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Webwatch: 2006-12: God Rest Ye Merry Gentle Folk
 Webwatch is a column published in the Covenant Companion Magazine
every month. It is written by Heidi Griepp, manager of Covenant
Internet Services and an avid web wanderer. This month, Webwatch looks at peace online and good will to all.
I’ve spent a good two days straight wandering the Internet looking for Christmas websites and have determined that we are indeed manic and God definitely needs to rest ye and me. Here are my picks from the myriad of seasonal websites—all of which I hope lessen some frantic pace of the season.
Paging Dr. Starbucks
www.e-barista.com/recipes.htm
www.epicurious.com/cooking/holiday/christmas/
www.myrecipesource.com/occasions/christmas/beverage/ Somehow the Christmas season brings to mind warm drinks—coffee, cider, tea, hot chocolate. These three websites can help get your mug-hugging hands into action. The first features coffee-related drinks only (so if you don’t like coffee skip that one). If you are a coffee drinker, try the tasty turtle mocha. This site also includes coffee-flavored desserts. The two other websites include some festive drinks for all sippers of warmth. You can find spiced ciders and creamy hot chocolate on epicurious.com, while www.myrecipesource.com offers Christmas wassail, which includes orange juice and spices. Now all you need is a fire to sit by. Advent Calendars
www.beliefnet.com/index/index_10055.html
www.catwholaughed.com
www.north-pole.co.uk/advent_calendar/ Online Advent calendars can be either fun or thoughtful, and are great daily breaks for manic Mondays and Tuesdays (and the rest of the week as well). The first one comes from beliefnet.com and may give you moments of space to pause and reflect in the midst of the commercialism and hectic pace of the Christmas season. The other two sites are more along the lines of fun for children. Since 1995, artist Penelope Shenk has been creating online Advent calendars on her site, www.catwholaughed.com. The Christmas site www.northpole.co.uk has created a more traditional Advent calendar. Simple Christmas
www.faithwebbin.net/seek/christmas/index.html The faithwebbin.net site has a simple but straightforward goal. “We hope to encourage Christian development and growth,” the site’s creators write. “God speaks to us in many ways. He may speak in a still, quiet voice, but he does not yell at us or force us to come to him. He steadily knocks on the doors of our hearts. Once we answer the knock, there is no closing the door.” Along with an Advent calendar, the site has some great reflections on celebrating the Christmas season. These include things you can do now for a simpler Christmas, seven ways to be good stewards of your holiday time, and some great seasonal selections to read. The Advent calendar comes from the book Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas (Orbis, 2004). Giving at Christmas
www.greatergood.com
www.covchurch.org/pcp/ If you shop online (or are thinking about shopping online), consider greatergood.com. A percentage of your purchase automatically goes to a cause that you select. There are six choices, including hunger relief, medical care, literacy, preservation of the rain forest, funding for mammograms, and animal rescue. Purchase your Christmas cards this year from the Covenant’s Paul Carlson Partnership (PCP), and the proceeds will go to relief and development work in Congo. Wondering what to buy for the person who has everything? Click on “Resources” on the PCP site, and open the 2007 Catalog. You can make a donation in someone’s name toward a solar power system for a hospital, tools for farming, or roofs for schools, among other things. Christmas Candy
www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/christmascandy/index.htm
www.candywarehouse.com What is Christmas without some sugar highs from time to time—in a disciplined, controlled way of course. Here are two websites to help you experience and share Christmas joy and gluttony. Razzledazzlerecipes.com has a bunch of recipes for Christmas candy so you can make your own creation. And candywarehouse.com is just one of the many website where you can purchase candy to give to others—Pez dispensers, thin ribbon candy, Santa’s coal bubble gum, and more. Christmas Cookies
www.christmas-cookies.com Most families have their own recipes that they make year after year. But if you want to spice it up a bit, literally, this is the place to go. At this website you’ll find Christmas cookie recipes galore, as well as tips, shopping options, cookies by country of origin, top twenty-five recipes, and much more. It’s also useful if you lose that recipe for those mint things you love. You can even sign up for an e-newsletter all about Christmas cookies. The list in the recipe’s section is very comprehensive and broken into clear categories. It also includes things like breads, candy, and low carb cookies.
Caroling for Everyone
www.cyberhymnal.org
Don’t let the looks of this website fool you. In spite of the fact that it is a bit on the design challenged side, it is an extensive resource. It is packed with music. You can hear the song (an audio midi file), read the lyrics, as well as learn about the author of the song. The easiest way to find carols is to search for Christmas. You can also try searching for Advent and Epiphany.
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