The earlier the better?

We are about two weeks behind on a family tradition that started the first year Paige and I got married. The first weekend after Halloween we take down all the fall decor and put out all the Christmas decorations. The regular CDs in the car have to be switched out for the Christmas. The pumpkins are thrown out and the trees go up. Our season of giving begins weeks before most people's. This year, we got busy and got behind, so today was the day. The major Martin event started off with an injury this year. As I was carrying the Christmas bins down from the attic, I missed the 5th step from the bottom and fell on my ankle. Below is a picture of what I call my 'cankle'. As you can see, it is swollen and there is no ankle... it just goes from calf to foot.

No, my ankle is normally not that fat. Anyway, so we began the marathon Christmas decorating today. I love my wife, so I say this in love. She is obsessed with Christmas trees. Everytime we have been around someone who is getting a new tree, she asked to take their old one. And even when the trees go on sale after Christmas, we stock up. This year, we added a 9 foot tall, 6 foot wide evergreen to the family. It took 6 - 140 count strands of lights to light it up. It looks nice; even better than the other 5 we already have. I have talked her down to having just three up this year.

I did enjoy spending time with my girls today. We spent about three hours taking all the ornaments out and hanging them one by one on the massive tree. These are the memories that I will always treasure and I know my girls will never forget. They'll always remember how we had to rearrange the family room and push everything to one side so that we could fit this green beast of a tree in the house. I love decorating!

Pep Rally

This past Wednesday was an unbelievable night. We continued in our series called "Friday Night Lives". This night we scheduled a Pep Rally for God. We talked about things that we need to be pumped about. 1. We are the apple of God's eye, 2. James 1:18 says that out of all creation, we are God's prized possession. That alone excites me. 3. The Bible tells us that in the end, we win, as long as we are on God's side. I don't know about you, but I want to be on the winning team. The teens were stoked about this event and even dressed in black and yellow. (Michael, thanks for the Stryper shout out.) In two weeks we have the last night of this series. It will be Homecoming and free food for all teens as we have a tailgate party.

Black Out!

I never understood why Louisville fans love the black jerseys so much. And then this weekend happened. I was sitting down to watch "The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry", Auburn vs. Georgia when unbeknownsed to me, my beloved Bulldogs rush the field in silver pants and for the first time ever... black jerseys!!! I was overcome with emotion. How can a jersey stir up those kind of emotions? I was stoked about this. It also helped that Georgia trounced the Tigers 20-45. I am now a fan of the black... now I gotta try and find one of these on the Internet.

Honestly!

Have you ever been talking with someone and they preface what they are getting ready to say with "I'm going to be honest with you." What's that about? Does that mean everything they said before that point was a lie? Or try this one... I was at church the other day and I was joking with someone when I said something that was not truthful. The comment was made that "you can't lie at church." What, does that mean it is acceptable to lie outside of the church? I guess God gives you a mulligan if you don't actually do it in His house. "Hold on a minute, Ralph... let's step outside the church so that I can be honest with you."

Chinese Pizza

Today I had lunch with my wife at a Chinese Super Buffet. The outside advertised that it had 268 items on the bar. Wow! As I am looking over the bar, I see things like pizza, hamburger, french fries and chicken nuggets. I thought I was at the Super Buffet not WokDonald's. Anyway, the food was good with one exception... the sushi. Yeah, two places you should never get sushi from; ValuMarket and a buffet. Trust me.

Friday Night Lives

Can we apply Friday Night Football strategies to our daily lives? Find out this Wednesday night @ 6:30 in Ground Zero when we start our new series entitled, "Friday Night Lives".

Arnold Palmer

Public Service Announcement for Arnold Palmer:

Too many times I have been carded when I order an Arnold Palmer. For the record, an Arnold Palmer is half tea & half lemonade. I hate getting carded for things that don't matter. It's not like I'm buying a large amount of fertilizer. The following is a list of other things I've been carded for:

1. White-Out

2. Canned Air

3. Gasoline

4. Halo 3

5. Sudafed

6. PG-13 Movie (I was 19)