Ascension Magazine

The A.B.C’s of Christmas
by Bill Delaune

We now live in a time when Christmas decorations go up in Wal-Mart the day after Halloween. When radio stations begin playing “Please Come Home for Christmas” some time around Labor Day. Where people believe that the most important day of the entire holiday season is the Friday after Thanksgiving when you can get caught in midnight traffic lined up from here to Canal Street in order to save five dollars on this year’s “must have” toy.

Doesn’t anyone yearn for an old-fashioned Christmas? Isn’t it time we get back to basics?
As a call for a needed return to fundamentals, Ascension Magazine offers the following ABC’s of Christmas, designed to cover all aspects of the season from A to Z. More

The Tiger Diaries With Joey Fryoux

During his weekly Monday Media Luncheon following the Alabama game, Les Miles was asked about his team’s chances of playing for the national championship this year. His team was 8-1 and had just won its most difficult road game of the year. They were now home to host a very young Louisiana Tech team during homecoming week. His response was succinct and expected.

If we improve and play well everything we want to play for is right in front of us. That’s a long way away. That is something we don’t want to focus on. Miles preferred to discuss other subjects he thought were more important than what might happen to his football team in a couple of months. He wanted to talk about Craig Steltz being named a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award given to the nation’s best defensive back. He wanted to discuss his amazing freshman Chad Jones who was named Louisiana Male Athlete of the Week and to sing the praises of the SEC Defensive Player of the Week Glen Dorsey, his All-American defensive team leader. Yes, he was proud of his boys and appreciative that the newest BCS standings recognized their accomplishments with a #2 national ranking, but he cautioned that there was much work still to be done against some powerful, “quality opponents” who should not be overlooked and that were much better football teams than their records would indicate. What a prophet he would prove to be! More

THOUGHTS FROM BULLY: Christmas And Kids. A Time To Remember

Christmas is here again. The season that sends many adults into depression but all the kids seem to need valium waiting for that magical morning. I remember the Christmas days when Mighty Mouse was the number one cartoon.

We were six kids and I don’t know how Mom and Dad did it but each kid seemed to feel as if they had the best Christmas every year. I remember the year I received the very first G. I. Joe. It was the package deal including a back pack, a M-1 rifle, helmet, boots etc.

He was my favorite gift that year. I played with him all morning and moved on to another toy that afternoon. My stepbrother Ronny came to me and wanted to show me something. We walked in the front yard and there was my G. I. Joe set up perfect in a fox hole. There was a small log for him to shoot over. His legs were positioned as a real soldier would. He had all his supplies within grasp for immediate use.

When I was a child we used our imagination. I was examining the scene very close. I was looking from all angles. It seemed that Ronny had taken care of every little detail. I remember enjoying how real the setting seemed. More