Yet another Festivus has come, and before you know it, will be gone again. So before it is, maybe we should have the Airing of Grievances. I’ve got a lot of problems with you people…

Happy Festivus, everybody!

I finally got sick of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. I was searching for a Christmas gift for my dad, and one site I clicked on decided that it would install some lovely components for me. Yeah, spyware. So that was the reason I finally ditched the whole IE thing. Now I’m enjoying Firefox, but it’s taking some getting used to. So far though, I really like it. Plus, if it’s good enough for Wulfgar, it’s good enough for me.

Any suggestions on extensions? Wulfgar already threw a bunch at me (that I have yet to really dig into).

One really nice thing about already using Firefox is that I’ll be comfortable in my browser of choice when I switch to the Mac.

Yesterday was the day for my annual pilgrimage up to Nashville to see Andrew Peterson’s Christmas show “Behold the Lamb of God.” Each year, they sell out the Ryman auditorium and have some of the most talented people I’ve ever met get up and play through Andy’s Christmas CD.

It’s hard to post a review of a concert like that. There’s just so much going on, so much talent on stage…it’s overwhelming, really. That Ryman sound system is pretty nice, and it was great hearing Jill Phillips do “Labor of Love” in a room that is acoustically designed very well. Her voice is very powerful, and there are few small church or coffee cafe systems that can really handle all of it.

Then there was the magnificent Ron Block (from AKUS) on banjo. That was incredible. And Andy Osenga’s guitar juggling act. And Ben Shive was obviously enjoying himself. And Randall Goodgame, Gabe Scott, Andy Gullahorn, and many more. It was definitely a night to remember.

You can (and should) get the CD at Andrew’s web site.

I feel sorry for Target. That stupid old fart Don Wildmon just won’t stop. What’s worse is that his annoyances are working. I mean, sure, I think it’s great that Target’s going to use the term “Christmas” - or rather that they might use the word. But it saddens me that Don Wildmon and his non-Christian “let’s bombard them with emails until they do what we want” approach is now being seen as Christians “joining forces” to save Christmas.

If anybody from Target Stores is reading this, I’d like to apologize for AFA’s rudeness. Please don’t think this is how Christian people are supposed to act. I think you guys should use “Christmas” in your seasonal advertising, but I’m going to keep shopping with you because I like your stores.

So now Don has got his forces going against twenty-four - yes, 24 - companies. There’s nothing quite like a bunch of Holy Joes whining to corporate America to brighten up the holiday, er, I mean Christmas season.

Somehow, though I’m not sure how, my email address got onto the list of Donald Wildmon, chairman for the American Family Association. I’ve often thought about asking the AFA to remove my address, but sometimes he’s got something good to say. Sometimes I just like to laugh at him.

Lately, he’s been on this big kick about “Christmas” - no, not the holiday, but rather the term. He’s been picking on Target, who “refuses” (his word) to use the term “Christmas” in any in-store advertising. It all reads “Happy Holidays” or something non “Christ”.

Last year, Don was all upset because Target wouldn’t let the Salvation Army guy with that ever-so-annoying little bell beg for money outside their stores. This year Don is griping about something else target is doing.

(For the record, I think stores should use “Christmas” in their advertising. I also think you should support the Salvation Army.)

So how do one go about prompting change from a big company like Target? Well, we could just shop elsewhere. We could send a letter to them about how the term “Christmas” is special to us and how we’d like to see Target use the term in their advertising. Or, we could forego all levels of common sense and threaten obnoxiously Target with a loss of business and sign a boycott pledge against Target. Let’s see…what would Jesus do?

Don Wildmon is an idiot. He is an old fart with nothing better to do with his time than gripe about what he doesn’t like. On top of that, he’s convinced 600,000 people (says he) to join his boycotting bandwagon against Target.

Target is a good store. It’s clean. The aisles are wide. The people are friendly. They don’t have that little annoying bell ringer outside their doors. They have Starbucks inside. It’s wonderful! And best of all, when I shop there, I have a 0% chance of running into Don Wildmon.