leaving you rather less than half safe; fortunately no one was shot by an outraged anti-Christmas Muslim while I was there. 

The Game Stop allowed concealed carry, I think, which is perhaps unwise. Think of all the gun toting parents getting ready to unload on hideously overpriced gaming consoles, the games themselves, controllers, add-ons and the whole nine yards of the very expensive, destructive to young minds gaming industry. Anyway.

Back at the urban compound all was well and the light shineth in darkness. What do I want for Christmas? A good double, a ranch and the unity of Christendom.

Light it up,

LSP

Light It Up

This small farming community's all lit up, literally and figuratively; I know this because I've seen it. And you know what? I like it.

So don't be a sad puritan killjoy, light up the town instead and get ready to celebrate the Nativity. Just don't jump the gun and detract from the enjoyment of the Feast. This should be maximal.

With that in mind I drive around the town at night enjoying the lights. It's uplifting and given that Baptists weren't to keen on Christmas, 25 December not being in the Bible and Roman Catholics do it, encouraging. We've moved on and up in this shiny buckle of the Bible Belt.

So light it up.

God bless,

LSP

The MAGA Snow Globe!

Giving and receiving gifts is one of the beauties of the Christmas season, especially if the gift is a Make America Great Again (MAGA) Snow Globe, featuring our new President in full Napoleonic regalia.

Resolute

Hold the MAGA Snow Globe still and look into the resolute eyes of our new Commander. So different from the shifty glance of the last miscreant to hold office. 

Winter Wonderland

Then shake the globe and let it snow!

If you want to play your part in making America great again, get a genuine MAGA Snow Globe by emailing the Compound with your order and our hardworking team of specialists will rush one to you in the mail (price on request). Satisfaction guaranteed.

MAGA,

LSP

Almost Christmas

While you're all recovering from Festivus and getting ready for Kwanzaa, I'm gearing up for the first Masses of Christmas, fortified by Huevos Rancheros, strong coffee, and corn tortillas.

Excuse me?

Here's some Austin Farrer to reflect on before Mass:

“WHEN Mary laid Jesus Christ upon her knees, when she searched him with her eyes, when she fed him at the breast, she did not study to love him because she ought, she loved him because he was dear: he was her Son. His conception had been supernatural, perplexing, affrighting; it had called for faith in the incomprehensible, and obedience beyond the limit of human power. His nativity was human and sweet, and the love with which she embraced it was a natural growth, inseparable from the thing she loved. She was blessed above all creatures, because she loved her Maker inevitably and by simple nature; even though it needed the sword—wounds of the Passion to teach her fully that it was her Maker whom she loved. The Son of Mary is the Son of all human kind; we embrace him with the love of our kind, that we may be led up with Mary to a love beyond kind, a selfless love for the supreme Goodness, when we too shall have climbed the ladder of the cross.”

I love that -- the Farrer, not the random dancing priestess, obviously.

God bless,

LSP

Merry Christmas

Jowett

Jowett, Master of Balliol, after a mile of walking in silence with the young Augustus Baker,

"Your last observation was singularly commonplace."

Well, I stand judged... Anyway... thanks for reading & following.

Merry Christmas!

LSP