The Party's Over

INTRO.- What party? It might have been that New Year’s eve party. It might have been a Christmas party. This is the time of the year for parties.

Did you have a party recently? If so, what did you do? Eat food? Play games? Watch TV? Watch some movies?

ILL.- Partying and eating go together. Here are some Holiday Eating Tips.

1. About those carrot sticks. Avoid them. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they’re serving something better.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. You can’t find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip?

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That’s the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. And do it again.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they’re made with skim milk or whole milk. If it’s skim, pass.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other peoples’ food for free. Lots of it.

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Years. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you’ll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa. Position yourself near them, and don’t budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They’re like a beautiful pair of shoes. You can’t leave them behind. You’re not going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or, if you don’t like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert?

9. And one final tip: If you don’t feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven’t been paying attention. By the way, cookie-less January is just around the corner.

Brothers and sisters, some partying is fun and some can definitely be overdone!

The truth is that God does provide us with everything for our enjoyment. (I Timothy 6:17) And every good gift is from Him. (James 1:17)

We need to be thankful for all the good gifts and the times of enjoyment that God gives us. IT IS ALWAYS GREAT TO BE GRATEFUL! God always appreciates our appreciation!

ILL.- Let me tell you about a New Year’s eve Party that would be considered somewhat strange by most people’s standards. Each year, 32 year-old Brian Bierley of Bloomfield Township, Mich., toasts the New Year with sparkling grape juice and the same person - his grandmother Clara, now 92.

They play cards, watch a little football, eat good food and make confetti with paper punches. Then they watch Dick Clark’s annual New Year’s Eve show. Bierley says the tradition has probably "cost me a girlfriend or two."

"But I always told them that they can have 364 days a year of my time," he says. "This day is reserved for me and my grandma."

Very good, Brian Bierley! YOU DID VERY GOOD! Especially, in the light of what some people do on New Year’s Eve. Bierley was thinking about someone else instead of himself. THANK GOD! And how rare!

Now that most parties are over, Christmas parties, New Year’s eve parties and otherwise, what should we do?

There is always a time when the party is over and then comes the difficult stuff. It’s every day living. It’s going to work. It’s washing clothes. It’s cleaning house. It’s carrying out the garbage. It’s doing the every day stuff, be it good, bad or otherwise.

PROP.- Since the party’s over, let’s attend to business. Since the parties of 2004 are over here is a part of our business as Christians. Important business.

1- Get spiritual

2- Touch others

I. GET SPIRITUAL

The party’s over. We need to get spiritual.

ILL.- A lady named Jean McMahon from Dyer, IN, said, “Attending church in Kentucky, we watched an especially verbal and boisterous child being hurried out, slung under his irate father’s arm. No one in the congregation so much as raised an eyebrow -- until the child captured everyone’s attention by crying out in a charming Southern accent, ‘Ya’ll pray for me now!’”