Our seasonal gratitude and holiday celebrations afforded us a measure of respite from any serious review of Recent Events of Great Consequence (like the Manhattan Declaration and emergent's pursuit of "art" and "conversation"). Generate published its first issue, and the three most responsible culprits excuse their "print artifact" here at TheSchmooze.

These fashion hounds of the emerging church explain why their conversation justifies the cutting down of perfectly good trees which might have been better used to make nasty splinters.

Anyhow, we forsook the dubyahdubyahdubyah and travelled with friends over to Homer, L'zzyanna, to disguise ourselves as typical holiday revelers on Lake Claiborne. In Cabin #7 the traditional jigsaw puzzle was set out, we ate food, we played games, we ate food, we exchanged gifts and awarded prizes, we ate food, we watched football, we ate food, we taunted one another for personal discrepancies, failings, idiosyncrasies and youthful misjudgments.

Some of us played a round of dimpleball at the Homer Golf Course. Halfway through the first nine we found the putting green next to some picnic tables and the restrooms! (I don't always take a putter into the Men's Room, but when I do, I prefer a Ping.)

We took a stroll around and a gander at the Claiborne Parish Courthouse, one of the very few remaining ante-bellum civic buildings.

We stopped in the PigglyWiggly on North 2^nd for a bag of Claey's Horehound hard candies which constituted my entire Louisiana Purchase.

We built many fires.

But it was pleasant, it was relaxing, it was enjoyable and we harmed no one.

All that is history now as we return to the disturbing world of theologians and church-tinkerers and where little is pleasant, relaxing or enjoyable and where many are grievously harmed.